Strathclyde University Big Band

Photos from Cafe Source Gig with Scott Free

2009-06-11T21:32:00.007+01:00

Thanks to Justin Moir for taking the following photos at our gig with Scott Free on 24th April.

There's even more to view here!

Cafe Source Gig, 29 May 2009

2009-06-11T20:58:00.005+01:00

For our penultimate performance of the year the band was joined by a special guest Gary Pulleyn.

Gary is our trumpet player Tim's father and he sat in for the second set on Trombone. Thanks Gary!

Here's the set list from the gig.

Cafe Source Gig, 24 April 2009 (featuring Scott Free)

2009-04-26T17:00:00.013+01:00

Thanks to everyone who came along on Friday 24th April for our gig at Cafe Source in Glasgow. The gig featured Professor Scott Free from the world famous Berklee School of Music from Boston, USA.

Pictured above: Scott Free, Gerry Rossi & Nigel Chadwick

Scott's visit to Scotland was to follow up a teaching visit that our very own Gerry Rossi made to Berklee some 18 months ago. Scott had invited us to rehearse and play one of his new compositions "Friendship Oak" and we were honoured to do so. It was a European Premiere in that sense! Luckily Scott also sat in and played guitar on the piece.

While Scott was here he spent time at the University, attended some of classes and delivered two excellent seminars/lectures - one on arranging and one on composing. This was Scott's first visit to Scotland and he plans to be back! Also the University hope to make the arrangement with Berklee more regular and formal now in order to explore common areas of research activity and develop exchanges for students and staff. That is very exciting for the University but also for SUBB as Scott's first love is composing for jazz orchestras/big bands.

While he was here he met staff and students from the BA Applied Music course and had a very useful meeting with our Dean, Jill Bourne. His classes were great - he is so experienced and has a real presence and enthusiasm for music.

Interestingly, one of the charts we've been featuring prominently this year is an arrangement of 'Work Song' from a relatively young composer and pianist from the US called Geoffrey Keezer. He has a growing reputation and composes regularly for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and many other world famous big bands. On Friday we found out that he was taught at Berklee by . . . . Scott!

As our Musical Director John Davies was on holiday we reshuffled the line up with Gerry conducting the band and Mira Opalinska 'depping' on Piano. Mira (pictured right) is a student in her third year of the BA Applied Music degree. She is from Poland and studied at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music before coming to Glasgow to study. She has already established herself as one of the city's finest jazz pianists and plays regularly with her quartet around town. She has also taken her band to Poland and toured there with Stewart Forbes, showcasing her own compositions.

There were a further few changes to the usual band line up tonight including Kimberly Donnelly (below left) playing sax and Fiona Downie (below right) on trumpet. Founder member, John Parkes sat this one out and watched from the 'treatment table' on the sidelines after picking up a sports related injury !

Our next gig at Cafe Source is on Friday 29th May at 9pm. Admission is free and we hope to see you there!

More photos from The Cinnamon Club Gig !

2009-04-14T17:01:00.009+01:00

A few more photos have just 'surfaced' from the Cinnamon Club Gig on Friday 13th March.

Thanks to all who supplied them including Ade Stevenson, a local guitarist from Manchester and our very own trombone player Gordon Jorgensen. Gordon was busy snapping away before the gig and during the jam session. Ade also wrote a review of the gig here.

The band (with Mike Walker, left) at the Cinnomon Club. Photo courtesy Ade Stevenson.

Claire, Jahan, Benji & Chris blowing up a storm at the jam session!

Mike Walker in action during the gig.

Benji tooting his flute !

Angus tickling the ivories!

Our guitarist Nigel & Ade Stevenson enjoying the vibe after the gig. Ade sat in for a few numbers during the jam session.

Our drummer Allan.

Jahan blowing his own trumpet !

Ardfern Gig, Saturday 4th April 2009

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A big thank you to the good folk of Ardfern and the surrounding area for coming to the gig, giving us such a warm welcome and creating such an amazing atmosphere for us.

An extra special big thank you goes to Jan Brown and all those involved in booking the band, organising the event and staging the gig in what must be one of the most scenic venues anywhere. The Craignish Village Hall was just perfect for the band with great accoustics and a wonderful sound and lighting system.

We can't wait to go back!

Here's the band 'in action' on the night (including Tim Bedford, Nigel, The Band, Dougie & Stefanie). Thanks again to Jan for sending these to us.

Here's what we played at the gig:

We were based at the nearby Kilmartin Hotel. Thanks to all of the staff at the Hotel and Bunk House who made our stay so enjoyable and accommodated our many varied and demanding needs over the weekend!

We even had time to relax, reflect and let our hair down after the gig.

It's not often that most of us get out of the city so some band members even took a bit of time to make the most of the trip and explore the area and discover some of its delights. Here's a few of the sights we saw. Well worth a visit!

We're now enjoying a short break over Easter and looking forward to our next gig in Cafe Source, Glasgow on 24th April 2009 at 9pm (featuring Scott Free from the world famous Berklee College of Music in Boston). Admission is free!

Hope to see you there !

Tim Pulleyn joins the band

2009-03-29T17:18:00.011+01:00

We'd like to welcome Tim Pulleyn into the band as the latest member of our mighty trumpet section!

Tim began playing the cornet at the age of 7, originally playing for JS87 Junior Brass band in Yorkshire. He then moved to Sellers International Junior Brass Band and took the role of principal cornet for 3 years, winning a few awards along the way (including 'Youth in Brass' 1st Prize & Best Principal Cornet). Tim comes from a musical family; his dad is a trombonist, his mum a singer and his brother a pianist. As well as majoring in Brass Bands, Tim diversified and joined Kirklees Youth Wind & Symphony Orchestras and toured Italy, Spain and Poland.

Tim played his first 'pit gig' at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield at the age of 16 in the show South Pacific. Since then he's worked in various bands and orchestras and performed in many major venues such as The Sheffield Crucible, Bradford Alhambra and Leeds Grand Theatre and he's also appeared on Yorkshire Television.

Tim currently is a student studying Sculpture & Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art, working part time in The Apple Store in Glasgow. A selection of the Art Works from TIm's studies can be viewed in Tim's own blog here.

Next Gig: Ardfern, Saturday 4 April, 2009 at 8pm

2009-03-29T16:53:00.012+01:00

We're back 'on the road' for our next gig and this time we're off to The Craignish Village Hall at Ardfern, Argyle.

The gig starts at 8pm. The venue is set in the Scottish Highlands and situated on the shore of Loch Craignish. With views across to the hills towards Kilmartin, the hall has arguably one of the best outlooks of any Village Hall in Scotland. It's easily reached from both Oban (25 miles) and Lochgilphead (15 miles) it is developing a reputation as a popular venue for bands and other musical performances. Full details of the location of the hall & travel directions can be found here.

If you're going to be in the area and would like to reserve tickets to see the band perform then please call: 01852 500689.

Please note that the organisers state: "bring your own bottle" !

It promises to be a wonderful night in a fantastic location. Hope to see you there.

Cafe Source Gig, 27 March 2009

2009-03-28T00:22:00.020Z

It seems like the gigs are really coming thick and fast these days and after playing 'away' recently in Altrincham, Wakefield and The Barony it was nice to be 'back home' in our regular monthly residency in Cafe Source. The band play the venue at 9pm on the last Friday of every month from January to June. Admission to our gigs in Cafe Source is free and all are very welcome to attend. A full list of our gigs is published on the band's website at: www.subbjazz.com.

The band line up varies from gig to gig and tonight it was good to see Rana Campbell in the sax section, 'new boy' Tim Pulleyn standing in for Gordon and playing lead in the Trumpet section and Maren Hatch mixing the sound (all pictured below). Maren comes from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She's a student at the University studying Bass with Andy Sharkey and Composition with our very own multi-talented Gerry Rossi.

As usual the Cafe was 'packed' with an enthusiastic crowd of fellow musicians, former band members, regulars, friends, family and a few new faces too. Thanks to everyone who turned out to support the band and make it another very special gig for us. The venue always generates an incredible atmosphere and we all love playing there.

A few more photos from the gig tonight (below) capture Jennifer & Claire relaxing at the interval, Gerry taking a break from piano and warming up on drums, and our trombonist Tim Bedford sporting a 'natty' ethnic style tunic !

Tonight's set list was as follows:

Next gig for the band is on 4th April in The Craignish Village Hall in Ardfern on the remote and beautiful West Coast of Scotland.

We're back in Cafe Source on 24 April at 9pm performing another selection of big band charts including an original composition by Scott Free from Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA.

Barony Prom Gig, 26 March 2009

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Each year the University Music Society present a joint concert featuring the University Concert Band (conducted by Colin Suckling) and the Big Band (conducted by our very own John Davies).

The annual concert - this year known as 'The Barony Prom' - was organised by Alan Tavener, Director of Music at the University (Alan is pictured here on the right with John Davies, Musical Director of the Big Band). This year the concert took place on Thursday 26th March in the majestic Barony Hall on the University Campus.

Membership of the Concert Band is open to all members of the University without audition and it numbers over 60 players at full strength! Add the 20+ members of the Big Band and you have a small army of musicians, technicians and crew to accommodate before even thinking about letting an audience in! Luckily The Barony is a huge venue and, as always, the concert was very well attended and both bands received a very warm reception.

The Big Band played nine charts on the night including a cool version of Work Song (by Nat Adderley arr Geoff Keezer), the Herbie Hancock classic Maiden Voyage (arr Erik Morales) and an Alan Baylock arrangement of another Herbie Hancock tune, Chameleon. Our vocalist Stefanie also joined us for three vocal charts.

On the night there were some rousing solos from the saxes of Benji, Claire, Chris & Angus, Jahan on trumpet and Nigel on the Gibson 335.

All in all it was a great evening of music from both bands and a wonderful warm-up for our regular free monthly residency in Cafe Source on Friday 27th March at 9pm.

Guest Composer from Berklee College of Music, Boston to join the band in April !

2009-03-26T14:15:00.000Z

Scott Free is Professor of Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Originally from New Orleans, Scott studied music at the University of Southern Mississippi. He then went on to study Composition at Berklee and he also completed a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Studies at New England Conservatory .
He has studied composition with Herb Pomeroy, Jaxon Stock, George Russell, Mike Gibbs, W. Thomas McKinley, Gerald O'Neil, Larry Monroe, and Hugo Norden.

He is also an exceptionally accomplished jazz guitarist (he has studied with Pat Metheny among others).

A gifted composer, arranger and teacher, Scott’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by Joe Hunt, George Garzone, Phil Wilson, and Walter Beasley. Many of his arrangements have appeared in textbooks and have been performed by bands all around the world and he has written highly acclaimed books on composition.

In April he will be coming to Glasgow to follow up on a teaching visit our pianist Gerry Rossi made to Berklee (Gerry is also Course Director for the acclaimed BA Applied Music Degree at Strathclyde) and will deliver a class on composition to the BA Applied Music Creative Skills students, and rehearse some new compositions with the band.

We are very fortunate to have him come all the way over to visit and work with us. We will feature one of Scott’s new charts at our Café Source Gig on 24th April. Scott will also be there for the gig too so please come along and meet him and hear some wonderful new big band music from a world class composer at the height of his powers.

Visit Scott on MySpace

Wakefield Jazz Gig, Saturday 14 March 2009

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The next stop on our annual tour was the short hop over the Pennines to the Yorkshire town of Wakefield where we were met by Mr Chris De Saram.

Chris & our band leader John Davies go back 'a long way' to their student days so they had a lot to catch up on! Chris and his colleagues at Wakefield Jazz run a cracking little jazz club (if only there was one like that in Glasgow!) attracting many top names from the world of Jazz. Needless to say we were honoured to be invited to play the venue.

Thanks to the good folk of Wakefield for coming out to hear the band and for giving us such an amazing reception on the night.

For a second night running the marvelous Mike Walker joined us as a featured guest artist and his playing was, once again, totally impeccable. Mike's solo on La Fiesta was quite inspired and almost nearly raised the roof on the venue!

After the gig there were some fond farewells and thank-you's then the band made a swift exit to the tour bus where our wonderful 'regular' coach driver Gerry from Prestige Corporate whisked us back 'up the road' in record time.

Our two days on the road proved to be a huge success and, as always, lots of fun.

A special vote of thanks goes to Nigel Chadwick our guitarist who took on the lions share of organising the whole trip! Thanks Nige!

Cinnamon Club Gig, 13 March 2009

2009-03-24T11:52:00.004Z

The band played to a packed Cinnamon Club in Altrincham (Greater Manachester area) on Friday 13th March 2009.

The Cinnamon Club is located in Bowden, a lovely suburb of Manchester.

Thank-you from all of the band firstly to the club owner Neil Hughes who was a wonderful host. He made us feel very welcome and even kept the venue open late for an open jam session with some of his regulars. Neil runs a great jazz venue and we'd urge anyone with a love of live music to check it out if you're in the area.

The second vote of thanks goes to our Special Guest for the gig, the amazing Mike Walker. As well as being a true gent Mike is a guitar player of stellar proportions. Mike guested on several tunes much to the delight of the band and the audience. Mike is a virtuoso performer who blew everyone away with his tasteful comping and powerful creative solos. Thanks Mike!

This gig was also a 'triumphal homecoming' for Jahan Hunter our trumpet player, pictured here (right) with fellow trumpet section members Shaun, Gordon & Tim (left to right). Jahan is a local lad from Bowden who was raised a mere stone's throw from the Cinnamon Club! Jahan's family & friends attended en-masse and even joined in the impromtu jam session until the wee small hours !

Gerry Rossi (left) our piano player was tucked away in the corner of the Cinnamon Club all evening and hidden from sight albeit behind the club's beautiful full size grand piano !

The mighty Mike Walker and our guitarist Nigel Chadwick (right) agree jointly to set their amps volume controls to '11' and create a massive wall of sound before the Cinnamon Club gig kicks off!

The 'Best Outfit on the Bandstand' award for the evening goes to our 'bone player' Kenny Shand (left) for his exceptional sartorial creativity. Thanks Kenny!

Read a review of the gig here!