Saturday 23 July 2011
La Caravane Swing Quartet
The quartet was formed at the beginning of 2010 to play at a French themed evening at the Dulwich Picture Gallery Cafe in South London in July of the same year. Judy Mewburn, a member of the Gallery Charity Committee, wanted something lively and suggested the music of Django Reinhardt - a daunting prosect, but, being a long time fan of the amazing Belgian Gypsy jazz guitarist, I agreed to give it a go, and got together with Geoff, Sandy and my son, Alex.
We were really to supply a kind of background accompaniment to the dinner of French food and wine, but by half way through the evening, people were actually dancing on the lawns.
We had a lot of fun and decided to stay together and do some more.
We did the same Dulwich gig in July this year and went down a storm, having improved our performance and repertoire over the year and I've posted several of the pieces we played on the blog. Just click on the black strip at the bottom of the page to have a listen. You can either play through the whole list automatically or any number you fancy by clicking on the title on the pop up menu.
We don't claim to be a traditional Gyspy Jazz band, and though the Reinhardt influences are there, we try and maintain a more modern sound, largely engendered by Alex, Sandy and Geoff, with me doing my best to imitate that unique Django sound, assisted hugely by the loan of 'GEROME', a gypsy jazz guitar bought by a guitarist friend of mine, Roy Church, from a car boot sale for 25 quid. It was bashed in quite badly and had only two strings. Roy did a fantastic job of resurrecting the old box to become the best Gyspy jazz guitar I've ever played, and I've played a lot!
As mentioned above, we're available to play music for weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries, dining, receptions, corporate events or any celebration or gathering where you need an injection of atmosphere and fun without deafening everyone with the intrusiveness of say, a loud Rock band - not that there's anything wrong with Rock bands, you understand.
GREENWICH, 24TH SEPTEMBER 2011.
We played at a jazz festival in Greenwich today, (Not Greenwich Village, I hasten to add.) at the Lord Hood pub. a popular local jazz venue. We were on first, not necessarily because we were the worst, but because both Geoff, Saxes, and Sandy, Bass, were playing with two or three other bands during the day.
Turns out, the gig venue was in a typically, cramped jazz pub near the Cutty Sark. When I asked where the stage was, the barmaid pointed to a foot square bit of carpet by the the filled in fireplace by the gents and said,
"Over there, love."
The whole thing was hilarious. A load of ageing jazz musicians turned up and one of them said when we'd finished,
"That wasn't bad, mate. A fuck sight better than some of the wankers who'll be turning up later."
Boy, could they all play - all silver haired with a pianist who looked at least a hundred years old. They'd grabbed Geoff to sit in with them - the lineup, tenor, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass and drums. They were all so laid back it wasn't true. As each one soloed the others either went to the bar or got into conversations with other patrons and the drummer stared vacantly out through the open garden door. The trombonist sat on a chair with his legs stretched out, feet crossed, playing laconic, slidy stuff beautifully. Of course, they never lost the sense of the tune and ambled back to join the others right on cue.
Real pros, or what?
The drummer was Chris Welch, whom, it may be remembered, was quite a famous music writer for Melody Maker and New Musical Express back in the Sixties and Seventies. I recognised him when he walked in as he and I played in a Rock 'n Roll band 22 years ago. He didn't remember me, but did remember someone getting pissed on the night and managing to turn on the fire alarm in the studio where we were playing. He's quite a prolific writer and has written book on just about everyone who is anyone, music wise, from David Bowie to Black Sabbath. Chris sat in with us and played brushes of a couple of numbers.
The whole thing was loads of fun and the pub staff were friendly and enthusiastic.
We may be invited back in December for the annual Christmas jazz festival. But there again, we may not. I really hope we are.
For details about hiring the quartet, please contact me, Neal Bradley on 020 8533 2301, 07951 835559 or e-mail:neal.bradley@dsl.pipex.com
Neal.
The Good news is that the Quartet has been invited back to the Lord Hood in Greenwhich to play in the Christmas jazz bash on December 10th, which is great.
To the right is Delia, my new Gypsy Jazz guitar which Ruth, my wife, bought me for my birthday in September. Delia is made by the French/American company, Del Arte. I originally called her Del, but when my friend, Roy Church, opened the case he said,
"You can't call it Del! It's too pretty and is obviously a girl to anyone who knows anything about guitars. You'd better call her Deila."
So Delia it is.
We did the Greenwich gig again on Saturday. Alex and I got there early and I asked the barmaid if I could bring all our stuff in and she said, "Sure, whatever your stuff is." I told her we were two musicians and she said, "Fuckinell! It's all day jazz today, init? I forgot, didn't I?"
Disappointed with the built in Big Tone pickup through Sandy's AER amp. Sounded too electric. Have to have a think about that - but love the new guitar. So playable. We were OK - not brilliant, but OK. Why do I screw up in Nuages every time?
It was loads of fun again with everyone crawling over each other fitting up their gear - one bloke trod on my foot.
The PA for the mike - used for introductions to bands and numbers - kept cutting out and half way through one of Geoff's sax solos, it cut back in. The mike was on a stand in front of Geoff so he was playing straight into it . The battered old PA amp was between to Alex and me, and when it cut back in we were almost deafened. Hilarious!
Writer and drummer Chris Welch was there again and played with us. He asked me if Alex and I could go with him down to the cellar and help bring up his drum kit. He said he's been playing in the pub a couple of days before, and rather lug it all home and back again, he thought it be better to leave it. The staircase was very narrow and the stairs hardly big enough to accommodate a child's foot and Chris forgot where the alight switch was. Alex found it at the top of the stairs but the light was a single strip which kept flashing on and off and there were low hung heavy duty pipes everywhere. Chris got stuck hallway up the stairs with the bass drum with me right behind him.
Chris is a big bloke and was quite puffed by the time we got the stuff onto the stage - a bit of carpet in front of the fire place like before - so Alex took over and set up the kit, which was Chris's 'wedding' kit - everything in white. He asked Alex to have a 'tap' so he could sound check the position of the kit. He stood about 6 ft away - about all the room there was - and decided it was fine. I remember thinking this was hardly Shea Stadium or Ronnie's - the sound was what you got, end of story.
I had to go back later in the afternoon as I'd left my camera there. It had been on top of the shitty old piano and someone had covered it with a gordy, gold, paper crown which is why I forgot it was there.
The place was packed by this time and was really rocking, in a jazz sort of way, and an 8 piece band was playing, so you had to shout to get heard.
DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY, MAY 30th 2012.
It was pretty stressful as a few things went wrong at the beginning - one of the amps blew a fuse and we had to borrow one; we forgot to take one of the cables so couldn't record anything; it took Geoff and Sandy (sax, clarinet and bass) 3 hours to drive form Hertford and arrived 10 minutes before we were on.
Apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
Apart from the beginning hiccups, it was a load of fun like last time. I actually think we were much tighter and played better this time. Alex was really on it, too. We have no foldback, and had no real idea what we were sounding like. The main thing is the set is far too long. At the end of 24 tunes, we were all knackered and you start to lose your way with sheer exhaustion.
Geoff says we have to stop noodling between numbers as it spoils the impact of the next tune. Guilty, your honour, but at least I don't play loud Black Sabbath licks like the other guitar player, whoever he is.
People were dancing on the patio as they did last year and the year before, which is a good sign of a successful evening. We certainly had a lot of fun. Alex is doing very well with his sound design business. He's hardly ever in the country these days. He's been to Paris 7 times this year and Berlin twice. He's off to Madrid on Thursday. It's partly work and partly having a good time. He's starting to make proper money (and spending it on antique leather motorcycle jackets and stuff! He's a bit of a designer tramp these days.) and recently won a pitch do do the sound track for a NY Levis Commercial and another for Coca Cola. He did the soundtrack for a Chloe documentary and whizzed over to the show in Paris Fashion week. He said Madam Chloe was there in a wheelchair and is close to a hundred years old. He recently modeled for a Lee Cooper Jeans press campaign. As part of the deal all the models were interviewed and filmed in their places of work, Alex in his studio upstairs. They also filmed him riding round London on the bike he rode to Paris for the finish of Le Tour De France this year. The documentary will be posted on line. AND they've asked him to do the sound track and music for it. How jammy is that?
We were really to supply a kind of background accompaniment to the dinner of French food and wine, but by half way through the evening, people were actually dancing on the lawns.
We had a lot of fun and decided to stay together and do some more.
We did the same Dulwich gig in July this year and went down a storm, having improved our performance and repertoire over the year and I've posted several of the pieces we played on the blog. Just click on the black strip at the bottom of the page to have a listen. You can either play through the whole list automatically or any number you fancy by clicking on the title on the pop up menu.
We don't claim to be a traditional Gyspy Jazz band, and though the Reinhardt influences are there, we try and maintain a more modern sound, largely engendered by Alex, Sandy and Geoff, with me doing my best to imitate that unique Django sound, assisted hugely by the loan of 'GEROME', a gypsy jazz guitar bought by a guitarist friend of mine, Roy Church, from a car boot sale for 25 quid. It was bashed in quite badly and had only two strings. Roy did a fantastic job of resurrecting the old box to become the best Gyspy jazz guitar I've ever played, and I've played a lot!
As mentioned above, we're available to play music for weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries, dining, receptions, corporate events or any celebration or gathering where you need an injection of atmosphere and fun without deafening everyone with the intrusiveness of say, a loud Rock band - not that there's anything wrong with Rock bands, you understand.
GREENWICH, 24TH SEPTEMBER 2011.
We played at a jazz festival in Greenwich today, (Not Greenwich Village, I hasten to add.) at the Lord Hood pub. a popular local jazz venue. We were on first, not necessarily because we were the worst, but because both Geoff, Saxes, and Sandy, Bass, were playing with two or three other bands during the day.
Turns out, the gig venue was in a typically, cramped jazz pub near the Cutty Sark. When I asked where the stage was, the barmaid pointed to a foot square bit of carpet by the the filled in fireplace by the gents and said,
"Over there, love."
The whole thing was hilarious. A load of ageing jazz musicians turned up and one of them said when we'd finished,
"That wasn't bad, mate. A fuck sight better than some of the wankers who'll be turning up later."
Boy, could they all play - all silver haired with a pianist who looked at least a hundred years old. They'd grabbed Geoff to sit in with them - the lineup, tenor, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass and drums. They were all so laid back it wasn't true. As each one soloed the others either went to the bar or got into conversations with other patrons and the drummer stared vacantly out through the open garden door. The trombonist sat on a chair with his legs stretched out, feet crossed, playing laconic, slidy stuff beautifully. Of course, they never lost the sense of the tune and ambled back to join the others right on cue.
Real pros, or what?
The drummer was Chris Welch, whom, it may be remembered, was quite a famous music writer for Melody Maker and New Musical Express back in the Sixties and Seventies. I recognised him when he walked in as he and I played in a Rock 'n Roll band 22 years ago. He didn't remember me, but did remember someone getting pissed on the night and managing to turn on the fire alarm in the studio where we were playing. He's quite a prolific writer and has written book on just about everyone who is anyone, music wise, from David Bowie to Black Sabbath. Chris sat in with us and played brushes of a couple of numbers.
The whole thing was loads of fun and the pub staff were friendly and enthusiastic.
We may be invited back in December for the annual Christmas jazz festival. But there again, we may not. I really hope we are.
For details about hiring the quartet, please contact me, Neal Bradley on 020 8533 2301, 07951 835559 or e-mail:neal.bradley@dsl.pipex.com
Neal.
The Good news is that the Quartet has been invited back to the Lord Hood in Greenwhich to play in the Christmas jazz bash on December 10th, which is great.
To the right is Delia, my new Gypsy Jazz guitar which Ruth, my wife, bought me for my birthday in September. Delia is made by the French/American company, Del Arte. I originally called her Del, but when my friend, Roy Church, opened the case he said,
"You can't call it Del! It's too pretty and is obviously a girl to anyone who knows anything about guitars. You'd better call her Deila."
So Delia it is.
We did the Greenwich gig again on Saturday. Alex and I got there early and I asked the barmaid if I could bring all our stuff in and she said, "Sure, whatever your stuff is." I told her we were two musicians and she said, "Fuckinell! It's all day jazz today, init? I forgot, didn't I?"
Disappointed with the built in Big Tone pickup through Sandy's AER amp. Sounded too electric. Have to have a think about that - but love the new guitar. So playable. We were OK - not brilliant, but OK. Why do I screw up in Nuages every time?
It was loads of fun again with everyone crawling over each other fitting up their gear - one bloke trod on my foot.
The PA for the mike - used for introductions to bands and numbers - kept cutting out and half way through one of Geoff's sax solos, it cut back in. The mike was on a stand in front of Geoff so he was playing straight into it . The battered old PA amp was between to Alex and me, and when it cut back in we were almost deafened. Hilarious!
Writer and drummer Chris Welch was there again and played with us. He asked me if Alex and I could go with him down to the cellar and help bring up his drum kit. He said he's been playing in the pub a couple of days before, and rather lug it all home and back again, he thought it be better to leave it. The staircase was very narrow and the stairs hardly big enough to accommodate a child's foot and Chris forgot where the alight switch was. Alex found it at the top of the stairs but the light was a single strip which kept flashing on and off and there were low hung heavy duty pipes everywhere. Chris got stuck hallway up the stairs with the bass drum with me right behind him.
Chris is a big bloke and was quite puffed by the time we got the stuff onto the stage - a bit of carpet in front of the fire place like before - so Alex took over and set up the kit, which was Chris's 'wedding' kit - everything in white. He asked Alex to have a 'tap' so he could sound check the position of the kit. He stood about 6 ft away - about all the room there was - and decided it was fine. I remember thinking this was hardly Shea Stadium or Ronnie's - the sound was what you got, end of story.
I had to go back later in the afternoon as I'd left my camera there. It had been on top of the shitty old piano and someone had covered it with a gordy, gold, paper crown which is why I forgot it was there.
The place was packed by this time and was really rocking, in a jazz sort of way, and an 8 piece band was playing, so you had to shout to get heard.
DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY, MAY 30th 2012.
It was pretty stressful as a few things went wrong at the beginning - one of the amps blew a fuse and we had to borrow one; we forgot to take one of the cables so couldn't record anything; it took Geoff and Sandy (sax, clarinet and bass) 3 hours to drive form Hertford and arrived 10 minutes before we were on.
Apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
Apart from the beginning hiccups, it was a load of fun like last time. I actually think we were much tighter and played better this time. Alex was really on it, too. We have no foldback, and had no real idea what we were sounding like. The main thing is the set is far too long. At the end of 24 tunes, we were all knackered and you start to lose your way with sheer exhaustion.
Geoff says we have to stop noodling between numbers as it spoils the impact of the next tune. Guilty, your honour, but at least I don't play loud Black Sabbath licks like the other guitar player, whoever he is.
People were dancing on the patio as they did last year and the year before, which is a good sign of a successful evening. We certainly had a lot of fun. Alex is doing very well with his sound design business. He's hardly ever in the country these days. He's been to Paris 7 times this year and Berlin twice. He's off to Madrid on Thursday. It's partly work and partly having a good time. He's starting to make proper money (and spending it on antique leather motorcycle jackets and stuff! He's a bit of a designer tramp these days.) and recently won a pitch do do the sound track for a NY Levis Commercial and another for Coca Cola. He did the soundtrack for a Chloe documentary and whizzed over to the show in Paris Fashion week. He said Madam Chloe was there in a wheelchair and is close to a hundred years old. He recently modeled for a Lee Cooper Jeans press campaign. As part of the deal all the models were interviewed and filmed in their places of work, Alex in his studio upstairs. They also filmed him riding round London on the bike he rode to Paris for the finish of Le Tour De France this year. The documentary will be posted on line. AND they've asked him to do the sound track and music for it. How jammy is that?
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