I’m in the studio with the Old Swan Band right at this moment and taking the opportunity to update you on the year so far. The Maalstroom CD was recorded in January and I have had an email to say the actual record has arrived but that’s in Holland. It will arrive in the UK for our May tour. We have 6 concerts as part of the rural touring schemes of Leicestershire and Worcestershire and as they are dotted about if you are in Notts, Derbyshire or Gloucestershire there may be one in reach and it would be good to see you and for you to hear this unusual collaboration.
April saw the Blowzabella weekend at Thoresby . It was a spectacular weekend with our guests La Machine. Importantly we also released our live CD ‘Dance’ and the reprinted updated version of the ‘Encyclopaedia Blowzbellica’ tune book. The CD is a great listen by all accounts. I say by all accounts so that it doesn’t sound like it’s just me saying that. One of my band jobs is to send out the orders and so I get a lot of immediate feedback from you. So far all positive I am pleased to say. We are looking at ways of playing a little more, peoples other commitments permitting, and this will be more geographically spread across the UK and in Europe.
The trio, is officially a trio. Remember last time I said that I was hoping Jude and Neil (Chumbawamba) would agree that the next CD from the Jo Freya school should be a Jo Freya Trio CD and they have agreed. I am also going to get help from the wonderful Tom Rose to raise the profile of that and me generally. I have a typical problem that a lot of musicians have of having far too much administration to do and it eats into my creative time. I swear that if I ever won the lottery I would employ someone to take over that side of my life. I would have to buy a ticket of course. Of course if anyone wants unpaid work experience, or has free time on their hands please get in touch. So, the trio are meeting towards the end of May to look at material and theme and will record in the autumn.
The workshop side of my life has been very enjoyable this year and I have community choirs asking for arrangements of some of my songs which is great. I also have many compositions on the boil, some directly related to the forth coming CD above and some that aren’t really part of the folk culture but are definitely informed by it if that makes sense. I didn’t get the Arts Council grant I applied for but I got some very useful feedback that will allow me to go back and possible present another application that meets all their criterion and my needs too.
I have decided in the light of the above that I actually need an ensemble to play these compositions and I need to look at ways of setting that up. At the moment of course there is no money, but I would love a mix of players and singers and need to look at ways of developing this side. I’ll let you know thoughts and progress as it goes along.
There is a new fan page on Facebook which you can access just by typing in my name. You’ll k now you're there by the black and white photo of me playing the sax. I also twitter from time to time so do stay in touch and let me know your thoughts.