It was brilliant to hear some of Jason Yarde‘s magnificent arrangements for the first time. Sonically rich and sumptuous, we just can’t wait to hear the finished product! And thanks to our dear friends at Southbank Centre for very kindly hosting our stage rehearsal.
Thanks also to our dear friend, photographer Ben Amure for popping into the rehearsal to take some photos for us.
We were thrilled to be invited by one of our Nottingham partners, New Art Exchange to launch our Lively Up! Festival jointly with their latest fine art exhibition, I Is Another showcasing some of the finest contemporary art by Jamaican artists. There are some fascinating and thought-provoking pieces in the exhibition and so, if you’re in Nottingham, we urge you to go-see; if you’re not, then take a detour from wherever you’re going and go-see! I Is Another runs until 8 December.
We also met the Sheriff Of Nottingham, Merlita Bryan – the first Black female to hold this position.
So, our Lively Up! Festival got off to a great start with a pre-launch talk on 20 September at the British Music Experience at the O2, London as part of the Seminal Albums series.
Our eminent panellists – Kevin Le Gendre, Tony Platt, Gary Crosby and Brinsley Forde – offered new and interesting insights into Bob Marley and The Wailers’ Catch A Fire and gave a glimpse of some of the music to come with an open rehearsal of the vocals section directed by Kevin Robinson.
Horror struck Gary for a minute when he opened the case of his beloved upright bass only to find the fingerboard had been damaged so he had to borrow a bass guitar from the BME! So check out this very rare photo indeed – Gary Crosby playing a bass guitar! Looks cool, huh, but still a bit weird without his upright bass! Thank goodness the upright was back in time for the first show in Nottingham! (Photos of the talk courtesy of Kelly Cobbing)
Here’s a nice post about the event by our friend, Paul Bradshaw (Ancient To Future – Beyond Chaser).
Tomorrow’s Warriors, Perry Louis and JazzCotech, and the newly crowned UK Calypso Monarch, Sheldon Skeete had everyone up, dancing and smiling at Nottingham Contemporary on Sunday 30 September as they experienced a taste of the Windward Isles with a feast of Caribbean rhythms and swing music. Sheldon ‘Smasher’ Skeete is a brilliant Calypsonian (and an aircraft engineer by day!) – it’s no wonder he beat off all-comers recently to be crowned UK Calypso Monarch.
We had to switch the lineup for our Nottingham show as Peter Edwards and Binker Golding were up in Scarborough for the local jazz festival where, by all accounts, they captured their audience the moment they played the first note, so our lineup was:
Gary Crosby (double bass), Ben Burrell (piano), Moses Boyd (drums), Mark Kavuma (trumpet), Rosie Turton (trombone), Marcus Joseph (alto sax), and Nubya Garcia (tenor sax) plus Perry Louis’ energetic JazzCotech and ‘Smasher’ Skeete.
Here’s a little vid that we shot on the night in Nottingham…
It was a similar story at Harrow Arts Centre on Friday 5 October, where the audience had a great time and, given half the opportunity, would have kept dancing ’til the early hours.
Lively Up! Festival 