Big Band Blog

Back for 2012

sncbigband — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:48:18 +0000

Straight No Chaser are back this weekend and performing at The Hassocks Hotel. Joined by pianist Tom Phelan and vocalist Jaqui Sampson it should be a great gig packed with our normal mix of big band arrangements; classic, modern and originals.

Come early if you want to get a seat!

Singers Night 2

sncbigband — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:36:38 +0000

Performing on Sunday 18th we have a handful of great singers including Lou Beckerman:

LOU BECKERMAN

Lou Beckerman has been working as a vocalist, songwriter and guitarist since the mid-70’s incorporating a wide variety of material in her work: blues, lyrical, jazz and folk. More recently she has almost exclusively returned to her roots in jazz and has fallen in love again with this wonderful and endlessly beautiful musical form. With her distinctive mix of vocal discipline and freedom, her repertoire has expanded to include Latin, swing and soft ballads through to stonking blues – delivered clearly and stylishly.

With her improvisational style, an instrumental approach to the voice and soulful sound her vocals have been described as ‘a stairway to heaven’ and ‘like being rolled in honey’.At the heart of Lou’s work has always been her love of music and her joy in using it to enhance people’s lives.

To contact Lou email: info@loubeckerman.com

Singers Night 2

sncbigband — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:34:04 +0000

The Straight no Chaser ‘Singers Night’ will be returning to The Hassocks Hotel on Sunday 18th September.

We have a couple of our regular singers joining us, plus a handful of new artists who will be performing some great vocals with the big band.

Gig starts at 7.30, and we expect it to be very popular, so come early to get a good seat, or book with the pub on 01273 842113.

Of course as well as the vocal numbers there will be a good selection of our normal high octane big band repertoire, and as normal we don’t charge apart from putting the hat around… so no excuse for missing out on this treat.

Lainston House August

sncbigband — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:43:49 +0000

The big band is taking most of August off gigs, time for us to enjoy the summer! So we won’t be performing at our regular Hassocks and Brunswick gigs. However we are performing at a beautiful event on Aug 21 at Lainston House near Winchester. We have performed several times now at this delightful venue so if you want to hear some great music on a summers day do come down.

Tickets available from the venue. More info here:

http://www.lainstonhouse.com/EXCLUSIVE_HOTELS/events/exclusive_event.aspx?pr=1251

Paul Busby Big Band, Easter Sunday

sncbigband — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:25:40 +0000

Paul Busby, a brilliant and wonderful composer with roots in Sussex has followed the success of The Watermill Jazz Suite commissioned in 2010 by The Dorking Jazz Club with this brand new collection of original compositions for big band.

It is:

The Brighton Suite

Download a fully featured poster.

Sunday 24th April 8 pm

Tickets £8 / £3 students

The Brunswick

Holland Road

Hove BN3 1JF

For more information about the band, go to

www.scoredchanges.com

Vocal Night Special

sncbigband — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:18:01 +0000

As the leader of the Big Band I get continuous emails from singers who would like to perform with us. This got us thinking about a different gig that might be able to take advantage of this currently untapped talent.

Our May gig at the Hassocks will be a special vocal night where we will invite new singers to come along and sing a couple of tunes with the band.

Slots are filling up fast, so if you are a great vocalist who would like the chance to sing with our magnificent big band then get in touch very soon!

Alex.

Brunswick success

sncbigband — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:12:27 +0000

What a great gig on Sunday! The band were joined by Mornington Lockett who really was in fine form, performing some amazing solos through the course of the evening.

It really was a delight having such a fine performer playing with the band and as well as providing a treat for our audience it has really motivated and spurred on our regular musicians.

The set, without vocals worked out well, with lots of jazzy treats. The new tenor features we had found were also great and included a large number of charts composed by Paul Busby who did us the honour of coming down to listen to us perform them. If you missed the gig don’t fret too much as Simon and Russell will be performing these nee charts at gigs soon!

Look forward to future guests spots later in the year. Next feature will be with trumpeter Steve Waterman at the Hassocks in June.

10th April Mornington Lockett

sncbigband — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:03:30 +0000

Fast looming before us is our next gig featuring a ‘guest’ player.

10th April sees the return of the big band to The Brunswick venus in Brighton and joining us will be saxophone supremo Mornington Lockett. We will be playing a jazzier set that normal, but one that will feature many favourites from the our repertoire.

Mornington has featured with many jazz greats including Jim Mullen, Arturo Sandoval, Ronnie Scott, Stan Tracey, Don Weller, Jimmy Smith and The New Jazz Couriers.

” One of the country’s most accomplished contemporary
improvisers … with a fearsome technique and an advanced
harmonic approach “
Time Out

” Saxophonist Mornington Lockett must be one of the most complete masters of the instrument alive today… “
The Observer

” Locomotive tenorist outsteams the competition “
The Guardian

” Abrasive and roaring one moment, then cutting suddenly to a
gentle caress – exciting stuff “
The Venue

” Sounds like Hendrix on sax “
Noel Gallagher

Sunday 10th April
The Brunswick Venue
Holland Road
Brighton

8pm Entry £5 (£3 conc.)

Another great gig

sncbigband — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 10:20:41 +0000

Good gig last night, with some really polished performances. It is funny how focussing on recording really takes the bands playing up a notch as we think about every detail in the charts. Playing the charts at gigs afterwards is much more fun, but you can really hear the difference in quality in the music.

It was wonderful to have Sue Rivers singing with the band again last night. I think we worked out that we hadn’t seen her for the past 5 years! Sue sounded great and had some exciting and varied charts for the band to play, her jazzy style and tone went down beautifully with the crowd last night! You can find out more about Sue and her music at her website http://www.suerivers.com/ . She has a new CD that is available from her website which is highly recommended.

I didn’t get any pictures of the gig last night, so you if you have any please send them my way, to my email or via our facebook!

Now time for me to get down to mixing the latest batch of recordings!

Alex

Recording Part Deux

sncbigband — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 11:03:59 +0000

The band completed their second recording session last weekend. The session went really well with everything running to plan, and another 7 tunes recorded at a transformed Hassocks Hotel on Saturday. It was much more relaxing than the first one, knowing that we had a setup that would work, and solving the mistakes made during the first session.

Things are looking good for a CD release in the first part of this year. Now a lot of mixing needs to be done!

Alex