As I say every time I start writing one of these - Hi its been a while - so much going on this last year with one thing or another .
So last time I was blathering on was just after the Women in Jazz at The Borough Theatre in Abergavenny A YEAR AGO - omg how did that happen - great gig - shame there weren't more as we hoped we may be able to tour with it but we all enjoyed it anyway.
A busy year what with gigs , Kids going to Uni - sob - Channel 4 hunting me down to be part of their show ' The Piano ' , helping organise aspects of Brecon Jazz Festival , getting more involved with Community Music Wales and working with Young Carers in Merthyr , started teaching ukulele for Adults at Llanover Hall , the open mic at The Heath pub , starting a monthly Jazz event at the Heath and for the first time decided to really start playing MY OWN MUSIC when performing - yeeeeeehaaaaa.
It all came about when another band contacted me and asked would I be interested in doing a ' Christmas party type gig ' with the two bands playing - yep I replied sounds great .So that was all set for December .Sadly due to illness the other band were unable to play so it was just My Band that night .....I was a bit concerned I wouldn't have enough material to play ALL original songs throughout the evening - how wrong I was - I had WAY over the amount needed ...I tell you lockdown was a pain in the arse and a total nightmare in many ways but in terms of creativity was an absolute godsend as I wrote CONSTANTLY .
Thankfully the night was a success in no small part from the guys in my band being wonderful and having a good crowd support the night .It made me think about trying to do something regular with the venues permission .
So - JAZZ AT THE HEATH the last Sunday of the month and ORIGINALS ONLY - one Friday a month were created .
There are so few jazz venues in Cardiff and being a bit of a jazzer wanted somewhere that the ridiculous amount of insanely talented Jazz musicians and singers would have an opportunity to play now that Cafe Jazz has closed ...sob.
Same with the originals music - not many venues like bands playing their own stuff as people on a night out quite often want ' PLAY ME SOMETHING I KNOW ' ......
cut a long story short and a lot of blather the ORIGINALS ONLY night will start on Friday 23rd February - with my band and Oblong Honker ( what a name :-) )
If you re around - be good to see you at one of these gigs .
Thanks XX