“This will be the 14th time I have toured the UK with my own band…It’s extremely important for jazz musicians to keep touring,” writes guitarist Nigel Price. His level of pro-activity is, as ever, inspirational.
Today he announces a 42-date (*) tour of England, Scotland and Wales. There are nine dates involving guitarists Lorne Lofsky from Canada, and he has also invited Libor Smoldas from the Czech Republic. Nigel Price previews the tour – and also comments on the state of touring circuits:
(*) UPDATE: Within two hours of publishing, 42 actually became 43! There is another concert on 18 Nov in Rochester
Nigel Price writes: It’s always been nigh on impossible to tour without some kind of financial assistance, and that’s more true than ever what with the spiralling cost of, well, pretty much everything these days!
So I’m incredibly grateful to Arts Council England for their support for this latest 42 date tour that will see us get as far north as Edinburgh and as far south as St Ives.
It’s an international affair this time.
The first leg sees Czech guitarist Libor Smoldas making a visit to the UK, tacked on to a tour of Ireland with the great Australian multi instrumentalist James Morrison. We’ve got Geoff Gascoyne and Sebastiaan De Krom for two dates, and Tristan Banks will be in the drum chair for the Brighton gig.
Next, I’m absolutely thrilled to be bringing over the great guitarist (and personal hero) Lorne Lofsky from Toronto. Winston Clifford introduced me to Lorne’s music and I quickly became smitten with the two albums he made with the legendary Ed Bickert. Lorne went on to play with Oscar Peterson’s quartet, Joey DeFrancesco and, wait for it…. Chet Baker! He’s a true master of the instrument and this is a ‘must see’ band.
I booked Lorne and then took great pleasure in asking Winston to join us on drums. His reply was “Aha. Excellent!”.
I’ve long admired the great Canadian virtuoso double bass player Don Thompson, a long term associate of Ed Bickert’s. I wanted to bring that kind of ‘wow factor’ to this band and I immediately thought of Ashley John Long from Cardiff. He’s booked. This is a true mega band…
The rest of the tour is my regular group – Nigel Price Organ Trio, featuring the genius Ross Stanley on B3 Hammond Organ and the awesome Joel Barford on drums.
We’ve just recorded a new album called That’s it. Right there. and that should (fingers crossed) be ready for this section of the tour, although it won’t be officially released until next year.
There are guest appearances throughout, including Liam Dunachie on organ, Laura Klain (from Naples) on drums, Darren Beckett on drums, the Tom Ball Trio down in South Devon and one appearance with my old mate Vasilis Xenopoulous on tenor saxophone.
We also have 6 local young support bands.
It’s a big one!
COMPLETE TOUR DATES (status 30 Aug)
SEPTEMBER
Organ Trio W/Ross Stanley & Joel Barford
9 – St Mary’s Sessions, Dorking
W/ Libor Smoldas
14 – Ronnie Scott’s ‘Two for the Road’
15 – Hampstead Jazz Club
16 – The Verdict, Brighton
17 – City Wall, Rochester
28 – Teignmouth Jazz Club W/Liam Dunachie & Darren Beckett
29 – Liquid Spirit, Torquay W/Tom Ball Trio
30 – Ashburton Arts W/Tom Ball pm
OCTOBER
W/Lorne Lofsky, Winston Clifford and Ashley John Long
13 – The Crypt, Camberwell
14 – Ashburton Arts
15 – CICC Taunton
16 – North Devon Jazz Club, Appledore
17 – St Ives Jazz Club
18 – Bristol Music Club
19 – Cubanas, Barry, S. Wales
20 – 1000 Trades Birmingham
21 – The Hive, Shrewsbury
Organ Trio W/Ross Stanley & Joel Barford
24 – Hull Jazz
25 – Scarborough Jazz Club
26 – Seven Arts, Leeds
27 – Sheffield Jazz
28 – Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham
29 – Docks Academy, Grimsby. Workshop & concert
31 – Annie’s, Southend
NOVEMBER
4 – The Verdict, Brighton
10 – The Jazz Sanctuary, St Margaret’s
11 – Garibaldi Hotel, Northampton
12 – Queen’s Hall Hexham
13 – Jedburgh Rugby Club
14 – Glad Cafe, Glasgow
15 – The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh
16 – The Globe, Newcastle
17 – Lit and Phil, Newcastle, afternoon
17 – The Blue Room, Lincoln, evening
18 – Rochester Jazz & Blues Festival
21 – Marlow Jazz Club + Vasilis Xenopoulous
22 – Pizza Express, Dean St. London
Organ Trio W/Ross Stanley & Laura Klain
24 – Sandbach Town Hall
25 – Zeffirellis, Cumbria
26 – Parr Jazz, Liverpool
Organ Trio W/Ross Stanley & Joel Barford
30 – The Lighthouse, Deal
DECEMBER
3 – Milestones, Lowestoft
8 – The Lighthouse, Poole
COMMENT: Negotiating the ACE forms is not an easy process and as such can lead many to become frustrated, despondent and even angry. Which is a shame because they really want to help. You just have to pick yourself up every time you fail and go for it again.
In recent years I’ve taken steps to help others achieve success with the process through online advice sessions, workshops (most recently for Birmingham Jazz) and in person. So, it was doubly important to me that I got a result this time. I’d have hated to appear to be someone who just ‘talked a good game’! I really threw myself into this bid, and spent a lot of time detailing the ‘partners’ on the tour. I listed all the venues as partners and in doing realised that I had over the years built up relationships with all of them to some degree. Some of them really quite close. I’ve also helped some of them with my ‘Grassroots Jazz’ charity
This actually had quite a profound effect on me. Not just because it made me feel old (!) but because it somehow made me feel like I had stopped halfway up a mountain and was surveying the almost impossibly long journey I’ve made.
This will be the 14th time I have toured the UK with my own band. (Where has all the time gone??). I think it’s great to give younger musicians something to aspire to, and show the way. I hope that doesn’t sound patronising.
It’s extremely important for jazz musicians to keep touring. It’s often tougher than you might think, but without it we’d all just be staying and playing in our local areas, moving in small circles. That’s no way to progress. This way, there is cross pollination, increased visibility of venues (through ACE funded advertising) and, dare I say, real hard evidence that if you strive hard enough then it is possible to get a working band out on the road. The upshot of this is the creation of a tight knit unit that becomes better and better with each performance, achieving a level of excellence that’s impossible to create in any other way.
Listen, I don’t travel particularly well. I don’t really like being away from home and I sometimes get quite anxious about the whole spectacle of it, but once you’ve experienced touring and have hit this kind of level it’s impossible to forget what it’s like to be an environment when we can be collectively all we can be.
That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?
