The end of Jazz @ the NLT

Sadly, due to a precarious reliance of the goodwill of a pub, Jazz @ the NLT has had to come to an end. 

Tom Taylor, one of three of us who organised the night (the other being Jon Ormston) has written a nice blog about it here.

Very sad. Lots of thoughts about this, including that something as important as performance opportunities for the young scene shouldn't be reliant on pub landlords. Imagine if we had something like this. 

We are celebrating the  two years of great gigs we had at the NLT at the Black Lion in West Hampstead on the evening of 27 May - please note NOT the North London Tavern. Please come down and say hello.

All About Jazz big band review

Karl Ackermann from All About Jazz has just posted his review of The Jack Davies Big Band here.


He says:
"The Jack Davies Big Band's self-titled debut is a distinctive, cutting edge ensemble that adheres to neither classic or avant-garde form, but to something more liberated. [...]


The Jack Davies Big Band is the best large ensemble recording since Darcy James Argue's Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam, 2009), and a real treat for fans of progressive big band jazz."


It's the third review of the big band album on All About Jazz: read Chris May's here and Roger Farbey's here.

Telegraph Flea Circus review

A kind 4-star review of Flea Circus from Ivan Hewett in yesterday's Daily Telegraph.

LondonJazz: London Jazz Orchestra / Miles Evans / Henry Lowther

My blog for LondonJazz this week was about the London Jazz Orchestra's Gil Evans centenary celebration, happening today at the Vortex.

New and newish LondonJazz blogs

My piece for LondonJazz today on the issues of music piracy / file sharing has started a lively (!) debate on twitter, and has been updated with a lengthy response from Janek Gwizdala.


My previous few LondonJazz pieces were about the launch of my label V&V Music and the similarities between computer games and jazz (there are a few!).


Hope you find them interesting, and feel free to wade in with thoughts using the comments below.

Some gigs, some reviews, and a brand new record label

Today, my three albums are officially released. You can get hold of them via iTunes, Amazon, HMV as well as other retailers.


We had a great time at the V&V Music launch at The Forge in Camden on Friday with Flea Circus and Southbound, as well as at the fantastic Platform33 on Thursday night.
Some nice reviews have started to come in too - All About Jazz's Chris May says about The Jack Davies Big Band:

"With its debut album, trumpeter and composer Jack Davies' big band has joined an elite strand of British orchestras [...]An 18-piece outfit which seamlessly and winningly combines the jazz tradition with the work of contemporary-classical composers. [...]It is a line-up which glitters with individual talent and Davies has welded it into a tight and precise unit."

Roger Farbey, also on All About Jazz says:

"This should rank as one of the best and most original albums of 2012. [...]
This is a mature and sumptuously arranged work and if this is Davies’ first big band album, then who knows what he is capable of producing in the future? Take a listen. Highly recommended."

Catherine Marks covered both Flea Circus and Southbound for Culture Capital, saying of the latter:

"The instruments continually weave between each other, giving a sense of flux" 

 And finally we've had a couple of reviews of Flea Circus on LondonJazz:


Chris Parker says of the album: 

" This is a thoroughly absorbing, thoughtful and lively set from a subtly interactive and accomplished band."

Jeanie Barton called described our version of a Gustav Mahler melody as "bewitching".


EDIT: Some nice coverage just in from eMusic Blog - Flea Circus is Pick of the Week - "Dark tunes cut through with pretty moonlight.", while Jack Davies Big Band is recommended - "Davies seems to prefer burning the envelope than pushing it around." 


All in all, a very good week then. Catch up with us at one of our upcoming UK tour dates.

Albums Pre-order available

My three albums - The Jack Davies Big Band, Flea Circus and Southbound all come out on 30 April, but you can pre-order them from Amazon.co.uk and HMV.com now.

Tickets are also on sale for the V&V Music Label Launch at The Forge on 27 April, and Flea Circus are doing a gig at the cross-arts Platform 33 on 26 April at Servants Jazz Quarters in Dalston.