Top team brought together to record new CD

Whey hey!  Mike Walker, Mike Gorman, Steve Watts, Mark Fletcher, Paul Booth and Damon Brown will be joining me in the studio in November, together with Ian Shaw in the role of producer.  Still got to finalise a few little details, like what tunes to do...  I always thought having a broad repertoire was a good thing but now I'm finding it impossible to narrow down my selection.  My dead certs are changing on a daily basis.  I had a long list, then a short list and now a slightly longer short list.  If anyone has any suggestions as to tunes they've heard me sing and want to hear for perpetuity then please add a comment.  It would be greatly appreciated.  No promises, but if you come up with a great suggestion I might just have to send you a small token of my appreciation - maybe one of my collection of blank notebooks...  See, now you're interested.  

Have I mentioned my slight obsession with buying notebooks?  I seem to feel the need to buy lovely little notebooks to keep all my thoughts and musings together instead of scribbled on corners and backs of the various letters/documents that litter my desk.  A couple of problems here.  Firstly, I keep starting new notebooks before I've finished the last one so my thoughts and musings are spread throughout a number of gorgeous notebooks.  Secondly, I buy notebooks at a far greater rate than I need them and don't limit myself to buying them only when I've filled the last one (note to Dad - I know we've talked about the difference between want and need.  Soz).  This only exacerbates point one.  I'm going on now. Suffice it to say, I probably have a notebook for a good number of jazz tune suggestions...

Lovely and sunny today.  I went for a leisurely coffee and read of the paper at one of my favourite hang outs - Cafe Blue Bar at Tunnels Beaches.  Then I listened to Liverpool beat Everton 2-0.  Nice one Torres.  And now I'm ready for a bit of chilling out having had a top gig last night in South Molton.  Thanks to the splendid audience and to my fab trio.

Right, so where's that shortlist...

Rx

It's Autumn so that must mean piano practice...

I say that because I remember that going back to school after the summer holidays often coincided with a new term of piano lessons, and that usually meant piano practice.  Or at least thinking about piano practice.  Funny how good we become at preparing for or contemplating that which we ought to be doing.  I say 'we' although I do, of course, mean 'I'.  Having said that, I was just talking to my Barcelona buddy who had just completed a precision strategy for doing the copious amounts of work he has on at the moment.  He hadn't quite started the work yet...  I likened it to the staggeringly brilliant revision timetables I used to prepare for myself when preparing to revise.  Putting the final touches to my revision timetable usually justified a long break, just no revision.  I was a bit the same with piano practice.

Anyway, the slight nip in the air has put me in focused frame of mind and I decided to order a couple of jazz piano tutors - that's books, not people, although if you're a jazz piano tutor and fancy popping round, please do.  I'm making a sort of determined bid to do some proper piano practice so I can up my jazz piano skills.  It feels horribly like preparing a revision timetable and I do, strangely, have quite a lot of jazz theory/exercise/how to practise books already.  Just not these ones.  Hey, I got an email from jazzwise and it compelled me to purchase.  I think I'm what you call a marketer's dream.  Anyway, I thought it might give me a little theme to follow through on a bit of a blog push.  I can describe how well I'm doing... Hahahahahaha.

Looks like I might finally have a tentative date for recording in November.  Just have to finalise the studio, musicians and tunes so it's not entirely in the bag yet but I do have a producer.  Hooray.

Oh, and just to keep you up to date, I've now lost 2 stone 6 and a half pounds since I started my weight loss thang in February.  Bloody brilliant.  

Don't forget to come to The George in South Molton on Friday 26th September for a great gig with Philip Clouts, Al Swainger and Gary Evans.  Top band, top venue, top gig.

Rx