 |
|
Photo Credit: Tom Dube
|
New England / August '05
** Gig List Updated: December 4th, 2005 **
Aug '05
Greetings & salutations to all you patient music fans ! Thank for checking in to the site - here's some of what's been going on since my last missive - & some of what's about to go on ...
The spring UK tour with " Feast of Fiddles " was again very enjoyable - we traveled a little further afield this year & made more friends ... plans are already under way for the Spring '06 UK sojurn, & it's possible the band may play @ the Cropredy Music Festival in Oxfordshire in August '06 - keep up with the news via www.feastoffiddles.com .
Before returning to Boston, I rounded off the dates with a drum clinic for my old friend Phil Solomon in Brighton , Sussex. Thanks to all those who showed up - i trust you enjoyed it !
Some other musical happenings of note : The " TMB " trio [ John Troy - bass,vcls / Dave Brown - gtr, vcls / yours truly ] was invited to headline @ the Marblehead Arts Festival on July 2nd - we had a wonderful evening in Marblehead's Crocker Park [ the stage overlooks the harbour ! ] & all present had a great time ... the same trio recently recorded a live CD [ professionally done, I hasten to add - definitely well above the " well-meaning-friend-with-two-microphones " level--see photos below ] & we hope to have this available before the end of the year - more via www.johntroy.com ...
Other news for my friends of the Bostonian persuasion - [1] do try to get to see the David Johnston band [ check my " gigs " page ] - David has some great songs & always a fine band - even when I don't play with him ! Typically Tuesdays @ " TirNaNog " in Union Sq., Somerville ... [2] look out for the Paul Ahlstrand Quartets' debut CD soon [ Paul on tenor sax, Ryan Claunch on Piano , Jesse Williams on Upright Bass , yours truly ] - some great tunes from Paul in the Hank Mobley-esque vibe ; it was recorded "live " in Brooklines' " Rear Window " studio with all of us in the same room at the same time & everything recorded in one day - revolutionary, eh ?
 |
|
Photo Credit: Jim Primmer
|
The Grey DeLisle CD I recorded in LA last year is now out on " Sugarhill " records - it's called " Iron Flowers ". I did two shows with Grey in June [ Philly' & DC ] & I'm happy to tell you I'll be doing a short European tour with her in November - the one UK date is @ London's " Borderline " on Nov 8th - www.greydelisle.com for more dates / info' ...
For my UK drummer friends [ TBC @ the moment,but all being well ... ] I hope you can get to one of two clinics I'm doing after Grey's tour : [1] is with Gary Marshall in Oxfordshire on Nov 15th [ tel : 07889 / 226 886 for more info' ] - & [2] is at London's Royal Academy on Nov 16th .
Some CD's of note I worked on that are now out / available : Four Piece Suit's " Spirito " / John Shain's " Home Before Long " [ produced by yours truly & Tom Dube ] & also new ones from Todd Thibaud, Joyce Anderson, Liz Carlisle ... " Google " these good people for more info' ....
Berklee held it's annual " Percussion Week " in June-into-July & I was pleased to be asked to assist as a teacher along with several other fine players. I had a small class of six young,eager & very keen drummers ... they had to learn a " rock " song & I then had the un-enviable task of selecting just one of them to take part in a kind of " shoot out " @ the end of the week - not an easy choice! As all the classes were provided with drums, keyboards, amps' , I was able to join in on keyboards to [ additionally ] help each participant when it came time not to play along with the recorded version of the song-to-learn - but to do it " live " ... I believe we all got something positive from the experience !
 |
|
Photo Credit: Jim Primmer
|
Other things ; at the end of this stretch, Caron & I were ready for a break & despite a 13 hour delay getting there [ due to storms in Texas ] , we enjoyed ourselves in Santa Fe, hooking up once more with our good friends John & Dot Smallwood.
I recently had a visit from Paul Clarvis ... for those of you unfamiliar with his work, try " Orchestra Mahatma " as a starting point ... Paul is probably one of the most musical & thoroughly schooled drummer/percussionists I'm fortunate to count a friend ... as well as being a professor @ London's Royal Academy, he's on percussion on [ seemingly ] every major film score recorded in London - & he's a great jazz player to boot! On a brief " raid " from the UK to Daytona Beach, Fl with the London Symphony Orchestra, he took advantage of a couple of days off & flew up to Boston, joined on the second day by principal / fellow LSO percussionist Neil Percy. The three of us had a wonderful day @ Zildjian ( kudos to the super folks there yet again ) & followed it up with visit to see Joe McSweeney @ Eames Drums. A drummers' " hang " re-defined !
I write this the day after seeing another friend in Newburyport, the great Richard Thompson, solo in concert. He's as wonderful as ever & his new CD " Parlour Games " is top of our current "to-get" list [ alongside the new live "Clayton-Hamilton" , fyi. ].
As I always conclude, please don't hesitate to contact me if you've any queries - I'll try to reply as soon as possible.
Thanks once more to you all - I hope to see you soon !
DM