3 things:
1) Is there anyone else on this list from London? I ask because the majority
of the plugs for gigs are for gigs in the US. This is cool but the air fares
are a bit steep for a skint student so if folks know of stuff happening here
in London I for one would love to know. I'll keep you posted on all that
comes my way.
2) More for the jazzers than AJ fans. I've just taken over the running of a
jazz jam at the University College London student union on Gordon Street.
Jams are pretty much all jazz (though our definition of jazz is not as
strict as many other's so branching out is possible in some numbers). Some
of the musicians are pretty impressive:- we've had people from the Royal
Academy Of Music Jazz degree course, a not very famous but rather tasty
drummer who used to do session stuff in LA and loads of local (eg. UCL)
talent who manage to hold their own against the onslaught! Of special note
is Evan Dawson (my predecessor) - a seriously good tenor sax player who
sounds kind of Coltrane-like - watch out for him on the London scene.
3) On keyboards at the above jam (for as long as he's available) is James
Norton. Ex-Royal Academy (see above) he's now doing keys duties for Samuel
Purdey - apparently a new AJish band, signed to Sony, who also contain folks
from Jamiroquai and Corduroy. Heard a promo of the new single and wasn't
entirely convinced. However, James is a startlingly good keyboard player -
really, really talented and a good laugh too.
And that's quite enough plugging for one day!!!
It's nice to be back!
Yours sincerely (with peace and love),
Simon Brown
s.j.brown@ucl.ac.uk
University College London
Geology (3rd year)