Also in November, I did a nice gig with the MFMO with special guest Jim Bob. I dusted off some arrangements I'd done for Jim earlier in the year and we played these as well as Martin White's epic orchestral arrangements of some of Jim's other tunes.
In November 2010 I was on tour in India with the Bollywood Brass Band. We played some frankly insane weddings, spent a lot (and I mean a lot) of time travelling and waiting for baggage, explored Jaipur a bit, ate some incredible food and generally had a great - if utterly exhausting - time. A radio producer was on this trip with us, and there we'll be featuring on a Radio 2 documentary sometime this year. Will post more info when I have it.
Here's me with a security guard with a gun. Nice.
One of the unexpected benefits of having a producer with us was that we visited another band. The Jaipur Kawa Brass Band is run by tabla player Amrat Hussain and is one of the best-known Indian brass bands in the world (there are more than you might think…). We spent a great afternoon at Amrat’s house in the outskirts of Jaipur and sat in on a band rehearsal, which was really fascinating. They rehearse in Amrat’s idyllic garden, meaning that lots of local kids come and watch and it has a community kind of feel to it. The music can sometimes sound almost improvised, but it’s absolutely not – every little twiddle and inflection is carefully learnt and practiced.
The producer interviewed a couple of the band members, and we were treated to an impromptu solo concert including an amazing indianised version of Tequila which felt somewhat incongruous played by a turbaned bloke in full Rajasthani costume, but was ace.
Ate a huge volume of superb food, played some music, met some other musicians, learnt some stuff, had a great time.
Quick tip: if you're flying Air India, do NOT drink the coffee. It's on the right in this photo (the other's tea). And that is true.
Did lots of musical bits and bobs in Autumn 2010, including a great duet gig with Darren Hayman at the Bush Hall, a gig or two and some recording at Maida Vale with the John Bennett Band. Both Darren and John are great to work with despite being very different musicians; they both trust the instincts and creativity of their musicians, which isn't always as common as you might hope.
I also did some arranging and playing on a pitch for a BBC drama. Sadly didn't come off in the end, but was good to work with Rob Lord for the first time.
HCB did a great gig playing to our biggest and best crowd ever at La Scala in Kings Cross in November as part of a superb (and massive) line-up. Thanks, as always, to our label Wah Wah 45s who put the night together and hosted. Also to Kim Leng-Hills who took these ace photos.
