Timespring

This Stan Tracey tune title comes to mind as I contemplate where exactly the time has gone.
We had a modestly succesful gig as previewed above, but got to thinking about how we might connect better with the nice people we run into to cajole them into showing up as an audience.
Amrit is working on a second album and gigs prolifically, never one to fall back on familar riffs.
Al went back to his IT thing and steady stream of pianistic gems,and got very happily married, as did two members of the Laundrette Poets. I ran into Nicky the other day and we discussed a film she's been scoring online. So one way and another the mission continues.
Me? A spell in Essex soaking up the vibes of allotments and goatiness, with more than a whiff of Gavin and Staceiness about, got me into composing again. I've just debuted three-fifths of 'LoveSeasons' for voice and piano which is a series of snapshots of a fictionalised one-on-one.
A bit before that 'Tod Transcending' was workshopped by the London Contemporary Chamber Orchestra. Martin Jones, my pianist on LS is also the Double Bass soloist in this imagining of conductor Vernon 'Tod' Handley's last moments. A female friend of mine shared a cab with him during which he told a few earthy yarns of his concert life, so that was my starting point. There'll be a concert performance in October, details nearer the time. Meantime it was a pleasure to meet Errolyn Wallen and get her pithy supportive feedback on how the thing looked and played.
Errolyn is currently alsofunctioning as a singer-songwriter,and her back catalogue is also full of bold and sympathetic innovations.




Groaning for a crust

I was delighted to be asked to sing at the gig in which we debuted LS a couple of weeks back. In doing some publicity for this I was torn between describing myself as Chansonnier (which kind of implies you can speak the odd syllable if it falls that way) and Baritone. In the end it just describes how high or low the pitch of a voice is but it carries a lot of provenant illustrious baggage. I was working chorally with some fine trained voices in collegiate and churchy circles who were very encouraging. This leads me to suspect that half the deal in solo vocals is standing out there to dodge the tomatoes, as Stephen Sondheim put it. Gracious and sympathetic response to my attempts I must say, thanks Guys. Rooting around I notice that Steve is among the composers who've put across the jist of their lines and-at their level of eminence- become 'special editions'-see also Antonio Carlos Jobim, Burt Bacharach on 'At This Time' for example. Some pundits point to the untrained unprotected nature of voices on the indie scene, where the voice is part of,say, some kind of protesting persona. A few years on you maybe care a bit less about the image aspect.But either way at some point a voice coach shows up and if they get it right need not usually change the bones of what's there that much. Maybe the fact that Dylan, Costello, Jagger and even the wispy persistence of Jane Birkin is somewhat down to these discrete interventions, and maybe a bit of growing old disgracefully, not tidying up too much.
A cabaret-ish duo is taking shape at the moment in a lovely old church in E17 with pianist Peter Jewell. We're arriving at our sound bit by bit and we hope from enjoyable tangents, and we'll probably show up for a gig somewhere in a few months.I'm figuring out whether to post some work in progress, vetting my vocals on public health grounds before I get them looked at by the vet.