WELCOME TO 2008
I'm back!!
Sorry for the delay in updating but things have been busy with family matters and various soap operas.....How are y'all doing?!
EXPRESS YOURSELF!
Every Tuesday night come to Under Solo at 20 Inverness St, Camden NW1 (close to the Jazz Cafe) for a night of live music featuring wonderful musos playing hot grooves and sweet melodies. The house band get the jam going with original material plus their own arrangements of some classics and throughout the night we'll be inviting musicians and vocalists to get up and express themselves.
House band features Miggy Barradas (Drums), Mikey Bailey (Bass), Winston Delandro (Guitar), James Lascelles (Keys, Perc), Miguel Barradas (steel pan and perc)- with a whole host of regular guests including Noel McAlla, Root Jackson, Dave Clark, Carole Dennis (Vocals), Mick Eves, Joe Leader (Sax), Richard Bailey, Darren Abraham (Drums), Mark Cherry, Robert Bailey (Keys), Tim Cansfield, Jules Pais (Guitar) and Darryl Leque and Mark Townson (perc) among others. A veritable who's who list of top UK and international musicians, drawn like a magnet to the sounds emanting from Under Solo.
To find out more, check us online or call Kevin on 07981458551
expressyourselflondon@hotmail.co.uk
or
myspace.com/expressyourselflondon
WE'VE BEEN ASKED TO PLAY FOR PRINCE CHARLES' 60th BIRTHDAY AT HIGHGROVE IN NOVEMBER!! Camilla must have liked what she heard!
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Well, what a summer of non-stop
gigging and musical combinations.
First things first; if any
of you missed the Tiata Delights week of staged play readings at the Almeida,
you really missed out!! And that concert at the end, wow!! Femi Olufowoju
Jnr (the artistic director) really pulled the stops out, programme-wise
and it was my first solo performance for many a year. Let me set the stage;
we had already done 2 plays that Saturday night but by 9pm, the stage
was filled with instruments and musicians kick-starting the concert Jules
Holland style with an ensemble intro. First band on was GK Real, Gospel
band with sweet harmonies and then yours truly on an array of instruments
including trusty Korg Trinity keys, Dulcimer, Balafon, Melodica and assorted
rack of bells, gongs and shakers. The predominately Nigerian and Ghanaian
audience didn't know what to expect, though they'd seen and heard me onstage
with the different theatre groups throughout the week playing percussion.
I had prepared a 15 minute piece, actually 3 pieces in one, which started
with a low drone and built into sound effects and melody. Talk about captive
audience, I could feel the murmurs of approval before hearing the appreciative
applause and during the subsequent solo piano piece, you could have heard
a pin drop (I think I did!!). I finished with a sampled rhythm from my
keys that built into a Yoruba (Nigerian) chant and they were singing along
before I signed off with a Balafon solo which ended up with me attacking
bass amps and anything else in range of my sticks. Much laughter and splendid
audience exchange and I really felt that a corner had been turned as far
as my approach to live playing is concerned. Don't get me wrong, I shall
always love playing in band situations but I feel it's time to branch
out and try another style, one that's comparatively hassle-free (no talking
back!) and cheaper to book in this cash-strapped time! The rest of the
concert was fine with Tunde Jegede on Kora in lovely touch and Leon Maddy
blowing the hell out of his harmonica and the finale that was Sola Akingbola
whipping the audience into a dancing street party with his Nigerian talking
drummers and splendid band. There were alot of compliments flying around
the bar afterwards and the next step for me is to record a segment of
the solo show and promote it. So if there are any agents or managers out
there, take a chance on me........!!
Tiata Delights is taking to the road from October 6th to 11th, performing in Ipswich and Peterborough among other mostly East Anglian towns. We're doing 2 of the 6 shows showcased at the Almeida.
The Tiata Delights is promising
to be a gala week (July 28th to Aug 2nd) with 6 new plays getting a double
airing with live music provided by you-know-who. This time we get a week
to rehearse the plays and then perform them the week after so it will
be partly staged and partly read but the extra week gives us more of a
chance to prepare a show. Then, the last night, Sat August 2nd, there
will be a concert with some of the hottest African talent around including
Jamiroquai's percussionist Sola Akingbola and his 9 piece band, Tunde
Jegede on the 21 string West African Kora, GK Real and their sublime vocalese
and Leon Maddy, the precocious youngster on harmonica as well as myself
on various instruments of delight! Please come and support new African
writers but more to the point, come and be royally entertained!
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Playing with my old mate Mike Storey down at Soho Pizzaria, Beak St on Sat, August 23rd. All Mike's original tunes with perc and dulcimer and melodica. We are doing a festival in Canary Wharf on August 10th which is also not to be missed.
Great to be reunited with my old friend and mate Mike Storey after many years of not seeing each other and the Canary Wharf gig was a success with a quartet and more to follow according to his manager! We continue to play the occasional Soho Pizzeria as a duo.
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Also, new gig at The Island on 123 College Rd, NW10, Kensal Green
This is regular Thurs/Sun nights with ever-changing personnel. so I will keep you informed as to the line-up but it's a classy scene with 3 floors and excellent food.
Exciting upcoming gig at the 606 Club with old Breakfast Band mate, ace steel pan player Annise Hadeed with Richard Bailey on drums; Pan Jazz. I shall be tinklling the ivories and it promises to be a most musical evening.
As indeed it was, the 606 taking over from Ronnie Scott's as the intimate night club to experience live music close up. I believe some of it was filmed for Youtube and there were some riotous jams and solos, not surprising with half the Breakfast Band involved!
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I told you reunions were in the air! How about this. My original band, The Global Village Trucking Company, have been invited to play in the Green Field at Glastonbury to kick-start proceedings on Thursday, June 26th. We also have a BBC documentary coming out on May 13th (BBC4 at 9pm) and we decided to capitalise and sniff out some festivals to play at this year. Not a bad start!! Glastonbury heralds the Globs Reunion! A match made in heaven! We will be performing at the primo hour of 9pm, just when most campers are arriving and wondering what to do as the main stages haven’t sparked up yet.
Well, we played on the Thursday night in the Green Field on the only solar-powered stage onsite as the rain came down and gave the ground a good soaking! It drove people into the Croissant Neuf tent and we had a fab gig, playing tunes that hadn't been aired for a good 35 years and still sounded fresh and relevant. Alot of old mates came out of the woodwork and we enjoyed ourselves immensely as did the crowd, judging from the energetic sing-alongs. Come on, admit it, who was there??
I stayed for the Friday amidst the grey gloom and lack of sun but no lack of talent and music blaring from every tent and orifice! Saw Jimmy Cliff and Estelle and KT Tunstall and the beautiful Eddie Reader but unfortaunately had to leave early on Saturday, just as the sun finally made a glorious appearance.
We do now have a Myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/globalvillagetruckingcompany2008
Watch this space for more festivals.
OK, who saw the documentary on BBC4 entitled "What Happened Next"? It slavishly mirrored the doc originally made of the band and lifestyle in 1974, including comparing the same musical songs and personnel, who spoke up in true psycho-babble style. We really believed that we would change the world and the Beeb wnated to know how! This led to........
Indeed, more festivals including Bloom in Cheltenham on August 8-10th. We should be playing on the Friday 8th at a lovely upcoming festival in it's early development. Also on the horizon is the Hamswell festival in Bath on August 15-17th, dates not confirmed. There's also talk of recording new tunes and re-issuing and re-vamping old recordings and re-visiting the scene of our infamous (and filmed) reunion gig in Leytonstone at the Loaded Dog...........
We did indeed fulfill our festival obligations as The Global Village Trucking Company and alot of fun it was too. Bloom was tiny compared to Glastonbury but massive compared to Hamswell. We were the first band on at Bloom, just outside Cheltenham and the weather wasn't and hasn't been kind to most of this year's festivals and we played a somewhat curtailed set which was filmed and recorded. Hamswell was in a lovely valley outside Bath and it really was 1 stage and a couple of food tents. As we arrived, the wind was whipping up and the rain (inevitable) sleeting in and the only way down to the site was with a 4 wheel drive and an open trailer. As the fan belt on my motorhome had snapped on the way there from London, we were late for our slot but it mattered not a jot as this was one laid back event! When we did eventually take to the stage, it was like going back in time to the 70's (when we had originally plied our wares), with a scattering of folk and kids and not much between us and the audience. It actually turned into a good vibe and we could have jammed out on one number all night and called on the god of psychedelia to see us through. Oh, we did!!
One further gig planned this summer, before our drummer returns to Rio next month, is likely to be at the Loaded Dog on Leytonstone High Street, so watch this space and say that you were there!
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More dates all over Europe with Steve Harley, the first being in Norway at the Lillehammer Festival in May and various UK venues including the O2 arena in June (see Steve Harley website)
Did a great if short tour with Steve Harley and the Cockney boys and Steve claimed it was his most enjoyable one yet as the tunes segued one after the other and the energy levels never flagged. More to come!
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CARNIVAL MESSIAH UPDATE!!
After that wonderful performance on the grounds of Harewood house, Nr Leeds last September (see eulogy below), it turns out that The Roundhouse are seriously interested in staging Carnival Messiah for next Christmas, 2008!! What a treat that would be and a perfect site to perform in. Watch this space....
Well, it turns out that The Roundhouse are cooling their interest in staging Carnival Messiah but the show has another opportunity to attract buyers and venues when we feature excerpts at The Royal Albert Hall, Monday July 7th. It's all part of the BITC or Business in the Community annual awards ceremony, where prizes are given out to those who have shown initiaitive and helped their local communities and among the speakers/presenters is Sir Michael Parkinson.
For more info, go to www.harewood.org or check out this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/articles/2007/03/20/abolition
Well, we have been hard at it, rehearsing for 3 weeks and opening night was last Friday 14th. Standing ovations have followed and we run until Sep 30th A more splendid and surreal surroundings you will not encounter every day. The big top, (and ladies and gentlemen, it really is a big top, seating capacity 950 and room to spare), is situated on the grounds of Harewood House, which acts as a backdrop to daily parades as the carnival spirit of performers, drummers, actors and dancers ambush the public as they leave their cars!
Really folks, you won't see a show like it and I do urge you to check out the link listed above.....
A lot of Trinidadian performers have come over specially for the show and the cast was a wonderful blend of Trinis, West Indian/Asians from Leeds and Anglos (folk like me). Right up my street!!
Well, we had a humongous humdinger (try saying that fast!) of a time with Carnival Messiah. Biggest show in the UK!! It was enormous fun, enjoyed by nearly 1000 people every night of our 21 show run, situated on the grounds of Harewood house, just outside Leeds. The cast itself was over 100 strong, with a 14 piece band, choir, community chorus, dancers, singers, actors not to mention the stage crew and steel band who nearly stole the show each night with their rendition of the Hallelujah chorus. Handel's Messiah will never sound the same!
Imagine some of the best loved choral pieces of classical music re-arranged to reggae, soca, calypso and bhangra beats. Sensational stuff and "I know my redeemer liveth" was accompanied by theWest African Kora harp. Truly sublime and inspired moments and what a combination of performers. The backstage tent area was awash with local Leeds youth, black and white plus many Trinidadians and artists from Ghana, Poland, US, Romania and Gambia. And the whole thing was filmed for DVD....
The Roundhouse came to see it and expressed interest in staging it in London and representatives from Pennsylvania State University and Australian theatre (Adelaide festival) were bowled over by the sheer scale and size not to mention performance.
In short, it was the largest and most spectacular event I've ever had the privelege to be involved with and the only way I could follow that brief but equally wonderful flirt with the Stones rock royalty...
What a summer!!
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THIS JUST IN!!
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel have been booked to support the Rolling Stones for their shows in Warsaw on July 25th and St Petersburg on July 28th at the Palace Sq!
See: www.steveharley.com for more info
Should be quite a week!!
And what a week it was!!
Started at Highgrove, playing for Camilla's 60th with party band Saloon Star. They were all there, high-kicking and Riverdancing into the night, Princess Anne and daughter Zara being particularly impressive on the dance floor. And William was the last to leave, exhorting the band for one final effort deep into the early hours.
Then, there was barely time to catch breath before flying to Warsaw for the first of 2 shows with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, supporting The Rolling Stones.One word for it. Frigging AWESOME!! Even if you aren't a fan, and I followed them in the early days but not so much recently, you couldn't fail to be gobsmacked by the sheer scale and scope of the set-up. That stage! It has long, elongated wings and a centre where the musicians are mostly playing and then, halfway through the show, the middle part moves hydraulically forward, way, way out into the crowd until the boys are playing in the round. The Stones miss the sense of intimacy from a club gig, something they can never go back to, and so created this feat of engineering. There are 2 stages on the go during tours, so the next stage was being set up in St Petersburg, our future destination.
A word must go to the passionate Poles; they didn't really know Steve's songs but responded lustily and gave a grand cheer at the end of our show. It was just getting dark as we finished and 40.000 were crowded round the end of a horse racing track of a venue to hear the boys. And what an entrance. Fireworks and lasers coming out of the massive tower-block of a lighting rig and then, lit up on the big screen,was Keith, slashing out the chords to "Start me up". There was no holding back and Mick and the boys gave a consummate lesson in showmanship, Mick running and leaping around the stage like a teenager. He has to go into training mode weeks before a tour but they all looked lean and mean and delivered the template on rock n roll performances!
On to St Petersburg. The jewel of Eastern Europe and this time, we were pitching camp in the Tsar's winter palace, the Hermitage Square. The stage was surrounded by this beautiful green-walled palace and the square could accomodate 60,000, the number predicted. In truth, they could've let in many more.
It was harder work winning over those surly Russkies and we had some technical problems, but I still had to keep pinching myself that I was really here, playing in such surroundings! It being northern Europe, night wasn't scheduled to fall till around 11.30pm and I wondered how the Stones would look without those driving lights. Before their show, they graciously agreed to have a photo shoot with us and were very appreciative and thanked us for coming and being part of the tour. Charlie came into the dressing room (we were warming up) and personally thanked us all and commented on how much he enjoyed us the other night.
"Where were we?", asked Mr Watts.
"Warsaw, Charlie", we replied. "You guys were great! How was it for you?"
"Oh yeah, Poland, wasn't it? How was it? Dunno really, I just bash around for 2 hours and then move on to the next one!"
A real gentleman, that Charlie Watts, if a little forgetful! Ronnie Wood also came in and said hello; he knew Jim Creegan, who was playing guitar with us for the Russian show, from Rod Stewart days; Jim replaced Ronnie when he left to join the Stones. Small world!
The Stones have their own, specially constructed and decorated backstage bar called the Rattlesnake Bar and we all had passes and it was fun to eat delicious fare offered by the excellent catering staff and mingle with the Stones' guests and backing musicians. We even had sturgeon in St Petersburg but sadly no caviar. We watched the Stones for the second time in a reserved enclosure for guests, among whom were Tom Stoppard, Alan Yentob, Mariella Frostrup and other luminaries who I didn't recognise or couldn't put a name to.
We left Russia the next day and we were all rather shell-shocked and buzzing from the enormity of the shows we'd just been part of. I suppose it's the ultimate rock n roll gig, playing with/supporting the Rolling Stones and I felt priveleged to have made the trip. The corporate company that is The Rollong Stones shows no sign of abating or failing to rake in the punters and they are responsible for moving a small army every time they go on the road and move from country to continent. They sure as hell pour alot of their profits back into the presentation of their show and it's a miracle of design and syncopation.
One quirk; when you can have anything money can buy, why do they not cover the stage? Three quarters of the stage isn't covered, but apparently, they like it like that, performing come rain and shine. One time, Van Morrisson was supporting them and it really bucketed down and after 3 numbers, Van picked up his sax, blew a note and a cascade of water came out the spout!
"Right, that's it, boys, we're getting off!" But with the Stones, the show must and does go on!! Mick turned 64 the day after Warsaw and Keith followed suit 2 days later in St P. And I expect they'll be doing it into their 70's! Good luck to them and what great memories!!
We did a great Steve Harley/Cockney Rebel show for the Countryside Alliance up at Highclere Castle last week-end.with Stevie Winwood, Eric Clapton, Bryan Ferry and Jones Gang (drummer Kenny Jones). It's funny how these young rock n roll rebels have now become landed gentry and want to preserve the countryside ways. Look, I'm not in any way Pro-Hunt (or particularly against); I think there's been far too much attention and time debating this not very important issue in the great scheme of things and I just wanted to hear my childhood heroes and we all hobknobbed back stage. Fab fun and fine music, Winwood playing bass with Hammond bass pedals and my old mate, Richard Bailey, providing a Caribbean groove behind Stevie's timeless tunes.
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I will continue working part-time at the Arcola Theatre in Dalston, (off Kingsland Rd) providing original live music for various shows.
I have just finished composing, producing and recording a theme tune for Tiata Fahodzi's 10th Anniversary.
(See www.tiatafahodzi.com)
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I have enjoyed doing live music for theatre and there are plans to do more this year and next. I will be adding rythms to Greenwich and Lewisham Young People's Theatre as they prepare rehearsals for show entitled Mister Juba. I find that, increasingly, my various and varied percussion instruments filling up my music room at home, are being put to good use and there will be workshops for the youth. Long may it continue!
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Along with private piano and percussion tuition, recording sessions for some wonderful up and coming singers and friends and national and international gigs and tours, things are building up again nicely this year. As soon as any new developments (well) develop, you, my dear readers and log-onners, will be the first to know! And there are exciting schemes bubbling under ready to explode!!
I've also written a diary/travelogue about 2006 trip/holiday to Egypt, Land of the Pharaohs and writing about 2007 trip to Mauritius!! Someone has to do it!
See Projects
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WOW!!
Alot of plans and (see projects site) projects!
© 2005 James Lascelles | Design by David Ahmed