February Round-up

My February started with a trip up to Blackpool to play at the new Sands Venue.  My journey was not without problems... a cancelled train service to Manchester resulted in my traversing the country on 5 different trains to make it to Blackpool for the sound check.  Thanks to a reliable East Coast service, I made it, and was even in time to take these pictures:

The glitz and glamour of the Sands Venue

And the view behind - Blackpool pier and the North Sea

The gig was great - The Sands Swing band lead by trumpeter Neil Shatliff, playing a typical selection of jazz standards from the repertoire of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Matt Monroe.  I was sharing the stage with world-class singer Matthew Ford and it was a pleasure to meet him and also to play with some musicians that I hadn't played with since I used to live at this end of the country.

Something else about the north - and something I miss so much that I make a special concession each time I travel up this way - is the cuisine.  Here I am eating my favourite snack for the road...

Chips, cheese and gravy!

Later this month I'll be at the Sands again, this time with vocalist Mark Porter.

February continued with a lovely relaxed evening at Sam's Brasserie (if you haven't checked out this sophisticated Chiswick Sunday night jazz haunt, then do so), and an incredibly up-market set or two at The Savoy, a few games of netball, a jam session without a mic (I sang loud and high for about 2 minutes before leaving the stage!) and a session at Belgravia's Boisdale with Jools Holland himself at the bar.

And my album was launched!

My quartet and I had a fantastically successful gig at the 2011 Parliamentary Jazz Venue of the Year, Hideaway.  Read a review of the gig here.  It was during half term, and I had not had to teach that day, so as a special treat I decided to get my hair died and curled at a Salon.  The hairdresser dutifully put my curlers in which was a great idea until I had to get on a bus home and was the subject of much pointing and muttering from every single child that saw me!  And it didn't stop there... when I got to the venue - with 5 bags on my back, and hair still in curlers - the manager saw me at the door and turned to her companion, muttering, "Uh oh, look at that crazy lady.  I hope she's not trying to get in here!"  She was quite apologetic when she realised it was me turning up for my soundcheck!

Photo by Mark Channer

Music photographer Mark Channer took some super shots (his website is here), and there are still copies of the album available on my website: www.sarahellenhughes.co.uk/discography

January News

So, we're truly immersed in the winter of 2012.  February seems to be the month for snow, where January was mild and tame(ish).

I started off the new year by going to bed at about 12:01 having been exhausted by Christmas!  At least I saw the new year in.

Then came the first of my four January reviews for the LondonJazz Blog - I had the pleasure of going to see NYJO first, followed by the Guildhall Jazz Singers, American singer Rachel Gould, and the legend that is Mark Murphy (which hasn't been published yet).

As well as all this writing, I've had a few gigs of my own:

A genuine shriek while trying
to pose for a picture!

A sophisticated evening of jazz with my pianist Rick Simpson at the Archduke, which was a good warm-up to some cold birthday ice-skating the following day.  I did not fall over once.  (For those clever clogs of you out there, no, this doesn't mean that I fell over more than once!)

I was pleased to be invited back to sing at The City Pipe the following Friday, despite it being Friday 13th.  Apparently I was the only singer who wanted to take that date!  The City Pipe has free Friday jazz on every week, and they have just purchased a piano, so it looks like jazz is in their long term plans.  The gig was great - the only downside being that because it was free, I had to compete with a very very very noisy drinks party in the adjacent area.  Shushing them did not help!

I'm back at The City Pipe on April 20th.

Singing with the City Pipe house band.

A crowded City Pipe.

The rest of January was quite quiet, giving me a chance to write some music, do some rehearsing, go on a make-up course, and enjoy a Sunday roast at a lunchtime jazz gig - a beautiful change to running around the country day and night.  Here's to a relaxing February too!

Top Ten Quiz Team Names

Last week we went to a quiz night on a whim... which turned out to be actually quite good.  Interesting questions and well-organised rounds.  (It was at the Grape and Grain in Crystal Palace which incidentally also does a great Sunday lunchtime jazz session.)

One of the rounds was a hoopla for a bottle of wine, which involved 4 seemingly randomly-picked teams.  I asked the quizmaster later how he picked the lucky 4.  "The ones with the best team names," he said.  "But we are called Quizzie Rascal!" I protested, to which he replied, "Yes, I hear that one all the time." .  Oh, ok.  Well then I better get thinking of better ones.  I've only got 5.  Help anyone?

1.  Quzzie Rascal - brilliant although apparently not original enough
2.  The Quizzarss of Oz
3.  Born again quiztians - or should it be "born again quiz-teams"?!
4.  The quiztal maze
5.  Quiz-team Aguilera (I bet he's heard that one before too!)

I'm trying to start a trend with this on Twitter so if you have any good ideas then you could tweet them to me (@Sarehug) using the hash tag #goodquizteamnames if you so desire!

Farewell 2011

January

I did lots of travelling in 2011, and it all started with a trip to Swansea Jazzland in mid January.  It was a fantastic way to start the year, and great to visit Swansea, where some of my family were originally from, and still live.  I wrote about it at the time and you can read the article here: http://www.sarahellenhughes.blogspot.com/2011/02/swansea-jazzland.html


February

At Seven Jazz.  Photo by Tom Swire

As a teacher it's difficult to get work around the UK in term time, so during February half term I managed to cram 8 gigs into the week, flitting between Manchester and Yorkshire.  From supporting Denis Rollins at the Scarborough Arts Festival, playing two gigs with Manchester maestro Jeremy Sassoon, to my first booking at Manchester's Club 43, to making a second appearance at Seven Jazz, to travelling home from Leeds overnight in order to teach at 11 the next morning, it certainly was eventful!

For a more detailed and wittier round-up, here's my original article: http://www.sarahellenhughes.blogspot.com/2011/02/another-northern-tour.html


March

The Sector7 singers at our launch gig.

My proudest moment in March was the launch of my group Sector7.  We had a fantastic launch gig at the 606 Club, and since then have played at the London Jazz Festival, Pizza Express Dean Street, toured to Lancaster, and have plans in 2012 for a tour to Germany.  Have a look at our website to keep up to date: www.sector7.org.uk, or join us on facebook: www.facebook.com/sector7jazz.

In the studio - Darren top left,
Rick bottom left,
Derek's empty chair top right,
Me and Dave O'Higgins bottom right.

Also in March, I recorded my second album.  As an indicator for how long things take in the process of making a CD, I finally finished the vocals and production in August, got a physical copy in my hand in September, and will be launching it in February!









April

Once again I travelled to Lithuania in April.  This was to perform at the 2011 vocal competition which I won in 2010.  Read my account of it here: http://www.sarahellenhughes.blogspot.com/2011/05/weekend-in-lithuania.html
I had a great time.

There were posters of me everywhere!

May

Travelling again in May.  This time to:

BBC Radio Kent with Sector7...

...Abergavenny with the Dolphin Quintet  
(Click on the image to purchase this live charity CD)

...Wakefield Jazz Club with Dave O'Higgins

...Swindon for a charity event

... And to Bradford Jazz Club, where I got perhaps my favourite review ever!  It's on their website - scroll down to about the 6th paragraph down and there I am.

June

June started with glorious sun in Nice (holiday - not singing unfortunately), then turned into the wettest month I can remember - or maybe my memory is influenced by the fact that I had three outdoor gigs which were an utter washout.  I also travelled up to Menai Bridge for a gig at the North Wales Jazz Society.

The Menai Bridge.

Catching the rain in Regent's Park
- The Taste of London Festival

July

In July I continued my experience in jazz singing competitions.  I was invited to the semi-final at Montreux Jazz Festival vocal competition.  I didn't win anything, but got to meet Quincy Jones, and managed to get this amazing quote from him: "You reminded me of Billie Holiday."  Sadly, he was referring to the flowers in my hair rather than anything else, but still - he said it!

Quincy Jones and me.

August

Not much to report in August, as I was scared out of London by the riots.  But I had a lovely weekend in South Wales playing some jazz and pop with a local band.

September

My album was finally delivered, just in time to start jetting off around the country to promote it.  There were so many gigs and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them!  Pontypool, Hereford, Ilminster, Aylesbury, Cardiff, Porthcawl and Didcot.

Read the reports here:
Pontypool
Hereford
Ilminster and Aylesbury
Cardiff, Porthcawl and Didcot

Sector7 performing at the London Jazz Festival 2011

October and November

In October and November, we continued the tour, going North to Newcastle, East to Norwich, West to Abergavenny and South to Jersey.

Pictures by Dave Ohm

I probably spent about 6 hours documenting my trips!  There are too many to link to here, but they're all on my home page so all you need to do is scroll down from here and you'll find the summaries for the entire tour.

November was also the month of the London Jazz Festival, and Sector7 were invited to be one of only four bands performing at the festival venue The Green Man.  Drummer Dave Ohm took some pictures (not from the band stand - he was in the audience!)





December

And finally, to finish off the year, my big band was invited back to Ruislip Manor.  We've been there 4 times now in total, and should be there again in 2012.  I'm holding out for another December gig, as I'm developing quite a collection of Christmas tunes.

Here's the Ruislip Manor website, where you can find a review of the band: http://www.jazzupstairs.comxa.com/

So that's my round-up of 2011.  Roll on 2012!

8 days...

Monday 7th November.

Time: 06:30.  Place: Peckham. Bus stand 436.  Destination: Victoria Coach station, for a 4.5 hour journey to Manchester.  Unfortunately the bus timetables never seem to account for traffic, so by the time I arrived in Manchester it was well past 1pm.

I had arrived to start a week of gigs based in the North West, continuing the promotion of my second album.  I am particularly drawn to the North West because my sister lives there, so I have a spare floor to sleep on whenever required.  Sadly, my sister will soon be moving to Cardiff... so South Wales, expect to see more of me!

The first gig of the week was at the Wilmslow Conservative Club.  I was treated to a fantastic local rhythm section, and although the place wasn't full, the select audience was appreciative and interested.  Unfortunately for me, I was coming to the end of a cold (which had started at the end of September), so singing wasn't very easy. Luckily, the band were happy to play plenty of tunes without me so I had the opportunity to rest.  Not what I wanted at the start of a busy week of gigs!

At the Royal British Legion in Llay - North Wales Jazz Society.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday featured a local band of my choice - some fantastic musicians I regularly work with when in this area.  We travelled to Wrexham, Kendal and Bury, sampling some excellent local ale, and being blessed with some great audiences and well-organised venues.

Underneath my poster at The Met, Bury.

Friday 11th November

Towards the end of the week, I travelled down to Cambridge for a concert at the Mumford Theatre at Anglia Ruskin University.  It was brilliant! (This venue has made it into my Top Ten this month).  A fab little theatre, with a good following for their lunchtime concerts - probably helped by the varied program of professional groups they program each week.

My picture was selected as the one to advertise the entire concert series!

I was lucky enough to spend the Saturday relaxing at Center Parcs for a friend's 30th birthday, as I had the night off, but Sunday launched me straight back into work again, starting with a 3-hour drive to Hull (following a 30-minute walk to my car - I don't know if you've ever been to Center Parcs, but the car park is miles away!)

First Stop: Pave Bar, Hull.  I had played here before during my last tour in 2010, and that time it was full of Tiger fans, waiting to go to their final game of the season before being relegated.  Luckily this year, Hull City were in no such predicament so we had a relatively peaceful gig with a great ambience and interested audience.

Pave Bar, Hull.  Gavin warming up.

Second Stop: Grove Inn Jazz Club, Leeds.

Again, this was another revisit.  Not such a great audience, but a great gig nonetheless - fantastic to play with my Northern Band who I don't get to gig with much, and good to be back in Leeds.  The only downside of this was that I had to drive back to Hitchin afterwards, which is 34 junctions on the M1.  I slept well that night!

Jersey 2011

Last weekend, we returned to Jersey for a Jazz supper concert at the Radisson Blu Hotel in St Helier.  Apparently, the hotel is one of the most hated buildings on the island, as it's got such a strange and large design that the locals detest it.  However, once you're inside it's wonderful - and of course, it's the best place to be on the island because it's one place that you can't see the hotel!

We arrived in the afternoon, ready for our concert in the evening, and departed by lunchtime the next day.  A flying visit, but plenty of time to take pictures...

Cool clouds from the plane.

You could be forgiven for thinking we were about to land on
an exotic Mediterranean island!

Jersey has an interesting history, and we had some
time to see the island.

On the red carpet at our gig.

To see more pictures, and to keep up to date with regular touring, find me on facebook: www.facebook.com/sarehug.

Top Ten... Venues On Tour

Throughout September, October and November, I've been on tour with my quartet, promoting our new album "The Story So Far." (Stuck for a Christmas present? - buy it on Amazon or on my website!)

We've been high and low, far and wide, and have visited a great mix of venues all over the country.  It's a difficult task, but I've managed to whittle down all the gigs into my 10 favourite venues of the album tour 2011...

On stage at Cornerstone Arts Centre.

1. Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot

This was one of the first dates of the tour, and it was a wonderful venue to play at.  The fact that it was a gloriously sunny day and I arrived with 3 hours to spare helped the overall ambience, but we were exceptionally well looked-after, and the venue had done a fantastic job of advertising to ensure a good audience.  A thoroughly enjoyable evening!

Mumford Theatre.  This is not my 'nines' outfit!

2. Mumford Theatre, Cambridge

We played the lunchtime concert at the Mumford Theatre, which is part of the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, on Remembrance Day.  There was an amazing turn-out - over 200 people - which was one of the largest audiences they'd had all year!  As it was a lunchtime concert, we had to fit all our chosen repertoire into only 50 minutes, and my band did a superb job of delivering slick arrangements in the allocated time.  It was such a special day in the tour and a very memorable one, although a little bizarre and disorienting to be dressed up to the nines at lunchtime (as my pianist said on the way home: “This is so weird… I feel like I should be heading to bed!”)

Outside The Met, Bury

3. The Met, Bury

As a touring singer, I play at quite a few theatres, but never before have I been featured in lights on the sign outside!  The Met, Bury, had done a fantastic advertising campaign, and as such had sold out the show, apart from 3 seats.  Add to this the fact that they served me the best Southern Fried Chicken I’ve ever had, (none of this KFC nonsense!) and this gig definitely has to make the top 3!

The Lion

4. Lion, Nottingham

This is the second tour for which I've played at The Lion in Nottingham.  The first gig, in June 2010, was great fun, and as such was one of the first gigs I re-booked for the 2011 tour.  The Lion is a fantastic Sunday lunchtime jazz venue - excellent roast dinners, great local ale (for my bass player fanatic, not me!) and free entry, it's a quality weekly gig.

Unusually, I didn't take any pictures in Kendal -
even though my band will tell you I'm addicted to my camera!

5.Kendal Jazz Club

I had tried to get a gig at Kendal Jazz Club in 2010 when on my first album tour.  However, they are such a popular club that they had been booked up well in advance, and so I had to wait until 2011.  Well worth the wait, though, and I can see why it's such a popular club.  Good room, knowledgeable and helpful promoters, and a great sound leant themselves to a lovely gig.  Being back in Kendal was great too - I used to live in Lancaster so there were quite a few locals who came along that I used to know 7 years ago.  Thank you for making the return so enjoyable!  (There's a review here - scroll down to the bottom and I'm under the December heading)

Me on the big screen at Stratford Jazz Club

6. Stratford Jazz Club

As with Kendal, Stratford Jazz Club is booked up months and months in advance, so I had been waiting for this gig for nearly a year when it came along.  Stratford Jazz Club is held at number one Shakespeare Street, in The Chapel ("A Shrine Of Entertainment") which is an inviting room with a good stage, good sound and various nooks and crannies for the audience to ponder.  The only trouble with this gig was the timing - we were playing at the end of the Stratford Music Week, so the potential audience had already had the choice of various superstars of the jazz world that week, and only a few of them turned up to see little old me!  Nevertheless, it was a great gig, and I'd love to return another time, when not competing with the best jazz names in the business.  (This gig was review too - catch up with all the tour reviews on www.sarahellenhughes.co.uk/reviews)

On stage at Black Mountain Jazz.  If you look closely there's
the sign indicating the Old Town Wall behind us - Circa 1200.

7. Black Mountain Jazz

A trip to Abergavenny is always right up my street, and this time I was looking forward to featuring my drummer Darren Altman with local musicians Dave Cottle (owner of Swansea Jazzland) and Alun Vaughan.  The difficulty of touring an album is that you're expected to - and I want to - play tunes from the album, some of which may be particularly difficult.  But that just makes it all the more exciting!  Two of my arrangements - an original called Busy Bee (listen here) and Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm - are not for the faint-hearted sight-reader, and entailed a collective sigh of relief at the end of each.
Black Mountain Jazz is held in the back room of the King's Arms, which is an interesting place because the wall providing the backdrop for the bandstand is actually the ancient town wall.

Club 43 after our gig.

8. Club 43

This venue was another re-visit for my band, after playing a successful gig there in February.  I am always impressed with Club 43 in its food, ambience, and ability to set up the evening so that the audience really listen rather than chatting over their dinner - even without a compère to ask the audience to button it!  Club 43 is named after the 1950s Manchester Club, which was something of a late night hang for the jazz stars who had been playing in the city earlier that night.  The present day Club 43 is now a jazz supper club, but it still has bags of charm, and I hope to re-return one day!

Enjoying the Green Man.

9. Green Man Norwich

On entering the Green Man in Norwich, I was disheartened to find a low-ceilinged country pub as the setting for this jazz club.  (Nothing wrong with this - except that in similar venues, the ceiling has been so low that the bass player has got his bass wedged underneath the roof!)  I thought too soon, however, as on walking through the pub, a vast back room greeted me, with balconies adorned with all sorts of musical instruments, a piano on stage, and many seats set out jazz-club-style.  The gig continued to be fantastic from this minute on.

After the gig at NC Jazz.

10. NC Jazz

I have never sold such a high volume of CDs as I have at Northampton Contemporary Jazz Club (unless you count my sister taking them round and forcing people to buy!)  This is quite often indicative of a successful gig, so our concert in October was certainly successful.  We were playing in a small room off the main theatre, and competing with Ian Shaw supporting Rory Bremner, so I was thrilled with a lovely venue, and an attentive audience.

Roll on Tour 2012!