Alex Munk's Flying Machines come to York & Sheffield

Guitarist Alex Munk will bring his new quartet to perform in York and Sheffield next week.

Munk graduated from LCoM in 2009 before moving to London to study a Masters at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Since then he has worked extensively as a sideman for a long list of internationally renowned musicians which includes Stan Sulzmann, Trish Clowes, Ivo Neame and Gwilym Simcock.

Flying Machines was formed in 2014 a vehicle for Munk's compositions. The band includes bassist Conor Chaplin, pianist Matt Robinson and drummer Dave Hamblett. The group have recently recorded their debut album (Alex's first as a leader) and it is set for release in 2016.

Audiences in the North will have the chance to hear the band at The Phoenix in York on October 20th and at the Lescar in Sheffield on October 21st.

For more information on Alex and to listen to Flying Machines, visit his website.

New album and tour for Beats & Pieces

Beats & Pieces received huge amounts of praise for their first album, Big Ideas, including a JazzFM award and a APPJAG Award for best large ensemble. Now the band are ready to do it all again with the release of their second album All In on Efpi Records.

To spread the word about this new release and play music from the album, the band will be playing gigs across the UK starting with an appearance at the Gateshead International Jazz Festival on April 11th.

Check out the band's website for more information.

Gig Dates

April 11th - GIJF, Gateshead
July 8th - Ronnie Scotts, London
September 27th - Scarborough Jazz Festival
September 29th - Dempsey's, Cardiff
September 30th - Colston Hall, Bristol
November 19th - Sheffield Uni Student Union, Sheffield

Gogo Penguin Sign to Blue Note Records

Gogo Penguin have this week announced that they have been signed to Blue Note Records, one of the world's most recognised music labels. The group will release their first album for the label in 2016.

Speaking to Jazzwise magazine, the band said

We are blown away by their passion for our music and we're looking forward to working with them to help get our sounds out to as many people as possible.

A live show is scheduled for June 12 at KOKO in London, where new material will be played ahead of the new album. For more information, see Gogo Penguin's website.

Polar Bear Announce New Album, Single and UK Dates

UK jazz luminaries Polar Bear are back with a new album Same As You and a UK tour. Despite its short gestation since the last record, the Mercury Prize shortlisted In Each And Every One, Same As You is a bold statement showing a strong vision for the band's future.

Mike Walker's Ropes Crowdfunding Project

A few weeks ago, we reported on Mike Walker's new Ropes project. Since then, the Crowdfunder page has been launched and the campaign has so far raised £2,980 of their £5,000 target.

With 30 days left to reach the target, donors can enjoy a range of incentives to pledge money including signed albums, private masterclasses and backstage passes to the launch concert.

For full information, visit the Mike Walker Ropes Crowdfunder page.

Roller Trio seek funding for second album, Fracture

Leeds-based group Roller Trio have launched an Indiegogo funding campaign to support their second album, Fracture.

Since forming two years ago, the group have received widespread acclaim including a Mercury Prize nomination, the prestigious Peter Whittingham Award and travelling across the UK and Europe to perform.

The group have decided to release their second album independently and are trying to raise a total of £5,747 to go toward mastering, artwork, manufacturing of CDs etc. To date, the campaign has raised £1,467 of their goal.

The campaign will run until November 16th and Roller Trio are offering a number of incentives to donors including signed vinyl, t-shirts, lessons and private gigs.

To find out more, see the Roller Trio Indiegogo page.

Album News: Mike Walker's Ropes

Guitarist Mike Walker will release a new album in 2015 as a follow up to his critically acclaimed debut, Madhouse and the Whole Thing There.

Ropes will feature music originally commissioned by Manchester Jazz Festival in 2008 and features a 22 piece string orchestra alongside a jazz quintet featuring Les Chisnall, Iain Dixon, Adam Nassbaum and Steve Rodby.

A fundraising gig will take place on November 8th at the Cinnamon Club in Manchester to raise funds for the creation of the album and a Kickstarter campaign will also be launched. This gig will feature Mike with Les Chisnall, Iain Dixon, Gary Culshaw and Tom Higham. Tickets cost £20 and all proceeds go to making the new album.

To keep up to date with news on this album and Mike's other projects, see his website.

Metamorphic & Royst Kickstarter Campaign

Following on from a successful collaborative tour in 2013, Laura Cole's Metamorphic and Royst Trio led by Kari Bleivik have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to produce an album together.

The 2013 tour coincided with the release of Metamorphic's second album, Coalescence (which received a 4-star review from John Fordham) and was supported by the PRS foundation. The two groups performed together to critical acclaim and now wish to bring the musicians back together to made a studio album of original music.

With Metamorphic bandleader Laura Cole knowing the members of Norwegian vocal trio Royst (www.roystrio.com) from her time in Leeds, they decided to create a tour where both groups would come together, writing new material and rearranging previous work. The lineup was made complete with very special guests Seth Bennett (www.sethbennett.com) on double bass and Ollie Dover (www.shatnersbassoonband.com) on bass clarinet. The result of this collaboration was a special musical chemistry, leaving a profound mark on all involved (as you can see from the photo). Here's a great review of the Royst/Metamorphic gig at the Vortex on 25/06/13, which was the official album launch gig for Coalescence (http://blueflamingo.eu/music/reviewmetamorphicroysttriovortex/).

The Kickstarter fund would allow the musicians to pay for studio and rehearsal time, sound engineer and mixing/mastering amongst other things. Their target is £2,000 and the campaign ends on 24th October.

More information can be found on the Metamorphic & Royst trio Kickstarter page.

Album Review: Pete Lyons LX:V

Pete Lyons – LX suite – LX:V – the quintet

Personnel:

Pete Lyons (tenor sax)

John Hulme (trumpet/flugelhorn)

Dan Whieldon (piano)

Gavin Barras (double bass)

Johnny Hunter (drums)

Saxophonist Pete Lyons has been an integral part of the Sheffield jazz scene for many years, both as a player performing regularly and as a part of the long-established Sheffield Jazz Workshop. To mark his 60^th birthday, Lyons composed the LX suite; 19 compositions to be played by a quintet of Manchester-based musicians plus a Sheffield duo and septet. The three strands of this ambitious project were called LX:V, LX:II and LX:VII and were premiered at Sheffield Millennium Hall in April of last year. LX:V for quintet was the first of the groups to be recorded and released as an album.

Eyes Shut Tight Resonance Tour

Eyes Shut Tight, led by bassist and composer Paul Baxter, embark on their Resonance Tour (supported by the Jazz Services Touring scheme) across the UK in October and November, with 15 dates from Aberdeen to London.

Album Release: Jamie Taylor's Outside Line

Following on from his critically acclaimed playing on Jamil Sheriff's big band album Ichthyology (GLP records) guitarist Jamie Taylor has now released the debut album of his new quartet, Outside Line.