GOOD EVENING! And welcome to… THE GIG REVIEW!

This is a brand new, freshly-baked feature in the Michael A. Grant Blogging Universe, in which I will be taking a wry look at the preceding month’s performances, sharing some of my sublime and ridiculous adventures, and – who knows? – maybe even learning some life lessons along the way.

January tends to be a bit of a dull time for everybody, and the same is very much true for musicians. Gone are the slew of Christmas parties, and the excitement of New Year’s Eve (the best gigging day of the year, even though admittedly it’s a while since I’ve taken advantage of that) already seems like a distant memory. And yet the upcoming fun of summer parties, weddings, festivals and country fayres is still little more than a glimmer on the horizon. What we’re left with is this really boring season where not much happens, no-one tends to do anything, and it’s cold and dark to boot!

Tempting though it may be to simply make like a hedgehog and curl up in a nice warm pile of leaves for a few months, there is still plenty to be gained from the fallow winter period. While things are quiet, it provides the ideal opportunity to catch up on some of those pesky admin tasks that are so readily neglected the rest of the year: doing the accounts, updating websites (I’ll get round to it soon, I promise!), servicing instruments, finishing off abandoned projects (case in point here)… And yes, sometimes even practising! Don’t forget also that this is the time of year for planning, and consequently there are plenty of emails to respond to from people booking entertainment for their upcoming summer events. It’s a bit like gardening really: there may not be many flowers around in January, but if you set to work planting enough seeds then by the time the summer comes round you’ll have a beautiful garden filled with thriving blooms.

The flowers are gigs, by the way. And the seeds are emails. I was being poetic.

That said, it’s not as though this month has been entirely devoid of musical activity. I’ve had a number of opportunities to exercise my lungs, lips, tongue, fingers, brain, ears, eyes and so forth. Let me, then, take you through this month’s gigs to see what wisdom may be gleaned!
 

My first performance of the year was a somewhat downbeat affair, in terms of mood if not in music, as it saw me playing for a funeral all the way over in Great Yarmouth. (You see, I use the phrase ‘Far East’ in a UK-wide scale, not global. I was actually tempted, while in the area, to drop in on the nearby town of Lowestoft – which as I’ve learnt from pub quizzes is the most eastern point of the country – but I didn’t really fancy any additional driving that day for obvious reasons.)

The instrument of choice for this occasion was alto saxomophone, on which I played a range of swing and big-band classics to give a positive vibe to the wake. This gig also saw the inaugural use of my new gadget: a Behringer MPA40BT speaker, through which my synthetic backing band could be heard giving it their all.

The day after the funeral I went all the way to Exeter (!!!) for my first gig of the year with The Jelly Roll Jazz Band. This saw us playing background trad. jazz for a wedding reception in a big country house – a situation that we feel very much at-home in! We had a lovely time and were widely appreciated, which is always nice. Then (after a brief detour to Cornwall to visit relatives) I made my merry way back up to Manchester, thus completing an absurdly gigantic triangle:


By the way, if you haven’t already you may like to see our latest Jelly Roll video – a performance of ‘Mister Sandman’ from way back in August. The gods of YouTube must be smiling on us because it’s garnered over 600 views and 25 likes in only 4 weeks!
 

Bolton’s leading Dixieland jazz band kicked off their year in style on 25th with a show at our regular haunt of Didsbury Cricket Club. We did face one or two teething problems – namely, having to send someone all the way back to Bolton to pick up a snare drum that had been left behind – but despite the setbacks we managed to woo, wow and whoa the audience with aplomb.

We’ll be back playing in Didsbury on the following dates, by the way, if you find yourself looking for a jazzy night out in South Manchester:
 

The thing about music is, it’s all about having a balanced diet, and I managed to fill my ‘classical’ quota for January by joining Stockport Symphony Orchestra for their first concert of 2024. It was an entirely French programme consisting of some fanfare by Dukas, Ravel’s exquisite ‘Pavane pour une infante défunte’ (I bet he gave himself the rest of the day off after he came up with that tune), Debussy’s watery ‘La Mer’, and Berlioz’ overlong but nonetheless dramatic ‘Symphonie Fantastique’.

It’s always a privilege to lend a hand in the clari section of SSO – one of the biggest, best and baddest (in the good sense) orchestras in the area. It was especially nice to re-acquaint myself with the Eb clari part for the last movement of the Berlioz, which I last played during my time in Durham University Symphony Orchestra, and get another bash at the famous twiddly solo that we all know and love.

 
 
All of which brings me to the end of the January 2024 gig review! See you next month for more retrospective fun.

Gig of the Month
It has to be Stockport Symphony Orchestra’s concert on 27th in Stockport Town Hall. A tiring programme but tremendous to be part of such an immense ensemble.

What We’ve Learned
Great Yarmouth is a very long way away. From everywhere.