Saturday, August 8, 2009

Stephane Grappelli - New Orleans 1986



Here's a video I found on YouTube of a show I did in New Orleans with Stephane Grappelli many years ago.

It says it was filmed in 1984, however, I think it was 1986.

I was 30 years old at the time, and very proud of that suit and very hip white shoes that laced up at the sides. It was filmed quite well, but I think the sound engineer had his ears painted on.

We were told by our US agent at the time that it was only being filmed for local TV, but since then it has appeared on many TV stations around the world, been released as a video, then on DVD.

Stephane, myself, Marc Fosset and Patrice Caratini never recieved the fee we were promised. That's show buisiness folks!

Enjoy it.......this one's on me!


Thursday, August 6, 2009

Le Weekend

I've just played two great shows with the French guitar virtuoso Sylvain Luc. He's incredible, and really kept me on my toes. However, my musical muscles are a bit tired after such a hard workout, and I've retreated to my Buddhist Kuti at the bottom of my garden to rid my mind of all those altered diminished inversions and meditate on suffering, impermanence, and non-self.
I will probably re-appear into daylight some time after "Le Weekend" fully recovered and ready to take on Monsieur Luc again. En garde et courage mon brave!

Dinner with Jennifer

I had dinner with my niece Jennifer a couple of nights ago when I was playing at Oran Mor in Glasgow. She's doing well singing in a couple of bands. Not well enough though to stop her uncle from picking up the tab at the end of the night. Some things never change!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Shows in Scotland


I'm in Scotland for 3 shows. Last Saturday Alison Burns and I played a really enjoyable concert at Oran Mor, Glasgow.
On Tuesday 4th I'm playing at the Nairn Jazz Festival with the French guitar virtuoso Sylvain Luc, then the next evening Sylvain and I are playing at The Hub in Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Jazz Festival.
I can tell I'm back home because everyone's moaning about the rain, despite the fact that the sun is shining and I'm writing this sitting in my garden in a t-shirt drinking a cup of tea. I must live is some kind of paralel universe to everybody else in this country because the weather is beautiful.