Taking time off

Following two bad bouts of flu I'm taking a couple of weeks off. If urgent, please call my cellphone.

Jamie Cullum blows up pianos

Jamie Cullum To Release New Single ‘Don’t Stop The Music’ On January 25th 2010 Through Decca/Terrified Recordings 08 Dec 09

“So we get stomping piano pop hits (I’m All Over It), supper-club R&B (a cover of Rihanna’s Don’t Stop The Music) and finger-clickin’ ruminations on the state of the planet (Wheels, If I Ruled The World). Proof the thrill is in the chase.” Q “There’s a swaggering big-band reading of Just One Of Those Things and a clever soul-jazz recasting of Rihanna’s Don’t Stop The Music, but otherwise Cullum has morphed into a kind of Britpop Randy Newman, which suits him well on the excellent I’m All Over It.”-Uncut “It takes genuine courage to revamp Soundheim’s Not While I’m Around with a flood-blooded piano-and-drums beat, and even if you are allergic to Rihanna, it is hard to resist the slinky cover of Don’t Stop the Music” - The Sunday Times On January 25th 2010 Jamie Cullum will be releasing a new single taken from his recent album “The Pursuit”. “Don’t Stop The Music” will be instantly recognizable as a Rhianna track, but with the Cullum touch. It will be available as a download only. The track has a spectacular video which involved 4 grand piano’s being blown up in a warehouse in darkest Acton. Four replica Pianos were blown up in 4 x 3 second explosions, shot at 1000 frames per second or 40 times slower than real time. The amount of light used could have powered several tower blocks. Jamie himself detonated Piano number 3. Talking about the track, Jamie says “There's a real science to choosing covers. Back when I did ‘High And Dry’ and ‘Frontin' it wasn't as common. But doing covers has always been part of my DNA as a Jazz musician. Often I'll think of a tune to do and someone else will get there first. I was going to do ‘Every Heartbeat’ by Robyn but Girls Aloud did it for Radio One! I thought ‘someone is really smart’. I did ‘Umbrella’ the day after it was released but soon enough, everyone was doing it. With ‘Don't Stop The Music’ it was the lyric that grabbed me. It is such a sexy lyric. And I was able to transform the song into something totally new sounding.” Jamie has just announced a full UK tour, his first for 5 years, which includes two nights at London’s Palladium. The dates in full are: May 2010 Friday 7th Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall Saturday 8th Edinburgh, Usher Hall Sunday 9th Dublin Olympia Tuesday 11th Newcastle, City Hall Wednesday 12th Ipswich Regent Thursday 13th Birmingham, Symphony Hall Friday 14th Liverpool, Philharmonic Sunday 16th London Palladium Monday 17th Manchester, Bridgewater Hall Tuesday 18th Sheffield, City Hall Thursday 20th Portsmouth, Guildhall Friday 21st Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall Saturday 22nd Bristol Colston Hall Sunday 23rd London Palladium For more info check out www.jamiecullum.com.

Gaza heart benefit, Nov 29

I am organising a benefit at the Bradford Playhouse (290 seats) on Nov 29 to raise funds for Palestine International Medical Aid to help buy a cardiac bypass machine for Gaza with the necessary pumps, tubing and oxygenators worth 160,000 Euros. An advanced payment of 64000 Euros has already been raised and paid. It is estimated that 300 cases of cardiothoracic surgery per year are needed in Gaza. Sending these patients abroad is not a viable option due to crossing closure, expenses, safety of transfer and family inconvenience and hardship. I wonder if you or anyone you are in contact with might be able and willing to perform at this benefit. If not 1. Could you donate autographed CDs, songbooks, DVDs etc to be auctioned at the event? 2. Do you know any other artists who might be willing to take part?
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Go well.
Karl Dallas
See the video of me singing my version of Willie Nelson's Peaceful Solution: http://willienelsonpri.com/peace/3624/a-peaceful-solution-karl-dallas.html

Mike Westbrook Glad Day - Covent Garden London - May Concert

If your software garbles this email please visit: http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/emails/glad_day_covent09.html Saint Pancras Parish Church London presents LONDON FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY CHURCH MUSIC 2009 Thursday 14th May 8 p.m. Evening Concert St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden, Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ED Mike Westbrook GLAD DAY Settings of the Poetry of William Blake texts arranged by Adrian Mitchell and Kate Westbrook The Choral Version featuring Phil Minton Kate Westbrook St Pancras Church Choir directed by Christopher Batchelor a concert dedicated to the memory of Adrian Mitchell ( 1932 - 2008 ) Mike Westbrook's acclaimed settings of William Blake's poetry began with Adrian Mitchell's TYGER, staged by the National Theatre in 1971. The new choral version brings the distinctive voices of Phil Minton and Kate Westbrook together with this fine chamber choir and a highly original quartet of jazz instrumentalists, accordionist Karen Street, violinist Billy Thompson,  Steve Berry on double bass and Westbrook himself on piano. "bold, optimistic and inspiring" The Independent www.westbrookjazz.co.uk   Tickets: £15, £10 concessions, Tel: 020 7388 1461, Email: lfccm2009@gmail.com Information: Chessy Russill lfccm2009@gmail.com tel: 07958 907708 Download booking form from this page: http://www.stpancraschurch.org/index.php?id=140 If you would rather not receive these emails, please send an e-mail to listserver@westbrookjazz.co.uk with "leave westbrookmail@westbrookjazz.co.uk" (without the inverted commas) in the subject line and you will be automatically removed from our mailing list. If you have any queries please contact us on admin@westbrookjazz.co.uk www.westbrookjazz.co.uk

Seven more Naxos Jazz Legends videos

Seven more titles have been added top the superb Naxos video collection of Jazz Legends:

• Rahsaan Roland Kirk
• Nina Simone
• Cannonball Adderley
• Bill Evans
• Lionel Hampton
• Sonny Rollins and
• Oscar Peterson.

Trailers may be viewed by clicking on the following links:

• http://web11.streamhoster.com/naxosusa/jazz_icons3_trailers/kirk.wmv
• http://web11.streamhoster.com/naxosusa/jazz_icons3_trailers/simone.wmv
• http://web11.streamhoster.com/naxosusa/jazz_icons3_trailers/cannonball.wmv
• http://web11.streamhoster.com/naxosusa/jazz_icons3_trailers/evans.wmv
• http://web11.streamhoster.com/naxosusa/jazz_icons3_trailers/hamp.wmv
• http://web11.streamhoster.com/naxosusa/jazz_icons3_trailers/rollins.wmv
• http://web11.streamhoster.com/naxosusa/jazz_icons3_trailers/oscar.wmv

For more info go to http://www.jazzicons.com/.

Note: To order any of these or any similar titles go to the
UK JazzNews aStore or the US JazzNews aStore on Amazon.

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Floyd's Nick Mason with Michael Mantler at Berlin jazzfest

In a recreation of his guest appearance as part of Michael Mantler's band on May 11, 1984 in Cologne, and February 8th, 1987 in Frankfurt, Nick Mason journeys back to Germany for another Mantler concert on November 2 as part of the Berlin Jazz Festival.

With Nick again taking care of percussion in Michael's band, the event takes place at 7:30pm at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Tickets are now on sale here, and visit www.jazzfest-berlin.de for more info.