Author: Jason
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Erm, me…
고맙습니다 to my lovely Korean friends at Talent Shop, who recently spent a sweltering week enthusiastically tailing the band with cameras. Check out their website or YouTube channel for a growing series on London musicians. PS Yes, I do actually possess a comb, I just keep forgetting to use it…
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Funky Chunks & Clunky Chunks
…and dominantsy divey… Right, I was beer-deep in a chat with a musician the other day who was a bit down about the results he was getting out of 7b9 chords. They sometimes just sounded – well, tame, he felt. Aha. Need to restore some mojo here. So what was going on? The 7b9 dominant…
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Pal Tony
Did a great gig with our friend Tony Kofi last week. Hell of a player, and a lovely guy. He brought along a stack of really interesting tunes and called a few of them in an ad hoc order as the mood and need for contrast seemed to dictate to him. It was only as…
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What an Amateur!
Recently had a chat with a singer acquaintance to arrange an upcoming thing, which had to be cut short because… she had to go and serve someone who’d just come into the shop. I should add that she’s one of the finest singers I know and works the best gigs in town. But she feels…
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We’re Moving…
Not literally, and the piano won’t suffer. From the start of September my jazz residency at London’s Toulouse Lautrec will have a new home on Wednesday nights. There will also now be a “minimum” (as our cousins across the pond would say) – ie £5 entry, which includes £5 credit at the bar. So it’s still effectively…
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Don’t Blame It on the Sunshine…
Well, just about every musician I speak to seems to be in the doldrums at the moment. We’ve all had them. Those gigs when you wind up playing to the barman and a confused duck that’s waddled in by mistake. Then comes the time-honoured excuses game – political bargaining with the venue management. Oh, and by the…
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Tooning Note (and Laser Elephants)
Tooning note… ah, the classic Aebersold call to arms… Actually the Aebersold playalongs are very good and I wish they’d been around when I was starting out. But this post isn’t about that – yet again, I’ve opted for a cheap gag headline. This one’s a tip for singers (and accompanists). In this day and…
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Four Femmes on the Thames
A shoutout to one of my favourite up and coming acts. This befrocked riot brings the house down regularly at my local gin palace, and I’ve got to know them and done their sound a few times. Go and see them when you get the chance (or at least look them up online) – they’re…
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Om to Joy
A recently unearthed collaboration between Beethoven and a bunch of Tibetan monks who happened to be wandering around Vienna at the time. In a letter dated 1822 to his patron Count de Thalern, Beethoven wrote “These bald blokes in spa attire are extremely amiable company and they make the very floorboards resonate. It has been…
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Woody’n’You
Well, finally the sun is shining. And the glue is drying… I’d like to introduce the rhythm section: On bass, Ron Carpenter… On drums, Pawl Motion… On piano, Crank Jones… Personally, I feel the pianist model doesn’t have as much kinetic appeal as the other two (maybe that’s just art imitating life – sadly, we’re not…
Jason Lyon Music 