Jason Lyon Music

Category: e) Rants & Ramblings

  • Merry Christmas

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    Jason
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    …to all seventeen of my loyal readers It’s that time of year again… Time flies. It irritates me as much as the next person when the supermarkets start stocking mulled wine in September, but actually I started planning the gig roster for these crucial couple of reindeer-bothering weeks way back in October. Currently booking February……

  • Ugo Delmirani

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    Jason
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    I do hope the grapevine’s wrong about this one – please let me know if so. I heard the other day that Ugo, a formidable pianist and stalwart in particular of the scene at London’s famous 606 Club, had … sort of disappeared for a while. From what I hear, he won’t be coming back. The…

  • A Santa Shoutout

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    Jason
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    I don’t usually use this blog to reference my residency, mainly because I don’t think many people care. But here we go… It’s been a great year for the gig. Since moving into the new Loft Bar at Toulouse Lautrec we’ve established a little scene that seems to be growing very healthily indeed. In fact,…

  • Anna Russell’s Ring

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    Jason
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    I love musical comedians, in particular the ones who make you laugh and then casually sit down at the piano and demonstrate that they can actually do what they’ve been knocking. Made some remarks on here before about Victor Borge, but here’s a contemporary of his, the late great Anna Russell. If you’ve always wanted…

  • Sound Judgment

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    Jason
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    It’s a vocal Jim, but not as we know it… I’ve done quite a bit of engineering in my time, both live and studio. Believe me people, every little one of those controls on the Starship Overprize does something, and the whole result is organically linked, onstage and front-of-house… Every choice of microphone, the position…

  • Jazz in London calling…

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    Jason
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    I’ve had word from the tireless, dedicated and frankly bloody wonderful Mary Greig, who compiles the indispensable free brochure Jazz in London. This year she’ll be doing a double edition covering both December and January – so if you want your gigs listed you’ll need to get details for both months to her by 10th November…

  • Newsflash: Musicians are People Too

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    Jason
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    I’ve played both parts, about 10 years apart, in the following little playlet: Enthusiastic music student approaches band member in the interval or afterwards. “Loved the way you guys reharmonised the bridge on chorus seven; the unorthodox dynamics in the codetta; the way you quoted Ligeti during that Benny Golson tune…” “Did we really do…

  • Playing Presto Assai Can

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    Jason
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    When I was a fluffy and precocious piano student, before my classical chops succumbed to middle-age spread, I once had a fantastic lesson with a visiting Russian prof that has stayed with me to this day. I was a flashy young buck, and much enamoured of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies at the time. The one I happened…

  • All in the Same Throat

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    Jason
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    Polyphonic overtone singing demonstrated by Anna-Maria Hefele: (My cat became very interested, and a singer has already been back to me about getting on to the union…)

  • Spam Attack

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    Jason
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    For some unfathomable reason, I’ve recently experienced a severe spam attack. For an equally unfathomable reason, I’ve suddenly received a dump of a couple of years’ worth of emails from my old address (which I had thought was linked – thanks Steve “Prancing 200lb Baby” Ballmer for all your useless Apple-chasing swipey-swipey kinda-cool silliness* and mismanaging what’s really necessary).…