Gigging With The Swinging Bass

What a couple of days!! The weddings went off without a hitch on Saturday and Sunday (even though todays gig did drag a little). In fact I’ve only just got back and I left before 7 this morning.

The real highlight of this weekend was my gig last night with The Swinging Bass in Leicester’s City Rooms. I’ve played the venue before and it’s ideal for weddings and parties – it also has fair acoustics for playing. However I’d spent so much time ensuring I can travel the country and be on time for all my gigs, have the right kit with me, keep the head honchos informed of my progress etc, that it wasn’t until I walked into the venue I realized I had very little idea of what the band was all about.

It didn’t make much difference on the planning end of things for me. I brought all the kit I’d bring to any gig and as they didn’t send me any music I knew I’d be sight reading the whole night. I knew there where 6 of us and I knew we were playing a wedding but somehow I didn’t think of asking what the band were all about. Some might say this was one of the more important questions 😛

It turned out to be a small band and I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris Procter on the gig (a sax player I gigged with back at the conservatoire).

Chris and I met on a one-off pop band gig and I’m sure when he drops me an email he’ll help me fill in the gaps in my memory of exactly where and when (and also inform me if I’ve misspelt his surname 🙂 ). It was a great chance to exercise my ears and jazz chops and put into practice what I’ve been grafting with over the past couple of months. I’m happy to say I made a good job of the gig – even if I do long for another crack at a couple of charts as I had far more I wanted to say once I found my feet. But that’s the way it goes.

Chris’s jazz was great as always and the group made a nice sound. It was a really empathetic band.Very easy to follow and to click with. The audience had a great evening – so much so that the slow foot stamping in the hall boomed into the band room prompting the end of our 10 minute break – and perhaps more incredibly: Everything ran bang on time!!

I had a great evening and felt very comfortable (which is the sign of a good band) despite being put front row centre of their formation! I hope I made a good impression as I’d enjoy going out with them again. I have to say to fellow trumpeter Jon Peacock (who depped me the gig) – Watch Out!! 🙂

What a good weekend