Out with the Old - In with the New!

Happy New Year!

2011 was quite a busy year for me.  Highlights included:

• My first UK tour (from Cornwall to Northumberland) with new Celebrating the Divas project with my band in February was a great success with several sold-out dates and quite a few radio and newspaper interviews
• In March I performed at a charity event attended by Prince Charles
• In March I also gave a speech (sharing the stage with MPs and the actress Maggie Steed!) for the Lost Arts initiative - extremely scary but a very worthwhile event
• Four sell-out dates in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were the highlights in April
• Two licensing deals for music from my album Licorice Kiss - the first for Spain/Portugal and the second for Singapore/China
• Four festival appearances for a Greek Islands tour with Dimitri Vassilakis Qt in July and August made for a blissfully sunny and beautiful summer
• Five wonderful gigs with Kate Williams at village halls in the rural north of the UK also saw some beautiful hot weather at the end of September
• My debut performance at an historic venue in Moscow in October
• Two gigs at the London Jazz Festival with a new European Journey project with Jonny Phillips
• My debut performance in Hong Kong and a return to Moscow in November
• Finally December saw me return to Greece with two gigs in Athens over Christmas where I also managed to finish 8 new songs!

Plans for 2012 include:

• A return to Russia for 3 performances in February
• Another rural tour with pianist Kate Williams in March
• A new duo project with pianist Kit Downes
• Recording one (or maybe even two!) albums

Phew!  After all that I think I deserve a quiet, relaxed January... and that's exactly what I have planned.

Here's hoping 2012 brings us all lots of love, luck, laughter and lolly!

A Very Creative Christmas in Athens

I was really looking forward to going to Athens at the end of December as I only had a couple of gigs and most of my time there would be spent relaxing in a very nice hotel.

I brought along my laptop to be able to keep up-to-date with emails etc and thought I might take a look at some old song ideas if I felt in a songwriting mood.   Well, once I arrived at the beautiful hotel in the suburbs of Athens and saw the breathtaking view from my window, instead of relaxing (as was my intention) I felt totally inspired and got straight down to work.  I went on to finish almost 7 new songs which along with one I'd written earlier, makes 8 new songs for my next album.  Very excited!  There's something about the sea that makes every part of my body just go "aaaaahhhh".  I don't know what it is but it makes me feel relaxed yet full of energy all at the same time.  I went for a walk along the beach one morning and wrote an entire song in 30 minutes.

I moved to central Athens after a few days and interestingly the feeling left me almost immediately.  I touched up a few lyrics but it felt nothing like the burst of creativity I'd had.  Something about the sea just does it for me.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I get some of those songs recorded but until then, here are some photos of that little corner of Greece that filled me with so much inspiration.

View from hotel in Central Athens.  No beach but still breathtaking!

 

Syntagma Square - Not sure what he's protesting about but he was very dedicated to his cause.



Trees decorated with cans for Christmas in Syntagma Square

Musicians and Copyright

Apologies for being AWOL recently but I've been super-busy!

So far this summer I have been to Greece twice, up north to Wirral and I'm about to start my rural tour in Cumbria, Durham and Northumberland tomorrow.  And BBC weather states that we're heading for a UK heatwave - yay!  I won't need any wellies - which is just as well as I couldn't find any sequinned ones...

And next month I'm off to Moscow to perform there for the first time.  Before that I'll be back up north to Wakefield and then in December back again to Greece for some gigs over the Christmas period. :-)

I've also been rehearsing for a new European project with guitarist Jonny Phillips for the London Jazz Festival in November.  I'm planning to sing songs in Italian, French, German, Spanish and Russian!  Time to brush up on those language skills...

But back to the reason for this post.  An excellent guide to copyright has just been published by the wonderful Jazz Services.  It contains important information that every musician/composer should know.  Definitely worth checking out to make sure you're not missing out on any potential income.

Download the Jazz Services Guide to Copyright here

Songwriting, Woodshedding & Rubbing Shoulders with Jazz Royalty

May was a quiet but productive month.  For the final week I made my flat into a songwriting prison and banned myself from going out in an attempt to force myself to devote some serious time to songwriting.  It was tough!  Especially at the beginning.  Although I didn't leave my flat I managed to find a new diversion and probably watched around 10 films on the internet!  (I highly recommend Donnie Darko.)

The good news is that I've now completed three songs and another two are part written.  So I didn't do too badly.  :-)  I'm looking forward to more writing and hope to have a full album's worth before too long.

But before my self-imposed incarceration, I attended the Parliamentary Jazz Awards at the Houses of Parliament.  A good time was had by all and I got the opportunity to rub shoulders with Jazz Royalty.  Here's a photo of me with three of my favourite singers:  Christine Tobin, Norma Winstone and Dame Cleo Laine!

Norma Winstone,, Cleo Laine, Juliet Kelly & Christine Tobin