Ronnie's, Russia and more Rural Touring

I've really enjoyed a relaxing January but things will be kicking of again soon as I'm back at Ronnie Scott's on 13th Feburary. I'll be a guest of the wonderful Renato D'Aiello Qt who has a residency every Monday in the bar upstairs and I'm planning to perform lots of romantic songs on the eve of Valentine's Day. Yay - I just love those mushy ballads! :-)

Then I'm back in Moscow at the Union of Composers once more for two nights on the 16th followed by my first performance in the city of Perm on 18th Feb. Looking forward to visiting another new place in Russia but rather nervous as the temperature at the moment is minus 24 degrees! Perhaps thermal leggings won't be enough and I'll also need to wear a thermal balaclava.  Do they even exist..?

Ooh - just found this:

I might just be able to pull the look off if I sew some sequins around the eyeholes... ;-)

And I'm also looking forward to more rural gigs at the end of March in East Riding of Yorkshire. Kate Williams and I will be going to Etton, Swanland and Bridlington. Woo hoo!

Krooning at The Kremlin

Okay well it wasn't actually the Kremlin... It was a fabulous Moscow jazz club called Society of Composers but it was only about 5 mins walk from the Kremlin itself and so I got the chance to walk around Red Square before Friday's gig.  Absolutely stunning!  Below are some of the pics I took on my walk followed by pics of the gig itself taken by Russian photographer Владимир Коробицын (Vladimir Korobitsyn).  The band were fabulous and we had a full house with a great audience.  Hope it won't be too long before I get the chance to go back again.

Red Square!

Lovely Lexy in front of St Basil's Cathedral

Me in front of St Basil's Cathedral

St Basil's Cathedral - yes - I LOVE it!  Reminds me of a big cake. :-)

The Historical Museum - beautiful.

Couldn't resist buying a "Russian Doll" (with a twist!)

(c) Vladimir Korobitsyn

(c) Vladimir Korobitsyn

Lexy and me after the gig

Moscow Mule Cool or Russia Revisited

I've been booked to go back to Russia!  Really looking forward to performing in Moscow.  Although I've been to Russia several times - including Siberia! - I've only been to Moscow as a connecting point and have never played there.

But that's about to change as I've got 2 dates (27 & 28th October) in the diary at a couple of great clubs.

Jazz Club "Soyuz Kompozitorov" (or The Union of Composers) is widely known among musical circles in Moscow and has live music every evening.  Luminaries such as Joshua Redman and Diane Shuur have both performed there.

The second club is called "Cool Train" and lives within the B2 Club.  B2 is the biggest club in Moscow and one of the largest clubs in Europe. The five floors of the club house a restaurant, a sushi-bar, a billiard room, a jazz club, a modern concert stage, a dance floor, a chill-out, a cinécafé and 7 bars. UK Jazz musicians Peter King and Dick Pearce have both played here.  It looks amazing!

It may be pretty cold in Moscow by that time of the year but I'm sure I'll be offered plenty of vodka or perhaps even Moscow Mule cocktails to keep me warm! :-)