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

Jazz in Europe

Although I've performed a few times in Europe, I'd really love to do a tour there someday.  So far I've worked in Germany, Greece, Italy and Russia but always for one off-events.

I've never worked in Spain - actually I've never even been to Spain (especially shocking for someone British!) - but I had some great news last week.  I was contacted by a company who wants to license one of my tracks - Tainted Love - for distribution in Spain.  Yay!  I only hope it will lead to performing there in the near future...

And in other European news -  I'll be going back to Greece twice this year.  Once in July to play an open air concert in Athens and back again in August to perform at the Tinos Jazz Festival.  Can't wait to soak up some of that sun!

How to Plan and Organise a Successful UK Jazz Tour - Lessons Learnt

Thought I'd share some of the lessons I learned from my recent UK tour.  Hopefully you'll get some tips from the things I did in the right way and avoid my mistakes!

CD Sales - Sales were definitely down compared to previous tours.  I did notice an increase in digital sales which was probably also due to the tour publicity but sadly with Spotify and Rhapsody sales which can sometimes amount to less that 1p per track this wasn't exactly a money spinner!  There was also the fact that the CD I was selling was my previous Licorice Kiss album - I did a couple of songs from this album on the tour but the majority was new material not yet recorded.  In hindsight, maybe it's better to tour with a relevant album because with the lack of music stores, sales of albums at gigs are an important revenue stream.

Radio - I was extremely pleased with the level of response I had from radio stations, especially BBC Local radio.  I did 5 interviews in total which is more than I've had from any of my previous tours.  Yay!  All of these I got by sending emails with my press release 3 months before my tour.  Probably also worth following up again just before the tour starts.

Press - Also got some great press which included Jazzwise, Jazz UK and some local newspapers too.  One of the interviews I did (Crawley Observer) wasn't printed which was a disappointment and interestingly that gig was the worst attended.  I wonder if there's a correlation..?  I was also disappointed that there were no reviews but it's so difficult to get journalists to come out to a gig if you're not one of the hot "flavour of the month" musicians/bands or a very established name.  I am neither! 

Finances - In retrospect I don't think I should have had so many door deals because this put a real pressure on my finances and caused me a lot of stress.  Added to this, even with sold out gigs, the door deals were so bad that despite maximum attendance, I still came away with less than £300 for the band.  In future, if there is a door deal, I will make sure that the percentages work out so that the potential revenue makes doing the gig worthwhile.   You need to take account of hidden costs too like money the venue charges for publicity, PRS and VAT!  I didn't make any money on the tour in the end but at least I didn't make a loss which I know many bandleaders have experienced recently as it is only fair to pay the band properly whether you make any money on the gig or not.  It has to be said though, if I hadn't had a bit of help from Jazz Services, I would definitely have made a loss.

Musicians - I'm very lucky to work with some excellent musicians.  It's important to be flexible though because sometimes musicians get offered lucrative tours and are unavailable or there may be unexpected events that means you need to find a dep with very short notice.  Both of these things happened to me but fortunately there were some great replacements and it all went very smoothly.  Definitely important to have a "B list" of musicians on each instrument so that you have someone (who knows your music) to call if your band member is unavailable.

Summary - On the whole, I was very pleased with the tour and extremely grateful for the financial support I received from Jazz Services.  Several sold out gigs and full houses and quite a bit of publicity which all helps with raising the profile.  Now I'm looking forward to taking some time out to write some new songs and also to work on some new projects.  Will keep you posted!

Please feel free to comment or ask questions below and I will help if I can.

Kuala Lumpur - My first trip to the Far East

Had a great time in KL.  Wonderful people, a great local band, beautiful hot weather and excellent food.  Who could ask for anything more?!

Alexis Bar

  

Bit of a shock to see all the posters of my face everywhere!

Mmm...  I sampled many of their famous puddings - all scrumptious!

The Twin Petronas Towers - one of the main landmarks in KL - photo taken from the back of a taxi on my way to Chinatown

Chinatown!  My first shopping trip

Just loved the atmosphere here - mostly fake goods but lots of fun haggling with stall holders

Gabe the pianist from the band and his friends introduced me to this kitsch Indian restaurant where all the food was served on banana leaves!

Central Market - another shopping trip!

I love markets - especially the beautiful colours

Couldn't be persuaded to let tiny fish give me a pedicure by eating the dead skin off my feet...

... but was tempted by these clogs.  They're handpainted and were made specially to fit me by the shoemaker while I waited!

And I felt very pleased with myself for taking the local bus back - it was a feast for the senses with the smells, loud music, chatter, bumpy eratic driving and conducter shouting out to the people on the pavements!

The equivalent of the cards we sometimes see in telephone boxes in London - a message with a name and phone number.  Interesting that they only charged RM15 (the equivalent of £3)!!!

One of the many monkeys that live in the grounds of a friend's house where I was invited to dinner.  So cute!

UK Jazz Tour - Final Gig 12 - Ipswich Jazz Club

The final gig!  And the last in the run of 4 consecutive nights.  It was great to get to perform with the band for four consecutive nights and felt really relaxed with the material by this time and didn't have to worry about forgetting the lyrics!

Ipswich Jazz Club has been running for many years but this venue is relatively new for them and what a wonderful venue it is.  Well laid out with a bar to the side and quite a lot of space.  It's all run very well too by the excellent volunteers.  Once again we were treated very well the fantastic promoter, Dave.  And also, again the performance was very well attended.  Apart from a couple of the gigs, we've had sell-outs and full houses throughout.  I'm very pleased that so many people came to see us. :-D



The stage (with lovely kitsch "saxophone" light fitting on the left) -
and more photos of the great audience members I met on the night below

Dave on the right and his father, Phil in the white shirt.
Phil was celebrating his birthday that night!

Stephen Foster (MC for the club) who also interviewed me on BBC Radio Suffolk

I had such a great time on the tour and met such lovely people.  I hope the lady I met in Bath wasn't the only one that felt we brought a little bit of joy into their lives - even if just for a short time.  A big thank you to everyone who came out to see us.  I really appreciate the support and hope to see you again sometime!

UK Jazz Tour - Gigs 9, 10 & 11 of 12 - West Country (St Austell Brewery, Be-Bop Club Bristol & Chapel Arts Bath)

Restormel Arts - St Austell Brewery

It was a sunny but very long drive down to Cornwall from London but we were rewarded by the view of this lovely cottage which was our home our viist.  It was such a lovely place with a warming fire - it started to rain heavily as soon as we arrived - and beautiful views.  Sadly we didn't stay too long as we had to leave soon for our soundcheck at the brewery and were up early the next morning to travel to Exeter where we performed a live track for Judi Spiers show on BBC Radio Devon.

The lovely cottage we stayed in



George, Dave & Milo during soundcheck

 
The Brewery as a great venue - unusual and beautifully quirky.  Apparently their Admiral's Ale was voted as the best bottled beer in the world.  I'm reliably informed by the band that it was very good although I didn't indulge as I'm more of a cocktails lady myself! 

The gig itself went really well and we had a full house.  Phil who runs the Jazz at the Brewery programme for Restormel Arts treated us very well indeed.  It really makes a difference to musicians when we spend so much time travelling to be greeted by a consderate and well-organised promoter.  Even something as small as the offer of a cup of tea on arrival is much appreciated (especially by drummer Milo who is very partial to a nice cup of tea!)

With 2 lovely ladies and more pics of some of the audience members below



The Be-Bop Club Bristol

After our quick visit to the radio station in Exeter we drove straight to Bristol and had a pub lunch.  We then checked into our hotel which was very unuaual in that it was a totally automatic 24-hour hotel where entry to the front door and all rooms was by key code!  No reception staff, nothing.  A bit like a version of those EasyHotels if you've seen one, but we did have proper rooms and bathrooms instead of "pods".  A unusual type of place but I quite liked it really. 

We soundchecked at the club which has its home in the back room of a pub called The Bear.  It had just been renovated to the surprise of Andy who runs the club and there were huge tables in the room instead of the usual small caberet style tables which meant it was a bit of squeeze for everyone to get in!  It's a very small room so it didn't take much to fill the place and there was a lovely atmosphere.  As ever, I met some lovely people in the audience - see pics below.



Demonstrating their superior sense of style and taste by buying a copy of my album. ;-)



Chapel Arts Centre, Bath

We had a bit of a lie-in on Saturday to make up for Friday's early start and then went for brunch in Bristol before setting off to Bath.  What a beautiful place!  I went a bit mad with the camera but don't worry - I've only included a couple here. 

Bath Abbey - stunning



I wondered at first if these were Bath's version of the Barclays
Boris Bikes... but think they were some sort of promo thing



So many buskers on the pedestrianised streets of Bath - felt
like a bit of a cross between Covent Garden and Brighton!

When we first arrived at the venue, I was a bit worried as it was all covered in scaffolding and green baize but it was still business as usual!  It such a wonderful space.  The perfect size for a jazz performance and although there weren't as many people there as I would have liked, because it was arranged with cabaret style tables with candles and the audience were warm and encouraging, there was a lovely ambience.

George, Dave and Milo soundchecking



Shot of the audience taken during the interval



Another lovely lady demonstrating her superior taste!


As she was leaving, a lady came up to thank me saying that when she had arrived that evening she had been feeling very down but listening to us had reminded her of the joys of life.  It really moved me to hear that.  Connecting with people and bringing something positive into their lives is one of the reasons I love performing so much - even if it sounds a bit cheesy!

UK Jazz Tour - Gigs 7 & 8 of 12 - London & Oxford

I became an honorary Pole on 5th March and it was fabulous!  The Polish hostess for the show at Jazz Cafe POSK in Hammersmith was the gorgeous Mariola and we were even treated to Polish cakes during the interval.  And I've discovered a new favourite drink... Zubrowka aka Bison Grass Vodka!   Absolutely delicious served with chilled apple juice.  And I've heard that you can also serve it over vanilla ice-cream.  Double yum!





With the lovely Mariola





George, Milo and Dave tucking into Polish cakes!

 

The audience were lovely and although we had to compete at times with a rather noisy birthday party happening in another section of the room, the audience seemed to enjoy themselves and there were lots of happy smiley faces.




Some of the happy smiling faces

 


Next was a return to Oxford - one of my favourite cities.  Unfortunately I got delayed by an accident on the M40 and although I left London at 4.30pm to get there for 6.45pm, I didn't arrive at the venue until 8.20pm...  Ten minutes before I was due on stage!  Other complications were that I had a call from Milo, the drummer, that day and unfortunately, due to no fault of his own, he was unable to do the gig so we had to get a dep in with very short notice.  Luckily, Charlie Stratford - a local drummer - was available and he acquitted himself extremely well and was a joy to play with!





George, Charlie and Oli

 Joe's Bar & Grill is a another great venue.  It's a shame they don't advertise the music more as with a decor that includes a beautiful chandelier and black and white photos adorning the walls, it has the makings of an excellent jazz club.




Joe's Bar & Grill

 



Lovely Layla and husband
(And more smiling faces)