Howard Jones Gig
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I had a great night at the Indigo2 performing with Howard Jones in November. The above clip is the only one I could find on the net hence it's not great quality but it gives you an idea of the concert
Album 2 Launch on Monday 21st June
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"Compelling bassist Chris Webb and soulfully lyrical saxophonist Rob Hughes launch their album "The London Experiment ; Vol. I" . The music fuses fresh jazz melody lines with tenacious deep grooves. This amazing sextet will inspire all music-lovers. To have a sneak preview go to www.myspace.com/thelondonexperimentmusic"
Yaaaaay! I'm excited! As you can see I'm about to launch the second album. It's a co write with a good friend Chris Webb. The launch is on Monday 21st June at Pizza Express in Dean street London. The line up for the night is
Rob Hughes - Saxophone/Flute
Graeme Flowers - Trumpet
Rick Laughlin - Keys
Ruben Aristorenas - Guitar
Chris Webb - Bass
Ernesto Simpson - Drums
If you would like to attend the album launch you can buy tickets in advance from this number 0845 6027 017 or you can book online by clicking here
Video of a new tune live plus a new album!
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The concert at the Crypt went really well, watch the below video of one of the new tunes Ocorrum
I've been writing a new album with bassist Chris Webb since 2008. We collaborated with some of London's finest musicians to produce an album which is called 'The London Experiment; Vol I'. I think the album sounds fresh and exciting, offering different interpretations within the idiom of jazz. So I'm not going to release this album under my name. The group is going to be called the same name as the album 'The London Experiment'. I am hoping to complete and launch in June 2010 at Ronnie Scotts in London.
Heather Small Tour
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I have just completed a UK tour with Heather Small which was great fun. The guys in the picture from right to left are, Freddie Thompsom (Bass), Yvonne Shelton (Vox) and Tommy Blaize (Vox). The band were great fun and really nice people which makes a trip away so much more enjoyable. However I did have to leave the tour bus at one point to forfill another commitment . To do this I used the train service, wow a 'world of pain'!!!
Next Concert
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My next performance is at the Crypt on Wed 13th Jan 2010 at 8pm. For over a year I have been writing an album with the very talented Chris Webb. The album is due for release early this year however we are going to perform a sneak preiview of some of the material on the 13th Jan. The confirmed musicians for the this concert are;
- Chris Webb (Bass)
- Reuben Aristoren (Guitar)
- Graeme Flowers (Trumpet)
- Pete Ray Biggin (Drums)
- Rick Laughlin (Keys)
The performance starts at 8pm and finishes at 10pm.If you would like a sample of the cool new tunes you are going to hear on the night click here.
If you want to reserve a ticket for the concert click here.
Workshop Time
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I had a great time hosting a workshop for The Havering Saxophonics this week. The Saxophone Choir is open to anyone who plays the saxophone regardless of age or ability. The only criteria to join is to "love to play the saxophone". The first part of the workshop was mainly myself talking about sound and technique. In the second half we worked on soloing and a Joe Zawinul tune called Mercy, Mercy, Mercy . I was amazed by the standard and keeness to play. Workshops / Masterclasses are something I have never thought abut doing but I may start to look into them as I really enjoyed it. If you live near the group (It's in Upminster) you can contact John on info@thehaveringsaxophonics.
http://www.robhughesmusic.com/blog.html?start=40#sigProGalleriad98220cfc8
Tour Blog - Atlanta
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The final gig was in Atlanta where the weather could not have felt any different. The heat in Las Vegas was like having a hair dryer bow in your face all the time. The temperature in Atlanta was like standing in a steamy shower room. If I had to choose it would be the former, Atlanta's weather was exhausting. Above are pictures of the fab group Wang Chung who were on the same bill. I really enjoyed the're set plus they were lovely people. As you can see the venue was yet again a lovely open air amphitheatre.
Above and below are some of the friends I made on the tour. Below is ABC's sound engineer Herman Leijte (we don't normally hold hands I made him!) Herman was an amazing sound engineer who made sure band sounded great out front but he also made sure our monitors sounded great. He was able to pick out frequencies within each of our monitors by calling out numbers that applied to that frequency. Herman was from Australia but had lived in America for many years he was great fun to be around but he also worked very hard. Talking of which above on the right is a picture of our driver Sam. He too worked so hard and yet was always really upbeat. The above middle picture was of Gavin Menzies our guitar tech. he too did a great job and was really fun. As I said before this was the last gig on the tour which ended in a wicked party followed by a very hung over flight home but it was all worth it.
http://www.robhughesmusic.com/blog.html?start=40#sigProGalleriabd432bf078
Tour Blog - Las Vegas
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Las Vegas Baby! Well ........ it was interesting!. I've never been before but I always thought, why would you go somewhere in the middle of a desert to see the Eiffel Tower or a copy of an Italian styled building?. I soon realised it's not about that. People that go to Vegas go to gamble and live in a make believe world for as long as they can afford it. We were playing at a beautiful new hotel called the M Resort. After the gig we were given a couple of days off so as you can see from the picture below I made use of the pool area!.The picture at the bottom is of me doing somme practice in the hotel, it's not very interesting and I don't know why I've included it but there we go! The next and last gig was in Atlanta which mean't we relaxed in LV and then got a 'Red Eye' flight to Atlanta.
I always wondered why the flights were called red eye flights in films. The simple reason is, if you fly from the west coast at night let's say leaving LV at 10pm and arrive on the east coast in Atlanta your watch needs to be taken forward so you're losing hours. The flight was about five hours plus you lose about 5 hours. This means you arrive on the east coast and it's early morning. Meaning unless you slept on the plane you will, like I did, have red eyes. Below you can see my blurring shot of a very early Atlanta airport. I also include a shot (I need to get out more!) of this rapid charger which I saw in LV airport. It has an adaptor for laptops, phones, ipods etc. If you need to charge up quick you pay a small amount and plug in, so clever!
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Tour Blog - Mountain Winery Saratoga
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This was our view from the dressing room, if you can't get inspired by that then your in trouble! We were playing a venue that used to be a Winery above the very wealthy and iconically named 'Silicone valley'. This venue has got to be my favourite, it's not the biggest or well known but it was so beautiful. The picture underneath this is not so beautiful but it had to be included. One of the guys working as an usher had a black eye. I had to get this shot with him, he said he wanted a copy of it as he's collecting shots of himself with the black eye with different people. He even had an email address, black-eye-guy@....!
http://www.robhughesmusic.com/blog.html?start=40#sigProGalleriab21e7764d7