I have been neglecting this place. Life sort of happened. Saw a LOT in the past few months, so I shall attempt to give the highlights in one post.

Back in September I went to see my friend Gwyneth Herbert at Shepherds Bush Empire. A short gig, marking the launch of her album ‘Between me and the wardrobe’ on Blue Note. As always, wonderful.

November saw the London Jazz Festival. It kicked off with Tom Richards Orchestra’s pre-album launch at the Spice of Life, which was great! The London jazz scene has some fantastic young talent!

I also went to see Beth Rowley for nowt at the South Bank Centre, which was fantastic. Her voice is one of the best out there at the moment and I cannot wait for her album to be released in March. What a remarkable lady!

A week after Beth’s gig I headed down to Cadogan Hall to see the ever-incredible Geoff Gascoyne with his ever-talented band. Unfortunately, regular pianist Tom Cawley didn’t join the band on tour and his shoes had to be filled by a bloke called Jamie Cullum. Not a bad pianist, he can also sing. A bit. It was a truly wonderful gig. Joined by the Juno String Quartet, the quartet was on fire. The strings benefited greatly from the crystal clear acoustics at Cadogan. Some of the arrangements were truly stunning!

Enough music and more in the present. Last week I trekked up to Sloane Square to the Royal Court to see my friend Tom Brooke in a reading as part of the Rough Cuts festival. The reading itself was a bit strange, but interesting. If it will ever see the life of day as a play, remains to be seen though.

There’s a lot more, but this’ll have to do!