1. 1. Serenade to an Anchovy (Barnes) Listen
2. 2. Dama de Noche (Barnes) Listen
3. 3. La Faraona (Barnes) Listen
4. 4. Joe Church Blues (Barnes) Listen
5. 5. Orange Square Dance (Barnes) Listen
6. 6. Alameda Shuffle (Barnes) Listen
7. 7. California Fish Fry (Barnes) Listen
8. 8. What'd You Say Last Night to Freddie Green (Barnes) Listen

Details

The jazz festivals of Marbella in Spain and Birmingham in England have a hermandad, a brotherhood. So nothing was more natural than for Big Bear Records to commission Alan Barnes to write and arragnge a new piece of music, based on Marbella, and donated to the city in perpetuity. As invariably happens, carried away with enthusiam for the project, we decided to form A VERITABLE DREAM BAND. Amazingly, all the first choice musicians were available - or made themselves so. Not surprisingly, it all sounded so good that it just had to be recorded.

Reviews

Like his compatriot and fellow-saxophonist Peter King, Altrincham-born Alan Barnes is a world-class virtuoso for whom Englishness and a respectful devotion to the older traditions of jazz have diminished the celebrity he deserves. Barnes is a bebop player who can maintain a mercurial fluency and the freshness and spontaneity of his thinking provide constant reminders of how much jazz life can still be wrung from old forms. Barnes first emerged in the late 1980s on the British acid-jazz scene, as the saxophonist with popular Art Blakeyesque drummer Tommy Chase's group. Since then, he has exuberantly thrown himself into countless supporting roles, and in more recent times begun to assert himself as a creator of his own affable originals too, often splicing driving bebop and Latin American music with the luxurious chording of a small Duke Ellington band. This set was written for and recorded at the Marbella jazz festival in May, and features Barnes on alto sax, clarinet and flute fronting a tight octet including the effervescent mainstream trumpeter Bruce Adams, subtle pianist John Donaldson and, in drummer Ralph Salmins, featuring one of the British scene's most dynamic swing percussionists for larger groups. From the glistening piano intro to the mid-tempo Serenade to an Anchovy, with its lazy, low-pitched brass riffs and snaking Barnes improvisation, through the Ellingtonish muted trumpets on the gliding Dama de Noche, to the riffy, Count Basie-ish Joe Church Blues with its wriggling, squealing Bruce Adams trumpet break, the band sounds a lot bigger than an eight-piece, and the music maintains a bright, talkative drive. Mostly the repertoire is pretty straight-down-the-line, but one of the most attractively quirky pieces is the mid-tempo Latin feature Orange Square Dance, with its prancing Barnes clarinet solo and enigmatically wayward muted trumpet break over John Donaldson's pumping chords. Donaldson also supplies the Basie keyboard feel stoking up the languourously swaggering Alameda Shuffle, and the same legacy is revisited faster on the closing What'd You Say To Freddie Green, a reference to Basie's faithful rhythm guitarist. A devoted celebration of an enduringly expressive jazz language.

John Fordham The Guardian

Latest News

JULY 2008

16th
British Standard Time with Chris Biscoe
Start 8pm
Leasowes Bank Farm
Ratlinghope, Shropshire SY5 0SW
More Info: 01743 790 769

17th
Wigan Jazz Festival
10am Seminar
1-3pm Liquorice Stick Allsorts
Wigan Cricket Club
Parsons Walk
Wigan, WN1 1RU
01942 241581

18th
With the Laurie Holloway Trio
The Arts Festival at The Townley Hall, Fulbourne
Ticket info www.fulbournarts.org or 01223 880778/880793.

19th Jazz On A Summer’s Day
Featuring Roy Williams, Andy Wood and the David Newton Trio with appearances from John Dankworth and Alan Barnes.
11:30am £11 in advance, £12 on the door
Venue: Old Rectory Garden
The Stables Theatre Ltd
Stockwell Lane
Wavendon
Milton Keynes
MK17 8LU

19th
Sax Supremos
John Dankworth, Andy Panayi, Alan Barnes, Frank
Griffith, Jimmy Hastings with Dave Newton (Piano)
Andy Cleyndert (Bass) Steve Brown (Drums)
2:30pm £12
Venue as above

19th
Gala Night – with Fireworks & The Chamber Ensemble of London
Director / Solo Violin: Peter Fisher
Hosted by: John Dankworth and Alan Barnes
7.30pm £17.50
Venue as above

20th
Final Festive Flourish – The Gardener’s Big Band
Leader Andy Panayi, under the command of
John Dankworth, Mark Nightingale.
12:00pm £15
Venue as above

22nd
Medway Jazz Society

24th
‘The Miles Davis Influence’
Alan Barnes – saxophone
John Horler – piano
THE DYSART ARMS
135 Petersham Road
Richmond
Surrey
TW10 7AA
020 8940 8005
enquiries@thedysartarms.co.uk

28th
Alan Barnes Septet For Duke
Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival
The Spiegeltent
George Square
Edinburgh, EH8 9LD
Phone: 0131 555 6966
21:00 – £12

29th-31st
Teaching
7th Dordogne International Jazz Summer School
www.jazzschool-dordogne.co.uk/

AUGUST

1st
Spontaneous Combustion -12 noon
Andy Cleyndert Bass
David Newton Piano
Royal Albert Hall

1st
With the Phil DeGreg Trio
8pm
Telegraph Inn, Putney Heath, London, SW15 3TU

3rd
Guestspot with Dan Shepherd Trio
1-3pm
Brighton

4th-8th
Teaching
Rock School
The Dome
Brighton

7th
Jazz at the Boathouse
Hosted by Broxbourne Rowing Club, Old Nazeing Road, Broxbourne
EN10 6QU
Doors open 7.30pm. Music 8pm
Telephone: 01992 442263

9th
Don Weller Big Band
Brecon Jazz Festival
Event 10. Saturday 09 August 1:00 PM
Venue: Theatr Brycheiniog Price: £14.50 (GBP)

9th
Brecon Jazz Festival
18.00 18.45 Theatr Brycheiniog Studio Echos of Ellington Dave Newton & Alan Barnes (Set 1)
19.15 20.00 Theatr Brycheiniog Studio Echos of Ellington Dave Newton & Alan Barnes (Set 2)

12th
Alan Barnes & Dave Newton
The Rhythm Station
Station House
New Hall Hey Road
Rawtenstall
BB4 6AJ
8.30pm
booking tel 01706 214039

15th
Bakewell Arts Festival
Friday 15 August • Piedaniel’s Restaurant, Bath Street • 6.30pm for 7pm • £45 to include gourmet dinner • Tickets (which are to be paid for when booked) available from Andy Littler on 07785 520674 or via the BAF Hotline

17th-23rd
Teaching
The MEhr Clef Summer Jazz Courses are residential courses held at Digby Stuart College, Roehampton University, London.
FOR MUSICIANS AGED 18+ (NO UPPER AGE LIMIT)
www.mehrclef.com

18th
With the Tevor Tomkins Trio
8.30
Coach & Horses Isleworth
183 London Rd, Middx, TW7 5BQ

19th
With Judy Carmichael
10pm
Boisdales
15 Eccleston Street
Belgravia
SW1W 9LX
Tel: 020 7730 6922
info@boisdale.co.uk

20th Boisdales
(as the 19th)

21st
Tutors Concert
7.30
Digby Stuart College, Roehampton University, London.

22nd
Boisdales
(as the 19th)

23rd
Boisdales
(as the 19th)

24th
Keith Nichols Band
12-2.30pm
8-11pm
Bude Jazz Festival

25th
Octupal Odyssey
3-5.30pm
8-11pm With The John Hallam Quartet
Bude Jazz Festival

26th-30th
Teaching
The MEhr Clef Summer Jazz Courses are residential courses held at Digby Stuart College, Roehampton University, London
FOR MUSICIANS AGED 21 AND UNDER (MINIMUM AGE 14)
www.mehrclef.com

28th
Evening
Maida Vale Studios
public recording
Tribute to Allan Ganley

31st
12.15-2.30
Merlins Cave
The Village Green
Chalfont St. Giles
HP8 4QF
Tel: 01494 875101

SEPTEMBER

4th
Guesting with Hugh Ockendon Trio
20:30 – 11:00
Birchwood Park Golf Centre
Birchwood Road, Wilmington Kent DA2 7HJ
Sidcup
DA2 7HJ
Telephone: 020 8325 3999
Email: Marion200@ntlworld.com

6th
Liquorice-Stick All Sorts
10.15-11-30pm
Cleethorpes Jazz Weekend
Cleethorpes Beachcomber
208 North Sea Lane
Cleethorpes
Tel: 01472812666

7th
Alan Barnes Septet
6.30pm
Pontypool Jazz Festival
Newport

12th