“Oh, it’s a long, long while
From May to December,
But the days grow short
When you reach September.”
November is dead! Long live December!
The final month of the year is often quite a predictable one for most people, and musicians are no exception. It begins with three and a half weeks of manic running around over Advent, fuelled by the promise of a tiny little chocolate each morning to give that much-needed additional energy boost. Christmas parties, wreath-making workshops, multiple school concerts for those involved in the teaching profession, the occasional winter wedding… These are a few of the things that tend to turn up at this time of year.
And let’s not forget panto season, which provides gainful – if intensive – employment for many musicians each year. I played for a pantomime a few years ago and discovered it certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. 67 performances over a space of 6 weeks, many of them double-show days (and some triple), with only a handful of days off (which didn’t include Christmas Eve or Boxing Day). But on the other hand, the opportunity to book such a solid chunk of work in one go is not one to pass up lightly!
Then we get to Christmas Day, which of course tends to be a proper day off, followed by that strange week at the end of the year when it often feels like the world has gone into limbo for a bit. Life gets put on hold, nothing much really happens, and many of us enter a strange barren wasteland of time where the only landmark to be found is the upcoming year’s end. Having said that, there are still opportunities for musicians to get our kit out and make some noise. As I’ve mentioned, there is no rest for those wicked pantomime players who spend this week working as hard as ever. And there might be the odd rogue birthday party or funeral – last year, for example, I had to pop down to Birmingham to play ‘Stranger on the Shore’ in a graveyard. And in my hometown there is always the Scarborough Boxing Day Band which parades around the seafront damaging people’s hearing and mental health in return for donations to local charities (although in the interests of maintaining a certain enigmatic mystique I won’t cover this in detail in this month’s Review).
Then to finish everything off, see out the old year and launch us back into reality for the next one, we have the traditional festivities of New Year’s Eve – or ‘NYE’ for short. The most popular – and lucrative – musical night of the year, gigs on this date are highly prized and often booked extremely far in advance at prices that regularly exceed double a band’s usual rate. Having said that, the type of music I usually play isn’t so well-suited to late-night drunken revelry, and so I don’t tend to get as much out of NYE as many musicians. It’s a few years since I last had a booking for this date, and the previous times I’d been out on the last night of the year had been nice gentle affairs, each of them bizarrely finishing considerably before midnight! And at the end of the day (/year) I’m not going to complain, because much as it’s nice to charge double fees it’s also nice to have a quiet night off and get to bed at a reasonable time. ROCK AND ROLL! WOOOOOOO!!!
Having now laid out a fairly conventional musical December, I’m now going to leave such a structure in tatters by going through my December, which barely conforms to any of the above format. It just goes to show, the life of a wandering minstrel is never entirely predictable! And so, without further preamble, let me now whisk you away into the wild fantastical rollercoaster ride that was my final month of 2025…
According to my diary, the 2nd day of December was an ‘optional’ holiday in Scotland, which seems an interesting concept to me seeing as you’d have to be a right old nerd to consider declining a holiday! “Nah, I’m alright thanks” is not the sort of phrase you’d ever expect to encounter in such a circumstance. But either way, there was no chance of a day off for myself or the other members of Bolton’s leading (and only) Dixieland jazz band The Dixie Beats – not only are we not Scottish, but we had a performance to give!
For what I believe was the 3rd time this year we took ourselves off to Eagley Jazz Club, in the vicinity of Bolton, this time for their annual Christmas bash. It’s a booking we do regularly every year, and the format is a little bit different to usual because rather than the audience sitting round tables sipping drinks they are instead treated to a full Christmas dinner before the performance. Then we take to the stage for a wild evening of entertainment while they digest both their meal and the music.
The annoying thing about this format is that it requires us to arrive unsociably early in order to set up and sound check before the audience gets too invested in their turkey dinner, and this is then followed by a prolonged period of us sitting around the next room waiting to perform, munching on a plate of sandwiches provided by the catering team while the mulled wine and mince pies flow freely next door. This year I chose to be proactive and make efficient use of the extra time, popping out to get some additional snacks and fill up the car with petrol before returning in plenty of time to sneak in a coffee prior to the performance.
Thus fuelled, we launched into what would be our final performance of 2024 and had a whale of a time, incorporating a few festive tunes (not to mention hats and flashing lights) into the show as well. I wouldn’t say I was completely on top form – perhaps I was just a little weary after the protracted waiting-around – but nevertheless it was a fresh and flamboyant evening of music that left the audience entirely satisfied. It was also a great finale to a year of Dixie Beating, and a fun way to say farewell to the other band members until January brought around the next set of gigs.
The day after our 2024 Dixie Beats send-off – which if mathematics serves me correctly was Tuesday 3rd – required me to be in London for 12:45 for the dress rehearsal of ‘Footloose’. Cue another early start to get me down there in ample time, and a slightly bleary-eyed performance when I did get to the theatre!
If you’ve read last month’s Gig Review (and if you haven’t then WHY NOT!!!) then you’ll know this was to be a school production down in Richmond, musical-directed by an old acquaintance of mine from my student days. Being in a school, in the interests of safeguarding I had to be accompanied at all times by a responsible adult, and whenever I signed in at reception I was issued with a bright red Lanyard of Shame to communicate my status as a dubious outsider. The upside to this was that every day I had to pose for a headshot iPad that was used to sign in, and I soon seized the opportunity to pull increasingly absurd faces in the interest of obtaining a good variety of passes. And the other unusual thing about doing a school show was that everyone was referred to by surname only, so throughout the week I was known by the respectfully formal term ‘Mister Grant’. I must confess I rather liked it – it made me feel like I was inhabiting some sort of criminal underworld like the gangsters in ‘Reservoir Dogs’ or ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’.
You never quite know in this line of work when you’re going to encounter a familiar face, and I was surprised during this show to bump into a character I hadn’t seen for a good 8 years. Specifically, the guitarist – who also teaches at the school and who goes by the name of ‘Mister Holmes’ in such environments (not to be confused with Sherlock). You see, many moons ago I had some occasional work deputising on the West End run of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, and guess who was the guitarist for that show? The very same! I wouldn’t say we’re exactly best mates, but it was nice to say hello again and play together, and I also enjoyed overhearing some fantastic anecdotes about his past encounters with Brian May.
In other news, have a look at this fantastic typo in the Reed part that really made me chuckle – I expect the ‘e’ is erroneous:
Altogether I had a really nice few days loosening my feet on this show, even taking my mahoosive baritone saxomophone down for the 20-or-so bars that it is required. After the dress run on the Tuesday, we had performances from Wednesday through Friday, all of which went pretty smoothly except for the occasional rough edges that always take a bit of time to iron out. The yoofs of today did a very good job onstage from what I could see, and I think we musicians were particularly well appreciated as we were visible up on the balcony. In fact, why not see if you appreciate us too by watching some clips I got of my saxomophone hootings during the show:
My only regret was the Friday afternoon, when I had to take my car from my accommodation in Finsbury Park down to the school so I’d be able to cart my baritone away afterwards. A journey of 18 miles, it takes about an hour on a clear run. But at that time, with all that city traffic, it took a full 2 hours – and I’ll let you do the maths regarding my average speed! Urgh, London…
It wasn’t an especially busy month for regular purveyors of fine TRAD. JAZZ The Jelly Roll Jazz Band, but as ever we must take care to measure by quality rather than quantity, and I can confirm that every twang, boing and squeak sounded as resplendent in December as in any other month. And actually, when you consider that in only 4 gigs we managed to cover a total of 3 countries, it’s been rather an impressive month overall!
All Roads Leed to Leads
Jelly Roll’s first gig of December took place on Saturday 7th, the day after I’d finished rocking away on ‘Footloose’. As we had a couple of weeks previously, we were to take over a small section of Leeds’ branch of John Lewis to play some festive favourites along with our usual TRAD. standards, and thus get people in the mood for spending their festive pennies (in the literal monetary sense, I hasten to add). Unusually, for this date we had only been booked as a duo of clarionet and banjo, our usual bass player not being required for some reason. It seemed odd considering John Lewis surely could have afforded the third player, but the client is always right and therefore for this gig we managed without our lower frequencies.
We were to start playing in the shop at midday, which necessitated driving up from London that morning. Not hugely convenient, until you consider that the friend I had been staying with that week while down in the big city is also Jelly Roll’s banjo player, and consequently we were easily able to car-share for travelling to this latest booking. Even more conveniently, said banjoist had recently bought himself a ‘pedal steel’ (it’s a musical instrument, look it up) on eBay which he needed to collect from Chesterfield – just off the M1, ideally situated on the way from London to Leeds! So off we trotted at the crack of dawn, stopping off on the way to pick up a new toy, and arriving in The North raring to go for another afternoon performing in a department store.
Readers of November’s Gig Review will recall that we had a lovely experience the last time we played in John Lewis, and this one was similarly enjoyable. We were both quite tired after the journey up, but had a selection of sofas to rest on and were again treated to a free lunch in the staff cafeteria. It felt a bit incongruous playing in the middle of the shop, and with the Black Friday craziness over with it wasn’t particularly busy, but it made for a nice gentle afternoon of music-making. And actually, although we missed having a bassline it is sometimes good to play as a duo because it’s easier to play around musically and try some different ideas, which helps keep things fresh.
Kelso, So Kel, Everybody Loves Kelso
Having stayed over in Manchester (and gone out with some friends for a superb meal the previous evening), my mysterious banjo friend and I had yet another early start on Sunday 8th in order to get to Kelso Racecourse for Jelly Roll’s 3rd performance there of 2024. It’s funny doing these sorts of events, as you tend to develop close connections with all sorts of odd out-of-the-way places that you wouldn’t even have heard of otherwise. Until this year I couldn’t even have pointed to Kelso on a map, but now I can drive there without using a sat-nav, I know the cheapest petrol station on the way, I know where to pick up snacks for the journey home and at a push I could probably recommend a café in the town centre!
I have also become all too familiar with the local weather conditions, especially over the wintry months with which all our bookings seem to have coincided. So I took extra care to wrap up warm for this gig, knowing all too well that we would be playing outside in less-than-summery conditions. I seem to remember I had 5 layers on my top half – 2 layers of thermals, 1 shirt, 1 suit jacket, and a big coat over the top.
I’m glad I did, because the weather turned out to be especially bad this time. We were meant to do our first set out by the gates as people entered, however had to abandon that plan due to the howling gale and the lashing rain which forced us to find a more sheltered spot by one of the buildings. Then later on, when playing between each of the races, we mainly opted to perform in the bar area where it was warm and dry rather than out amongst the betting stalls, exposed to the elements. After all, that’s where all the crowds were. Events organisers sometimes seem to forget this when booking a band – yes theoretically we can play outdoors when it’s cold and a bit rainy, but there won’t be much point as everyone else will be indoors!
In spite of the weather, the gig went perfectly fine and we seemed to be appreciated by the punters (probably more so as they could see the extra effort we were going to). Then after we’d finished I made the long drive back to Manchester, dropping off the unnamed banjoist and his new pedal steel at Carlisle railway station on the way. And then to bed, lulled to sleep by the disturbing realisation that over the past week I had spent more than 24 hours driving!
A Foggy Day in Chepstow Town
In some ways it is nice to get gigs between Christmas and New Year. For one thing it helps pay the rent, plus it’s good to be in high demand and they help fill up what can be a bit of a dull week. Having said that, they don’t seem like quite such a good idea when you have to pack your car up on Christmas Day, so that the following afternoon – after leaving the house at 9am to join in with the annual Scarborough Boxing Day festivities – you can spend 5 hours driving down to Bristol so as to be in the right place for a booking in South Wales the following morning.
But such was the situation this year, as Jelly Roll had been booked for another racecourse gig, this time down at Chepstow for the prestigious Welsh Grand National. Although it was a long trek, it was made easier by the company of a certain banjo player I keep cryptically referring to, who joined me in listening to our selection of homemade Christmas albums followed by ‘Acker Bilk: Classic Themes’ which he had bought me on CD as a Christmas present. Then on arriving in Bristol we were given accommodation by our bass player, who also returned to me a large bottle of cider which I had been meaning to collect since May.
On the morning of the gig – Friday 27th, that is – it was approximately a 30-minute drive to the racecourse, where as usual we spent a bit of time wandering around trying to find an entrance and someone who knew what they were doing (and more to the point, what we were meant to be doing). Soon we were all set up at the main entrance, just behind the turnstiles, ready to welcome people into the racecourse with our jolly delightful tootlings.
As horse races go, this one really wasn’t ideal in terms of weather. Yes we’ve got used to wind and rain and cold at Kelso, but at least those don’t really impede the main attraction of the day. This time, though, a different meteorological phenomenon was determined to hamper the occasion: fog. Areas all over the country were experiencing this sort of weather that week, but at the racecourse it especially seemed to be taking the mick. Not only was the track completely obscured, but you couldn’t even see the massive screens which are meant to show close-ups of the races. The only way anybody could tell what was happening was by the words of the commentator (who must have had some kind of second sight to follow the events’ progress). It really did seem like a bizarre kind of day out.
But that wasn’t our problem. We stood in our spot between the turnstiles and the portaloos (“It sounds great from in there,” one man told us upon emerging), looking past the food vans to a thick white nothingness where the racecourse was meant to be. It was a bit chilly but not too bad, and I did enjoy our little performance which attracted plenty of interest and nice comments. We were also offered additional entertainment by a ‘living statue’, who had (presumably) been paid to stand at the entrance scaring attendees out of their wits. On the whole I probably would have preferred to be tucked up in bed watching Christmas telly, but nevertheless it wasn’t a bad little gig at all.
The drive home, however, was hellish. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I suppose 27th December is a busy day on the roads as everyone travels home after visiting friends and family over Christmas (or travels to visit friends and family after being at home over Christmas). It should have taken me 3 hours to get back to Manchester, but the motorways were all like car parks and in the end it took about 5-and-a-half (plus a break). I knew it was bad when I turned on Radio 2 and all they were talking about between songs was how bad the traffic was across the whole country! Perhaps this is another point I should put in the ‘against’ column when it comes to gigging between Christmas and New Year.
’Kelsie’!?! I’ve Been Pronouncing It ‘Kelso’ All This Time!
You’d think that would be enough TRAD. JAZZ for one year, but no – there was still more to be done. On Sunday 29th December I travelled all the way up to Kelso AGAIN for the 4th and final Jelly Roll performance there of 2024.
Having reviewed this particular gig so many times, I don’t think there’s a lot more that I can add. It’s still quite a long way from Manchester – about 3 hours by car, which made for a very long day by the time I’d come all the way back again. But it is actually a nice easy drive. You go pretty much all the way up to Carlisle on the motorway, then through the glorious scenery of the Scottish Borders, the only real annoyance being some inexplicable 20mph limits in a couple of towns along the way. And as for roundabouts, you can probably count them on one hand. Or no hands actually, if you’re clever and can count in your head.
It was much the same routine as usual as far as the playing was concerned – doing a long set at the entrance to welcome the crowds, followed by shorter spots between the first few races. It was a slightly different band set-up to usual though, on account of player availability. On sousaphone was a gentleman we shipped in from Edinburgh so was fairly local, and actually he was quite glad to have the gig as it gave him a good excuse to get away from the family, to whom he had become a little overexposed over the festive period! And on banjo was a familiar acquaintance from the Scarborough vicinity, but his travel was made considerably easier by the fact he had recently had some family members move to Northumberland, so he had come up the previous day and stayed with them.
As we’ve learned the hard way this year, Kelso Races is always a challenging environment to perform in. I must say though that this time we had the best weather to date – a bit chilly and windy (it’s always windy) but at least the sun was shining and there was no rain. It’s always hard to tell if people are enjoying it there as well, with most of them being focussed on basically everything except the background music, but we did have a few nice comments and appreciative looks so hopefully it went down alright!
And that was not only the final Jelly Roll gig of 2024, but the year’s final gig full stop! After one more long drive home my work for the year was done, and I could look forward to some time off and a nice rest in January.
Kelso may have been the year’s last gig, but in true unchronological fashion it is only the penultimate performance of the 2024 Gig Review. To tell you about the very final one, I have to take you back a week or so to Friday 20th, and a pub in Stockport.
The gig in question isn’t a particularly grand one in terms of scale, at least compared to some of the 3-hour slogs I find myself doing. Essentially, a friend of mine was playing with his band at ‘The Blossoms’, a local pub which I’m told is culturally significant for inspiring the name of indie rock band ‘Blossoms’. Apparently.
But that’s by the by – my mate’s band is called The Local, and developed out of a similarly-named musical that he wrote a long long time ago in a galaxy not very far away (this one). In fact, in this modern age of wonder you can listen to them playing and singing without even going to a live performance! Just click on the following link to experience the magic of the modern age:
As it was nearly CHRISTMAS, to add a festive vibe to the evening they had decided to include a cover version of Greg Lake’s ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’. For this I had been drafted in to play a little flute, with a-lady-with-whom-I-share-some-close-acquaintance (and who often makes me sandwiches even if I don’t ask at all) contributing some mellow trumpet tootings to boot. We all had a nice little get-together that morning, blasting through the song a couple of times to check it was all fine, and then it was basically ready for showtime. That’s the great thing about being able to sight-read – if you can just follow the music, you don’t really need to rehearse!
The gig that evening was in a room above the pub, which when I think about it is one of those classic venue types I had never yet performed in. Pubs, yes, but never the iconic ‘room above a pub’. There were a few different bands playing (not at the same time, obviously), and it was great to see such an attentive and respectful audience really taking in all the music – not always what you expect to find in a boozer. I really enjoyed listening to most of The Local’s set and then playing for their penultimate song, and I think it went down well with the crowd. In short, it was a lovely evening and then I went home to bed.
What’s more, it seems there is videographic evidence of the performance to dispel any lingering doubts you may have regarding my reliability and authenticity! If you want to be transported back to that very time and place, simply feast your eyes and ears on this little beauty:
All of which brings me to the end of the December 2024 gig review, and indeed the entirety of 2024! I hope you’ve enjoyed these little insights into my gigging life, and until next time: good riddance!
Gig of the Month
It occurs to me that I have made it this far through the year without The Dixie Beats receiving a single Gig of the Month award! So I’m going to correct this injustice now and, in recognition of not just one but many sterling performances over the whole of 2024, give it to The Dixie Beats’ sold-out Christmas spectacular at Eagley Jazz Club.
What We’ve Learned
Never travel on 27th December.