- 12th Jan Wendy Kirkland Trio at Number Five
- 19th Jan Tea Curfew at Number Five
- 27th Jan Tea Curfew at Silk Mill Museum, house band at ‘Holy Smokes!’
- 2nd Feb Matt Ratcliffe, Ian Beestin at Number Five
2012 Gigs
Gigs since 2006
Just doing a tot up from a blog archive tells me that I’ve done a total of 242 gigs since 2006; I did do some gigs before then I didn’t keep a record.
Looking forward to 2012; new projects with new collaborators and new experiences to be had!
New Sounds
A band I am part of Tea Curfew have released some sessions we recorded a few years ago and are now available to buy/listen to on Bandcamp.
Enjoy!
Current Projects
- Gigs with “Karen Lake Quartet” which involves Karen Lake on vocals, Geoff Pearson on bass and Pete Wraight on flugelhorn. Standards based repertoire and makes a change to be without a drummer.
- Gigs and Bandcamp release in the pipeline with “Tea Curfew” Pete Wraight on organ, Earl Greyham on bass, Mick Saunders on drums. Fun and unpredictable band loosely based on jazz with tunes set around repeated bass figures and sometimes discordant chordal explorations. It will become wilder when I finally get my hands on the Way Huge Ring Worm I’ve got on order!
- About to start again with a much talked about but little achieved collaboration with Jamie Cattermole which will be a 2 guitar project which at this stage could go in many directions musically, we’ll wait to see what happens with this.
No arty projects at the moment unfortunately, my time is spent practicing and studying music when I get chance although I am enjoying the abstract capabilities of my iPhone using such apps as Instagram, Cubism, iMultishot, Quadcamera, Kaleidacam, Pixel It, SeeThis, DX, Vortex, Spiri and my current favourite Decim8.
2011 Gig List
6th Jan Organ Quartet at 5
20th Jan Gtr trio at 5
3rd Feb Organ Quartet at 5
5th Feb Strays with Karen Lake
24th Feb Karen Lake trio at 5
10th March Organ Quartet at 5
24th March Karen Lake Quartet
14th April Karen Lake Quartet
19th April Duo with Tom Bunting
21st April with Wendy Kirkland trio
24th April with Karen Lake and Jez Matthews
7th May Karen Lake trio at Strays, Newark
14th May Gtr duo at Mackworth Hotel, Derby
19th May Karen Lake quartet at 5
2nd June Organ quartet
4th June at Strays with KL
16th June w/ WK trio
19th June WWH duo at party
30th June with quartet
7th July Number Five
28th July Cubanas Sheffield
4th August Number Five Organ
5th August Lincoln KL Trio
25th August Bluebell KL Trio
1st September Manvers Arms Nottingham KL 4tet
8th September Number 5 organ 4tet
15th September Cubanas KL 5tet
22nd September Hand and Heart Notts KL 4tet
1st October Function Organ 4tet
20th October KL trio Number 5
3rd November Johnson Arms KL 3tet
10th November Tea Curfew at Number Five
17th November Bluebell Inn KL trio
25th November WK trio Banks Mill
1st December Tea Curfew at Five
29th December Gary Reader 4tet at Five
2010 gigs
7th Jan Karen Lake and me as duo at Number 5
28th Jan Tom Bunting and me as duo at Number 5
11th Feb Jazz Gtr Club Manchester
14th Feb Karen Lake duo
18th Feb leading a trio
25th Feb Paul Lawley and Karen as trio
11th March Ritmotone at 5
1st April Trio in Rugby
8th April Trio with Karen and Tom
22nd April Twisted Blues Hammond quartet
20th May Ritmotone at 5
27th May Cheadle Jazz Gtr Club
3rd June Rugby trio with Dave Eno
10th June Can Din Ski quartet at Five
24th June Ritmotone at Five
1st July Karen Lake Duo at Five
2nd July Bank’s Mill as trio
22nd July Can Din Ski at Five
24th July w/ Impressions Quintet, Sheffield
3rd Aug Karen Lake Duo at Manor House Dronfield
5th Aug g/b/d trio at Five
14th Aug Karen Lake Duo Dronfield
19th Aug quartet at Number Five
26th Aug trio at Five with Max Johnson a.sax
9th Sept quartet at Number Five
14th Sept w/Impressions at Dexters Nottingham
18th Sept Karen Lake duo at Strays, Newark
26th Sept Trio at Five
30th Sept Trio at Five
20th Oct Joe Giglio, Karen Lake and me as trio at The Bluebell Inn, Farnah Green, Belper
21st Oct Joe Giglio at Five
23rd Nov Karen Lake Duo at Manor House Dronfield
25th Nov Jazz guitar club Cheadle
9th Dec Hammond quartet Number 5
Adam Rogers “Bobo” solo transcription
I’ve only recently come across Adam Rogers and he’s a great player, check out the clips of him on Youtube.
2009 Gigs
- Jan 29th Manchester Jazz guitar club
- Feb 7th trio (bass+drums) function Risley Hall
- Feb 26th Manchester Jazz guitar club
- March 6th WWH + sax Rugby
- March 31st gtr duo Pizza Express
- April 24th WWH + sax Rugby
- May 26th Manchester Jazz Guitar Club
- June 12th Ashbourne Jazz trio
- June 26th Rugby Jazz Trio
- July 9th WWH at Number 5
- July 10th WWH at the Crompton
- July 18th trio including Alyson & Paul
- July 30th Ritmotone latin/jazz trio at Number 5
- August 6th with Wendy Kirkland at Number 5
- August 13th trio with Dan Martin gtr and Dave Eno sax at Number 5
- August 27th Ritmo latin/jazz trio at Number 5
- Sept 10th trio with Dan Martin gtr and Dave Eno sax at Number 5
- Sept 24th Ritmotone latin/jazz trio at Number 5
- Oct 8th trio with Paul Lawley bass and Karen Lake vocals
- Oct 15th trio at Number 5
- Oct 29th Ritmotone at Number 5
- Nov 12th duo with Paul Lawley at Number 5
- Nov 20th duo with Karen Lake at The Crucible
- Nov 22nd duo with Karen Lake
- Nov 26th Ritmotone at Number 5
- Nov 27th trio at Banks Mill
- December 10th quintet at Cubana
- December 11th duo with Karen Lake at Walnut Club
“Encuentros” transcription by John McLaughlin
A great solo from the “After The Rain” album with Joey DeFrancesco and Elvin Jones. What do you mean you haven’t got it?!
Danthology
DANTHOLOGY
1992-2008
1992 “C Major” (Johnson)
“D Major” (Johnson)
These were written and recorded for for GCSE Music exam when I was 16, they were my first attempt to write a short solo guitar piece. I have since written a couple of pieces for specific events but it’s not my forte, in fact I haven’t even owned an acoustic guitar for many years now.
Acoustic Guitar – me
1993 “Dub” (Johnson)
All done by myself on borrowed equipment from Wilmorton College, back in the days when you had to flip tapes over to get backwards tracks!
Roland D5(?) keyboard – me
Guitars – me
1994 “Untitled” (Bucknell/Johnson) by Simon Bucknell & Dan Johnson
Still not got the hang of the song titles by this point. This was recorded in an afternoon at Jyoti Mishra’s (of Whitetown fame) house. I wrote the chords and Simon did the tune and a top job of the trumpet solo. This was my first recorded attempt at playing in a jazz style.
Drums – Bernard Purdie sample album
Trumpet & Synth – Simon
Bass & Guitars – me
1998 “Chill” (Bucknell/Johnson) by Simon Bucknell & Dan Johnson
I completely forgot of this tunes existence and is one of the few we did on a home portastudio at Westbury St.
Drums – Bernard Purdie sample album
Trumpet & Synth – Simon
Bass & Guitars – me
1999(?)”Ten Thousand Years” (Hough/?) by “Scuddahay” from “Full Tilt”
On a particularly rainy night, myself, Simon, Darran and Mark drove down to Wolverhampton to the ‘Magic Garden Studios’ and recorded various bits for the album, this was my contribution. I loved the sound of the guitar on this, a beautiful reissue Rickenbacker through a sixties Vox AC15 with a bit of compression. It was one take and although not perfect had a good vibe to it.
Acoustic Guitar – John Hough
Vocals -
Electric Guitar – me
2000 “Sunset Slowdown”(Savage/Johnson) by “Aubergine”
Only 3 tracks and a live video remain of the legendary band that was Aubergine, a damn fine excuse for lots of drinking and er.. drinking really. This was recorded up in Duffield at Azimuth Studios and is a lovely memento of the times.
Vocals & Synth- Andy Savage
Bass – Ben Johnson
Drums – Mike Smith
Ac & El Guitars – me
“Medieval Stuff” (Johnson)
Stylistically different to anything else I’d done previously (or since), from the same session I recorded Simon and Carolines wedding song I recorded this, part improvised, I had an idea for a middle section but I didn’t play it so I made the mid section up.
2003 “Track One”(Wraight) by “Pete Wraights All Stars” from “Travellers Rest Demo”
This track was from an aborted album which never saw the light of day unfortunately. It was great fun playing with this combo and I was extremely honoured to played a couple of live gigs with Dave O’Higgins in this setting. My only playing with a genuine UK jazz legend!
Organ – Pete Wraight
Bass – Willy Watts
Drums – Mick Saunders
Sax – Dave Eno
Trombone – Graham Woodhouse
2006 “Nobody Does It Better”
An acoustic arrangement I did of the bond theme, a great tune and seems to sit quite well on guitar. Recorded by Jyoti Mishra as a demo.
Ac Gtr – me
2007 “Gone With The Wind” by Alyson Dixon & Dan Johnson recorded live at 5 Lamps.
I really enjoyed these gigs and I’ll hope to record an album one day which does the whole thing justice. We still gig once in a while but usually with the addition of bass and/or sax these days.
2008 “There Will Never Be Another You” Paul Lawley & Dan Johnson recorded live at Graze
I really enjoyed the gigs we did at this restaurant , we played standards but improvised within the structure enough to keep it interesting. We never knew what was going to happen and never practiced but more often than not it worked well.
Bass – Paul Lawley
El Gtr – me
2008 “Blue In Green” (Davis) by “Watch What Happens” recorded live at Graze
The Miles Davis classic given the mellow twin guitar treatment. Always challenging to try and play less, I’ve not done a good job yet so I guess I’ll carry on trying.
El Gtr – Dan Martin (chords)
El Gtr – me (widdle)
