The last couple of days have seen several pages of the site updated. Amongst these have been updates to the About page, Schedule, Current Activities and even some new Sound Clips! These updates, many of which are quite overdue, are the first in a series of changes which will be implemented before the end of the year, by which time we are hoping to have a new and improved site design ready.

Most importantly, we have finally been able to update all of the dates for the Rat Pack US Tour which continues into the early part of 2008. It promises to be a busy time for Bryan as he goes directly between the US Tour and European dates in Austria and Germany without a break! He will be visiting Graz, Hannover, Bremen and Essen in January. Please come and see the show and then come and say hello afterwards! Lessons are, as always, available so please contact Bryan if you are interested.

October started out with the Rat Pack show’s 2 week run in St Louis, MO. Bryan was also to be found sitting in with the Sessions Big Band, at BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups, and with the extraordinary Jim Manley.

Before, returning to the Rat Pack UK Tour at the end of October in Birmingham, Bryan will also be playing with Jim Corry’s A Tribute to Atlantic Records, as well as subbing with Merengada and The Magic of Motown.

November sees the continuation of the US Tour. Check the schedule for details.

We had a great start to this year’s Rat Pack - Live At The Sands US Tour in the fine city of Atlanta, GA. It was a pleasure to meet and play with all the local musicians, in particular the brass players. My thanks go to ‘Lee’ King and Andy Hagans (trumpets), and Eric, Jason Altieri and Lee Watts (trombones) for making the first week back so easy for me. We had a great time hanging out after the show too!!

One particular thrill for me was the chance to go and help Lee Watts out with coaching the Trumpets at the Wheeler High School band program. Mark Hoskins runs a great program over at Wheeler and we had a great time working with the concert band section. All fine young players whom I look forward to hearing again in the future!

It was also great to have a chance to catch up with some returning Rat Packers. Alonzo Saunders rejoined us for a brief stint as Sammy cover and we even had a visit from Henry Prego; who returned as an emergency Frank cover at the end of the week. Great to see the guys again.

The next leg of the tour took us to St. Louis, MO. More about that shortly…