September has turned into an unexpectedly busy month for Bryan Davis. He is now making two trips to Austria in between September 9th and early October. Firstly, he will be performing and recording with Thomas Gansch and his band; Gansch and Roses. They play at Musikverein Ötscherland, in Frankenfels, Lower Austria on September 11th. Then Thomas is taking the band into the studio to record his new CD. More information on that when we have it. Finally, on September 15th, they perform at the wonderul Porgy & Bess Jazz Club in Vienna. During the recording and at Porgy, Thomas has invited a special guest to join the band. The trumpet section will be augmented by the great Adam Rapa! This promises to be a great gig and tickets are already selling fast.

On September 26th, Bryan Davis will be returning to Austria once again; this time to play the 1st leg of the LACJO Autumn Tour. It was previously expected that Bryan would have emigrated by this late in the year and consequently he arranged for his friend and colleague Roger Ingram to play the tour in his place. Unfortunately, Roger has been required to fulfil some promotional commitments with Harry Connick Jr, at short notice, and is unable to make it to Austria on this occasion. Luckily, due to the delays in his move, Bryan is able to play the concerts after all. The Austrian dates on the tour are as follows:

• 27/9/2009 – Festspielhaus, Bregenz
• 28/9/2009 – Ursulinensaal, Innsbruck
• 29/9/2009 – Stockingers Festsaal, Ansfelden
• 30/9/2009 – Stockwerkjazz, Graz
• 4/10/2009 – Altes Theater, Weitra
• 5.10.2009 – Porgy & Bess, Wien

All concerts are scheduled to start at 8pm. There is also a tour to Shanghai, China, later in October. Roger Ingram will be playing these dates, as previously planned.

During both of these tours, as well as when he’s back in the UK in between, Bryan is available to teach private trumpet lessons and workshops. In addition to the dates listed above, he will also be staying in Vienna on September 16th and October 1st-3rd. If you would like to organise a lesson, please email Bryan to set it up. If you are not in the same part of the world as Bryan, please be aware that Online Lessons via Webcam are also available!

In addition to his touring activities, Bryan’s emigration to New York is now continuing apace. He will (finally) be making the move immediately after the LACJO tour, probably on October 8th. Providing the authorities grant him permission(!) he hopes to be playing the Rat Pack Christmas dates in Dallas, TX and Hartford, CT in December. More information about that in due course.

Bryan Davis is still UK-based during August and early September. He is available to teach lessons and workshops, as well as for gigs of any kind. If you are based elsewhere in the UK, or indeed the world, but are interested in taking a lesson with Bryan, please be aware that Online Lessons via Webcam are also available. It seems likely now that Bryan will, finally, be making his move to New York in mid-September. That will be confirmed soon.

Following a quiet beginning to August, Bryan is having a busy time at the end of the month. Along with the usual wedding gigs and other private events, he will also be performing with the Real Macaws on a few of their summer dates; they are playing at an event in Springfield Park, Darlington on the 23rd, and are in Whitby, N.Yorkshire and just outside of Manchester on the 30th and 31st respectively. Following the event in Darlington, Bryan will making a mad dash to Rhyl to play with the Nick Ross Orchestra that evening. Full details of his movements are in the Calendar.

Looking ahead to September, Bryan will be playing for the last time at The Swan, in Liversedge, at their regular Wednesday night Jazz gig. He will be joining the Brian Jackson Trio and other guests on 2nd of September. Bryan had a tremendous gig there this month, as mentioned in a recent news item, with Stuart McDonald (saxes) and special guest Russell Van den Burgh sitting in on Tenor sax. Lots of fun!

Bryan Davis will be visiting Austria to perform and record with his good friend Thomas Gansch. “Gansch & Roses” will be performing in Frankelfels, in Lower Austria, on September 11th. Following 3 days in the studio, they will be playing at the fabulous Porgy & Bess club in Vienna on the 15th. Some lesson times will be available while Bryan is in Austria; he will most likely come over a couple of days early to visit friends in Vienna so there will be more opportunities than usual! Please contact Bryan if you are interested in scheduling a lesson and we’ll set it up.

Later in September, and during October, the Lower Austria Concert Jazz Orchestra are touring again, in Austria and China! On this occasion, Bryan will be unable to perform with them due to his emigration. Instead, Roger Ingram will playing Lead Trumpet with the band. Apologies to the LACJO musicians and audience. Bryan intends to resume playing with the band in 2010 – the provisional tour dates for September 2010 are already in his diary!

The live LACJO recording from the first gig in St Polten in September ‘08 is apparently mixed, mastered and ready to go! We hope to add details of that CD to Bryan’s discography very soon!

Other recent highlights included Stephen Triffitt‘s Frank Sinatra Tribute in Amsterdam, the Wigan Jazz Club Big Band’s concert closing the Wigan Jazz Festival 2009 and Ryan Quigley‘s Maynard Ferguson Tribute in Glasgow.

The Store page is now up and running on the website. There are prepayment links for lessons and .pdf files of Trumpet exercises. There are also links to various external retailers (Amazon, iTunes etc) to purchase CDs and DVDs featuring Bryan Davis. If you have any requests for merchandise you’d like to see added to the Store, please contact Bryan and let him know!

Bryan Davis is still UK-based during August. He is available to teach lessons and workshops, as well as for gigs of any kind. If you are based elsewhere in the UK, or indeed the world, but are interested in taking a lesson with Bryan, please be aware that Online Lessons via Webcam are also available.

Bryan will be taking a trip up to Glasgow on Friday, 31st July to perform with the Ryan Quigley Big Band at their Maynard Ferguson Tribute. The gig takes place at The (Renfrew) Ferry, 25 Anderston Quay, Glasgow from 8pm. There is a news item with more details.

During August, Bryan is mostly playing for private events; as is typical during the summer months in the UK. He will also be playing a couple of dates with The Real Macaws; wandering around in town centres as they tend to! His principal activity will be finalising the sale of his house and getting ready to move to New York in mid-September!

Looking forward to September, Bryan will be visiting Austria to perform and record with his good friend Thomas Gansch. “Gansch & Roses” will be performing in Frankelfels, in Lower Austria, on September 11th. Following 3 days in the studio, they will be playing at the fabulous Porgy & Bess club in Vienna on the 15th. Some lesson times will be available while Bryan is in Austria; he will most likely come over a couple of days early to visit friends in Vienna so there will be more opportunities than usual! Please contact Bryan if you are interested in scheduling a lesson and we’ll set it up.

Later in September, and during October, the Lower Austria Concert Jazz Orchestra are touring again, in Austria and China! On this occasion, Bryan will be unable to perform with them due to his emigration. Instead, Roger Ingram will playing Lead Trumpet with the band. Apologies to the LACJO musicians and audience. Bryan intends to resume playing with the band in 2010.

The live LACJO recording from the first gig in St Polten in September ’08 is apparently mixed, mastered and ready to go! We hope to add details of that CD to Bryan’s discography very soon!

During July, Bryan had a great trip to Amsterdam, playing Lead Trumpet for Stephen Triffitt in his “Tribute to Frank Sinatra”. The local musicians, who made up the bulk of the band, did a tremendous job and the concert was a great success. Another notable gig was the Wigan Jazz Club Big Band’s concert on the final night of the Wigan Jazz Festival. In a double bill with singer Carol Kidd, the band closed the festival with a great set of music from the Stan Kenton library. The concert was a sell-out and the large audience were treated to some fantastic playing from a great band!

Bryan Davis will still be based in Leeds, UK during this month. He is available to teach lessons and workshops, as well as for gigs of any kind. If you are based elsewhere in the UK, or indeed the world, but are interested in taking a lesson with Bryan, please be aware that Online Lessons via Webcam are also available.

Bryan’s emigration to the USA has been temporarily delayed while he finishes tidying up the loose ends of his life in the UK. He hopes to be moving to New York before too much longer – hopefully sometime during August.

Included in this month’s activities are a trip to Amsterdam, Holland. Bryan will be travelling as Lead Trumpet with Stephen Triffitt, to play his “Tribute to Frank Sinatra” at the Theater Carre. Bryan will be arriving in Amsterdam on Tuesday the 7th, playing the show on Wednesday the 8th and returning home on the 9th. Lesson times should be available on Tuesday lunchtime and Wednesday morning. Please visit the Lessons page and contact Bryan to set it up if you are interested.

On Saturday, 18th July, Bryan will be playing Lead Trumpet with the Wigan Jazz Club Big Band at the final concert of the Wigan Jazz Festival 2009. This concert is a Double Bill with Carole Kidd and her band in the 1st half and the Wigan Jazz Club band playing a Stan Kenton programme in the 2nd half. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased by calling the Box Office on 01942 825677.

On June 27th, Bryan performed at the Glasgow Jazz Festival with the Ryan Quigley Big Band. He had the tremendous pleasure of sharing his section duties with Roger Ingram, Noel Langley and Ryan himself. The concert was recorded by BBC Scotland and highlights will be broadcast on the Jazz Line Up programme on BBC Radio 3 in a few weeks. We will post details of that broadcast when we have them. For much of the concert, the band were backing Justin Currie; lead singer and founder member of Del Amitri. A number of songs have appeared on YouTube. We hope you enjoy this version of “Nature Boy”:

Bryan Davis is based in Leeds, UK during this period. He is available to teach lessons and workshops, as well as for gigs of any kind. If you are based elsewhere in the UK, or indeed the world, but are interested in taking a lesson with Bryan, please be aware that Online Lessons via Webcam are also available.

Returning visitors are most likely aware that Bryan has been planning for some time to move to the USA. We are pleased to announce that he recently received his Visa. He will be moving to New York soon; most likely in late July 2009. Following a short period upon arrival when his residence will be pending, Bryan Davis will be available for performance and teaching opportunities of all kinds in the USA.

Before leaving the UK, Bryan will be keeping busy with various activities, including a jazz recording project – more about that as the details are firmed up. He is slowly getting back into the freelance scene and, this month, will be playing dates with the Nick Ross Orchestra and will also be covering a couple of shows on the West Side Story UK National Tour. He will also be performing at the Glasgow Jazz Festival on the 27th of June with the Ryan Quigley Big Band. This promises to be a great concert with Bryan sharing his section duties with Roger Ingram, Noel Langley and the leader.

Looking ahead to July, Bryan will be travelling to Holland with Stephen Triffitt to play Lead Trumpet on his “Salute To Sinatra” showcase in Amsterdam. He will also be performing with the Wigan Jazz Club Big Band on July 18th on the last night of the Wigan Jazz Festival.

If you’re looking for further news about the Bryan Davis Podcast, we should have a new episode available soon. Bryan’s busy schedule and a brief bout of illness have prevented him from recording anything recently. He promises to rectify this soon!