I’m pleased to say that I’ve also been teaching, both online and off-. In addition, I’ve actually been playing occasionally as well! I’ve been rehearsing with Bill Lee and his Natural Spirit Orchestra for an upcoming concert, and I even got a call for a salsa gig a couple of weeks ago. Much fun was had!!

Things are, as I expected, still a good deal quieter than they might have been, had I stayed in England but, given the recent political machinations there, I think I’m better off out of harms way. The phone is starting to ring so it’s only a matter of time before I’ll be playing more regularly again.

I’m still planning to be back in Austria with the LACJO in August, and I’ve just heard from Thomas Gansch to confirm some dates with him in late October/early November! Adam Rapa is planning to be back with us too, so that’ll be an extra fun trip!

Meantime it’s back to practicing and coding! Among my projects is a planned redesign of this site – more about that, and everything else, soon….

BD

In December, Bryan will be hitting the road once more for a brief excursion with the “Christmas with The Rat Pack – Live At The Sands” holiday show. He will be in Dallas, TX from December 1st – 12th and then in Hartford, CT from December 15th – 20th.

In addition to live performances, Bryan Davis is always available to teach trumpet lessons and clinics, whether at home or elsewhere. For prospective students outside of the USA, online lessons via webcam are also available. The online lessons, in particular, are proving quite popular. All you need is a computer, webcam setup and the free Skype software. Bryan was, himself, sceptical about the usefulness of this system in teaching but, we are pleased to report, that he’s very pleased with how it works out! In celebration of his recent emigration, Bryan is currently offering a discount price on lessons in both formats. See the Teaching pages for details.

During September and October, Bryan Davis paid a couple of visits to Austria. First, he played a couple of concerts, and spent 3 days in the studio with Thomas Gansch and his band. For the studio sessions and the concert at Porgy & Bess in Vienna, the trumpet section was augmented by Adam Rapa – a wonderful trumpet player and great guy. Thomas wrote a few tunes for this 3 trumpet line-up; dubbed the ‘Trumpet Porn Suite’. These included his tribute to Bill Chase – ‘Der Rock des Trompeters’. Fans of high note ‘big’ trumpet are not going to disappointed when they hear the resulting CD. We hope to have details of a release in Spring 2010 before long. In the meantime, you can enjoy a couple of videos from the Porgy & Bess concert including this one:-

Bryan returned to Austria at the end of September for the Autumn Tour with the LACJO – reprising their ‘Murdering The Classics’ programme. They played 6 concerts. Unfortunately the first couple were rather poorly attended but the band is really hitting it’s stride! The final concert at Porgy & Bess in Vienna was particularly special! There is a provisional plan for European Tour in September 2010 – more details as they become available. We also imminently expect details of an release for the live LACJO CD they recorded at the inaugural concert in 2008. It should be initially available from the ORF broadcast network in Austria – details of worldwide distribution will follow shortly after. We will make the requisite announcements as soon as the details are confirmed.

There will be a limited number of lesson times available in both these cities and Bryan is also available for Clinics and workshops. Please check the Teaching page of this site for details and Contact Bryan to set something up, or if you have any further questions.

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!

We will be adding more products as they become available. These will include Bryan’s forthcoming book and Jazz recording, as well as other PDFs of exercises which are currently being transferred into the Sibelius notation program.

Payments are securely handled by PayPal and downloadable items are available immediately after checkout. Enjoy!

Then, just as the LACJO tour was sorted out, Bryan ran into his dear friend Thomas Gansch on a Mnozil Brass date in Durham, UK. Thomas invited him to come back for a spell with his band Gansch & Roses for their concerts and recording dates in mid-September. So, Bryan will be back to visit his Austrian friends for a last hoorah, and a couple of weissbiers, before the big move.

The dates are in the Calendar; the concerts are on September 11th in Frankenfels and the 15th at Porgy & Bess in Vienna, with the Studio recording in between. Please come on out and see a concert and say hello!

Edit: Some lesson times will be available while Bryan is in Austria – certainly time will be available on September 15th before the concert at Porgy & Bess in Vienna. If there is sufficient interest in lessons or a masterclass, it may be possible for Bryan to organise his travel plans to spend an extra day or two in Vienna. Please contact Bryan very soon so this can be arranged.

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”: