Chasing those winter blues away.

Welcome to my latest online newsletter.

Our ‘Mostly Girls’ evening at The Old Bakery was a great success. The audience where entertained with some top quality singing from Sylvia McEwan, along with some amazing playing from Carol Gasser on Sax and Claudia on Double Bass, both of whom enthralled the audience with stories from their time during the 50s and 60s as members of The Ivy Benson Band.. This month’s photo was taken in the green room just before the performance. January also saw me perform as a guest with Mike Lovell’s ‘Swingtet’ at AJ’s Bar Carlyon Bay and I very much hope to make a return visit there again at some point.

Recently I have also made a fleeting return to ‘Teaching Mode’ during a talk given to the Jazz Appreciation Group from the U3A based in Carnon Downs. Sam, Keith and I were made most welcome and spent a pleasant afternoon talking to this well informed and knowledgeable crowd about our experiences and work with the piano trio. The JAG continues to grow and is open to anyone with a thirst for all things jazz, meeting on the first and third Mondays of each month.

Lucy O’Day, Sam, Keith and I will be travelling up to Plymouth later this month to perform a ‘live’ set of original material for Sarah Gosling at BBC Introducing. This will be available on the BBC Sounds, app and I will post further information on this when I have it.

Sunday lunchtime duo gigs at The Headland Hotel continue from 12.30-2.30pm until the end of May and my time at the hotel has now been extended to include a solo set during Afternoon Tea until 5pm. The usual residency I have at The Budock Vean Hotel has also restarted. Be sure to check out my busy schedule of gigs at the Bookings page as this continues to be regularly updated with any last minute engagements.

That is about all the news for now.

I hope to see you at a future gig.

Thanks for your support … as ever.

Simon