Ever since featuring in the UK’s leading bridal publication this season really has turned into the ‘Summer of Love’ – with opportunities to perform at some of the most beautiful weddings I have seen to date. Spanning the globe from Mayfair to Mykonos I have quite literally been spoilt with beautiful weddings to perform at.
There are just so many reasons why I love weddings but looking a bit further than just the obvious there are also some music and performance factors that make it so enjoyable. It is very rare as a musician to get booked for an event where you are required (or even allowed) to play more than one genre. For example if you are booked to play at a house music festival it would be reasonably expected that you wouldn’t stray too far away from your bass n’ beats. Equally if you are booked to play at a Jazz club then you would probably get a few funny looks if you started playing Debussy! In the ‘music business’ people love to compartmentalise artists and place them in certain genres. Now this isn’t a complaint, it’s just the way it is. However when you perform at a wedding it is completely different! You are there to entertain, to give variety, to put on a show and to make sure everyone has a good time! I love that I can perform a reception set on the saxophone covering some much loved Jazz standards but then five hours later could have the whole dance floor jumping up and down to drum and bass! Equally, over dinner I could be singing some John Legend with the piano but at the end of the night having an acoustic Jam on the guitar as people are leaving. I just love the musical journey that is encountered at a wedding.
On the subject of weddings – this month I was very fortunate to perform at a beautiful Jewish wedding with Totem Entertainment in Italy. It was located at a stunning castle overlooking the rolling hills of Ancona and as you can imagine there was no lack of sunshine sand and sea! We had an absolutely wonderful time out there (and so did the guests!!!). To show you how hard at work we were ;) Totem have put together a fun little video showing our weekend. This is just a bit of fun . . . but then, who doesn’t like fun!
Whilst performing in Italy I was very fortunate to cross paths with the insanely talented photographer Iain Gomes. Check out this incredible shot he took of the gorgeous couple dancing under the castle archway as I filled the airways with some sexy Sax ! I just LOVE this . . .
New toys
Now who doesn’t like new toys?! And I have been very spoilt, yet again, in this department! Firstly I am going to start with my new guitar. Although first and foremost I am a saxophone player but I have always had a soft spot for an acoustic guitar. What I love about the guitar is its portability coupled with the ability to be an accompanying instrument which makes it such a fantastic ‘secret weapon’ to pull out at a party! A couple of months back I recorded some music videos for the website and one of them was a James Morrison cover on guitar. I was lucky enough to borrow my friends solid rosewood mahogany Tanglewood for this .and was just blown away! Well it just so happens that a few weeks later it was my birthday and (this is where the spoilt bit comes) my wonderful fiancé had brought me an absolutely gorgeous solid wood Tanglewood. I understand that she had some help directly from Tanglewood in handpicking the best one – so a massive thank you to the Tanglewood team for this! I just love it.
Check out the video and let me know what you think.
In other news…I popped down to sax.co.uk last week to pick up some Reeds and I ended up walking out with a brand new saxophone – Doh! My new purchase (here is the geeky sax bit!) is a Yamaha Custom 82Zs. It is Yamaha’s flagship model and I have to say I immediately fell in love with the action and its amazingly big accurate sound. The staff at Sax.co.uk are always incredibly helpful, so to my saxophone student following, if you ever do need to pick up anything ‘Sax’ I wouldn’t go anywhere else!
In the stores
My house track with the 2 x UK number 1, Kelli-Leigh, is now in the stores. Along with this is the B side to the EP featuring the stonking vocals of Trevor Francis. This release achieved a number 15 in the Upfront dance charts over Christmas with no label support and achieved DJ following that would make even the most hardiest of Ibiza goer’s eyes water – including Kiss FM’s very own AJ King, Oliver Heldens and Erik Morillo. You can get your copies in all good stores . . . or here!
In other news
I am pleased to be announcing that I will be performing at this year’s National Wedding Show at the Olympia (25th – 27th September). They are expecting over 17,000 visitors across the three days and it is the UK’s largest show of its kind. I will also be bringing on board some great artists that I will be performing with so please come down and say hello – there might even be a glass of Champagne or two ;) BM
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