News
Last month we celebrated the launch of my debut album Apophenia,which is now available for purchase here. It’s the culmination of a few years of writing, and some incredible playing by everyone in the band, not to mention the hard work and wizardry of Jim Hart and Alex Bonney. The launch gig was a really special night for me, and I’m really looking forward to taking the band on tour and seeing how we develop the music. I was interviewed by Rob Cope for The Jazz Podcast, and by Sarah Chaplin for Jazz London Live. We’ve also had a lovely review of the album by Roger Farbey:
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/apophenia-miguel-gorodi-ubuntu-music-review-by-roger-farbey.php
As well the album launch and preparing for the tour, I really enjoyed the Barry Green Sextet gig at the vortex – our first one in a while. Barry’s tunes are really challenging, often in less-common keys with sneaky tricks in the forms. They cover an eclectic range of styles within jazz and it’s a rare treat to get to play such varied material within a set. You can read a review here.
Coming up this month
2ndJune – Andrew Linham Orchestra @ Peterborough Jazz Club
3rdJune – Quartet gig @ Sharktown Jazz, Oxford
11thJune – Alex Merrit / Gareth Fowler Quintet @ Flute & Tankard, Cardiff
17thJune – Miguel Gorodi Nonet @ Whiskey Jar, Manchester
18thJune – Miguel Gorodi Nonet @ Parr Jazz, Liverpool
Things I’ve been checking out
I’ve spent a lot of time at the Vortex Jazz Club in the last couple of months, both playing and watching gigs. My favourite gig was Michael Formanek’s Elusion Quartet featuring Tony Malaby, Kris Davis and Ches Smith. It was the first time I’ve heard Malaby live, and I’m a huge fan of Kris Davis. I also got to hear two other incredible pianists play a few days earlier; Matt Mitchell and Craig Taborn provided my highlites of Dan Weiss’ gig with Starebaby.
I seem to be going through a bit of a piano phase because I’ve also been listening to a lot of Bud Powell (Jazz Giant) recently, and have also listened to the audio book version of Herbie Hancock’s autobiography Possibilitiesnarrated by the man himself. I thoroughly enjoyed the sections about playing with Miles and the various band members during that time, plus an insightful section on working with a very young Wynton Marsalis in the band V.S.O.P. The book is also a bit of a history of synthesisers.