kneeling before the greats

Much of this month has been spent in placement time for my Headley fellowship at Trinity Laban.
One of the greatest benefits of being awarded that scholarship was that they essentially pay me to go and learn from musicians and music educators I really admire. The stand outs sessions this month were both mid sized ensembles, but led in very different ways.

Firstly The Annie Whitehead World Music Big Band, who meet first Monday of the month in Kings Cross- Annie is a super accomplished player and leader (notably with Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Jah Wobble, Robert Wyatt) and she really does hold her players accountable to the same standards you’d expect professionally. It’s awe inspiring to watch, and woe betide you if (as the other tromboner in the room), she calls you out on something. A curious mix of shame at your mistake and pride that she deems you worthy of comment. The repertoire is always awesome, well worth checking out their version of Fela Kuti’s Colonial Mentality.
I also sat in with The London Improvisers Orchestra who are led by Steve Beresford. This was a big moment for me, as Steve wrote the forward to John Steven’s Search and Reflect, a bible to me, and anyone else interested in musical games and instant composition. He was very much involved with Community Music back in the day, and he curates an amazing space over at Iklectik where they meet on the first Sunday of the month. I recommend investigating, as it’s impossible to explain how their ‘conductings’ work out of context.