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LATEST NEWS 4th February 2008 (updated 18th Feb) Hello All, Just finished doing 3 shows with Level 42 in Denmark, which went very well, preceded by 2 shows in London and Manchester with Reel People (see Upcoming Dates for more details plus a link to their MySpace site). For me their music has echoes of Shalimar, Benson, Wonder, plus that Black British Soul thang, some good old Jazz-Funk and a bit of Steely Dan thrown in too. It has been a particular delight to work with some great Singers, proper voices that you can't keep still listening to, and a bit of a Da Lata reunion with Oli Savill (percussion) and Tristan Banks (drums). We just recorded a session for 1 Xtra (BBC radio 1) which should be broadcast soon. On the Zeep front, I will be going into the studio with Chris, Nina and the band this month (feb) to record 3 new tracks, a couple of which we played live on the tour we did last November with Vieux Farka Toure. 2008 is set to be my busiest year as a musician for a loooonnng time, not only am I doing some european dates with Level 42, plus a full UK tour in October (and at this point I should make special mention of a show we are doing as part of The Hague Jazz Festival on 24th May, in Gary Husband's absence we have a very special guest on drums -Billy Cobham! I am very excited and looking forward to that). I will be doing various things with Dominic (Miller) this year -recording wise there is an EP to finish, and he has been asked to produce a CD by Avitall, a Jewish Cantor based in Berlin, which I am part of (we already recorded some classical and traditional songs in January. Avitall is playing a concert with the Dominic Miller Band (myself included) this thursday, 21st February 2008 at the Synagogue Rykestrasse, Berlin. There are also some dates with his 4 piece band (Dom, me, Nicolas and Rhani) in the UK and Germany. I am making good progress now on the song album now, it is sounding like a mixture of McCartney meets Stevie meets Vaughan Williams. I am meeting and working with some fantastic musicians that I hope will be inspirational companions on this epic journey! When I have something to share I will give you a taste. I am awaiting final confirmation of a 2-3 month tour with Otto Sauter and his "Ten of the Best" project. Dominic, Rhani and I recorded several arrangements for a new CD last August, and Otto has planned a tour that will involve large concert venues in France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Spain and Portugal, between May and September. Again, once i receive confirmation i shall post up the dates. In the meantime, take care and try not to get too upset by all the "Bad News" that we get fed every day from our various media-it's not the whole story!(This is one of the themes to my song album) Mike 12th November 2007 Hello everyone, As we approach the end of another year, a lot has happened that I need to let you know about. had a great time playing festival dates with Level 42 in Indonesia (Jakarta Jazz Festival in March plus a mini tour in June), also in Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and Germany and ending with a wonderful show at Arundel. It was fantastic as always to be on stage with Mark, Gary, Nathan and Sean, who recently celebrated the birth of his first child, Kyla. it was great playing some of the older tunes such as "Eyes Waterfalling" along with "It's Over" and "The Sunbed Song" at Arundel, and as soon as Mark has finished his building work at home, I'm hoping to collaborate with hiom in his studio to re-record songs from the Level 42 catalogue, in acoustic arrangements, inspired by doing quite a few live radio renditions with Mark and Nathan on acoustic guitars and myself (and sometimes Gary) on piano. I was recently in France to visit and work with Dominic, he has rented a place out there with his family in Provence, and has a wonderful farmhouse which is his studio. We (Dom, Nicolas Fiszman and I, being members of the Dominic Miller Band) started work on an EP where we each brought a composition along (Rhani Krija wasn't free but will add his parts soon if he hasn't already done so), the whole idea being that we have new material to play live, and something that is our own to record and perform compositionally. we did some fantastic shows this year, as a duo (Dom and I) at the Wartburg Festival in Eisenach, Germany, playing in a historic long hall previously used by Liszt and Wagner (no pressure, then!). This festival was organised by trumpet player Otto Sauter, whom Dom, Rhani and I recorded a session in August near Cologne for a project called "Ten of the Best". We also did some shows as a 3 and 4 piece, including a very special one in Muenster in September, where some beautiful pictures were taken by Zigi and Kirsten. I also had a fantastic opportunity to play a gig with one of my all-time heroes, Billy Cobham. I was invited by Italian Fusion group/production team Novecento to join them on stage with billy, as part of a series of concerts to promote his Drum 'n Voice albums they made together. I had written and performed a vocal on the second album, Drum 'n Voice 2 Due, called "One More Day to Live", and it was fantastic to be onstage with Billy and the band, in the very south of Italy in Catanzaro, singing this song, as well as covering some of the others from the first album including Gregg Kofi Brown's "Shadow", and playing synth on his now classic compositions "Stratus" and "Red Baron". I have also very much enjoyed being in the studio with Phil Gould, and have ended up doing vocals on several songs on his what I call masterwork, an album that has taken a long time to produce (although there's me as kettle calling him a black pot!). Some of you may already have heard "Innocent Abroad" floating around on MySpace. The tunes are really amazing, and I pray that he will find someone with zest and integrity to help him release it to the world when it is finally finished. As I type this I am about to begin a 2 week tour of the UK with Zeep, the latest project from Chris Franck and Nina Miranda (previous projects are Smoke City and Da Lata). We are playing concerts in a bill (titled "Heatwave") with Vieux Farka Toure, from Mali, (son of the late Ali Farka Toure). It's a cracking line up, and Zeep (Mike Mondesir, bass, and Davide Giovannini, drums along with Chris and Nina) are sounding sharp and ready to go -plus we are to all be on stage for some kind of jam with Vieux and his band at the end. The tour kicks off on thurs 15th Nov in Bristol and ends on the 25th in Glasgow. During (19th Nov in Birkenhead) and following the tour (28th Cologne, STOP PRESS 2 shows in Mumbai CANCELLED due to venue being unfinished) I am with the Dominic Miller Band, click HERE for a list of all upcoming dates. When I get back we are moving house to NW London, which is a first for me, I'm going to have to find some thick-rimmed glasses and a trendy jumper! Best Wishes, Mike |
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