Jazz Alive End of Year

So finally 2008 has finished and we are heading into a hopefully better time than the one just finished..December saw the finish of the Jazz Alive project with the students performing to an audience of their peers plus some celeb Jazz performers turned up to show their support.
Courtney Pine kindly dropped in and presented some Arts Awards plus Mercury nominated pianist Zoe Rahman also presented some awards to all those students who took part in the course..
Darren Taylor Bassist and one of the hardest working and supportive musicians on the scene was also in the audience and giving words of encouragement to a willing and quite a bright bunch who
I hope will go on to better things in the future..
Positives for the year are moments like conducting the 100 strong Saxophone Massive in Norway at the Stavangar festival in May..Met some fantastic people and had a great time.
The first Blanche Neville concert with the young people with hearing difficulties wow didn't they give a good show plus the poet Baden who stood in at the last minute for a yet again missing poet who shall remain nameless!
Beggar and Co at the Jazz Cafe,Louis Moholo Moholo at the Vortex.Alexander Hawkins at the Vortex.Tony Bevan Bruise at the Voretx where all highlights for me..
The Roundhouse Live Jam and Junior Jam students gave their end of term concerts to a full house of eager friends and Families..
The N.L.O project with Sound came to an end and was really well received resulting in an offer to come back and continue the good work that has been started.
International Fluatist Keith Waithes who had been working on a 3 month project in my regular school brought his project to a successful conclusion!
The only downer for the year was probably the "Rich Mix" Debacle during the festival but hey they had pretty low standards to maintain and they sure struggled to even reach those!!

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