New site!

I'm in the process of moving this site off of Blogger, and onto my own hosting, so please come on over to www.toddbishopjazz.com for all my latest stuff!

New album for 2014: Todd Bishop Group — TRAVELOGUE

TRAVELOGUE, the new album by the Todd Bishop Group has been completed, to be released on Origin Records in July, 2015. The album features Bishop's original compositions, written in collaboration with Jasnam Daya Singh (née Weber Iago). There are also tunes by Singh, saxophonist Richard Cole, and a cover of Only Shallow, by the Manchester psychedelic pop band My Bloody Valentine.

The band will tour Europe in October-November 2014, and April 2015.

Track list:

1. Moving — Bishop/Iago
2. Far And Awake — Iago
3. Ventimiglia — Bishop/Iago
4. The Trip — Bishop/Iago
5. Dom's Riff — Bishop
6. Norwegian — Bishop/Iago
7. Somnambulist — Cole
8. Only Shallow — Butcher/Shields

Richard Cole — soprano, tenor and bari saxophones; bass clarinet; alto flute

Jasnam Daya Singh (Weber Iago) — piano, Fender Rhodes
Chris Higgins — bass
Todd Bishop — drums

Produced by Todd Bishop
Recorded by Bob Stark at Kung Fu Bakery, Portland, March 10, 2014.
Mixed and mastered by Bob Stark

Playing in Seattle tonight...

Hey, if you're in Seattle, come on down to Egan's in Ballard tonight— my group will be playing at 10:30, as part of the Ballard Jazz Festival. The band includes Richard Cole, Jasnam Daya Singh (née Weber Iago), and Chris Higgins. Before us at 8 is George Colligan's group, with Matt Jorgensen on drums. There's a whole lot of other music going on in the neighborhood, too.

The new record — UPDATED

UPDATE: Since this post, the album has been completed, and, as with all creative endeavors, has evolved in the process. Weber Iago has brought a lot of beautiful Brazilian light to the recording, so I've retitled the album TRAVELOGUE. On bass is my old grade school chum Chris Higgins, with Rich Cole playing the various winds. As always, Bob Stark did an incredible job recording, mixing, and mastering.

Nocturnes, the new Todd Bishop Group CD is in pre-production as we speak. The album will feature my own original compositions, in collaboration with pianist/composer Weber Iago. The band will again include Iago, and saxophonist Rich Cole, who will be playing everything but his main axe: bass clarinet, bari sax, alto flute. If we decide we need a second horn, Tim Willcox will be our man. The bass chair is TBD at the moment. We'll again be exploring the terrain between free and composed music, with the aim of setting a mood— that's a recurring theme through all of my recordings, actually.

Included will be an old composition of mine, Headlights, which was previously released on the Lower Monumental album:

On this tune, with Cole playing bari, we may have achieved a similar mood to what we'll do this time around:

We will record in March, and the album will be released in April, at the time of the Ballard Jazz Festival.

Interview in Le Soir

A very traditional Belgian scene at Le Pitch-Pin, at Place
Flagey— one of my new favorite places in Brussels.

At the start of the tour the band was interviewed by Jean-Claude Vantroyen for Le Soir, the major French-language newspaper in Belgium. Vantroyen also put a brief little note about the CD on the LS site.

The full piece:

“Todd Bishop habite à Portland, en Oregon. Une ville moyenne aux Etats-Unis : quelque 580.000 habitants. C’est là que vivent Todd Bishop le batteur américain et Weber Iago le pianiste brésilien. « C’est un grand centre musical depuis longtemps, explique Todd. Il attire plein de jeunes de tout le pays. » L’Oregon borde l’Océan Pacifique. La Columbia s’y jette. Portland est établie sur sa rive. Todd et Weber ne sont pas dépaysés quand ils arrivent en Belgique : « C’est le même type de temps : la pluie est souvent au rendez-vous. »

Todd et Weber viennent d’arriver à Bruxelles ce lundi matin. Dès mardi soir, ils jouent. Avec deux Belges : Jean-Paul Estiévenart à la trompette et Olivier Stalon à la basse. Tous quatre sont réunis dans un café, place Flagey. Les résident US sont un peu maqués par levoyage. « Mais c’est un peu notre première répétition », lance Weber Iago.

Todd n’est pas très connu encore chez nous, même s’il est déjà venu en tournée. « Je suis juste un musicien, dit-il, qui fait des disques et essaie de prester des concerts. » Depuis 1985, cet homme né en 1967 joue de la batterie en professionnel. Mais c’est aussi un artiste visuel : peinture et photo. Et il tient un blog : Cruise Ship Drummer où on trouve tout sur le « drumming ». Deux albums à signaler : l’un consacré à la musique de Serge Gainsbourg, l’autre à celle d’Ornette Coleman. Le premier s’appelle « 69 Année érotique », l’autre « Little playes little bird ». Weber Iago joue dans celui-ci. Todd et lui se connaissent de longue date.”

Continued after the break:

Review: show at Flamingo/Brussels

Here's a French-language review of the last date of the tour, at Flamingo, a very hip place in the center of Brussels. The writer, Michel, a very nice cat, gives us a blow-by-blow gig report:

“Rue de Laeken, un dimanche de novembre, en fin d'après-midi, entre chien et loup!
Mihaela: tu montes, chéri...
Euh.. bonsoir, madame, sans façon, merci!
T'es pédé?
Je m'appelle Michel, vais au Flamingo , un concert jazz!
T'es un intello, alors...
De gauche, tendance NVA...

Menu: Todd Bishop's Group plays the music of Ornette Coleman!”

Continued after the break:

2013 Europe tour wrap-up

After our first gig, at Hot Club de Gand, in Ghent.

The tour went quite well, by the way— the shows were all well attended, audiences were very appreciative, purchased a lot of CDs, we got some good press, and we are well situated to expand our reach next year. This was my fourth tour of Europe leading my own group, and the most successful one yet both artistically and financially.

There's a gallery of photos from the tour here, and our updates from the road are here.

Earlier I posted a list of tunes I was including in our book— we ended up playing:
Mothers Of The Veil
Feet Music
Strange As It Seems
Enfant
Mob Job
Lonely Woman
Owl of Cranston
Guinea
Mopti
Empty Boat
Valse de Melody

And less frequently:
Comme Il Faut
Check Up
Las Vegas Tango
Olhos de Gato


Here's the group playing Mopti, by Don Cherry, at the Jazz Station in Brussels, on the second night of the tour:



The musicians there are: Weber Iago — piano / Jean-Paul Estievenart — trumpet / Olivier Stalon — bass / Todd Bishop — drums