Showing posts with label 2013 Europe tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2013 Europe tour. Show all posts

Saturday, January 25, 2014

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:

Friday, January 24, 2014

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:

Thursday, December 5, 2013

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

Sunday, November 10, 2013

On tour

As you may've heard, because I keep mentioning it, I'll be in Europe for the next 2+ weeks, starting now. Stay tuned for whatever updates I can make from the road— photos, video, and such. If you're in Belgium, Luxembourg, or northwest Germany, come on out and hear the band. Visit our Facebook event page for a list of gigs, with all details, but here are the essentials:

Personnel: 
Todd Bishop - drums
Jean-paul Estievenart - trumpet
Weber Iago - piano
Olivier Stalon Music - bass

Gigs: 
12/11/13 - 21:00 :: Hot Club de Gand — GENT
13/11/13 - 20:30 :: Jazz Station Asbl — BRUSSELS
15/11/13 - 19:00 :: Blues-Sphere — LIEGE
16/11/13 - 20:00 :: Appeltuin Jazz — LEUVEN
17/11/13 - 15:00 :: Centre Culturel Hannut — HANNUT
18/11/13 - 20:30 :: Dumont's — AACHEN
19/11/13 - 21:30 :: LiquID — LUXEMBOURG
20/11/13 - 21:00 :: Le Rideau Rouge — LASNE
23/11/13 - 21:00 :: Lokerse Jazzklub — LOKEREN
24/11/13 - 17:30 :: Flamingo Brussels — BRUSSELS

For drummers who would like to get a private lesson from me, I will be based in Brussels from the 12th-24th, and then in Berlin on the 25th-27th. You can reach me through the regular site email.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

2013 tour repertoire

Here's a list of the tunes we'll be working with on next week's tour. We won't play all of these, but they are in the books:

Alice In Wonderland
Beatrice — Sam Rivers
The Blessing —  Ornette Coleman
*Blood — Paul Bley
Check Up — Ornette Coleman
Comme Il Faut  —  Ornette Coleman
Country Town Blues — Ornette Coleman
*The Empty Boat —  Caetano Veloso
Eighty-One — Miles Davis 
Enfant —  Ornette Coleman 
Feet Music — Ornette Coleman 
Guinea — Don Cherry
*Happy House — Ornette Coleman
Ida Lupino — Carla Bley
Las Vegas Tango — Gil Evans 
*Let's Play — Ornette Coleman
*Law Years — Ornette Coleman
Lonely Woman — Ornette Coleman
Mob Job —  Ornette Coleman 
Mopti — Don Cherry 
Mothers of the Veil — Ornette Coleman 
Never — Steve Swallow
Olhos de Gato —  Steve Swallow
Owl of Cranston — Paul Motian
*Somnambulist — Rich Cole 
Strange As It Seems — Ornette Coleman
Syndrome — Carla Bley
Valse de Melody —  Serge Gainsbourg

Bold — likely players
 * —  new additions for 2013. We'll see if they work...

Friday, October 25, 2013

2013 tour poster

All right, the posters for the upcoming Europe tour are done!

Here are the shows, once again, with performance times:
9:00, Tuesday, Nov. 12 Hot Club de Gand GHENT, Belgium
8:30, Wednesday, Nov. 13 Jazz Station BRUSSELS, Belgium
7:00, Friday, Nov. 15 Blues-Sphere LIEGE, Belgium
8:00, Saturday, Nov. 16 Appeltuin Jazz LEUVEN, Belgium
Event starts 5:00, Sunday, Nov. 17 Hannut Jazz Festival HANNUT, Belgium
8:30, Monday, Nov. 18 Dumont's AACHEN, Germany
9:30, Tuesday, Nov. 19 LiquID LUXEMBOURG
9:00, Wednesday, Nov. 20 Le Rideau Rouge LASNE, Belgium
9:00, Saturday, Nov. 23 Lokerse Jazzklub LOKEREN, Belgium
5:30, Sunday, Nov. 24 Flamingo BRUSSELS, Belgium

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

UPDATED: November '13 Europe tour dates

This way to Hot Club
AUGUST UPDATE: Current dates for our November, 2013 Europe tour:

Tuesday, November 12
Hot Club de Gand — Ghent, Belgium

Wednesday, November 13
Jazz Station — Brussels

Friday, November 15
Blues-Sphere — Liége

Saturday, November 16
Appeltuin Jazz — Leuven, Belgium

Sunday, November 17
Hannut Jazz Festival — Hannut, Belgium

Tuesday, November 19
LiquID — Luxembourg

Saturday, November 23
Lokerse Jazzklub — Lokeren, Belgium

Sunday, November 24
Flamingo — Brussels, Belgium

November date TBA
Le Rideau Rouge — Lasne, Belgium

Sunday, November date TBA
Roskam — Brussels, Belgium


Tour personnel will be:
Jean-Paul Estievenart — trumpet
Weber Iago — piano
Olivier Stalon — bass
Todd Bishop — drums