Ryan Searle

This is the page where I will be jotting as many things as I can about what is going on in my life musically. If you have any questions or wish to contact me about anything musical, please visit the contact page.

August 2006

It's been Edinburgh all the way this month! The end of July and start of August was spent editing and mixing the new Sax Collective album (which can be ordered via the sax collective contacts page).

The next week was spent down on the south coast with Sax Collective rehearsing for the Fringe. We played weddings in Winbourne and Southampton at either end of the week, and a preview featival gig in Winbourne to raise money for Pramacare. We even managed a bit of beach time in Bournemouth!

Edinburgh baby!!! The week we spent at the festival was incredible. The atmosphere is electric up there. Each morning we were out busking and flyering for our gig in the afternoon, and the gigs themselves were fantastic fun. The intense rehearsal the week before made a lot of difference and we went for comedy and acting to include in our recital which seemed to go down great. We'll be bringing the show to London for a one off showing sometime in the next couple of months for any southerners that missed out.

The variety on offer in the rest of the festival was amazing. We saw some brilliant stand-up, and heard some excellent music. I would strongly recommend the festival to anyone who hasn't been!

July 2006

At the end of July I played a couple of very exciting and unusual gigs with the Maerlock as part of a horn section to accompany this folk band. It was a mix of folk, jazz and funk - very enjoyable.

The recording session for the new Sax Collective album took place at the RNCM in preparation to be edited and mixed in time to take up to the Edinburgh Fringe in august. Watch this space!

June 2006

The start of June has already been busy rehearsing with Sax Collective for our show 'Joy of Sax' at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.

The first gig of the month was out in the country at Harewood House (very nice place), guesting with the Kat Vincent and Jim Henson duo. We tried to tie in the music with rapidly changing weather, whilst spending a great afternoon in very good view of a large number of porche's from the comfort of a marqee!

Coming up in the rest of the month are a couple of gigs with Spitting Feathers, and a strong drive to find some local gigs with Urban Spiral and the Dave Simpson Jazz Quintet - watch this space.

May 2006

This month has been fantastically busy, with a fun week over in Liverpool playing 'Hello Dolly' at the Empire Theatre, followed by a week of rehearsals and workshops with the RNCM Big Band culminating in a great gig with guest saxophonist Stan Sulzmann.

Somewhere in the middle of this, was a very enjoyable night gigging with the 'Va Va Voom Sextet' in front of an extremely lively crowd at the RNCM SU.

A very successful demo recording seesion also took place with Urban Spiral (Jazz Duo with bassist Sarah Buckley), with the hope of gigging much more regularly very soon.

April 2006

Gigs with both Sax Collective and the James Tibbles Quartet have been quite an experience over easter, both being very formal occasions. The album recording session with Sax Collective has been postponed until the end of May, however preparation of programmes for our trip to the Edinburgh Festival in the summer are well under way.

Much of the easter period has also been spent working on new material for the Jazz Duo with Sarah Buckley, following a couple of successful taster gigs at the RNCM. Rehearsal's also start this week with the RNCM Big Band in preparation for a gig with saxophonist Stan Sulzmann on the 20th May.

March 2006

Preparations are currently going well for gigs in the next few weeks. I'm rehearsing with Sax Collective on the lead up to the oversea's league competition this month, as well as a recording session for our new album at the start of April. There is also a gig with the RNCM's Jazz Collective at the end of the month which is promising to be an exciting gig.

Idea's and creative juices are also flowing great with Jazz Bassist Sarah Buckley. We're currently rehearsing and gathering idea's for a live set and original works.

February 2006

This month has been going well, starting with a gig with the RNCM Big Band with Matthew Herbert. The gig was a great experience and gathered a very mixed audience. A review in the Guardian can be found here.

I was also recently lucky enough to record some sax for the band Revere at Phoenix Studios in London.

Coming up for the rest of this month are a couple of gigs with Helium Soul in Bolton and Windsor, and rehearsals with the Medina Sax Quartet for a chamber competition in early March. I am also working with jazz bassist Sarah Buckley on material for a new set.

January 2006

This month I am currently rehearsing with the RNCM Big band on the lead up to a couple of very exciting gigs playing the music of Matthew Herbert and Barbara Thompson. I have also been lucky enough to recently start a collaboration with Jazz Bassist Sarah Buckley, which we are in disscusion of projects for. On the composing front I've started work on a piece for Sax Orchestra and have been testing ideas with the kind help of some of the members of the RNCM Sax department. For the next few weekends I am travelling to London to rehearse with Sax Collective on our lead up to the Oversea's League Competition. On the listening front I'm absorbing a lot of Matthew Herbert and Barbara Thompson for obvious reasons and also taking in recent albums of Manu Katche (Neighbourhood) and KT Tunstall.

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