The December issue of Sussex Jazz Magazine is available to download for free via this link: December 2021 In this issue Charlie Anderson interviews bassist and composer Terry Pack ahead of the ‘Conference of the Trees’, a festival at Ropetackle Arts Centre in Shoreham in January that features bands associated with Terry Pack’s Trees. Simon […]
A musician’s reflections on the effects of the Coronavirus crisis What a thing it is to be a musician: to write and arrange music, to practise and rehearse, to play and perform. In so many ways, I am perfectly suited to this enforced self-isolation. I spend so much time alone as it is, and always […]
I had a happy childhood until I was 9. I enjoyed junior school and had a lovely music teacher called Mrs Barton. I was a happy, open child. When I was 9, I was the victim of sexual abuse. This changed me: I became shy and suspicious and developed a stammer, which caused me to […]
Terry Pack’s Trees Into The Woods (New Leaf NL 001) For those of you who are unfamiliar with ‘Trees’ Big Band it is a contemporary jazz orchestra led by bassist, composer, arranger and orchestrator Terry Pack containing some of the finest jazz musicians from South East England and beyond. Back in 2017 they launched their […]
Brian Homer Photo Exhibition Freelance jazz photographer Brian Homer has a new exhibition at Centrala in Birmingham from 15th January to 1st February. The exhibition features photographs from a collaborative pilot research project called Everyday Jazz Life, a photographic project on contemporary jazz musicians lives in Birmingham and coincides with the Documenting Jazz Conference at […]
Lou Beckerman reviews Heart of Oak by Terry Pack’s Trees. An ‘unfeasibly large ensemble ’ delivers a most feasibly fine album. Terry Pack’s Trees Heart of Oak (Symbol Records) I can recall Trees as a freshly-planted seedling concept. It swiftly found fertile ground for robust growth in the musicianship, dedication, diversity and […]
The Cloggz were formed around five years ago, and grew out of the Jazz Charity Roar Ups that were hosted by pianist Mark Edwards at The Brunswick in Hove. “I just had this idea for this tango line up with the accordion, clarinet and violin for a while and then meeting Ben Sarfas (the […]
Terry Pack’s Trees Ensemble (Bonsai Version) The Verdict, Brighton Saturday 31st October, 2015 The Bonsai version of Trees performed at The Verdict on Saturday 31st October in a fundraiser for the House That Zac Built charity. From Eddie Myer’s solo bass opening of Terry’s composition El Pueblo Unido until the final gospel like chords of […]
Terry Pack’s Trees Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT) on Sunday 9th August & The Brunswick, Hove on Sunday 23rd August Terry Pack’s ambitious big band project, Trees, has grown from a tiny acorn to fully-fledged forest drawn from a pool of 40+ musicians from the Sussex area. Trusting the sound in his […]
How did the Trees project start? “I bought an iMac about two years ago and I discovered that it came with a very natty program called Garageband so I started experimenting with a few ideas, just putting some demos together. And I was really attracted to the woodwind and the brass sounds so I […]