http://www.beckibiggins.com en-gb beckibiggins.com 2011-1-30T00:00:00Z beckibiggins.com http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#80189 Yes. In a word.Not that Im complaining. In fact Im looking forward to a week which sees the first gig of my Pizza Express minitour the continuation of Zizzi Sessions and two private performances. Its just a little bit strange to flip a switch and go from the weekend generally relaxed into business meetings nights away from home and gigs which could be career makers.Im sure that people who work away from home know what I mean when I say that its just SO MUCH more work Tomorrow Ill have to plan what Im going to want to wear up to and including next Sunday morning... Of course when Sunday morning actually happens Ill be pleased that the decision has already been made for me. But Ive got to face the fact that its a drag to think about it on Monday And its not just clothing which requires preplanning. Its fake tan too. Im going to be on an actual stage on Friday which means that I have to be suitably bronzed in order to resist the melaninstripping properties of stage lighting. T... 2011-1-30 09:39:11 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#77011 Morning AllFirstly apologies that this blog post is a week late I know I promised you Facebook Friends a new post last Monday but I became rather sidetracked as the week went on...I returned to the Bulls Head on September 22nd after nine months away and loved every second of it. Myself Malcolm Dave and Harold had a great gig we premiered a couple of new arrangements and also a deviation on Name that Tune where Malcolm decided what we were going to play next but didnt tell me I had to guess from the introductions and only came close to singing the wrong song once Alfie and Dont Let Me Be Lonely are very similar... Anyway were now looking forward to our Bulls Head Christmas Extravaganza which is on December 22nd. Get it in the diary now.Last Monday Abigail manager extraordinarie had an email from Bob Sinfield a great DJ from Jazz FM who is always playing tracks from The Ve that hed reviewed the gig at the Bulls Head. I always get a little nervous when reviews come in I think its he... 2010-10-4 09:44:22 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#71152 For the next week Ill be putting my teaching qualification to good use on the Montgomery Holloway Music Trust summer school. Its my first summer school as a singing tutor and has a certain feeling of coming full circle as it was on this same week six years ago that I properly started singing jazz. The prospect has given me a couple of minutes quiet contemplation. This is always dangerous as certainly in my case quiet contemplation can lead to either quiet satisfaction or quiet depression. Thankfully the last two weeks have been professionally awesome... Jazzmasters 6 my latest collaboration with Paul Hardcastle came out on Tuesday. In the past few days its been the most downloaded jazz album on iTunes US the most popular Smooth Jazz album on Amazon US and has even graced the Pop album download charts. Its the second album that Paul and I have worked on together and Im really proud of the songs on it not least The Vision still my proudest songwriting achievement. The 13track alb... 2010-7-24 14:09:18 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#62306 ... and its terrible particularly as theres so much going on. In chronological orderApril 19th Release of 19 The Vision the remake of Paul Hardcastles hit 19 on the 25th anniversary of its release. This is really exciting as I cowrote the song and sing the vocal part. The good thing about the message of the song that we could do far more in showing support to our troops is that its getting loads of media attention theres a short interview on the BBC website and Reuters have picked up the story promting over 18000 links to appear on Google. There was also a fullpage story in the Sunday People on April 4th.The bad news is that most radio stations commercial and otherwise see the song as being too antigovernment particularly preceding a general election and have refused to add it to their playlists. Paul recorded an interview for BBCs The One Show which was supposed to be aired tonight Tuesday 6th April but this has been shelved until after the election. So... good news and bad.A... 2010-4-6 11:52:39 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#57897 Its been a great week not one but two really exciting things have happened The first was the delivery of my new album The Ve The Positive on Tuesday. I sat down at the kitchen table and listened to it twice through not quite believing that it was actually finished and that seven boxes filled with 1173 CDs were piled up in my living room. The albums here its done and Im very very proud of it. Ive already posted the tracks as downloads in the Shop part of the website but hang on for audio clips Im on the case When the audio clips are available Ill put physical copies up for sale on the website...The second was Fridays sellout gig at the Six Bells in Fulbourn Cambridgeshire organised with military precision by Lynne Olney Daves the bass player wife. From start to finish it was an incredibly enjoyable evening which began with the most chilledout soundcheck I think weve ever had. Then it was back to Lynne and Daves for a muchneeded and much enjoyed supper and on to the gig. My goodn... 2010-2-7 12:16:58 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#53758 Hi allHmm... Ive not got much news today except that my writing partner and favourite Chelsea supporter Paul Hardcastle has something up his sleeve...I dont think its got anything to do with the Christmas single which by the way is out now and which you can listen to by clicking on the Home page of the website but may have something to do with a track we wrote and recorded earlier this year.Apparently all will be revealed on Christmas Day as the remixed track and the news about what hes done with it form my Christmas present. How very cryptic...If anyone has any ideas about what he might be up to please let me knowBecki x 2009-12-1 16:07:31 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#53757 Hi AllNot sure if Im meant to talk about this as its more to do with my private gigs than my public ones but Ive been working for a certain Chairman of the Dallaglio Foundation recently And he is HUGE. Seriously. Those of you who have ever seen me perform will know that next to an averagesized human being I look fairly petite. When hugged by Lawrence earlier on today I had to wonder whether onlookers realised I was actually there...So despite being slightly overwhelmed the gig was a roaring success and of course great fun. Todays gig was however the second of my performances for the Dallaglio Foundation of late the first being an event called 8 Rocks. This was the foundations inaugural event and raised over 163600000 for MacMillan.I was the first performer on stage the biggest stage Ive ever performed on btw to be followed by unbelievably Lemar and Tom Chaplin from Keane In the audience were stars of stage screen the rugby pitch and... Prince Harry It was exciting aweinspiri... 2009-11-29 15:56:08 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#53699 I have to say that this time yesterday I didnt have high hopes for last nights gig at The Wheatsheaf in Swindons Old Town.Nothing at all against the people of Swindon but for a musician hearing the phrase Free Admission really does fill you with dread. How wrong I was The gig was marvellous Alex Steele on piano and Clive Morton on bass were a pleasure to work with as always and the audience were magnificent. Things that really made my night were in no particular order 1. The pub was absolutely packed. Always a good sign 2. The promoter Steve and landlord Alex were totally welcoming and there was even a bit of a buffet during the interval 3. The audience was in no way shy or retiring I think I probably had a chat with most of the attendees. Those of you that know me well will realise that I actually spent more time talking than singing...So thanks to everyone who came to the Wheatsheaf last night. I had a great time and I really hope you did too. There will be a review by S... 2009-11-26 19:45:02 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#53607 For the last two days Ive been camping out at the home of friend and ridiculously accomplished pianist and bandleader Laurie Holloway. No Ive not been kicked out of my house weve been recording the new and as yet untitled second album. Featuring tracks such as Blue Moon Accentuate the Positive Dont Let Me Be Lonely Tonight and Who Will Comfort Me its a collection of the songs that have made up a huge part of my live set for the last six months. So recording day finally arrived and after a terrible nights sleep I set off to Lauries. Recording engineer and ace musician Jules Jackson arrived first along with the piano tuner. When I arrived at 9.20 Laurie was happily engaged in the golf on Sky Sports and Jules and the tuner were hard at work getting ready for the session. I generally pottered fairly unhelpful to proceedings until Dave Olney and Harold Fisher arrived shortly later. As soon as the last member of our merry group Malcolm Edmonstone arrived we were good to go.Fans of Mal... 2009-11-24 13:02:18 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#53611 Ive always wanted to write that or to say it to someone...By the way my Christmas Singles out now.It doesnt feel quite real but its absolutely true and I dont think its quite registered yet. The story is this Paul Hardcastle with whom Ive now written numerous Smooth Jazz and other but thats another story songs was approached by his American record company Trippin N Rhythm to record a song on their Christmas compilation album. They suggested a cover of Little Drummer Boy or something equally twee and rubbish.In true Paul style he made a comment akin to No thanks very much but if you want us to write an original Christmas song count me in.Now the first fairly bizarre thing about writing a Christmas song is that if youre going to release it in time for Christmas you have to record it in about six months earlier. So on a beautifully sunny day in July Paul and I shut ourselves in the studio pretended it was December and wrote and recorded our song.The second rather odd thing is that when... 2009-11-17 14:07:48 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#50353 Dear AllWell I think I may have finally recovered from Tuesdays gig at Pizza Express in Soho....The hysteria started to build at around 2.30pm when whilst in Boots buying false eyelashes which had mixed reviews by the way I had a phone call from Abigail Hellens my brill manager to tell me that we were sold out. And that some very important friends couldnt get in. Ah. And it began. When I told my hairdresser the next stop after Boots that I was playing at Pizza Express and that we were sold out Headmasters in Chiswick rapidly descended into cries of Oh My Goodness thats so exciting Ill bet youre really nervous Nervous Me Ha ha. I was terrified.Things got worse when on the tube we heard the emergency announcement after discovering that police had closed Tottenham Court Road station. Happily the survival instinct then kicked in and I decided that my primary aim was to save my skin and get myself there. So a couple of tubes and a taxi ride later I arrived at the venue. And I h... 2009-10-10 13:52:32 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#49923 Well after a week of frantic creativity where flyers radio adverts and new arrangements were made with equal measures of gusto and panic the Pizza Express Debut arrived Two minutes into the first set gazing around at dozens of friendly seemingly enraptured faces I wondered why Id been so worked up about this gig. I can honestly say that the audience at Pizza Express in Maidstone last night was one of the friendliest Ive ever played to not to mention the incredibly kind and helpful staff. In fact we were having such a good time I feel I can also speak for Simon Jeff and Harold in this matter that we overran the first set by a fairly hefty 15 minutes. Oops The new charts seemed to go down a treat with James Taylors Dont Let Me Be Lonely Tonight and Melody Gardots Who Will Comfort Me being very well received indeed. We began the first set with a recently rejigged Cheek to Cheek which alternated between 34 and 54. Harold helpfully decided that we didnt have eno... 2009-10-3 11:57:45 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#47582 I really dont know why playing gigs continues to scare me so much. I honestly dread them. If at 8.10 on an evening Im booked to perform the venue told me theyd got the date wrong and I was actually on the next week Id be really pleased. Isnt that terribleBut I suppose its a combination of nerves my obsessivecompulsive disorder taking over and just a slight hint of the perfectionist coming out. People tell me its a good thing and it keeps me sharp and so perhaps I should just believe them and accept that this affliction is something not to be shaken.Onto the gig it was great Lots of fun from my perspective and of course a few unexpected occurrences too. One expected difference to the usual Bulls Head lineup was Jules Jackson on bass. For the first time since February Jeff Clyne was doublebooked and I had to find a new bassist. Happily he was wonderful and worked so well with the rest of the trio made up of Malcolm on piano and Harold on drums. Strangely whenever I turned aroun... 2009-8-26 16:34:12 http://www.beckibiggins.com/page5.htm#46701 Dear AllIm still on a high after last nights gig with Laurie Holloway and Kenny Lynch in Henley. It was great Sadly I cant remember the name of the charity we were supporting but the organisers were really pleased with how the night went and I think we raised loads of money so alls well that ends well.I sang three tunes in the first half Sweet Gingerbread Man My One amp Only Love and Black Coffee. The set started badly I was wearing a floorlength dress which when I went to put my saxophone on the floor became caught under my sax stand where it remained for the rest of the song. A few eagleeyed people in the front row spotted this obviously hilarious gaffe and had fun pointing and laughing...But after a bad start the music was really well receivedIn the second half I sang Accentuate the Positive which everyone in the audience seemed to know the words for The Nearness of You with Dave Olney on Bass and Love For Sale one of Lauries favourites.So the night was a success. It was great to w... 2009-5-15 17:12:26