This article appeared on the BBC Guernsey website on 21 August 2006
8 in a Bar
A young jazz group who's two years together have seen them play at major events all over the island.
Who Are They?Tom Claxton: Clarinet Matt Sharp: Trumpet Emma Shires: Tenor sax Matt Bowditch: Trombone Seb Grand: Piano Matt Nichols: Guitar Phil Stevens: Bass Josh Cottam: Drums Band HistoryThey've been together since GCSE music where they came together to record an ensemble piece. That was 2 years ago now and they realised their hidden potential to further the local youth jazz scene that until then seemed dormant.
Ever since, they say its been "fun and laughter and plenty of uncensored, relentless sweet sweet jazz!" Even with the tragic loss to the band of original trombonist Tim Le Lacheur, the band held strong and hired their present trombonist Matt, who in the bands view is an upcoming trombone legend after recently taking a diploma for his trombone at the tender age of 17! Their achievements as a group range from receiving the prix d'honneur at the Guernsey Eisteddfod and recently passing a grade 8 performance exam with a distinction. The FutureThey are set to record from the 8th September 2006 and CDs will be on sale of jazz classics and their favourite pieces that they love to play. They will still be gigging throughout the summer and when they return from university at Christmas. They believe the temporary split will only strengthen what they have as a group and they can't wait until we all meet again to play in Guernsey. Their Favourite GigsThe band say "We have played many gigs together but we feel our best gig ever was close to when we first started gigging and we were asked to play at a charity event to raise money for the tsunami disaster. "This was definitely a worthy cause and even though we weren't paid, the audience satisfaction and response we received was more than enough of a reward to us." |
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