Pizza Express, London - Research Quartet with Erskine...

[Cairobill]

Hi Janek,

Just booked a table with a few friends for your late session at Pizza Express with Peter Erskine. The level of improvisation at your shows is totally high end and this is my first time seeing Erskine live (one of my favourite drummers).

How does the band differ to your Meyer/Rockberger Quartet?

Looking forward to it!

Nick

[janekbass]

well this is a one-off special band, and even differs each night that we play at the pizza. Gary Husband will play drums the first night, and Erskine the second with wayne krantz playing both nights.

We won't have too much time for rehearsals so despite the fact that we've all worked together separately before, we've never actually played as this unit. So I'm putting the set lists together right now and will try and pick music that suits everyone, that is melodic, and that doesn't require heavy rehearsing to put together.

So I guest it differs from my regular touring band in many ways. The vibe I have with my regular band is very tough to match with any other group of musicians on a creative level because we all know each other so well. We've all been playing music together in some form or another for many years. 8 years with jojo for me, since berklee in 1998 with Oli, and for around 14 years with Audun. So there's an interaction with this group that you can't get with a band that's put together for just two nights. We'll probably play longer with the regular touring band as the situation is a lot looser, and the content will be more improvised and draw upon our influences from R&B to Electronica. The show at the pizza will probably me a little more on the "jazz" side whatever that means. But by no means are we going to be playing standards at all. I've written some new music for this group, and we'll play some stuff from my two solo albums too.

See you there!

Easy,

Janek

[middlebit]

Hey Janek, that sounds very interesting -Krantz and Erskine and yourself! Will you record these gigs and offer them on artonearth? Can't make them myself, unfortunately...

[Mike McGibney]

Can't wait to see you guys there!