I had an extremely wonderful summer getting married and introducing my family to Bridget's for the first time ever. And now somehow it is October. And what a wonderful and exciting one it shall be. I'm really looking forward to some fantastic gigs coming up this month, starting with two outings with the wonderful cellist Laura van der Heijden and also featuring violinist Max Baillie and cimbalom player Marcel Comendant. We're playing in St Leonards (Hastings) on the 3rd and Kings Place (London) on the 4th and playing a whole range of music from Baroque to Ravel to swing to some original compositions.
One of my closest long-term collaborators Alice Zawadzki and I are playing a duo concert at the Oxford Chamber Festival on the 5th, and together with Fred Thomas we are playing at Up Close and Musical at the Fidelio Café on the 11th.
After the wonderful success of the launch of the programme last year, my new wife Bridget O'Donnell and I are excited to bring "Songs for the Earth" to Through the Noise at The Jago in Dalston on the 14th, playing our arrangements of a load of the world's best nature-inspired music, and also featuring Alice Zawadzki, Dave Shaw & Deni Teo.
And I believe for the only time this year in London my band is playing at Pizza Express Dean Street once again for a nice Sunday lunch gig on the 22nd. Don't miss out! Unless another one somehow materialises in the meantime this will be our last performance before we record a new album early next year, so come check out some of my newer tunes that haven't been played yet in London.
For the remainder check out the gigs page, which include details of all the various outings with the Dave O'Higgins & Rob Luft quintet which has been a real highlight of this year so far.
Finally, if you're in Newcastle between now and mid-January do check out the free exhibition Matt Rugg: Connecting Form. Matt was a prolific abstract artist and was also my neighbour who sadly passed away 3 years ago, and his widow Evelyne has helped put on this amazing compilation of his life's work. Part of the exhibition is a 25-minute documentary that I wrote the soundtrack to, and you can watch a trailer for it here.