Myself and the guys in the quartet were very privileged to be asked to perform John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme twice in the space of 24 hours, (which is amazing as it’s nearly three years since the last time we were asked)! On Saturday, 12th we were in London, Harrow to be more precise where we performed ‘Jazz: Loving the Supreme’ as part of a concert and on Sunday we played for our first ever ‘Jazz Vespers’ service in Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire. I will post more videos as I edit them, (the one’s we have are from the Jazz Vespers service), but it was such a blessing to perform Coltrane’s music in church.  For me it is as sacred as Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B minor and any other ‘sacred’ work…

Garbareck’s work with the Hilliard ensemble mixes plainsong chant with solo soprano saxophone.  Their collaboration brought a best selling album in the mid 90s entitled Officium and their latest work, Officum Novum I heard performed live during the Queens festival in Belfast last October (2011).  Evan Parker is a superb, unique, saxophonist on the European music scene. Parker states that ‘John Coltrane determined my choice of everything’.  His solo saxophone improvisations are something to behold and I was throughly inspired by hearing him play and chatting with him.  His recordings are not something you put on to relax! Parker’s recordings are creative forces that really push the boundaries of the saxophone employing many advanced techniques such as multi-phonics, circular breathing and extending the range way beyond ‘the normal’.  Coltrane was of course the first major saxophonist to bring these techniques to mainstream jazz audiences.  Parker and other saxophonists such as Albert Ayler have moved this forward.

So, the result of all this thinking, studying and practising is my latest project called, Fruits.  I don’t plan to make any physical CDs of Fruits at the moment, so you will need to download it from Bandcamp, and later in May, iTunes.  The great thing is that while the recording is up on Bandcamp YOU decide how much you want to pay, you can even pay nothing if you don’t feel it’s worth any of your hard earned cash (I hope you do)!

To listen and download Fruits in high quality audio, MP3 or any other audio format you can want, click here

I’ll be posting a new blog later this week explaining how Fruits was recorded, the people who collaborated with me on the project and the places you can hear some of Fruits performed live.

Outline

Saxophonist Dan Forshaw was born and brought up on the Fylde coast and the formative years of his career were forged in many of the local student and semi-professional ensembles around the North West.   Since leaving the Blackpool area in 2005, Dan has performed all over the world, yet he still keeps a large loyal following on the Fylde coast. Dan is best known for his work promoting and performing at the award winning Villa Hotel in Wrea Green from 2003 to 2011.

Content

A passionate performer, Dan traces the kindling of his passion to his music teacher John Bowen who taught Dan at St. Aidan’s High School, Preesall from 1992 – 1997.   Dan said “Having a teacher such as John Bowen when I was at school was immense.  His passion for music was so infectious that you just couldn’t help but be swept up by it.  John was a teacher who didn’t just talk the talk, he LOVED music and it showed.” Bowen is now a respected composer and piano tutor in Shropshire.  His music has been critically acclaimed and performed by soloists and choirs across the UK.  Bowen even contributed a composition entitled ‘Congestion Charge’ to Dan’s last  album, Metanarrative.  

In honour of his former teacher, Dan is presenting St. Aidan’s with the ‘John Bowen prize for music’, which Dan hopes will inspire a whole generation of musicians who pass through the school.  Unsurprisingly Dan won many music prizes at school, but he never felt any kind of connection with the awards he was given. Dan said,   “The awards at school were very much, “you’ve done well at music, well done”…and then nothing to say, “where next?.  I want to give an award that is ‘Well done, now what are you going to do with the skills and talent you obviously have?’  Dan wants to match the award with actions rather than just kind words and a trophy. He said,  ‘I decided that I needed to do something extra, it’s hard to get noticed as the kid who is good at music, sports are easy to get recognition for, but music is much harder.   I decided that as part of the award I will give up an afternoon of my time for the next thirty years and go in and mentor not just the winning student but those others willing to listen.’  This is no easy task given that Dan now lives outside Cambridge where he has a busy teaching, performing and recording schedule.  However Dan feels that this is something very important.

Head of music at St. Aidan’s Benn Rapp said, ‘It’s great to see former students who have excelled in the industry and who have the time and energy to share their experience with current students.’

ENDS

Dan will be visiting St. Aidan’s on Tuesday, 1^st May to talk to current students about his experiences as a professional musician, and what it means to be passionate about music.  Dan starts his two month UK tour in Blackpool on Sunday, 29^th April playing two dates in the town before performing in London, Manchester, Cambridge, Belfast and Birmingham.

Further information for editors

1. Dan Forshaw is a professional musician and educator originally from the Blackpool area.  He now performs and teaches across the world and has released nine albums under his own name. Tim Price of New School University, New York says ‘Dan’s music and personality are a breath of fresh air – Hear him’.  Forshaw’s music has been called ‘cool clever and creative’ (Music Web int) and Dan is regarded as ‘one of the best in British jazz’ (Liverpool Reporter).
2. Dan is available for personal interviews or via phone / Skype should this not be suitable.
3. A Press pack with high resolution photos and biog is available for use on www.danforshaw.com (Biography > Download Press pack)