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Hi Folks,

Humph and I at a gig in early April 08
Thinking back over the last few months, the very sad death of Humph in April features most heavily. I don’t feel I need to add anything to the many tributes written by friends and colleagues from across the world, but I would say that although I miss him I am thankful that I was welcomed back as a guest on his final few gigs. I will remember him as he was – full of enthusiasm and fun until the very end of his life.

On a happier note I have had an exciting time on the gig front. One of a number of highlights was my first appearance at the "Norwich Jazz Party", where I found myself playing alongside many great musicians including Scott Hamilton, Ken Peplowski and Scott Robinson (amazing saxophonist – worth checking out if you haven’t heard him)! Straight after Norwich I went up to the Keswick Festival where Robert Fowler and I presented our project "A Salute to Al and Zoot". Despite playing in a greenhouse-style room on what must have been one of the hottest days ever recorded, the gig went down a storm and the band had a lot of fun. We have plenty more bookings for later this year and so if you fancy a night out, come and see us!

Later in May I had the time of my life sitting in with the original, "Average White Band" during their UK tour. I joined their sax player Fred Vigdor on stage for a couple of numbers, one of which was the famous "Pick Up the Pieces". In case any of you missed this gig someone from the audience recorded a bit and put it on "youtube"..... (I think it was recorded on a phone so the quality isn’t great I’m afraid).

Talking of funky stuff, I am very excited to be involved a relatively new project led by Ian Bateman called "Kick Ass brass". We will be gigging very soon, so keep an eye on my "live" page if you like it funky.

At the beginning of June, I did a couple of really nice gigs in Lyon, France which led to me getting my first French review! If any of you want to have a look (and can understand French), here is the link. jazz-letter.com
Once there you need to click on "lundi 9 juin" then scroll down until you see a picture of me – there are two big ones, very hard to miss!

and finally.....
Just two weeks ago I played at the 606 club in London with the fantastic pianist Nikki Iles, Jeremy Brown on bass and Tristan Maillot, drums. This was quite a scary gig for me but I needn’t have worried, the trio were really inspiring to play with, there was a sizeable audience and we had some delicious food. Heaven!
I think that just about sums up the last few weeks.
Until next time.

Karen x