Pico Brown is influenced by Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell and Chick Corea, as well as Miles Davis. Keith's influences are Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Roy Haynes and Paul Motian, among others. Wulf named David Friesen, Marc Johnson, Steve Lawson, Colin Newberry and the rest of the band (and blogged about the reasons). Anonymous saxophonist is a Charlie Parker and a Lester Young fan. Anonymous vocalist is inspired by Nat King Cole, June Tabor, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Buble and Jamie Cullum.
Adrian Astor and Pico Brown formed this band in December 2006 after meeting through the Forming Bands website. Pico asked Wulf, who plays in an acoustic rock band in which Pico also plays, to join, and Adrian asked Keith and Anonymous Saxophonist to join, having met them at various jam sessions.
The group began gigging as The Adrian Astor Quintet. In August flugelhornist John Skinner took over in place of Adrian (who will be back with the group in a few months) the group has renamed itself The Pico Brown Five (or PB5 for short).
John, after playing some cracking flugelhorn with us for a few gigs, then decided pursue other musical avenues. But our occasional vocalist, Anonymous Vocalist, has now joined the band full-time and will be helping to define our sound. She will be doubling melody lines, scatting and singing lots of jazz classics, plus some originals. We will still be a purely jazz outfit, but with Anonymous Vocalist's voice allied with Anonymous Saxophonist's horn up front, we will offer a bigger range of styles and acoustic textures.
The group has played a variety of gigs around south and west London, as well as Camden, north London and, with our mix of older and more modern classics, from bebop to funk to waltzes and ballads, as well as original compositions from Wulf, Pico, Anonymous Vocalist and Anonymous Saxophonist, aspire to become one of the top jazz quintets in the capital.
Hope you're well! I'm playing at The Bull's Head, Barnes on Sunday 17th August. Gig starts at 1pm and finishes at 4pm. The second set is a jam so come down and play!
What a wonderful surprise to hear from you. So happy to find you are still playing. The tunes sound great! Don't ever quit playing, I did for almost 10 years. It's become sacred to me now. Play every gig like it's your last.
Hope you're all well! Just to let you know I have a gig at The Bull's Head, 373 Lonsdale Road, Barnes with my quartet on Sunday 18th November. The gig starts at 1pm and finishes at 4pm. It's a gig and jam session so would be great if you could come down and play!
