My latest project is called Billy Thompson Gypsy Style and when I've finished building my new studio this is to be the first project I record. The core of the group is guitarist Andy Mackenzie and myself and the full 6-piece festival line-up includes Huw Warren on accordion.
In Amledd there is Rhian Williams (voice), Huw Symonds (guitar), Dave 'Taif' Ball (fretless bass) and Steve Roberts (Drums)
In Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia we've got Barbara Thompson on tenor, alto and soprano Saxes (we aren't related by the way), Peter Lemer (Keyboards/Programming), Dave 'Taif' Ball (fretless Bass) and Jon Hiseman (Drums). Take a look at a brand new video from the 2005 tour of Germany - the track is called Close to the Edge
Future projects include a new Gypsy album, a Thompson/Lemer Quartet album and an Electronic album.
My 'Top Friends' section consists of people I've worked with over the years that have a MySpace... And some buddies...
I haven't worked with David Oistrakh but I did my dissertation on him in music college cos he's ace.
Influences
Stephane Grappelli, Jean-Luc Ponty, Didier Lockwood, Stuff Smith, Nigel Kennedy, The Turtle Island String Quartet, Dona Lee Croft, Rob Thompson (my brother), Russell Thompson (my late uncle), Alan Thompson (my late father), Denise Thompson (my mum), David Oistrakh, Diversion, Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, Art Blakey, The Wonder Stuff, Mike Scott, The Levellers, Keith Tippett, Barbara Thompson, Jon Hiseman, Peter Lemer, Pink Floyd (Final Cut), Bach, Matthew Herbert, Allan Holdsworth, Orbital, Squarepusher, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Django Rheinhardt, Birélli Lagrène and everything else that is truly excellent and played from the soul.
P.S. Almost forgot Ned's Atomic Dustbin for a moment there...
Sounds Like
Having carried on studying classically under the guru of violin technique Dona Lee Croft for a year after graduating from Music college and having my mind freed further by the likes of Keith Tippett, Barbara Thompson, Jon Hiseman and Peter Lemer, I like to feel that I now have the chops to play whatever I like... I've never let my influences make me want to 'copy' them as some musicians do. So, what I'm trying to say is that I feel I sound like ME whether I'm playing in a Jazz, Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Techno, Gypsy setting or whatever... When I'm improvising I'm playing from my soul adding to the overall sound of the music being performed.
Now available on iTunes with Amledd... Click on the iTunes logo to go straight to Amledd on the iTunes store.
Hello,
I’m a classically trained improvising violinist and perform many styles of music ranging from Gypsy Jazz through to Modern Jazz and Techno, singer/songwriter accompaniment through to full-on Rock.
Amledd features all original music written by my partner Rhian Williams and myself. The band features some of the best musicians in the UK. They are namely Huw Symonds on guitar, Dave ’Taif’ Ball on fretless Bass and Steve Roberts on Drums.
I’ve played many styles of music over the 10 years or so that I have been a professional musician and have played on all sorts of stages with all sorts of bands. I recently recorded with Manfred Mann for his latest project and just recently returned from Japan with Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia.
Notable highlights have included the recording and touring with Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia including 2 headlining weeks at Ronnie Scott’s, being the main support Tom Jones with the Amigos in front of 25,000 in Pontyprydd, Brecon Jazz Festival under my own name, going to the Django Rheinhardt festival at Samois-sur-Seine and playing with some of the World’s best manouche guitarists there. Frieking ravers out on two occasions performing with DJs at the huge Synergie events, headlining the Faenol Festival with Meic Stevens, performing with Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra at St David’s Hall, performing with gypsy maestro Lollo Meier at Le Quecumbar and performing at the North Wales International Guitar Festival in 2007 with Gary Potter, Robin Nolan and Andreas Oberg.
What with only being able to add 6 tracks to these MySpace pages I very much urge y’all to check out my long running web page which is at billythompson.co.uk. Here there are full details of all the main projects that I have been involved with since 1997 including Amledd, Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia (Barbara and I are not related by the way), The Amigos, Meic Stevens and others together with photos, videos, sound files, biographies, a shop, press page and extensive links page.
On one occasion whilst touring Europe with Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia we shared the same bill as Jean-Luc Ponty in Budapest, Hungary. Jean-Luc has always been a great influence on me. At the time I was trying to get a deal on the Zeta Midi Violin and Jean-Luc was Zeta’s main endorsee at the time so I asked him to have a listen to me. The top man that he is meant that he did indeed listen to me and helped me secure a superb deal on a Zeta violin. I am also endorsed by Carlo Giodano Violins who make superb Electric Violins at a very reasonable price and also by The Swipe which is an excellent string cleaning product that helps preserve the life of strings for all string instruments.
I’ve added a couple of video clips below of Billy in action. The first is a video filmed in Ronnie Scott’s club London back in 2001 the second time that Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia headlined there featuring Billy. The second video is from the 2005 Faenol gig Billy did with Meic Stevens a’r Band.
Twice a year I run courses in ’Improvisation on the Violin’ for the Benslow Music Trust. There are plans to do more of these elsewhere around the UK so either check back here for details or go to the gigs page on my web-site billythompson.co.uk.
Since joining Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia back in 1998 I have also got into sound recording... With help from the Prince’s Trust I got my first studio set-up with Digidesign’s 001 system at the core. This has grown into me now having the ability to produce a whole album all by myself - Recorded, Mixed, Mastered, the lot. My label is called Thompsound Music and produced Meic Stevens’ ’Ysbryd Solva’ album back in 2001 amongst other projects.
Amledd’s album was recorded using Digidesign’s 002 system mainly at our home studio set-up in the attic. The beauty of Digidesign’s Pro Tools came into its own with this album as for the drums I took my hard drive and drummer (Steve Roberts) to Jon Hiseman’s Temple Music studio in Sutton, Surrey. I plugged my hard drive into his all singing all dancing Digidesign HD system and did all the drums there... Brilliant. Also of amusement/note was the violin solo to track 4 of the album, ’Pistyll’. I did this in my hotel room in Erfürt, Germany whilst on tour with Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia November of 2005 using an MBox! Have a listen on Amledd’s MySpace page.
I’m off to do some practise now... Keep smiling...
Hi, Thanks for joining my "Myspace Friends, always nice to make new friends. Please be sure to visit my Profile, any comments are most welcome. Always happy to chat....
Hey Bill, great to hear from you mate. Glad you like the mix a little better, I think you have a point tho in that it should be a tad less processed. Will try another mix for sure.
Good to hear your studio is gettin there too. Christian and I haven't managed to get an awful lot done recently what with one thing and another. Really hoping to get some time and headspace to crack into into it asap.
Will forward on results as and when.
What about your music situ? What's going on there? Update me daddyo :)
Still open for bands!!! One of Wales’ biggest and newest events, encompassing 2 days, 4 stages, 60 bands, and the capacity for 3000 people! The festival is for charity, with proceeds going partly to help projects in the local community and partly to help young musicians in the area, with advertising, their equipment, etc. The ethos is very much that it is run like a community, so people helping each other out rather to help cut down the exchange of cash. We aim to work with ethical companies, aim to actively promote both welsh music, and environmental issues and solutions. Check it out at www. thesquarefestival. com And get in touch for further details. admin@backbeating.co.uk or theraffle@googlemail.com
