We finished the tour last week and, despite my best efforts, I didn’t manage to document any of it…  I got some lovely pictures at the end of each night when I remembered that I had a camera.  Luckily there were some people at our gigs – people with cameras – so here is a selection of snaps from our travels.

Photo credit – Alan Hough
		Photo credit – Peter Fay
	Photo credit – Ken Drew

23.02 – Darwen was a good start to the tour; an appreciative audience and a cheese buffet!  The promoter Gary Ward deserves a special mention for the amount that he does for the music scene in South Lancashire.  The county would not be the same without him.

24.02 – Rehearsal (without Ben) was spent mostly playing standards and realising that a trumpet/double bass/drums trio sounds great!

25.02 – We were honoured to be the last group ever to play at Liverpool’s Parr Jazz whilst at its home in Studio 2.  See below for a video from the gig.

26.02 – Sheffield was the best city for CD sales (mainly because I made a group of my old friends pay for their copies…)!  The Jazz at the Lescar weekly nights are a really great establishment and should supported!  It’s been running for over 10 years and consistently brings in some of the best in UK Jazz (and sometimes me) and it only costs you £5.

28.02 – Echo…o…o…  Playing in the foyer of the Royal Exchange Theatre was a good exercise in control!  Stew and I then hotfooted it back to Liverpool to play some heavy Coltrane-inspired Jazz with Marley Chingus.

01.02 – Back in Liverpool again (again)!  I was able to fit in a gig at the Liverpool Jazz Festival with the Blind Monk trio.  I went over early to catch Jamil Sheriff‘s Trio and Colin Towns‘s group, both of which I really enjoyed.  I also ended up spending more than my gig fee at Jazz House Records‘ brilliant pop up shop in the Capstone‘s foyer.

02.02 – The lowest audience turnout of the tour, but the 15 or so people who did come to watch us were by far the best people in Newcastle!  Andy even raced back from his gig with ACV at the Liverpool Jazz Festival; that’s dedication.  It was definitely a good gig to finish the tour with.  You can read Lance Liddle’s review of the gig on the ‘Be-Bop Spoken Here‘ blog.

Thanks to everyone who came down to our gigs, and thanks especially to Graham, Ben and Stewart for coming!  Here’s a video of us in Liverpool, filmed by Paul Necci.

My quartet are taking to the road in a couple of weeks to promote the release of our new CD, ‘Appropriations’.

If you can’t make it to any of our performances, you can still buy the CD from the Efpi Records online shop.

My first record as band leader/composer was released yesterday on Efpi Records. Wonderful artwork by Angela Guyton, “big hearted” tenor playing by Ben Watte, “recklessly cool” trumpeting from Graham South and Stewart Wilson is “especially flexible” on bass!

You can hear it and buy it online at http://johnnyhunterquartet.bandcamp.com/.

The first review of the CD is from Marlbank.  Read it here – http://www.marlbank.net/reviews/1337-something-old-something-new-something-borrowed-something-blue

First off, is it an album or is it an EP?  I don’t really know…  I think it’s probably an EP.  Either way, it’s here and it looks fit!  I owe a massive thank you to everyone who helped me with this.

I don’t know when the label bosses are wanting to officially release it but I will definitely be selling it behind their backs to anyone who wants one…

Graham South (trumpet), Ben Watte (tenor sax), Stewart Wilson (double bass), Johnny Hunter (drums).

More incredible artwork from Angela Guyton; the best artist I know.  She also did the amazing cover for Skamel’s debut album.  It was beautifully recorded and mixed by Ben Cottrell, and mastered by Ben Watte.  CD replication from Disc Wizards – I used these guys for Skamel’s album last year and was very happy to use them again.  I definitely recommend them; their digipaks look great.

We’re playing at Creative Space in Manchester in a couple of weeks time so come down and pick up a copy!  Tuesday 10 December – 8.45pm @ The Slug and Lettuce, Wilmslow Rd, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 6QZ.

I’ve just got back from the London Jazz Festival, playing at a Jazz On 3 event which featured “short sets from established acts as well as one-off collaborations. This year’s line-up includes UK electronic improviser Leafcutter John, expect anything from samples distorted by a Wii to creaky floorboards; Dutch experimental acoustic bass guitarist Luc Ex, along with Ab Baars and Ingrid Laubrock on reeds and saxes; and the Anton Hunter Trio. A guitarist from Manchester, Anton’s spiky melodies and heavy riffs reveal his roots in experimental post-rock.”

It was a really great gig.  Loads of fantastic musicians creating loads of incredible music.  I was so chuffed to have been a part of it.

You can hear Jez Nelson presenting highlights from “Adventures In Sound” tomorrow evening (Monday 18 November) on BBC Radio 3 – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hk7zr

We had a good tour with Skamel that finished earlier this month.  We played in some new cities to some really great crowds and we also got to try out a bunch of new material which is slowly amassing for our second album which may be recorded next year!  You can hear an early recording of one of these tunes which we recorded for Chester Zoo and Act for Wildlife‘s October campaign to raise money to help Orangutans in Borneo.

The biggest news, however, is that Nick lost a chess game to Tim in four moves.  How embarrassing for him.

Thanks to these venues, their promoters and their audiences – Studio 2 in Liverpool, Zeffirellis in Ambleside, the Jazz Bar in Edinburgh, Number 39 in Darwen, Jazz at the Priestly in Bradford, Matt & Phred’s in Manchester, and Jazz at the Lescar in Sheffield.

Just a couple of weeks after Anton‘s trio were played by Jez Nelson on BBC radio 3, my own quartet will also be played!  Follow this link to tune in or listen again online – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03c08d7

The recording is from my new, yet to be released, CD.  It was recorded and mixed by Ben Cottrell and will be coming out on Efpi Records in the not too distant future.

Graham South (trumpet), Ben Watte (tenor sax), Stewart Wilson (double bass), Johnny Hunter (drums).

We found out last week that a track from the Anton Hunter Trio‘s album is to be played tonight on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz on 3.  I’m obviously excited about this, especially as we are being played alongside some truly fantastic musicians.  The show appears to be focussing on the freer side of Jazz and will feature music from Ornette Coleman, Wadada Leo Smith, Lol Coxhill, Mats Gustafsson/Paal Nilssen-Love/Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten trio, and you’ll hear a lot throughout the program from the wonderful improvisers Alison Blunt (vln), Viv Corringham (vx), John Bisset (g) and Dave Leahy (b) recorded at Jazz on 3 studios.

Incidentally, Anton and I are supporting the Ken Vandermark/Paal Nilssen-Love duo with our Improv trio with Sheffield sax/bassooner, Mick Beck, on Tuesday 22nd October.  Click here for more information.

So tune in to Jez Nelson’s Jazz on 3 tonight at 11pm.  You can also come and see us play on Wednesday (September 18th) at Matt and Phred’s Jazz Club, Manchester.

I’m really excited for the Jazz festival; there’s some cracking stuff on this year.  I’m most excited about hearing Pharaoh Sanders and William Henderson, Trio Riot, Laura Jurd, Paradox Ensemble, and Shatner’s Bassoon, although I’ll be at loads more throughout the week!  Unfortunately I won’t be able to get to some of the other incredible gigs, like The Dors and Billy Moon, but I can’t complain when there’s this much to choose from!

I have a few things on at the festival too, which I’m looking forward to as well.  My quartet will be playing as part of the Efpi Records showcase on Monday 29 July at the RNCM, alongside the Anton Hunter Trio and Roadrunner Honey, followed by the mjf Jam Session at Matt & Phred’s Jazz Club.  I’ll be back at Matt & Phred’s on Tuesday 30 with my quartet again.  On Wednesday 31, I shall be at the Bridgewater Hall with the Pete Lyons Quintet performing the LX:V suite.  I’ll be back (again) at Matt & Phred’s on Friday 2 August with the Reggae/Jazz group, Skamel.

The festival’s artistic director, Steve Mead, spoke to me the other week about my attempt to take over Matt & Phred’s during the festival week…  You can read about it here.  Thankfully, he made me come across much more coherent and succinct than I actually was!

Hopefully see lots of you throughout the week!

Here’s some footage of the Liverpool-based group, Marley Chingus, that I’ve been playing with for the past few years.  This was filmed at their fortnightly residency at the Caledonia (a fantastic live music venue in Liverpool). The thing I love about playing with these guys is their energy, and they create music for all the right reasons.  They’ve been playing every two weeks at the Caledonia for over six years now (for any Jazz night to have been running for that long is something in itself!) and they are still putting everything they’ve got into every performance.

Come and see Marley Chingus playing this Friday (5th July) in Liverpool at the Caledonia (obviously!).

Bob Whittaker (tenor sax), Misha Gray (piano) and Dave Spencer (bass) playing ‘India’ by John Coltrane.