What a Year It’s Been!
Sax Bandits has continued to endure and grow in the aftermath of the global pandemic and I couldn’t be prouder of our achievements. We’ve all been affected in some way by the challenges of the past year, whether you’ve had covid or felt the pinch of petrol prices. In my opinion, these struggles highlight the importance of our hobbies and interests, which serve both our personal satisfaction and creativity, as well as bringing people together in a supportive and friendly community. I thank all of our band members who have dedicated their time to take part in our band sessions, gigs, and workshops this year. As a band, we’ve tackled some challenging music and performed several public gigs, something many of our members had never done before joining us!
The Road Travelled
In the earlier part of the year we were lucky enough to welcome back legendary saxophonist, Snake Davis, to lead two sell-out workshops, ‘Make Your Sax Sing’. He has been a huge supporter of the band since our first collaboration on the ‘Danger Zone‘ video, recorded during the 2020 lockdown.
Our first performance since 2019 and our first-ever performance at a festival, Fearlessly Odd Festival was the perfect way to fire up our appetite for performing again! In celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, this was a small festival in Twyford, Berkshire with a welcoming community spirit, featuring many local music and arts groups.
We were very fortunate to be offered a spot opening the main stage of Bunkfest. This was our first ‘real’ festival and our largest gathering of Sax Bandits members to date, probably also our largest audience! The festival has run in Wallingford for 20+ years so this was a prestigious moment for us. We played a 30-minute set of energetic singalongs and took every opportunity to encourage crowd participation. We hope to return again in the future!
In November, we invited the masterful improviser and ever-comedic Alan Barnes to lead an improvisation workshop for a small group of curious saxophonists. Alan offered his ideas on learning jazz improvisation, the importance of playing without music, and the use of scales, which left participants with much to ponder!
Our final gig of the year saw us return to Henley Living Advent Calendar for our annual Christmas Busking Bash. We last played at this event in 2019 and it was our final performance before the pandemic (see more about this gig here). It was joyous to return to the event two years later with an even larger ‘monster’ band and share a selection of festive favourites with passers-by.
I’m extrememly excited to see where 2023 will take the band and I hope we will continue to have opportunities to make music together and perform to even larger crowds. The band has some exciting new songs planned for the new year and I can’t wait to share them with everyone!
Fabulous round up of the year Rob … Jill