OK, to be fair, I should explain that I havent gone to a lot of painstaking effort to create my own station – this is a feature of the excellent LastFM.com.  If you dont know Last FM, I’d strongly recommend trying it out – its a superb music resource – bit like Myspace for grown ups if you dont mind me saying so!

Antway, one of Last FMs features if that you can listen to tons of music – streamed and for free – and one of the ways you can approach that is to click on the “play artist radio” button, clearly shown beneath the picture on each artists’ page.  The radio feature then launches, first playing one track from the particular artist you have selected and then, using Last FM’s clever software, continuing with selections from other similar artists.

Very clever and very effective – you can skip any track you dont like and theres no adverts – check out my station here if you fancy it – happy listening!

Some highlights from the review by Simon Harper include:

“Quietly building melody and atmosphere, Batsford appears to excel at gently shaping moods and it’s with the beautifully haunting ‘Namaste’ which the album really comes into its own, mining a seam of melancholy which unites the most arresting tracks here.”

“winding repeated melody patterns into heartbreaking shapes, packing an emotive punch”

and finally “frequently thrilling … this is a marvellous introduction.”

Please read the whole review here and if you have a minute, do peruse the rest of Bearded’s lovely new site.
Xx

Its a really good mix of styles and good quality, so if you fancy a sampler of music in Birmingham, well worth a go I reckon:

I play a number of my own uplifting and beautiful compositions ( listen here) alongside selections from Classic FM favourite Ludovico Einaudi and sundry others chosen to best fit the occasion.

For weddings or civil ceremonies, I can play during the ceremony itself or as your party are arriving, dining, or enjoying light drinks.

Im based in the Midlands but can travel beyond. Dont worry about whether there’s a piano at the venue – I play a stylish and portable Roland stage piano – for most rooms, no additional amplification is needed. If you are interested in hiring me, or talking it over – please contact me by email and we can take it from there.

This debut album from contemporary pianist Rich Batsford is the ultimate aid for subliminal relaxation.

Tracks such as ‘Lyndall,’ a short, sentimental piece with a calming lullaby effect and ‘So Steve,’ have a surreal, dream like quality that drifts from one magical place to another….

…. a stunning debut album.
Xx

In the spirit of Xmas cheer and sharing the love, please accept this gift from me – a special Xmas edit of one of my most uplifting tunes – Gudonya.

Just click on the link below to listen, or better yet, right click on the link – select “save link as” and you can download the free MP3 file and keep it for posteriority to play it again and again – or why not share it with a friend?

Gudonya Xmas Edit

and a Happy New Year!!!

Rich
Xx

Olivia will be accompanied by Indian Bansuri player Lisa Mallett and tabla player Mohinder Singh and I’ll be taking the opportunity to play a set of instrumental piano music.

The evening looks set to be a beautiful and inspiring musical experience and in a wonderful setting – the main shrine room at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre (Park Road, Moseley).

Olivia Moore has enjoyed playing internationally and recording with some of the world’s top artists, most notably Mukesh Jadhav (tabla) and Jean Toussaints (saxophone). She wrote to me about the concert saying “My music comes from my heart and reflects my journey through different states of being. All my projects embody my quest to bring together my different musical interests to make something that is meaningful”.

This will be a thirty minute classical indian recital. We are planning to play two ragas, Raga Hansadhvani and Raga Yaman. Hansadhvani is a joyful sounding raga. It’s name means ’song of the swan’. It is a popular south indian raga which has recently become very popular in the north of india as well. Yaman has been regarded as one of the grandest and most fundamental ragas in hindustani music.

Dharmapani has been a classical guitarist for 30 years and has taught in Birmingham for the last 15 years. He usually plays in a duo called ‘The Well-Tempered Guitar Duo’. During the concert he will be playing some music from Isaac Albeniz and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Should be a lovely evening, I hope you can make it – it starts at 7.30pm and its £5 on the door.
Xx

If you dont have Valentine Court yet, then please visit my iTunes page by clicking on the groovy little icon below – have a listen and maybe even make a purchase. Gawd bless ya!

Of course in those days I spent a lot of time singing and playing the piano whereas now …

Anyhoo – Id love it if you fancy joining me to celebrate 40 years on lovely planet earth – we are meeting at 9pm, Sat Oct 24th at the Adam and Eve at the top of Bradford Street in Digbeth (thats B12 0JD Sat Nav fans, or where the 50bus turns left towards town if youre a Moseleyite or Heathen) – its a big red pub, you cant miss it.

Aside from a great opportunity to experience what my good friend Shu once delightfully and wisely referred to as “the limitless joy of human interaction” – (and drink beer), I’ll be playing some tunes with some special guests and there will also be a great live band – Free Control – (terrific grooves and vibe). Also a friend is going to do a few minutes of stand up for us which I guarantee will provide some big laughs (or Im really not doing my job properly).

And we have two of the best DJs you will find – Marc Reck and Mark Smallman – they’re both able to play a wide range of styles from the most chilled delights to the biggest dance floor fillers.

So if youre free, do please come along for 9pm as otherwise, you’ll miss some of the live entertainment – most probly me as I’ll very likely be up first! If you cant tho, no worries – the Adam is open til 4am and I fully expect to be propping up the bar until then.

Its an open invitation so do bring friends if you want to.
Xx

Exciting to be writing the first news entry on my shiny new website. I hope you like it – it’ll still be tweaked a little as we go, so any feedback you have is very welcome

Many thanks to Seb Lenton for all this hard work on this.

Please enjoy listening to my music and do please keep in touch.

big love

Rich
Xx