My first gig for top Birmingham music promoters Capsule was a great pleasure yesterday.

For my set, I was a little taken aback at first by how quiet the audience were – very attentive and polite.  Probably because it was in a pub – albeit in the venue room of what is certainly one of Birmingham’s very bext music pubs – I suppose I expected it to be more lively – but actually the gentle mood suited the line up very well.

If the Capsule ladies ask me back, I may well with what was my first thought for this gig – since attendees at a Capsule gig are likely to be fairly seriously into music -  and take the chance to do a fully instrumental set, but instead I played what is currently my established set for acoustic nights and such – mostly my songs, with just a couple of my instrumentals.

Next Up – Friendly Fire built on the chilled mood, with moments of intensity and neat combination of modern, geekdom and classic 70s American folk rock.

Finally Phosphorescent took the stage – not totally at their ease for several songs, perhaps in part due to having travelled down from Glasgow in the day and arriving a bit late – but their relationship with the crowd progressed as the night went on.   Some superb musicianship was on display from all six members, comprising piano, soulful lead guitar, beautiful and haunting pedal steel as well as bass, drums and rhythm.

The sound was amazing – a great PA in there with Bartram ably and assuredly handling the controls as always.

Here’s a good review of the show, with pics by Katya Ogrin (one of which Ive borrowed for this post) over on brumlive.com

Ive received a great albumn review today from the good guys of Bearded Magazine. In case you dont know Bearded already, these guys are very passionate supporters of independent music – well worth checking out in there current online incarnation.

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

I really enjoyed my week in Brighton playing piano for a theatre show.

We were based in Grand Central – see photo – right by the train station.  It could hardly have been better in terms of access – we were accomodated in rooms on the top floor, with the theatre space being on the middle floor and the ground floor being a really nice pub. Happy Days!  Also, as Brighton afficionados will know – the “laines” are great streets to go for a wander in either browsing shops during the day, or for a tipple of an evening.

The shows went really well – we performed around 100 in all – (remember each is only 5 munites long, we’re not superhuman) and audience reaction was very gratifying.

We got several reviews too – all four stars out of five – one of them even going so far as to give me a nice mention “The pianist, in particular, plays out a delightful low-key cameo, all wild-eyed enthusiasm as he hammers the ivories discordantly in the background.” (I hasten to add the particular piece that reviewer chose was called “the discovery of fear in the stomache” – a somewhat grizzly tale,  so the dischordant notes were (mostly) intentional.

I also got to exercise my rusty comedy skills, as we improvised a short passage in one of the pieces were I had a pretend strop and had to be enticed back into finishing the piece – great fun.  We played it like somewhere in the territory between Cooke and Moore and Morecambe and Wise!

The main performer Jake Oldershaw was very impressive, his presence comfortably dominating the space and enthralling the audience – given we were performing up to six hours per day and he had Mollie, his toddler daughter with us ensuring he didnt sleep in, the energy he put in was quite remarkable.

Jack our technical guy was very able and great company and Steven and everyone at the Nightingale Theatre were very warm and generous so combined with the enjoyment of being a professional pianist for a whole week, it was a great experience.

I recently sent a copy of my album Valentine Court to a lady in the US called Rebecca Johnson, who writes regularly on a website called Seasoned with Love.  She is also a key player in the growing army of people with an interest in music, books etc who contribute to our growing global cultural wealth my regularly reviewing music on Amazon.

Its very hard for indie artists to get coverage in papers and magazines, so its very important both for the artists themselves and all those who are interested in discovering new art that might appeal, that people like Rebecca give their time and make their voices heard.

Rebecca’s certainly been hard at work, writing no less than 3,795 reviews on Amazon so far, placing her as one of Amazon’s  “Top 10  Reviewers”.

So what did Rebecca make of my magnum opus?  Happily, she has entitled her review Exquisite and Magical and goes on to write:

“Rich Batsford has created a relaxing and at times a profoundly beautiful moment in time for the listener. His timing is impeccable and his melodies are original and compelling. The entire time I was listening to this stunning album I felt a sense of happiness.

“Valentine Court” also awakens delicate emotions that enliven the soul. Rich Batsford seems to be completely absorbed in the moment as he plays. His music also has meditative qualities at times and can awaken the heart to beauty. If you love solo piano then this should be in your collection.”

Rather a wonderful review – I found it quite moving in fact – it means a lot to get this kind of comment and Im proud of Rebecca and everyone else getting on Amazon to make some critical comments which in her case at least, are undoubtedly seasoned with a little love.
Xx

The calming and sophisticated sounds of Classically Chilled Piano can provide the perfect musical accompaniment to your wedding, gallery opening, private party or corporate event.

Rich Batsford performs his unique and beautiful piano compositions creating a mood that’s relaxed, pleasant and timeless. Sets feature Rich’s original music alongside selections from Classic FM favourite Ludovico Einaudi and occasional forays into the wider classical repertoire.

Rich’s pieces are uplifting, beautiful and romantic, making his music a popular choice for performance during wedding ceremonies as well as providing ambient entertainment for wedding meals or receptions.

Key public performances and corporate clients to date include The Big Chill Festival, Gigbeth Festival, Amnesty International, Moseley CDT.

A great introduction to Rich’s music is the Gudonya edit at the top of www.richbatsford.com/music

Many venues will have a piano on site, but Rich also plays a portable Roland FP4 digital piano with a wonderful sound, featuring inbuilt speakers suitable for smaller venues and very easy to amplify for the larger occasion.

Rich is based in Birmingham UK and is available to travel worldwide.

If you’d like to make a booking or simply chat over some options, please do contact me direct by email and I’ll get right in touch.

“Thank you very much for playing your beautiful music during our meal. As a wedding photographer, I see a lot of different musicians and artists and can say with all honesty you rank alongside the best pianists I’ve ever heard. All the guests commented on how the music created a wonderful atmosphere. Not only was it beautifully played but also fantastic to have original tunes. I’ll be sure to recommend you to everyone I meet.”
Steve & Sarah Causon, Ardencote Manor 2010

I mentioned my cousin, successful jazz pianist Martin Litton in a recent blog post. He’s been kind enough to share some of his reactions to my album Valentine Court (which you can listen to on the music page of this site.

Its interesting in terms of a critical analysis of my music, and later he later presents contrasting takes on what we are each trying to achieve with our music:

“I liked your piece Lyndall and the Debussyan intro to the Cello Song and the major-minor shift towards the end of Gudonya. This last, like So Steve has a perpetuum mobile effect, of which you seem fond. Sensawunda does what it says on the tin and Just Sitting could be your tribute to John Cage.

Beyond this I don’t feel qualified to comment because my aims appear the polar opposite of yours. You achieve a trance-like ambience through a harmonically static medium with motivic repetition, whereas I follow the jazz dictum “the sound of surprise,” where I try to challenge the listener within a swinging framework. My heroes are people like Earl Hines, teddy Wilson, Willie “The Lion” Smith etc whereas your points of reference are just names to me.”

Its interesting to note that two of the composers mentioned in the wikipedia entry for perpetuum mobile (defined as “pieces of music, or parts of pieces, characterised by a continuous steady stream of notes, usually at a rapid tempo”) are Beethoven and Schubert, two composers close to my heart, although I often to credit the minimalism of Steve Reich as having had an effect on my penchant for fast, repetitive rhythm.

I played a lovely little gig in Bristol last weekend which deserves a special mention for being the only time I can recall a classical music night in a pub.

Now many people might find this a bit strange (there being classical in a club) tho conversely Ive always found it strange that so many people who are really into music never listen to anything recorded before 1960, when some fantastic music was being written in the 1860s and even better stuff in the 100 years before that.

In fact, I absolutely adore the music of Thomas Tallis – possibly the first great English composer – who was hard at work producing sublime music (recently sampled by super-hot Electronia artist Jon Hopkins) way back in the 1560s.

Anyways, it was a lovely gig – in a pleasantly cosy bar, nestled between two massage parlours (offering me the ideal opportunity to continue the noble tradition of composers contracting syphilis!), so if you find yourself in that area, do check it out (and Id strongly recommend grabbing some food in The Canteen which is nearby.

Pls click on image left for an interview with the organisers of Club Parnassus, taken from Venue Magazine.