darrenashford.com

BPA Celebration of Life

Darren Ashford — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 08:58:18 +0000

BPA Celebration of Life

Royal Festival Hall

Friday 22nd October 2010

I am delighted to be performing with the dynamic ‘Life Force Band’ at the Royal Festival Hall in London for the annual BPA Celebration of Life Concert.

Artists appearing will be Aswad, Courtney Pine and Cameron Pierre, Guvna B, Hersha Bailey and Vula of Basement Jacks fame. It will be a fantastic night of music for a great cause.

www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Bass Day Sunday 10th October 2010

Darren Ashford — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 11:03:57 +0000

Dave Marks and I will be presenting one of our ever popular RhythmMatters masterclasses at the 2010 Bass Day in Manchester on the 10th October 2010. We’ll be focusing on time, feel and groove with Q & A sessions and audience participation.

This year’s bass day is packed with red hot players and will include Billy Sheehan, Stu Hamm and Victor Bailey among others. The show will (as always) be packed with all the newest and finest bass gear on the planet and will be a great chance to hang out, meet up with bassist friends and absorb some serious low end energy.

http://www.bassdayuk.co.uk/

http://www.rhythmmatters.co.uk

London Drum Show 2010

Darren Ashford — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:01:13 +0000

The place to be for those of us who hit things to make music was the London Drum Show held at Olympia this last weekend.

Bass Player Dave Marks and I performed on the Mike Dolbear stage spreading the word on rhythm section education with our RhythmMatters project. We got to check out some new gear, meet some lovely people and watch some amazing playing.

Artists appearing this year were:

Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, Benny Grebb, Pete Lockett, Mike Mangini, Ndugu Chancelor, Nisan Stewart, Craig Blundell, Ian Mathews, Albert Vila, Ralph Salmins and Paul Clarvis.

Many thanks to those who helped us deliver our masterclasses especially Mike Dolbear, Matt our superb sound technician and all those at the ICMP.

Here are a few photos from the weekend.

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New Article in Drummer Magazine

Darren Ashford — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:13:48 +0000

It’s been a hard days night and I’ve been working like a dog!…

It’s been a hectic few months getting content ready for my new two page article in Drummer Magazine. This article will run concurrently with my good friend Dave Marks’s column in Bass Player Magazine on the subject of playing in odd times signatures (anything other than 4/4). The subject of this article is just one of the topics we cover in our on the road masterclasses and at our new web site http://www.rhythmmatters.co.uk.

The site is really taking shape and I’ve been sweating it out in the studio recording drums for all of the audio examples. Thanks to all the guys at Drummer for making this happen and helping Dave & I realize our vision.

RhythmMatters

Darren Ashford — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:20:18 +0000

Dave Marks and I have been working hard to get RhythmMatters website up and running ready for our up and coming articles in Bass Player Magazine and Drummer Magazine. The articles will run concurrently and feature playing grooves in odd times. To support the articles we will have video lessons and audio backing tracks available at our website: http://www.rhythmmatters.co.uk

We are also pleased to announce that Shure microphones have come on board and are suppling microphones for our up and coming masterclass tour later in the year.

Judging Live & Unsigned 2010

Darren Ashford — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:00:05 +0000

On the 2nd May 2010 I was invited to join the judging panel of ‘Live & Unsigned’ at a regional final held at the Beck Theatre in Hayes, Middlesex.

My fellow judges were Radio 1′s longest serving DJ Annie Nightingale (MBE), Radio 1′s top urban DJ Ras Kwame, legendary record producer Steve Lyon and MTV and XFM Presenter Phil Clifton.

We had a great day judging three shows of bands, solo artists and everything in between. All performers gave their very best and proved live music is very much alive in the UK. Wicked!

http://www.liveandunsigned.uk.com/

New Play-Along Tracks

Darren Ashford — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:22:47 +0000

Here are three tracks I recorded for irish bassist Dave Marks as a range of play-along tracks for bassists and soon to be available here and at http://www.drumlessonpodcast.com minus drums for drummers.

Ghetto Upgrade (HipHop/R&B)

The Ealing Feeling (Brit Funk)

Skattershot (Ska)

22nd August 2009 – Beautiful Days Festival – The Dub Pistols

Darren Ashford — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:49:13 +0000

Here are a few photo of me playing with the Dub Pistols at the Beautiful Days Festival in Otter St.Mary in Devon.

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Me’sha Bryan videos on Youtube

Darren Ashford — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:56:42 +0000

Here are three tracks from Me’sha Bryan’s DVD that we recorded earlier in the year. The session was great fun and I got to flex my producing chops by recording and mixing the audio. Hope you enjoy the tunes.

http://www.myspace.com/meshabryan

24th July 2009 – Maryport Blues Festival – Laura & the Tears

Darren Ashford — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:53:34 +0000

Supporting Jethro Tull at the Maryport Blues festival with Laura & the Tears.

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