Yamaha Grand Piano – The Playroom, Arundel

OUT NOW! May 2023.

What a proud and exciting moment! This beautiful album is the first to be recorded here at The Playroom, Arundel using the recently acquired Yamaha Grand Piano (more about that on our previous blog entry here).

The Full Circle Quartet is made up of award winneing musicians and writers and are based in Sussex. They came to The Playroom, Arundel for 3 days in late 2022.

Once settled in, microphones in place, headphone levels set and tea made, the Quartet had a very relaxed and enjoyable few days recording tunes they had previously played live, expanding ideas and tweaking arrangements as they went. (The engineer enjoyed it very much too!!).

All of the members of Full Circle write and arrange, so 12 of the 13 tracks on the album are written and arranged within the band. One track, ‘One January Morning’, was written by friend of the band, multi-reed player Julian Nicholas and was arranged by members of the Quartet.

The album is called ‘The South Downs Suite’ and the music is inspired by and reflects living and working in the South Downs of England.

Josephine Davies – Soprano and Tenor Saxophones. Joss Peach – Piano and Percussion. Terry Pack – Double Bass. Angus Bishop – Drums

You will hear magnificent playing from all involved with ensemble cameos from Kate Hogg (Flutes) and Michelle Andrews (Clarinet and Bass Clarinet).

‘The South Downs Suite’ album is definitely worth a listen if you are a lover of Jazz and Soundtrack-style music. Pure escapism.

The album cover art is detail from a mixed painting named ‘Amberley’ by local artist Polly Dutton, who is working with the Quartet on a companion set of artwork which will be launched at Petworth Festival 2023. More information on this through Polly’s site: www.pollydutton .co.uk.

The Quartet will also be playing at the festival and various other venues through the South, details of which can be found though their website.

The South Downs Suite by The Full Circle Quartet – Recorded, mixed and mastered at The Playroom, Arundel.

Excerpt from ‘Flight of the Dragonfly’ by Josephine Davies

Further information about The Full Circle Quartet including live dates and album details can be found here: www.fullcirclequartet.com

Reviews – What ‘they’ say

Some pre-release comments that the album has received (via Bandcamp):-

fairman*****6

Bought it almost blind because I love Jo’s sound and inventiveness in her playing. However, I now have listened to this whole album. Wow ! what an album. Pianist, Bassist and Drummer are all top draw. A very classy album indeed. Thoroughly recommended for any jazz enthusiast. Go and buy it . You will not be disappointed. On this basis, I would gladly book the band for my Jazz club.

Groo*****8

This is a superb piece, it flows in a wonderful way. Great playing and recording. Just sit back and enjoy.

jazz #jazzmusic #soundtrack #josephinedavies #saxophone #piano #quartet #newmusic #inspiration #classy #album #josspeach #angusbishop #terrypack #juliannicholas #PlayroomArundel #pollydutton

New at The Playroom, Arundel – Yamaha C7 Acoustic Concert Grand Piano

Yamaha C7 Concert Grand Piano at The Playroom, Arundel

Built in 1979 in Hamamatsu, Japan for a Japanese customer the piano then came to England early in the 21st Century and was sold to a concert pianist in Oxford. In 2022 the concert pianist decided to upgrade so we were able to secure its purchase from Roberts Pianos, Oxford at the end of the summer. Roberts Pianos arranged to store the piano for us while we started to build a new space at the end of the Playroom’s live room to house it.

By the middle of September the booth was complete with all its bespoke cabling (including microphone lines, headphone mixer feeds and talk-back) and controlled heating in place. We took delivery of the piano late in September 2022.

Whilst we finished off the building externally and tidied up, the piano was able to aclimatise and was still beautifully in tune when Marcus from Roberts Pianos came to visit and give the piano a post-delivery once-over, and it was ready for action.

The piano plays beautifully and is in pretty much mint condition. A number of respected pianists from the South of England have been to play and record the C7 all ready and are extremely happy with the results.

We are using three microphones to record the Yamaha. Two AKG-214s just behind the music rest for a standard stereo image left/right and a third (an AKG-414) at the very bottom end of the bass strings to enhance the low end.

The Piano booth itself has an acoustically treated ceiling but we have left the walls and floor with only gentle treatment to allow the piano to sound alive and acoustic, not dampened to the point of losing its personality. So far we are very pleased with all the recordings we have made.

Here is an example of the piano in an excerpt from a new album to be released during 2023 of music by Terry Pack and The Full Circle Quartet provisionally called ‘The South Downs Suite’.

‘River Runs’ piano-only excerpt. Played by Joss Peach

Drop us a note or give us a call if you would like to arrange to come and record with the Yamaha C7.
Rates dependent on amount of time booked and other studio usage requirements.
All contracts discussed on and individual basis.

Tag: Yamaha Grand Piano

The South Downs Suite by The Full Circle Quartet

What an absolute beauty!!! Grand Piano arrives.