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MAART'S NEWS
Last updated Monday 23rd August 2010
Hello and welcome!
Photo by Alan Cole, www.musicfestivalphotos.co.uk
Maartin Allcock is a multi-instrumentalist born in Manchester in 1957. After an apprenticeship in folkclubs and dancebands, he ran away to join the Bully Wee Band, a Celtic folk group, which led on to an 11-year stint with folk-rock leg ends Fairport Convention, four years with rock band Jethro Tull and a session career which has included over 200 albums and now also lends his experience to record production and tour management. Now read on...
LATEST NEWS
BERYL MARRIOTT RIP
Photo by Mark Leightley and copyright
Very sad to relate that our old friend Beryl Marriott died Friday night in her sleep. She had been unwell for some time. She was the most wonderful pianist. We used to call her the Jerry Lee Lewis of the folk piano. She had a truly distinctive style and was a great influence on all of us lucky enough to have known her. Our condolences to her husband Roger.
ROB ARMSTRONG WORKSHOP FIRE
Rob with his 800th guitar last December
My good friend and hero, luthier Rob Armstrong, survived a terrible experience recently. His workshop burned down to the ground along with all his tools and equipment and a couple of recently finished instruments. He was burned on his hands and head but it looks like he's going to be alright, unlike his place of work for the last 40 years. There will be some fundraising gigs to help him get back on track, so watch this space, and I'll announce everything as it gets organised.
THE RICHARD THOMPSONGBOOK IS HERE!
The three volume Richard Thompsongbook is available now from Richard's website. My copies arrived this morning. It looks fab. Over three years I transcribed 157 songs for this mammoth series. I learned so much! There is TAB for some of the songs, not all, and it gives some insight into the great works of one of our greatest songwriter/guitarists.
BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN DATES ANNOUNCED
The September/October dates are up on the tour dates page now. England, Scotland and even one in Nederland!
PAUL ABBOTT'S TRIP TO INDIA
Paul with his old chum of thirty years ago, Master Carpenter VJ in Tamil Nadu
My old schoolchum Paul Abbott has returned safely from South India. He cycled to Istanbul then took a flight to Mumbai to continue cycling for another 1000km. He raised over £8000 to build ten good quality homes for ten poor families in South India. You can read all about his amazing adventure here, and if you have any spare dosh then it's easy to donate via his site. He taught Peter Kaye you know...
PRICE CHANGES IN THE SHOP
It was brought to my attention that there were discrepances in some of the foreign currency prices in my shop so I've amended them to current exchange rates. This means that some of the prices have actually come down as a result of the shifting pound. I've also reduced the price of my Serving Suggestion CD as I am working on the follow-up album and I'll need the space...
MY NEW ORCHESTRA
I recently bought a great sample library, Kirk Hunter Complete Strings II, and I've already been commissioned to do some orchestral arrangements for Ralph McTell's and Desi Friel's new albums. I have studied orchestral scores for many years and played in orchestras in my youth, so I have a good idea of how it should all sound. I am able to work on these at home and email the finished sound files in. I so love this century! I've since bought the matching woodwind section, so I'm enjoying learning how to use it all...
BETH NIELSEN CHAPMAN AUTUMN UK TOUR 2010
Photo by Annie Tuite and copyright
The very wonderful Beth Nielsen Chapman will be back on our shores once more in September and October. Dates are coming in now and there will be a special appearance on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night Is Music Night. The dates are now on my Tour Dates page.
The last tour began in Glasgow on January 25th, and passed through Northern Ireland, England, Wales, England again, Scotland again, Wales again and finally England again, finishing in Bristol Colston Hall on March 8th. The lineup this time out was Beth (BNC), fellow Nashville hit songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Marcus Hummon and yer very own Maart. The special Celtic Connections concert at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall also featured guest appearances from Darrell Scott, Phil Cunningham, Eilidh Patterson, Charlie Dore and Julian Littman and a string quartet. Strings also featured at the London and Aberdeen shoes and we had a section from the world-famous Besses O' Th' Barn Band in Manchester, the great northern sound in the great northern city. Beth was hard at work meeting a busy schedule of some very special media appearances including BBC Radio 2's Terry Wogan and Aled Jones' Sunday morning BBC Radio 2 show. Another highlight was performing in Abbey Road Studio Two with Beth, The London Orianna Choir led by David Drummond, David Gray, the very fab Newton Faulkner and Robert Plant. I even got to share a dressing room with Bob Harris, who really deserves a knighthood. If Terry Wogan can have one...
With members of the London Orianna Choir at Abbey Road Studio One
The single Even As It All Goes By got LOTS of airplay. The new album, Back To Love, was BBC Radio 2 Album Of The Week. It came out on January 25th. There is now a songbook which I transcribed to accompany the album, which features all of the songs on the album and some of her best known songs like Sand And Water, Every December Sky, All I Have, Emily and more. It's available from Beth's website.
We had a great week in Glasgow, getting the chance to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones. We got to hear some amazing music and we were lucky enough to come across CC Music where Beth bought a beautiful Faith guitar which we've all fallen in love with. They also lent Darrell an Ozark squareneck resonator guitar for the gig. Excellent service, thank you Steve and Jimmy and team. We can thoroughly recommend this great shop.
Then we had another great week in Belfast with more old friends and new ones. I went off to Amsterdam in the middle and played a Burns Supper with Mairi Armstrong which was really great. When I got back, Beth and I went off with my friend Gerry Friel to a traditional session in Madden's Bar where I had a great time playing jigs and reels. Later in the evening, fiddler Dónal O'Connor asked me, "Does your friend sing?", nodding in Beth's direction. "Oh, yes!" "Would she sing us a song now?" "Probably". So she took the guitar and sang a couple of her own songs, to great applause. Dónal came to the gig and our new friendship was sealed.
We kidnapped merchmeister Declan McCarthy onto the tour with us. One of the nicest guys I've met, he's a tall handsome Corkman who has never had a drink. At least the books were right! Unflappable and totally recommendable, Declan helped me out with the driving too.
Declan wondering if the keys will last the tour
We managed a bit of sight seeing too. Here we are at Avebury
On top of The Great Orme, Llandudno
Marcus at Carter Bar, the border to Scotland
ACOUSTIC MAGAZINE COLUMN
My Advanced Trad Arr column for Acoustic magazine is still ongoing, although it takes a while between me writing it and it appearing in the magazine. I've enjoyed doing it and my last column is due to appear in the September or October issue, although it's done at this end.
DAVE SWARBRICK FIDDLE TUNE BOOK
Work has recommenced on a new fiddle tune book featuring the work of Dave Swarbrick from the first solo album Rags, Reels and Airs (1967) through the solo albums of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, and I have no idea yet where it will stop. It's yet another mammoth task in the series (three Fairport Convention Songbooks, Sandy Denny Complete Songbook, three Richard Thompson songbooks...). I've done 152 pages so far, and I'm still only up to 1984. There's so much to get through...
MADELEINE ALLCOCK
My daughter Madeleine has her own website. She's an illustrator and designer
and is now studying Illustration at Loughborough University.
Click on the picture to go and have a look.
I now have a Flickr site which you can view by clicking above. I'll be adding as I go along.
MAART SOLO ALBUM
You can order Maart's most recent (2004)
album, "Serving Suggestion". Just click on the picture above.
THE COMPLETE SANDY DENNY SONGBOOK
Click on the picture to see a complete songlist and a free sample...
This 112 page book is only available here. It features all 52
of Sandy's self-penned or co-written songs that she recorded, with notes
on guitar tunings and some TAB and is in the same format as the Fairport
Convention Songbook One v2.0. The fabulous Bryan Ledgard did the artwork.
This is a limited edition of 1000 copies only. Click on the picture above
for details. The first copies ordered went to Mark
Johnson in Berlin and Robert Mulford in London.
NB. It has been pointed out to me that page 64, the second page of No End, has a few bars askew. You can download the corrected version here.
Very nice review from Living Tradition magazine here
I live on the west coast of Wales, near Harlech in Gwynedd,
and it's a very beautiful place.
Have a look here at some pictures.
A couple of my photos are at the BBC North West Wales website here.
Website by Maartin Allcock with thanks to my old friend Des Friel, with Paul and Brian at www.egenica.com