Manchester had the pleasure of my company for a weekend for the first time in years at what was styled a jazz workshop.  Organised by an outfit called Jazzsmart and led by Andy Scott, a well known player, composer and educator in the saxophone world there were about 20 of us.

On the Saturday we worked our way energetically through various pieces and all had a go or two at soloing.  The session was followed by a few drinks and a meal in Chinatown.

On the Sunday it all happened again (minus drinks and meal) with the very welcome addition of a rhythm section.  A couple of industry reps were in attendance with shiny new saxes for us to lust after and try. No sales were made as far as I could see but a number of appetites were obviously whetted.

We finished in time for me to catch an earlier return train than I had booked so I made my way briskly to Piccadilly only to find that the earlier train had been cancelled.  Indeed most trains to and from Manchester airport (where my booked train would originate) were being cancelled so I decided to get further up the line to hopefully connect with a London train.

I ended up in Preston with a London train connection some hours away, sipping a Leffe beer after casting aside the barman's warning that it was very expensive until my originally booked train arrived with my reserved seat intact.

Back home I had one of my periodic trips to Glasgow where I had a good lunch with Ian and Andrew at the Italian Kitchen followed by a tour of Tennent's Brewery.  The strange thing about the brewery was that no-one seemed to work there despite claims that millions of cans and bottles leave the place every week.  None of those millions were whizzing round the bottling lines which we were told were under maintenance.  Naturally we ended up in their bar supping the pint included in the tour price.

A couple of days later I had another pleasant lunch this time at the French Institute with Esther and Andy here for an astronomical conference.

James MacMillan is often described as Scotland's greatest living composer and to celebrate his 60th birthday the SCO programmed a concert featuring two of his compositions conducted by the composer himself.  The percussion concerto, Veni, Veni, Emmanuel is a great piece for anyone who enjoyed growing up banging toy drums and that must be everyone surely.  The choral piece, Seven Last Words from the Cross, which I hadn't heard before was lovely.

The Grads featured in the SCDA One Act Competition with a very amusing play called The Actor's Nightmare.  They did well enough to win a place in the next round. It's also at the Churchhill and if I go again I shall avoid the tempranillo which was dreadful.  Stick to G&T there is my advice.

Following on from the recent jazz weekend featuring Belgian jazzers we've had a Blues weekend.  I got to only one gig.  It was at St Brides, which incidentally was looking good.  I haven't been there for ages.  Anyway the gig was excellent though it was a bit of a slow burn for me.  I wasn't too excited by the first half but after the break there was a great band led by singer Nicole Smit.  She came on accompanied by drums and guitar and was joined as the gig progressed by the two musicians who had played in the first half.  I liked them much more as band members than as solo artists.