Recent Press Releases
LastMinuteMusicians.com restores party planners' passion for live music and plays down pre-recorded tapes
1 September 2004
Recent Press
A cutting edge musicians’ collective – for hire
Docklands News - November 2003 - by Katherine Trimble
Next time you’re putting an event together and trying to sort out the music, do yourself (and your guests) a huge favour and have a look at www.lastminutemusicians.com. When I was an events organiser I would have given my left arm for a bunch of musicians like this.
We’ve all been to events where the band looked tacky and tired and sounded even worse. Ever found yourself doing a lethargic foxtrot to "Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree”, or sitting through a dire rendition of “Brown Sugar” sung by an ageing roué with a hairpiece and a permatan? (Warning note for any organiser is an agent who says smugly: “This band can play anything, darling.” Don’t go there – you’ll die with embarrassment at what they send you.)
But now you can sit in font of your PC and rustle up a superb soloist or a group of supremely talented young musicians who not only know how to play but also look extremely good to boot. The great thing about this idea is you no longer have to deal with tetchy agents, pay daft agent’s fees or try to choose your music through a third party. With lastminutemusicians you deal directly with the musicians. You can even book and get a quote online. You can listen to them too so you can hear what they sound like before you even pick up the phone. You just go to the website, save an audio file to your desktop, turn up the volume, hit the play button and sink back in your chair. If jazz is your thing their rendition of “Fly me to the Moon” will make you drool. Just listen to that piano.
You won’t get pot luck either. This the closest thing to a cutting edge musicians’ collective, run by young musicians for each other, which dips into a very rich pool of talent from three of the top music colleges in London – Trinity, the Royal Academy and Guildhall. What you’re getting is the hottest new talent on the circuit. If you want the big band sound they can do it. If you want cool contemporary jazz they can do that too. If you say “I’d like to start with the 1940s, add a bit of swing and then work my way towards 2003 - and can you throw in a serious horn section?” they can deliver. By the way, their horn section is called Hornography. The latter are so good they were chosen to play at the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Party at Buck House alongside Tom Jones, Eric Clapton et al.
With a core base of 15 talented musicians - and immediate access to an even wider pool of others they can get to at the flick of a mobile button - this fledging company can give you everything from a soloist to a full orchestra that can blow the socks off the fussiest and most blasé of clients. They will travel anywhere within reason.
The brains behind this idea are musicians Adam Hughes (piano and keyboards) and Chris Walmsley (drums and percussion). Alongside Tom Mason (double bass and bass guitar) they make up the Adam Hughes Trio – but they also run lastminutemusicians.
Adam Hughes played his first “live gig” at the age of 13. He was 12 when did his Grade 8 so the next step for him was performing live. They all started as soon as they’d finished the grade system. “It can be a bit hit or miss. I just thought there’s got to be better way of doing this. The problem used to be that most musicians who choose the perform cruise from gig to another and hope that more come their way. It can be a haphazard way to try and build a reputation and a career”.
Lastminutemusicians.com aim to change all that. “We wanted to manage our own careers and not rely on luck or agents. We also wanted to make it really easy for our clients to find us and book us” explains Adam Hughes. He has now performed at over 1000 gigs all over Europe and has played with people such as Tina May, Andy Sheppard and Ian Thomas. Chris Walmsley had toured Japan, Holland, France, Germany and Norway by the age of 16. At 19 Trinity College had accepted him for their coveted jazz course. He has already played such jazz greats as Jean Toussaint, Steve Waterman and Dave Cliff. Tom Mason has toured internationally and played alongside artists such as Robin Eubanks, Famadou Don Moye and Marty Ehrlich to name but a few.
Despite being still in their twenties these musicians are already seasoned professionals. They’ve played in five star hotels, jazz clubs, at staff parties, in hotel piano bars and at private houses. They know exactly what they’re doing. It almost makes you want to throw an event – any excuse - just to hire them. I wish I had a dining room big enough!
