t's been a while since I've penned about the Olney Jazz club. You get a
little complacent with world class musicians playing on your doorstep every Imonth . Just another amazing trumpeter - nothing to write home about.
But this month saw Amy Roberts, young , female and local , taking the spotlight on stage . You may have seen her play this year during BOFF. She plays sax, clarinet and flute. And plays them like a dream.
Originally from Cornwall , Amy now lives in lrthlingborough. She plays all over the world at prestigious clubs and festival and is well know on the jazz circuit as a charismatic performer. She leads her own band featuring some of the most exciting musicians on the jazz scene . She graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with a First Class Honours degree just a few years ago. She was featured as cover girl in the Autumn 2011 Clarinet and Saxophone Society Magazine and in the same year became the first female musician to join the Big Chris Barber Band . And has been voted winner of the Rising Star Category in the British Jazz Awards in 2009 and 2011.
Which seemed reason enough to find out a little more about her...
Q. Amy, you are now a professional musician, but what is your very first musical memory?
A. My first musical memory was playing the recorder in the primary school recorder group and singing with the school choir. A few years later, at 8, I started playing the flute - it seemed a sensible move up from the recorder . I really loved the sound it made, but at that stage I just learnt and played purely classical music.
Q . Who is your inspiration musically?
A. Hearing flautist Ian Clarke for the first time changed my whole outlook on music and performing, so he's got to be one of my major inspirations . I had a classical masterclass with him back in 2006 and it was like he 'd clicked a switch in my head. Suddenly everything seemed to make sense in a way it hadn 't before and it pushed me onto a whole new level.
Q. Who would be in your dream jazz band - dead or alive?
A. I've already got my dream band! It's called the Magnificent 7 Jazz Band , and features musicians from the bands of the 3 B's .... Chris Barber , Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk. We have recently recorded our debut album - "The Good , The Bad and The Ugly". It has been incredibly well received and we're really looking forward to our upcoming concerts .
Q. What has been your proudest moment in your musical career so far?
A. Being voted winner of the Rising Star Category in the British Jazz Awards in both 2009 and 2011 was amazing . Also being selected as the only woodwind player to get to the finals of the Gold Medal competition at the Royal Northern College of Music was a real highlight. It makes all the years of hard work really worthwhile .
Q. How much time do you spend practising your instruments?
A. There are never enough hours in a day ! I'd love to be able to practice each instrument for an hour or more a day, but in reality it's very rare to find the time . Whilst studying at music college I was practicing for an average of 3 or 4 hours a day. These days if I fit in an hour of practice per day then I'm doing well !
Q. How many live shows/gigs do you do in a year?
It varies from month to month , year to year ... Some months I'll have 25 gigs, and another I might have 2! The Chris Barber Band tend to play about 80 concerts a year , and during the summer I perform at a lot of Jazz Festivals with my own band and as a guest with other ensembles .
Q. Whyjazz? And why the flute?
A. At the age of 13 I started playing in the Cornwall Youth Jazz Orchestra on alto saxophone and started to become interested in Jazz . But at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester I chose to study classical saxophone . There isn 't really a career in classical saxophone , but by doing this course I was able to apply the discipline and technical accuracy to my own love of jazz . Before and during my studies at RNCM I was performing with various bands in all different
Amy Roberts: Rising Star
32 Phonebox Magazine