Al Muirhead

I am so honoured to be included as an inaugural inductee in the YYC Music Awards Hitmakers Hall of Fame for Jazz Recording of the Year. The awards platform created this new recognition to celebrate musicians and industry that have won an award in a particular category since the organization started in 2016. This year, I'm joined with fellow inductees MCC Recording Studio for Studio of the Year, and band The Royal Foundry for Alternative Recording of the Year - congrats to both those groups! 

I wanted to thank everyone for their well-wishes and kind thoughts in regards to our JUNO-nomination for Undertones. Enjoyed the online awards show and so honoured to be a nominee surrounded by such amazing talent. Congratulations to Ernesto Cervini and his group Turboprop on the win. Well-deserved!

Had the honour to be included on Jens Lindemann's new video featuring Matt Catingub's new song 'A Hope For The Future'. The video features 32 international trumpet stars from 14 countries paying tribute to global health care workers.

Click Here for Link to Video

What can I say....

Jens! 

What an incredible video, and for such a worthy cause. You amaze me with your talents and creative abilities. 

I think you picked me to be on this project because: 

1. I am really old and still playing
2. you have known me since you were a kid 
3. I have a Bass Trumpet and you don't 
4. my "Arban's" method book is older and in worse shape than yours! 

However my friend, I am thrilled and honoured to be a part of this with Matt, Steve, Mike, and some of my favourite Canadian and American Trumpet players. Getting to hear some of the rest of the world's players was a real treat. Great tune, great arrangement Matt! 

I think I'd better go practice now - stay safe! 

Al

Thanks to everyone for their well-wishes on the JUNO-nomination. Was looking forward to playing and saying hi to old friends at the JUNO's, but it is far more important that people stay healthy and safe right now. Look forward to hearing about the award at a later date. Such an honour to play with Reg, Kelly, Neil and Ted and be nominated in this category! Congrats to all the nominees and eventual winners!

Just found out that my Canadian Quintet with Kelly Jefferson (sax), Reg Schwager (guitar), Neil Swainson (bass) and Ted Warren (drums) have been nominated for our recent album Undertones in the 'Group' category.

It's quite an honour to be nominated again for a JUNO. There are so many great musicians in our country, and to be honoured beside them, makes me realise that this can happen to any of us, at any time, at any age. 

We live in, I believe, the greatest country in the world. Thank you Canada for all you are doing, and for all that you have done for our musical community. 

A special thank you to Kodi and Stephanie Hutchinson from Chronograph Records, for all your hard work, dedication and love in all of my musical endeavors

https://junoawards.ca/2020-juno-award-nominees/.

Thanks so much to Rode De Waal for her lovely painting of me. Such a pleasant surprise when I received this from this great young bassist and apparently painter!

Some of you may remember me talking about the word "air" and how the lack of it was responsible for so many of the problems we have playing the trumpet. There is another word that is just as important.  " Listen". We need to really listen to ourselves.  Are we blending with the other players in our section? How is our pitch? Are we a bit sharp? A bit flat? Are we giving the lead player the support he or she needs to make our section sound great? Are we so embroiled in the reading of that charts that we forget to listen? Sometimes when I hear some people play, they seem to have turned off their ears. They seem to be interested only in how they sound and how prominent they are in the band. We are a team when we play music together. We need to listen to each other carefully . Focusing on the time, the phrasing, the pitch, and the dynamics. Important word "Listen".

Really lovely to see how people are embracing the new album. Playing with Reg, Neil, Ted and Kelly was such a treat for me, Listening to those guys groove - how they support your ideas - and hinting at other things you might try in your soloing. World class musicians. It was such an honour to get to know and play with these guys.

Honoured to see that my new album 'Undertones' featuring my Canadian Quintet (Chronograph Records) is chartbound on the US JazzWeek National Charts. I'm quite happy with the new album - it's just a straight ahead jazz album that was such fun to record with these tremendous musicians from Toronto. Thanks to my musical friends and collaborators; Kelly Jefferson (sax), Neil Swainson (bass), Reg Schwager (guitar) and Ted Warren (drums) for their fantastic work!

For those of you just checking out what I am up to, my new album Undertones featuring my new Canadian Quintet and myself on the Bass Trumpet is set for release on September 28th on Chronograph Records! Check out the wonderful review from Dan McClenaghan giving the album 4 Stars out of 5.

Undertones All About Jazz Review - click here

Al Muirhead's Canadian Quintet

Al Muirhead - Bass Trumpet, Kelly Jefferson - Sax, Reg Schwager - Guitar, Neil Swainson - Bass, Ted Warren - Drums