The Seal Club

Originally from Birmingham, UK (apart from Pietro - Italy/Switzerland) The Seal Club have a background in a variety of styles ranging from jazz, funk, rock, reggae and even classical (The Sherriff is a classicaly trained organist) They have been at the forefront of improvised music in Birmingham, organising sessions involving many styles from hip-hop to free jazz and from flamenco to theramin recitals! One of the most important early sessions took place in Birmingham´s Churchill´s Snooker Club and was started by Andy Sapic. Later, the locally renound ¨PLAYERS¨ sessions was located in The Big Peg in Birmingham´s jewellery quarter. This session developed into a monster with a free jazz set, varoius featured artists and a deeply dirty funk/hip-hop set. The idea was to bring together all of the local players from different backgrounds weather that be jazz, funk, hip-hop, rock, world music, gospel or avant garde. Many jam sessions are little more than war zones. At ¨PLAYERS¨ we tried, successfully, to foster a spirit of co-operation and respect between players from different styles and backgrounds. How many times, for example, have you been to a jam session and seen horn players practising patterns during someone else´s solo? In our view this type of behaviour should be punishable by torture! Unfortunately, the prevailing climate in the jazz/live music scene, run as it was, (and I fear, still is) by a handful of self serving, ego maniac, non-musicians (who invariably delayed gigs by making wincingly unfunny speeches to a baffled audience) led to us and countless others leaving the English midlands in search of pastures new. It is deeply unfortunate that the area that brought the world Joan Armatrading, Robert Plant, Steve Winwood, UB40, Steel Pulse, The Specials, The Beat, Black Sabbath and countless other great bands has now had many of its´ venues turned into lap-dance bars. We will always be proud to have grown up in the tradition of music from this area where musical diversity (even musical promiscuity!) has always been a part of our culture. But - and it is a big but - If you have got nowhere to play, you have to move on. We have now ended up, via Holland, in the Canary Islands (Spain) and very nice it is too. We have a regular session at Cayman, El Medano. If you are ever passing, drop in on Thursday for a bit of Madness!