Fergus Hambleton: News

Christmas 2008...my boy is 7 and now we are expecting a baby girl in March...
It has been a very busy year.The LET IT BE show was a gas all the way.We started with some great music(we did 30 Lennon-McCartney songs) and brought together some great talent. Everyone
stepped up to the plate ,so to speak.
I've finally put together some new songs...the cd is called PLAYTIME and there is a hint of reggae but mostly pop and folk with 3 instrumentals! I've had the pleasure of doing lots of guitar work this year,playing with Jason Wilson has been a treat and his new album is great.Some teaching,some sessions and some jazz.
It's been a good year.And now Margaret Ann will arrive and share in everything with us.

Lots of action this summer...
Every Tuesday at the Orbit Room in Toronto...reggae vibes
I a m now the musical director for a show about the songwriting of Lennon and McCartney ( who? )...you know those Beatle guys...I've put the link on the site...
www.theletitbetour.com
The Humber Songwriting week was incredible...so much talent and enthusiasm and I am still teaching at Humber...also been doing some great gigs playing guitar for Jason Wilson at the Beaches Jazz festival
check out www.jasonwilsonmusic.com
and I'll be playing some clarinet and sax for Lily Frost, a great singer in the Billie Holiday zone...Oakville Jazz Festival Aug 8

Someone said...Hey you haven't updated your site in a year! Where does the time go to...funny how nobody asks where does the time come from?
It's always busy in the world and there are lots of new things.
First of all The Two Bobs is back. Jason and I are putting on THE TWO BOBS on May 23 at the Pilot Tavern. This is a musical show where we take Bob Marley songs and play them in a bluegrass/zydeco/rnb vibe and then we take Bob Dylan songs and play them reggae. The songs are great and by re=working them we are able to bring out some different qualities and make people see them in a different way. If you are in Toronto you can check it out...if not www.myspace.com/the2bobs.
I'm going to be the musical director of a show about the Beatle songwriting at Roy Tomson Hall in October. We are just confirming the artists now and it should be a great show.
I've been writing lots of new songs and I've put a few rough versions up. Comments are valued!
I'll be at the Humber Songwriting Program this summer which is always very inspiring...lots of talented people out there and they seem to be getting younger every year. Funny!
www.songwritingathumber.com
Sattalites are still playing every Tuesday at the Orbit Room in Toronto and the vibe is great...everytime!

Like so many others I'm not that great at keeping this site up-to-date.
If you read this send me some feedback.
I'm still playing every Tuesday night at the Orbit Room (www.myspace/orbitroom ) with the Deep Roots band and every week is different. Generally we play reggae and ska oldies but we play some original tunes as well.
We've had some great guests like Ron Sexsmith,Taj Mahal and Serena Ryder and it is always a great night of music.
For the jazz side I'm finally playing out in a club. We usually do private parties but on June 10 we will be at the Pilot on Cumberland.
The Jazz Lovers Society is the name we use and it really sums up how we feel. We love it!
As many of you know Toronto is just stuffed with wonderful players in all styles but the jazz field is particularly blessed.For this gig I will be playing with Ian Bargh,one of Torontos' great piano players, Dick Felix ( you can link his site www.dickfelix.com ) and John Adames,one of my favourite drummers in the world.
John will also be playing with me on The Two Bobs concert on June 2 at the Ukranian Cultural Centre at Christie and Bloor. This concert features Chris Whitely, Jason Wilson (www.jasonwilson.com) ,Tim Bovaconti in a musical re-working of the songs of Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. We are doing all the Dylan songs reggae and all the Marley songs in a country/bluegrass/zydeco style. The musical results are very exciting.
Sometimes it feels to me that everyone went to Jarvis Collegiate at some point. The 200th anniversary of the school is coming up and there are many great activities for the alumnae. Lots of good musicians and songwriters have passed through the school and there will be a concert on May 25 at the school that will feature some of the talented people that went to Jarvis. Marc Jordan, Christopher Ward and many others will be performing plus there will be two nights at the Pilot, a songwriters night on May 24 and more music on the 25th. Although some speak of high school as hell I
rather enjoyed my time at Jarvis so I am looking forward to renewing some old aquaintances....
I've been writing a lot of songs and some with a young singer named Jenna Andrews that I'm quite excited about...she is a very communicative singer and talented musician.

A long time since I added any news to this site but here I am...
I've suddenly been writing a lot of new songs and recording them .. I hope to have some of them up soon even in demo form...
I'm playing every Tuesday still at thye Orbit and often at the songwriters night at Cest What ( every Sunday )...
Coming up on September 16th I'm doing a solo show at Cest What , playing lots of new songs and a few of my ancient classics...playing with my great friends Tim Bovaconti Peter Murray and other great musos...

This is a brand new website and here I am greeting the world.Just another way to get my music out to everyone.December is a time for looking forward and looking back and I can do plenty of both.
The Sattalites are still going strong,every Wednesday night at The Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto and every Tuesday night at The Orbit Room.Two very different rooms but the same reggae vibes.I'm still trying to keep the other sides of my music going,lots of jazz gigs where I play clarinet and sing those old standards that I love so much and a few folk kind of gigs.I'll be doing a date at Hugh's Room on January 27 with my friend Jason Wilson and we are calling it the TWO BOBS. We are playing one set of Bob Marley songs in a country, bluegrass style and one set of Bob Dylan songs in a reggae style.Both great songwriters with a ton of great songs. No shortage of material here. I'm trying to expand my contacts with musicians everywhere so let's make some LINKS.