ambient

Michael Manring's Thonk. https://www.allmusic.com/album/thonk-mw0000622623

The Motown book is good.

Practice?

Cassette tapes haven't disappeared at all, if anything they're growing in popularity. There's at least five cassette only labels that I know of. I released a cassette album in January, it sold surprisingly well, there's another being released by the same label early next month, and a release is scheduled on a different label in September. Cassettes are probably quite genre specific. Check out these labels : https://rustedtonerecordings.bandcamp.com/music https://softerror.bandcamp.com/album/care-work

Birmingham. Just an hour and a half from London, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool. Great motorway access, excellent railway access.

Songs, I have whole genres.

A piece composed as part of my MA composition course. Featured at the moment as part of an exhibition called Sounding Images at the Barber Institute of Fine Art in Birmingham.

Purely improvising though, similar to Steve Lawson.

None. One of the downsides I guess of only ever playing reading gigs. I know a fair few jazz standards, but only the changes that I’d improvise over.

I’ve got a 6 string set of flats that I’ve been advertising for ages in the sales section if you’re interested. They’re brand new and unused.

Slightly off topic but I did that a few years ago when I flew back from a cruise ship gig. It meant my bass could travel in my luggage rather than separately.

I wouldn’t. Which I know is no use to you. Just make sure it’s well packed and properly and fully insured to the full value.

If you travel by train you see hundreds of such sites. They're usually located on the edge of towns and cities.

Closed backs work fine in the situation you’re describing. Check out the reviews on amazon. There’s also a few websites like this dedicated to headphones that have reviews. I’ve got beyerdynamic dt770 Pro, they’re closed back and silent when they on my head. I wear them literally everywhere, and I’ve sat many times in quiet coaches on trains with them on, with no complaints. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0016MNAAI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Use what you’ve already got, you should have GarageBand. If for some reason you haven’t you can just download it from the App Store. It’s easy to use, and very good, amazing actually considering you get it free. A good and simple interface is something like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Your mac should recognise it straight off. There are lots of good tutorials on YouTube.

It sounds like a band that I'd be leaving if it's that loud. What do the pubs and audience think?

I did a lot of dep gigs for a country and western band a few years ago. Including some very large festivals. Some very weird people, they take it very seriously. All there was missing for some was the horse.

Dentists will still continue to buy the readers digest.

I read that their readership is declining, as are their finances. It would be so sad if they went bust.