On continuing to create music throughout Lockdown....
Jazz in the Basement– Nico Widdowson (RPS 2008-2015)
On continuing to create music throughout Lockdown.
After leaving Rydal Penrhos in 2015, I moved to Leeds to study at The Leeds Conservatoire. I left there after three years with a first-class degree in Jazz Piano and began gigging full time. I regularly played the Leeds city-centre venues and clubs including The Brudenell Social Club, Sela Bar, Hyde Park Book Club, The Domino, and The Belgrave to list a few. Music took me around the UK and Europe playing with Jazz Combos, Hip Hop Groups, Various Bands and Semi Fictional Noise Orchestras.
Then when the Covid pandemic began in March 2020 the whole of the creative arts community, including me, found ourselves at a bit of a loss. To pass the time my two housemates and band mates, Ed Allen and Richard Moulton, and I decided to use the time locked in our converted pub to write and record an album. ‘From The Mabgate Basement’ by The Mabgate Organ Trio was released on Leeds based independent record label Tight Lines on 10 December 2020.
The debut single ‘Fives’ from the album has since had radio play on Jamie Cullum’s Jazz Show on BBC Radio 2, been featured on Jazz FM’s weekly playlist since 20th November and has been played on digital radio around the world including Colwyn Bay’s own Bayside radio.
The music industry obviously isn’t the same as before the outbreak and I miss gigging a lot. We’ve been live-streaming here and there but we’re really pining for when we can perform in public again. I definitely have plans to experience music scenes around the world but for now I’ll have to be content with making music from my room. ‘
From The Mabgate Basement’ is available to purchase and download here: https://mabgateorgantrio.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-mabgate-basement.
Also available to stream from all major streaming services. You can follow them on Facebook (The Mabgate Organ Trio), Instagram (@TheMabgateOrganTrio) and Twitter (@MabgateOrgan3o) .
'Fives' Single Release Mini Set - The Mabgate Organ Trio : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy12y1DI7K0&ab_channel=TightLines
Head of Rydal Penrhos Music Pete Williams, who worked with Nico for many years at school understands the need of artists like Nico to continue creating despite lockdown and explains:
“To me, Music is the most powerful language. It can move me to tears, help me to feel truly joyful and can take me to places in my imagination that I could never anticipate or describe. To not be able to listen to music would like being deprived of oxygen. I consider the act of playing music to be a need, not a ‘want’, as fundamental as eating or drinking.
"For anyone to be able to create anything is a truly wonderful , irrespective of what’s being created. For me, to be able to create music constantly, is something that I feel so lucky to be able to do."
