Richard Ashby Music

From Australia comes Richard Ashby’s latest recording, an instrumental album where Ashby shows his magnificent qualities as a guitar player.

Born in the south of New Zealand, in 2008 he settled in Sydney where he has developed his activity as a guitar teacher, musician and composer.

As a musician he mainly performs jazz, blues and popular music and has developed a fruitful career working as a lead guitarist in various groups, as well as a free-lance guitar player for other musicians, performing in New Zealand and Australia at the most important festivals there.

For the last twenty years he has taught guitar lessons. His classes are in high demand and always full, thanks to the passionate way he teaches and communicates his love for music to his students. With them he is always involved in different combos, also writing arrangements and doing musical transcriptions.

This album presents seven of their own compositions, which become a vibrant and electrifying combination of the most classic blues with doses of funk, soul or boogaloo. To do so, he has counted with the valuable collaboration of some of the most outstanding Sydney blues and jazz scene musicians like Jeremy Sawkins on guitar, Oscar Peterson on bass, Dan Kennedy on drums and, of course, Richard Ashby on guitar.

It is always a pleasure to discover talented high-class musicians coming from such distant places, as is the case of Richard Ashby. I dare to say he will conquer most listeners with his elegance and impressive technique on guitar.

https://lahoradelblues.com/en/richard-ashby-charlton-road/

Born and bred in the deep south of New Zealand, Richard Ashby has been working as a musician and teacher for over 20 years. After relocating to Sydney in 2008, he has established himself as a performer, composer and educator. He is particularly passionate about guitar teaching and guitar ensembles. Performing regularly in several established groups and as a freelance guitarist, Richard brings a wealth of experience to all his performances, whether as a soloist or group member.

Specializing in jazz, blues, world and popular music, Richard has performed throughout Australia and New Zealand as a sideman and as a featured artist at many prominent jazz and blues festivals and venues. He also regularly works as an accompanist and recording musician throughout Sydney. His website indicates that he is a member of Spyglass, a group shown to have one full album and an EP available on Bandcamp.

The album consists of eight original instrumentals that were written and recorded during the COVID lockdowns that occurred through 2020 and 2021. The album was finally released this past December. While rooted in blues, Richard sought to incorporate other stylistic influences including jazz, funk, and even country. Richard plays all the instruments heard on the album.

The album opens with “Straight 8 Strut”, a traditional blues rock which he cites as reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughan. “Rumba Numba” provides a light, bouncy beat. “Shoo Fly” returns to the traditional blues rock with Richard providing an underlying organ accompaniment. The title track, “Arkadia Blues” is cited to be a tribute to guitar great Danny Gatton and has an older rock style.

“It’s A Vibe” slows things down and offers some jazzy runs. The funk-inspired “Bedford Row” continues the jazz feel with Richard citing John Scofield as the influence for his guitar playing on the song.

“Let’s Boogaloo” is a throwback reference to the music style Boogaloo, which had some popularity in the 1960’s. Originating in New York, it mixed Latin music with then popular Doo-Wop and R&B and was performed primarily by Latin musicians, such as Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaria, who had a national hit with his cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man”. In Richard’s hands, the song extends the jazzy feel of the previous songs. 

The album ends with a countrified “Chicken Grit”, which Richard cites as featuring “chicken pickin’ guitar” and you can certainly hear the strut of the chickens in his playing.

Throughout the album, Richard demonstrates the influences that have affected his guitar playing. As discussed, a mixture of jazz intertwines with blues offering a very diverse sound.

https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/richard-ashby-arkadia-blues-album-review/

New Zealand native Richard Ashby recorded this all instumental EP during the covid lockdowns last year.  The songs are all original, extremely well played and incorporating elements of straight blues-soul and afro-cuban influences.  He has been playing & teaching guitar for over 20 years down under and this great little release proves it.

https://bluebeatmusic.com/product_info.php?products_id=24091

'Rollicking blues and deep pocket grooves underpin a highly inventive set of original tunes from an outstanding Sydney guitarist' - Frank Presley Northside Radio

The bar was set very high in the late 1930s by the first exponent of so-called gypsy jazz, the Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt. Even with a disability - two fingers were paralysed on his left hand – this acoustic guitar genius was able to produce solos that have astonished able-bodied players in this genre ever since. Having said that, the two guitarists in Spyglass Gypsies, Richard Ashby and Cameron Jones, do not appear to be overawed by Reinhardt’s legacy. Joined by Loretta Palmeiro (clarinet, soprano saxophone), Andrew Scott (accordion) and Shannon Haritos (petite contrabass) they authentically capture the ambience of this appealing genre. The music here is swinging, infectious, spirited and uplifting. As for repertoire, the members of the group between them provide ten original compositions, a refreshing contrast to the standard workhorses that are often performed by similar groups. There is nothing new about the rhythmic feels which are de rigueur in this genre, but this quintet distributes the usual conventions cleverly: interludes of stop time under the solos for example, and spreading the themes played in unison amongst the various instruments in order to vary the sound. Intelligent arrangements hold the attention of the listener. Most of the guitar solos are taken by the brilliant Ashby, while Jones, when called upon, shows he is no less talented. On the reed instruments Palmeiro goes for mood and melodic beauty rather than technical virtuosity. The real find however is Scott, an outstanding player of the rarely heard accordion. His colours and solos give the album a rare quality. Interestingly, Jones is the artistic director of the Oz Manouche Festival, Australia’s only gypsy jazz festival, which is held every year in Brisbane.

https://ericmyersjazz.com/cd-reviews-page-6

Gypsy music is proliferating like a plague in Australia, the quality swinging between banal and sublime, with both camps including copyists and freer thinkers. That Spyglass Gypsies extricate themselves from the pack is largely thanks to their original songs. These come from all five members, and while each composer has differing quirks and flairs, it adds up to a cohesive body of work. Despite the band’s music being rooted in the Django Reinhardt tradition, one of the most striking pieces is Balkan-flavoured: bassist Shannon Haritos’s rapid-fire Ricochet, the sizzling melody of which is matched by the improvising’s spit and crackle.

As good as Andrew Scott (accordion) and Loretta Palmeiro (clarinet, soprano saxophone) are, it is Cameron Jones and Richard Ashby’s guitars that further define this band. Their rhythm playing gives the songs bounce, where so many guitarists attempting such music make the rhythms wooden. Ashby’s ability to be elegantly melodic whether travelling at velocity (his own Well, That’s It, or over more lilting terrain (Palmeiro’s Longe) is also a hallmark. The band is at its best when scything a distinctive path, rather than playing “generic Gypsy” without the requisite spark.

https://johnshand.com.au/spyglass-gypsies-album/

“Spyglass Gypsies are at the forefront of taking Gypsy swing into the 21st century.”

The Gypsy jazz genre, begun in the 1930’s by Django Reinhardt and virtuoso instrumentalists like Stéphane Grappelli, has had a major worldwide revival in recent years. The tradition of Gypsy swing in the style of Reinhardt’s Hot Club de France band is being carried on by descendents of his family and new converts in just about every country. It’s no wonder this infectious music is attracting musicians and newly dedicated audiences. It’s energetic, infectious and joyous. In Australia there is a growing number of musicians who are exploring the large back catalogue of the originators and following the developments of the genre through the mid-20th century. Many are also composing new pieces in the style and inevitably bringing different influences into their fresh compositions.

Spyglass Gypsies

Spyglass Gypsies are an Australian group who are leading the charge. Formed in 2010 by guitarist Richard Ashby and reed player Loretta Palmeiro, they are now a five-piece group with the traditional two guitars, double bass and accordion taking us directly to Paris and the clarinet and soprano saxophone really spicing things up. All the players have studied the origins of the genre closely and are accomplished at its technically demanding performance requirements. This music is often fast, very fast and requires high-level musicianship. As well as the main melodies all the players improvise stunningly well and all five band members have contributed compositions to this album of original music in the style of the Hot Club.

Spyglass Gypsies released their first album four years ago. It’s very good and can be heard on the band’s website. Voyages, the newly released second album is even better as their composing skills have developed substantially. It’s full of great Gypsy swing and brings in some influences from other related genres. The first track, Ricochet by Shannon Haritos, contains more than a whiff of klezmer which is one of the major influences on early Gypsy swing and continues to go hand in hand with its development in the 21st century along with flamenco and several Latin styles.

As well as the usual fast, almost frantic high energy we’ve come to expect from Gypsy swing, Voyages contains some of the very beguiling slower, more romantic pieces that are also characteristic of the genre. I particularly like track 4, Longe, composed by Loretta Palmeiro. The harmonies and arrangements in this track are gorgeous. Track six, Waltz for Celeste by Richard Ashby, has a touch of flamenco and is a wonderfully constructed composition with many unexpected rhythmic changes and harmonic surprises. One of the delights of the contemporary compositions of members of Spyglass Gypsies is the rhythmic changes and time signature changes that jump out and keep the listener surprised. While Gypsy swing could be considered dance music, this group’s highly developed compositional skills keep the sit-down listener very engaged.

Another favourite track is aptly named Fiasco; it was written by Andrew Scott. It’s about as quirky and whimsical as this genre, famous for its mercurial changes, gets. Gypsy jazz is one of the few genres of instrumental music that lends itself wholeheartedly to humour. It’s very idiosyncratic and fanciful and this album often made me laugh out loud. That’s a rare and delightful experience in music listening.

The music is very well recorded, mixed and mastered so the album sounds great.

I can’t help but wonder when someone is going to really stretch out from the tradition and include vocals in the Gypsy jazz genre. Maybe this has already happened but I’m yet to hear it. Maybe Australia will lead the way.

The music of this delightful genre expressed so very well by Spyglass Gypsies is quirky, joyous, eccentric, romantic and very whimsical. Anyone who enjoys this music of a bygone era being brought back to life and extended in modern times should hear this excellent recording. On every track, this album brought a smile to my face. The more I listened to it the more I liked it.

https://musictrust.com.au/loudmouth/voyages/

Sydney ensemble Spyglass Gypsies wrapped up a two-week northern and western Australian tour - and an unofficial French gypsy jazz festival at the Ellington on Sunday night.

Following two earlier weekend gigs by Perth’s latter-day saint of gypsy jazz, Hank Marvin, the Sydney quintet continued the Parisian cabaret swing club atmosphere in the Highgate hangout.

Opening with Natty Swing, from their self-titled 2014 debut album, which was as ebullient its name suggests, they swung through manouche jazz classics made famous by the great Django Reinhardt, interspersed with solid original numbers and reworked pop favourites.

Dolly Parton’s Nine to Five, Beyonce’s Crazy in Love and 80’s synth-pop fave Take on Me were given a novel, snazzy makeover to the delight of the audience.

Band co-founders, guitarist Richard Ashby and clarinet-sax player Loretta Palmeiro, led the way for much of the night, while accordionist Andrew Scott swivelled on his stool in time to some of his sweetly phrased solos.

The smoky threads of Palmeiro’s playing wove wonderfully through Ashby’s guitar on the jaunty Mapmaker and the poignant beauty of New Zealand-born Ashby’s tribute to Christchurch, Otautahi.

Technically excellent, the performers were tight and expressive. However, a little more elan in the performance would have taken the gig to the next level.

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/clear-jazz-lines-from-spyglass-gypsies-ng-ya-110095