TONY O'MALLEY: News

A few hours before I flew to London on 20th May to attend Helen's funeral, I sang a song on live TV for a Georgian patriotic song competition, aptly named 'Patrinoti'. I'd been asked by the Ministry of Culture to participate by writing a song about the country my family and I have grown to love, but must leave at the end of August.
There were 40 songs performed over four weeks with two winners from each week making it to the final on 26th May, Independence Day.
As an Englishman singing about Georgia, my hopes of progressing to the final weren't high, but I had to be back from the UK by 26th - just in case.
As it turned out, and much to my surprise, we won our week!
So, after an 18-hour journey that included a 6 hour wait in Istanbul, I arrived back in Tbilisi at 4am on the morning of the final, cream-crackered but happy that we'd given Helen a great send-off. All the surviving members of Kokomo attended the service at Mortlake Crematorium, where Frank, Paddie & Dy sang so beautifully in saying goodbye to H. After the 'service', we took over a club in Barnes in West London where everybody played and sang for the rest of the day in memory of a dear friend.
And so to the final of Patrinoti. Several weeks previously, I'd been asked by the Georgian Ministry of Culture to write a song about Georgia and to take part in the competition, which has been running now for four years. Once the song had been written, I recruited my good friend and lyricist, Nana Kalandadze, to translate half of the lyrics into Georgian for the children's choir.
Anyway, we came 2nd! General consensus of opinion? Not bad for a Brit in a competition to find the best song written about Georgia! In fact, many Georgians really like the song, so, all in all, we feel good!
Sure, of course we wanted to win, but then we were up against a very nice song written about Sukhumi, capital of the politically hot autonomous & beautiful region of Abkhazia, which until the civil war in the early 90's, belonged to Georgia. Read on in the news...

S'been a while....
I'm recording a new album of original tunes and the creative process is taking much longer than anticipated, plus we've had some serious technical problems in the studio.
I was hoping to complete three more albums before we leaveTbilisi at the end of August, but this is now a tall order for the simple reason that time just isn't on our side in co-ordinating the musicians necessary to complete the other projects. For instance, the Big Band are at present in the transitional period of changing premises, so there's not been much action from maestro Givi for quite a while. It would be great to record an album with the Big Band so I'm hoping this can be achieved one day. Maybe next year...?
It'll still be possible to complete the standards album with arrangements by the incredibly talented Otari Kupunia, but again, we need more time!
I also wanted to make a follow-up to The Mansarde Sessions with Paata Andriadze, but Paata is now very busily involved in other projects and can't find time to make a whole album. Maybe a couple of tracks...?
On a note of sadness, our dear friend Helen succumbed to illness and passed away peacefully last week. I'll travel to London for the funeral on 24th May to pay my respects to a very dear soul I'd know for many years. We'll all miss our H!
More anon....

3.15pm

On October 1st a promotional video was recorded at the 606 Club in London by Dan Hill from the Chichester Youth Theatre. Dan has made a very good job of capturing the great talents of my London based musicians and the unique atmosphere at the 606 Club, one of the best jazz clubs in the world!

My friend Malvern Hostick also filmed the night with his new Sony camera, and has posted a few clips up on You Tube, which you can view on http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tony+o%27malley&search_type=&search=Search

Last week we filmed again! This time the venue was Valeri Kocharov's new Rock Club here in Tbilisi.

Kote and his friend Vakho are now in the process of mixing here at my home in the studio in the mansarde.

If all goes to plan, we hope to continue with recording the new CD next week....

2pm

They say that no news is good news, but I guess I've just been lazy in portraying what's been going on in my life!

Actually, lots has been happening and right now we're preparing the 2nd stage of recording an album of new original material. The songs are almost written, and along with my trusty engineer Kote, I hope to have a new CD finished and ready for mastering within a few weeks.

There are several projects I want to complete by the end of August and will do my best to keep you posted as we progress...

Weather's been atrocious here in Tbilisi for the past six weeks with lots of snow consequently making the roads very icy and dangerous!

I promise it won't be so long until the next update!

Love,

Tony

Hello Friends!
I've recorded a version of My Way, initially just for kicks, but I enjoyed the process so much I've decided to share it with you today!
Check it out the Music Page.
Arranged by Otari Kupunia.

Some video footage is now available on You Tube. Check out thesse links:-
"It Had To Be You" - www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FOru6LHe2E
"You're Lookin' Good" - www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEQFMOh0VB4&mode=related&search=
Check this link to view all Tony O'Malley clips:-
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tony+o%27malley&search=Search
More to come in the next few days!
Love,
T

Been so busy that I've neglected to keep you up to date with what's been going on, and it's already February 2007!
Since my last entry I've recorded an album in the mansarde with great singer Maya Baratashvili, featuring the Gia Rakviashvili trio, simply called "Maya". We're hoping the CD will be available in April.
Right now I'm playing at least three times a week in Tbilisi, at the Agora Restaurant and Nonstop Jazz Club.
I'm really going to make an effort to keep you posted every few days!
Later!
T

Getting back into the swing of things with a superb gig last night at the Agora Sushi Bar. The band was flying!
"The Mansarde Sessions" is now available from CD Baby, or just visit the 'Products' page here.
I'll be updating the site over the next few days.
Big love...
T

July was a very hectic month so I'm winding down for a while until the end of August. More positive news anon....
Best wishes to all my friends,
Tony

Laying down a couple of tracks at Mike Collins' 'Jazz Studio having a great time! More soon when rested....

On Friday 30th June, John Tefft, the American Ambassador to Georgia and his wife, Mariella, hosted a party at their residence in honour of Freddy Cole, the Three Ladies of the Blues and all their travelling musicians.
John Tefft, a music lover and a good guy, is known for his support of the arts, so it was an honour to receive the invitation and to mingle with the guys and gals from the two bands, especially great guitar player Jerry Byrd, who portrayed one or two nice road stories.
Freddy sang some songs to the delight of the small but appreciative gathering.

The good new is that Lasha, my Georgian bass player, is travelling with me to London! He's a fine musician and will have a great time meeting lots of fellow players during our two-week stay.

The Kakha Jagashvili album "Jagga!" is finished and should be available within six weeks.
For the next project I hope to record an album with great singer Maia Baratashvili. More news anon....

Due to incredibly bad management the Blues Brothers Club in Tbilisi will permantly close its doors very soon! Or at least it should do after last night's debacle when the club refused to pay its hired musicians. I just can't see that this club can continue to stay open with so many people staying away, obviously due to the very negative attitude of the management.
I'm vehemently urging punters NOT to visit this dive unless they have a tendency towards becoming clinically depressed.
I really wish I could report that there are many venues for the talented musicians of Tbilisi to play, but unfortunately, this is not the case. Even the famous Beatles Club is finally closing down at the end of the month after eight years in existence, also due to bad management.
This great city is crying out for a good jazz club, but with nobody willing to take the risk, coupled with the fact that there's no one around with enough experience to run a decent joint, it's just not gonna happen in the foreseeable future!

Today we finished Kakha Jagashvili's 'Jagga' album, eight tracks of pure jazz, played by Kakha on sax, Gia Rakviashvili on grand piano, Giorgi Samsonadze on contrabass and Shukri Bondarenko on the drums. Genius engineer Kote Nonikoff will mix on Thursday. Hope to have some samples up soon....

Today is repetition day. Lasha, Zaza, Dato and all!! We gonna get funky!

After a few teething problems, we managed to record four tracks towards Kakha Jagashvili's first solo album. Resuming Saturday....

For the past few weeks I've been setting up a new recording system. My old, trusty Mac Quadra 650 & Session 8 system, used without trouble for twelve years, has finally been laid to rest.
Today the set-up is being given its first test by recording sax player Kakha Jagashvili and his band, featuring Gia Rakviashvili on grand piano. I'm very lucky to have found engineer Kote Nonikoff, who speaks great English and has been extremely patient in helping me understand the new gear. More anon....

Most of the month of May was spent in body maintenance, i.e. a double-hernia operation and some necessary osteopathy work, all treatments made in Brussels, Belgium, where the medical service is A1! The surgeon, Dr Koen Van Belle, was so good that I was back in Tbilisi singing at the Philharmonia only 8 days post-op!
After carrying pianos and humping gear up & down hundreds of flights of stairs over the years, having twins and a beautiful young wife at my age, it's not surprising that I've ended up with two hernias!
Still, I'm recuperating and my back is much better after four sessions with osteopaths, Robin Demeeter and Chris Read, plus a bit of excellent tweaking here in Tbilisi from our good friend, Dr Michael Sandleri.
Feeling good for the Tbilisi Jazz Festival performance on June 29th. Then it's back to the UK on July 5th to play some nice gigs at Goodwood and a few club dates in London. Watch this space....

Last week I worked eight gigs in five days! Three concerts with the Tbilisi Concert Orchestra (the big band) and five smaller gigs with my trio.
With the big band I sing one song in the Georgian language "isev m'tkiva morchenili iara...." a bit of a tongue-twister, but it goes down a storm!
This weekend we have just a couple of regular club dates - not so hectic. Here in Tbilisi the Georgians celebrate Easter (orthodox) one week later than in Europe and the U.S. So, Happy Orthodox Easter!
With love,
Tony