Hello All,

Just finished doing 3 shows with Level 42 in Denmark, which went very well, preceded by 2 shows in London and Manchester with Reel People (see Upcoming Dates for more details plus a link to their MySpace site). For me their music has echoes of Shalimar, Benson, Wonder, plus that Black British Soul thang, some good old Jazz-Funk and a bit of Steely Dan thrown in too. It has been a particular delight to work with some great Singers, proper voices that you can’t keep still listening to, and a bit of a Da Lata reunion with Oli Savill (percussion) and Tristan Banks (drums). We just recorded a session for 1 Xtra (BBC radio 1) which should be broadcast soon.

On the Zeep front, I will be going into the studio with Chris, Nina and the band this month (feb) to record 3 new tracks, a couple of which we played live on the tour we did last November with Vieux Farka Toure.

2008 is set to be my busiest year as a musician for a loooonnng time, not only am I doing some european dates with Level 42, plus a full UK tour in October (and at this point I should make special mention of a show we are doing as part of The Hague Jazz Festival on 24th May, in Gary Husband’s absence we have a very special guest on drums -Billy Cobham! I am very excited and looking forward to that).

I will be doing various things with Dominic (Miller) this year -recording wise there is an EP to finish, and he has been asked to produce a CD by Avitall, a Jewish Cantor based in Berlin, which I am part of (we already recorded some classical and traditional songs in January. Avitall is playing a concert with the Dominic Miller Band (myself included) this thursday, 21st February 2008 at the Synagogue Rykestrasse, Berlin. There are also some dates with his 4 piece band (Dom, me, Nicolas and Rhani) in the UK and Germany.

I am making good progress now on the song album now, it is sounding like a mixture of McCartney meets Stevie meets Vaughan Williams. I am meeting and working with some fantastic musicians that I hope will be inspirational companions on this epic journey! When I have something to share I will give you a taste.

I am awaiting final confirmation of a 2-3 month tour with Otto Sauter and his “Ten of the Best” project. Dominic, Rhani and I recorded several arrangements for a new CD last August, and Otto has planned a tour that will involve large concert venues in France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Spain and Portugal, between May and September. Again, once i receive confirmation i shall post up the dates.

In the meantime, take care and try not to get too upset by all the “Bad News” that we get fed every day from our various media-it’s not the whole story!(This is one of the themes to my song album)

Mike