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Andy Firth - Recordings

Recordings

Andy Firth has featured on 7 CD recordings to date but only 3 of these recordings are still available.

“I feel that each CD I record is a snapshot in time of who and what I was at that point in my life and I like to be able to be hands on at every stage of my recordings from the arrangements, performance and editing right through to the design and production of the disc and packaging! For me recording is an opportunity at immortality and when you think about it musicians of the 20th Century are the only ones to have ever had the ability to be heard and represented accurately. The great masters of the classical age have only and can only ever be represented by other musicians and I think that this is very unfortunate for we will never know what they actually intended their masterpieces to sound like. If it were possible I would spend every day with a great rhythm section or orchestra arranging and recording the great songs of the 20th Century.”

Andy Firth 2005

Andy Firth CD releases:

2005: SAX TO THE MAX!

2000: Me, Myself & I - 16 Clarinet Big Band.

ANDY FIRTH-LIVE IN "SWINGFIELD":

Andy Firth at his best, recorded live on stage in the USA with a hot rhythm section!

Available NOW!!! Order Your Copy Now Limited release.

Track listing for Live In "Swingfield!" There'll never be another you. Georgia on my mind. Lady be good. Body & soul. S'wonderful. The nearness of you. She'll be right mate!(Firth). Misty. Baby elephant walk. God bless America. (see movies on homepage-Andy in USA.)

SAX TO THE MAX! - 16 saxophone big band

Following on from the success of his amazing 2000 release "Me, Myself & I - 16 Clarinet Big Band", Andy is proud to release his much anticipated, "SAX TO THE MAX! - 16 SAXOPHONE BIG BAND".

“SAX TO THE MAX” is exactly what the title suggests; a recording packed with swingin’, tightly scored, exciting arrangements of a few great big band hits, originals and a few surprises here and there to keep the listener glued to every note. thrill to Andy’s uniquely scored arrangements of All of me, Only You, Moonlight Serenade, One O’Clock Jump, Four Brothers, Walk Right In, Sesame Street Theme and a jaw dropping arrangement of Scarborough Fair featuring the virtuosity of 15 year old drummer James Jennings. Just a few from an amazing cd packed with over an hour of great big band sounds-no trumpets or trombones- just hot, swinging, pumping saxes!

Behind the scenes of “SAX TO THE MAX!”

'I scored 20 charts for this release and after recording all of them I selected the 15 that feature on it. I had never arranged for a saxophone big band and like the clarinet big band format it was something that had always fascinated me, yet because of the density and diverse ranges of the sax family I chose to avoid doing this project until I had a better grasp of orchestration techniques. The charts are scored for the following sections:

SAX TEAM: 2 altos (clarinet at times), 2 tenors, and baritone.
TRUMPETS: 4 sopranos.
TROMBONES: 3 tenors and a baritone.
SOLOISTS: 1 Soprano, 1 alto, 1 tenor.

My dear friend and mentor Maestro Tommy Tycho has been an inspiration to me for many years now and so when the opportunity to study his arrangements and orchestration techniques under his guidance availed itself early last year I grabbed it with both hands...and then some! Every instrument (except the drums) was performed by me (all saxes, clarinets, keyboards & sequencing) and I feel that the tracks on this album are some of my best to date. I am very proud of this cd and I’m sure that you’ll find a smile on your dial when you hear it too.'

Cheers! Andy

Me, Myself & I - 16 Clarinet Big Band

Back in 2000 Andy arranged, performed and produced a "World First" recording, a 16 clarinet big band all multi-tracked, arranged and produced by one person. This CD has now sold thousands of copies and has reached all corners of the globe with orders for it received from Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Europe and Japan.

Behind The Scenes Of “Me, Myself & I”.

'The concept for this release had always been present in my mind ever since I was a small boy in South Australia. I used to record myself on a little cassette tape deck and whilst this was playing back loudly, record myself again playing a different line whist recording this on a another machine. I would then swap tapes over and record the third, fourth, fifth and so on until I had my big band of clarinets. Thanks to Macintosh computers, pro-tools software and a few great mics it is now possible for me to record as many tracks as I like without any loss of sound quality. I can also change and individually edit the levels of the recorded tracks and add other instruments to the ensemble. To do this type of recording in a commercial recording studio would be unthinkable given that it took 6 months of constant recording, editing and mixing to produce an album that I felt happy to unleash. Each section is scored as such;

5 SAXES: (5 Bb clarinets and 1 bass clarinet).
4 TRUMPETS: (4 Bb clarinets).
4 TROMBONES: (4 Bass clarinets).
SOLOISTS: 1 Bb clarinet, 1 soprano sax, 1 tenor sax.

If you love the clarinet as much as I do then you’ll love Me, Myself & I. I’ve recorded the best loved clarinet hits where possible with a few unexpected surprises..

Me, Myself & I features Andy’s arrangements of;

Bewitched (TV theme), Stranger on the Shore, The Golden Wedding (revisited), Bill Bailey, Andy’s very popular Autumn Fugue (based on Autumn Leaves), Lover (faster than dogs can hear!), If Ever I Would Leave You (4 bass clarinets feature), And the Angels Sing (A’La Goodman), Opus One, Sentimental Journey and many more great swingin’ big band hits.

Me, myself & I was definitely a true labour of love but I have such great memories of scoring and recording it that I’d be tempted to do it all again if I could. One thing I am certain of though is that you won’t find another one like it!'

Cheers! Andy