Course Studied: BA (Hons) Music (Jazz)
Year of Graduation: 2020
Top Career Highlights:
- Headlining the Field of Avalon Stage at Glastonbury 2023 with 'The Neville Staple Band: From the Specials'
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Getting to play on stage with Norman Watt-Roy (The Blockheads) and Rat Scabies (The Damned) at the 2023 Vive Le Rock Awards
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Performing at an ancient Roman Amphitheater in Timgrad, Algeria with 'The Magic of Motown'
Pete New is a professional musician, arranger, producer and educator based in West Yorkshire.
Originally from Leeds, Pete's main passion is playing trombone, which he studied at Leeds Conservatoire under the tutelage of Kev Holborough. Pete performs with a number of varied ensembles and currently tours with 'The Neville Staple Band: From The Specials'. Alongside his playing, Pete is also a keen arranger and producer and has provided commissioned work for a variety of clients including magicians 'Morgan & West' for their Twitch streams during the Covid lockdowns. He also leads and arranges music for his own band 'The Pint Sized Big Band', a six-piece jazz ensemble playing swing and big band music from the golden eras of jazz.
Hi Pete –Where did your musical journey begin?
My musical journey began very early on. Although, by their own admission, neither of my parents are especially musical, they were both very 'switched on' when it came to music. My mum had played a bit of piano in her youth and my dad still enjoys doing a bit of noodling on guitar and had played in a couple of bands while he was at school, not to mention the large collection of CDs, tapes and vinyl we had taking up the wall space in our lounge that broached a wide variety of genres. Everything from Aaron Copland to ZZ Top, an eclectic mix covering classical, jazz, rock, hip hop, pop, folk, country and much more, an invaluable resource for a kid discovering music.
Growing up, I started to develop a love of jazz music, which led to me switching from playing tenor horn in brass bands to trombone in jazz ensembles. My school big band and the Leeds youth music ensembles, including the Leeds Youth Jazz Rock Orchestra, really started to develop my jazz and improvisational skills, as well as sparking the idea that music might actually be a career option. I always kept pushing myself musically, both in performance and genre skills on trombone, and by trying to at least learn the basics of as many instruments as possible while in school.
What motivated you to study jazz at the conservative (known when you joined as Leeds College of Music)?
I grew up in and around Leeds and was fortunate enough to take advantage of the brilliant Leeds council music service, Artforms, along with having a school that brought in professional, gigging musicians as peripatetic teachers. From a young age I was surrounded by musical inspirations, giving me lessons and advice on my playing. One thing they all had in common was that they went to a conservatoire, and many of them went to Leeds College of Music back in the day.
By the time I was in Sixth Form, I was starting to play gigs outside of school and the music service and beginning to build a profile as a trombone player in the area. So the combination of having some knowledge about the amazing staff who worked at Leeds College of Music, how good the jazz course was, seeing first hand the quality of players the college produced and already having a foot in the Leeds jazz scene made choosing Leeds College of Music a no-brainer.
How did you find your time here?
I'm not going to lie, I struggled during my time at LCoM. At the end of my first semester, I was taken to hospital with a spinal cord infection, which led to me missing my first assessments. Unfortunately, when I returned, my confidence had taken a big knock and I started to struggle with my mental health. After a couple of years, however, including a year out from the course, I came back thriving, and ready to give it my all.
I returned to LCoM as a second year in 2018, having regained some confidence in my playing and a fresh determination to complete the course to the best of my ability. Despite my struggles, I look fondly back on my time studying in Leeds. I got to meet, perform and make friends with some incredibly talented individuals, and receive amazing tutelage from world class jazz musicians. There are too many to mention all of them, but some of the staff I'd like to thanks for helping me flourish into the musician I am today are, Kev Holborough, Jamil Sherif, Dave Walsh, Jim Corry, Si Kalor, Rob Mitchell as well as the amazing mental health, counselling and mentoring teams.
How did the course shape your artistry?
When I first started in Leeds, most of my experience of playing jazz was with big bands and, although I was aware of post war jazz musicians, the only one I knew a great deal about was Charles Mingus. The jazz course at Leeds broadened my horizons in jazz and introduced me to a plethora of new music, new musicians and new techniques. Along with all the theory and history I learnt on the jazz course, I also greatly improved my musicianship. By playing with other musicians in different styles and different ensembles, I learnt to be adaptable, how to create musical chemistry and how to lead an ensemble. I went from being a very 'straight ahead' trombone player, to being a versatile and robust musician.
I feel this was proven best during my final year. I completed third year in 2020, unfortunately, that meant my final recital had to be cancelled due to COVID. Instead of this ruining my last assessment, however, it gave me the chance to show off my entire skill set I had developed during my time at college and rise the challenge of problem solving a new set of assignments. Instead of performing the music I had spent the year composing with a live band, I had to come up with a method of producing my work for assessment in an isolated setting. I did this by rearranging all of my tunes so they could be performed using technology as my band, a mixture of sequencing, multitrack recordings and live looping, skills I'd had the opportunity to require through the variety of course modules available.
We’re excited to hear, you’re currently on tour with 'Neville Staple Band: From the Specials' – how did that opportunity come about?
Weirdly, I landed this gig thanks to a connection I made back in my very first year at LCoM. In January of 2022 I saw an Instagram post from fellow LCon alumni Pete Johnson, who had been a third year trombone player on the jazz course when I started in first year, saying that he was stepping down from 'The Neville Staple: From the Specials' and they were looking for a new trombonist. I sent off an email to the address he'd linked to with my CV and a portfolio of my previous work, then, a couple of days later, I received a call from Sugary Staple, the band's manager, who asked me about my availability, experience and invited me to a rehearsal.
That February, I went along to a rehearsal with Neville and the band to see if I would be a good fit. At the end of the rehearsal, they said "see you at the next gig" and I've been playing with them since.
How have you found the experience so far?
It's been an amazing experience! My dad used to play me 'The Specials' and 'Fun Boy 3' as a kid, so to be on stage, playing those tunes with the Original Rudeboy is both a dream come true and a very surreal experience. I still have to pinch myself now and then, especially when we play some of the venues and festivals I went to as a kid, or heard about from gigs my dad has been to.
I have learnt so much from the other musicians in the band including, of course, Nev himself. It's a thrill to be part of the 2-Tone musical legacy started by Neville and the rest of The Specials back in 1979. It feels especially rewarding to be playing trombone in this band, as I'm playing the same horn lines and some of the solos that the legendary Rico Rodriguez created and performed all those years ago.
Do you perform with any other artists?
As a trombone player, you always tend to find some gigs going somewhere, other than with Neville, I regularly perform with 'Ferg's Imaginary Big Band' a Leeds based Jazz X Noise outfit, led by the brilliant Fergus Quill. The band recently released their debut album and were featured on the Manchester Jazz Festival special of Radio 3's 'J to Z' programme.
I also run my own band 'The Pint Sized Big Band', we're a six-piece jazz ensemble performing swing and big band classics from the golden eras of jazz. I arrange most of the music for the band to recreate that punchy big band sound, with only 6 musicians. We mostly play private functions (weddings, birthdays, corporates etc.), however, we do get some public gigs in now and then. I've been blessed by the fantastic musicians I get to work with through this and it has allowed me to stretch my bandleader and arranger muscles.
In addition to my regular gigs, I also work with many other bands and artists on a freelance basis, both in Leeds and further afield. I've had some amazing experiences through playing music, working with big names, playing historic venues and getting to travel to places I'd never thought I'd get to
What’s the jazz scene like in Leeds? and what’s your favourite jazz venue?
The whole music scene in Leeds is amazing, but jazz seems to be the area that thrives most. We're incredibly lucky to have a city with so much support for the jazz genre and upcoming musicians. Any night of the week, you will be able to see a fantastic gig somewhere, whether that's a student band playing on the cosy stage at Sela Bar, a jam session at LS6 cafe, or an internationally renowned artist performing at the Howard Assembly Rooms. The city also hosts multiple festivals that feature jazz on their lineups: Leeds Jazz Festival, Chapel Allerton Festival and Sallemango Festival to name a few.
Honestly, my favourite jazz venue changes pretty regularly, it depends what mood I'm in and what I want to see. My top three are probably The Domino Club, Seven Arts and Hyde Park Book Club. Domino is a great place to go, just for the decor alone. You enter through the back door of a barber's shop, descend the stairs and you're suddenly in a 20s speakeasy. The stage is quite small down there and it can get a little cramped, but when a band starts playing, the atmosphere can be electric. Seven is a bit out of the center, but an easy bus journey away, they put on artists from all over the country and have a larger performance space, allowing for big bands and larger ensembles to play. It has a cafe attached to the venue and also hosts a weekly 'Rush Hour Jazz' gig, which sees different musicians featured, playing some standards. It's one of the first jazz venues in Leeds I performed at, so will always hold a special place in my heart. Finally, Hyde Park Book Club, there is so much that goes on here, whether you're looking for a jam session, some laid back standards, some thrash jazz, hip hop inspired fusion Book Club is the place to go! Great people, great bands, great venue.
We’d love to know what else you have been up to since leaving the Conservatoire?
As I graduated in 2020, the lockdowns had taken away most opportunities to gig. Due to this, I took the chance to focus on teaching and, as well as providing online 1-1 brass and music theory tuition with YourSpace Music, I started a PGCE course to train as a secondary music teacher. This was a different but very rewarding experience to my previous teaching, and I learnt a great deal about how to teach to larger groups, plan a curriculum of work and about pedagogy in general. In 2021 I started working full time as a music teacher, however, as the world was starting to open back up and gigs became more prevalent, I found it hard to balance the teaching and playing and in 2022, I changed to working part time as a cover teacher. This allowed me more time to focus on my performance, and I'm now pretty happy with the work life balance I've managed to strike.
Finally, why should someone choose to study Jazz at Leeds Conservatoire? and do you have any advice for them?
A conservatoire is a great choice for budding musicians, as it really focuses on the performance aspect of music and finding a path for yourself in the music industry. The jazz course at Leeds is a really amazing toolkit for people stepping into this world. It's a really well laid out set of modules that builds up a skillset for students to practice and start utilising, and they feed into each other really well. For example, the jazz history you learn feeds into different styles and theory within the music of whichever artist you've been looking into. The theory you learn, thern gets put into practice during your 1-1 lessons, these playing skills then feed into your group ensembles and so on... It's this big interconnected web that's been designed with the specific purpose of making you the best player you can be. As well as Leeds having a brilliant jazz scene, with many opportunities for students to see and perform great music, the teaching staff at LCon are a truly inspirational group of people. They have all individually achieved great things in music, and together they make an invaluable pool of knowledge for jazz students to learn from.
My advice for new students would be to make the most of all of the opportunities, both to learn and play, during your time studying. Getting out there and showing your face at gigs and jam nights is some of the best networking you can do, and if you prove yourself to be a reliable and resilient musician, you might be surprised by the chances that present themselves to you!
