News

...and thanks for your support over the past year. We very much hope that you’ll continue to come along to our gigs and/or to book us for your functions. Please keep in touch to let us know of any songs you’d like us to play or venues you’d like to see us play at. We have exciting plans for 2012 so watch this space for further news in the New Year!

One Jump Ahead bandleader Kit Packham has taken up a new line as a disc jockey presenter on the community radio station Ridge Radio which launched in April. His slot is from 3 - 5pm on Tuesdays and he plays a mixed bag of music lean

ing very much towards jazz and blues. He also hopes to do some interviews with musicians and promoters who are active in the region which the station is intended to serve, which is the Tandridge District of east Surrey. Initially the broadcasts will be internet only, with occasional temporary broadcasts on FM for local special events. The station has its own web page at www.ridgeradio.co.uk and a Facebook page. Kit has also set up a page for his show on Facebook which can be accessed from this link: Kit Packham on Ridge Radio.

From their early days the band appeared regularly at Dover Street Wine Bar and Restaurant in Mayfair. It’s now 25 years since they first played there, and, after a long interval, they finally returned on Monday 22nd August. The dance floor was full of jivers, the wine flowed and a good time was had by all! Further dates

are booked for October and November with brilliant swinging jump/jive music for everyone! Full details of our next appearance on our GIGS page. Click here for Dover St Wine Bar’s website.

One Jump Ahead are fortunate in receiving personal recommendation from a high proportion of their customers (see our homepage and scroll down!) but Kit uses other services himself in running the band and is happy to pass on contact details and praise for those who earn it. After our recent booking at Caverswall Castle, near Stoke-on-Trent, Kit stayed at a very nice and very reasonably priced Bed & Breakfast called Rakeway House Farm on the outskirts of Cheadle. He’s happy to recommend it to anyone needing a pleasant overnight stay in the area. Click on the name for their website.

Then it was time for the tiresome annual chore of getting his electrical equipment PAT tested (a bit like an MoT for electrical gear). It’s not hard to find a suitably qualified company to carry out the testing but it can be EXTREMELY hard to find one that can give a reasonably priced quote for the relatively few items that most bands are likely to need tested. It’s an issue that Kit has raised with the Musicians Union on more than one occasion. On this occasion he used PAT4MUSIC, who offer a specialised service to musicians within reach of their base in Rochester, Kent. A mutually convenient appointment was quickly arranged by e-mail and their tester, Clive, arrived at the appointed time and tested 25 items at exactly the advertised cost (which was the least Kit had paid for a number of years). If you need a PAT test check out their website HERE.

Kit’s not exactly a whizzkid when it comes to IT matters and up until now our mailing list application simply opened a blank e-mail to Kit. Understandably, this added very few new members! Halfway down the site’s welcome page you will now find our new simple mailing list gadget which allows you to enter your name and e-mail address and join the mailing list with one click! If you should later wish to be removed from the mailing list you can also do that via the same gadget. Want to give it a try? Here’s another one...

As promised a few months ago, the band’s last 2 albums, Jumpin’ on the Bandwagon and From Top to Toe are now available from the independent online retailer/distributor CD Baby. You can order physical copies of the CDs or download the albums or just the individual tracks of your choice. They are also available from the major online stores (iTunes, Amazon, etc). If you already have a copy of either CD, why not leave a review on the CD Baby site to let other people know what you think? There are new links from our CDs page or follow this link to CD Baby.

We welcome photos from anyone who attends our gigs - although we can’t guarantee that we’ll put them up on the website. Send your contributions to Kit at kp.1jump@ntlworld.com.