Elaine Gilmore

Hi All,

With everything that continues to go on in this world, from our daily challenges to what we see and hear in the news, is it any wonder that we benefit from switching off and love to enjoy music?

Recently I was asked if I'd like to get involved with a very special project! The Music Man Project.

Would I like to sing at The Royal Albert Hall?

I thought about it for a second…Oh Yes! 

Straight away I KNEW this was going to be very special and as we rehearsed, the excitement built knowing what this was going to mean.

It was indeed an absolute joy and a pleasure to meet so many open hearted people working TOGETHER to create opportunities for people with learning difficulties, raising awareness and providing accessible music tuition led by a very special man who had this vision around 20 years ago!

The beginning of this groundbreaking project is heartwarming and very inspiring and yes it was an amazing experience to ‘join hands’ with everyone and experience this beautiful theatre absolutely FULL of LOVE!

The Music Man Project being led by David Stanley BEM is supported by so many wonderful volunteers, family, Global Ambassadors, who work tirelessly to raise awareness), Patrons, Choirs, HM Royal Marines bands and many more who are enthused when they hear about the fantastic work going on in this charity that was loved by its president Sir David Amess who they lost after he was brutally murdered back in October 2021.

The Music Man Project has risen in his memory and  will continue to lift peoples hearts and change lives for the better!

Proving that there are in this world many ,many good things happening which is something we can lose sight of going back to the start of this blog! 

I will support them in any way I can moving forward. 

In the meantime, my life was also enriched by getting to know some of these people.

It was an honour and a privilege to sing backing vocals in this very special concert, very touching indeed when Michael Ball sang a song which explains the ethos and we all joined him in the chorus :-  “Make a Difference”

If you can donate to this project in any way I urge you to…

We can all just keep trying to ….make a difference ….

Thank you!

(I try to not leave it so long to update again!)

For me, as I'm sure for many, 2023 posed many challenges as did….well, how far do I go as of course life…….is life!

I am delighted and so very grateful for the opportunity to perform the songs I recorded in 2020, the  “Love is still the answer” /  Songs of Burt Bacharach album  plus of course we added many more fabulous hand picked songs to create my new show “Simply Bacharach” producing what can only be described as wonderful experiences in lovely venues from an intimate  coastal restaurant, a jazz club and a fantastic cathedral that we repeated again in November at Swansea Jazz Club, Mumbles. 

The response from audiences has been everything I hoped for, receiving some lovely compliments and reviews and I'd like to thank everyone who came to those concerts, all involved from the venues, the musicians of course and my songwriting partner Ian Mitchard, as on the last show in November we also added the title song from my next album “Strength of a woman” which  received a great response!

Ian was thrilled to hear the song live and continues to write more songs for me than I have time to record to date! I'm very excited to be getting closer to releasing some of these original songs with a new album to follow this year!

New concert dates will be arranged and I'll let you know where and when we'll be taking the show next!

Thank you to all of my encouragers, supporters, friends old and new, to Al Steele and to Dave Cottle for their tireless dedication to music production and performance and I wish many lovely times for us all going forward in 2024!

Please feel free to get in touch if you have any enquiries or would like us to bring the show to a particular venue.

Lots of love xx

Keep Smiling…

Hello

Thought it was time to add a few photos of another successful night at Brecon cathedral!

I've been catching up with some personal  messages and thrilled to have had another few enquiries regarding the show!

I'm still on cloud 9 as it was such a special occasion celebrating 40 years of the Brecon Jazz Festival and the fact that to celebrate the 30th year Burt himself did the opening concert…well I'm thrilled to have closed the cathedral weekend gigs with my tribute to his work, just wonderful!

Tickets are on sale for “Simply Bacharach” at Swansea Jazz Club 3rd November please come along and share this fabulous selection of songs performed by my brilliant world class musicians and little ol' me!

I along with my amazing band are looking forward to performing my “Simply Bacharach” Show at Brecon Cathedral on 13th August for a special candlelit Concert!

Delighted to be sharing the stage with my musician friends Dave Cottle, Richard Cottle, Laurence Cottle & Paul Smith (who happens to be my dear husband!)

This Sunday evening concert is the closing concert at the cathedral and we will be thrilled if you can join us for this celebration of the compositions of Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Carole Bayer Sager & other collaborators.

Featuring along with the songs from my album “Love is still the answer" songs recorded by Dionne Warwick, Cilla Black, Christopher Cross, B.J.Thomas and yes Tom Jones to name a few!

Come on Down!

Tickets available Now!

Due to there being a weather warning/thunder storms expected the Hay Jazz Day planned for tomorrow 11th June has been postponed…as the day time events were planned for outside..we apologise for any inconvenience & tickets can be refunded.

 BUT!!!

We are delighted to announce however that the event is now being hosted by Cu Mumbles - A new venue in the heart of Mumbles! 

We invite you to join us at this lovely newly refurbished venue!

Great jazz & swing event-Please be there to enjoy from 12.30 through to my evening show!

Tickets available:

mumblesjazzandblues.co.uk

We hope that many of you are able to join us and any tickets already purchased will be refunded of course!

June 11th is the date!

After a successful evening at Langlands Brasserie Mumbles, I'm announcing the next “Simply Bacharach” show!

Come on down to The Globe at Hay!

Newport Street, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford HR3 5BG

A great day of music featuring friends old and new:

Take a look at the website: www.hayjazzday.wales

Book Day tickets Or Day to Eve OR Evening Closing Concert:

Elaine Gilmore “Simply Bacharach” Show

Excited to share that on this occasion I am honoured to have more world class musicians joining me!

YES!

Dave, Laurence & Richard Cottle with Paul Smith!

Please book to support this fabulous event…

We look forward to seeing you!

(CD's available on the night)

HI ALL!

I have news!…

My 1st “Bacharach/David” show is imminent!

This is “Simply Bacharach" as it's me with a Trio!

As you're hopefully aware by now, all was set for a concert in April 2020 with an orchestra…… but we all know what happened then.  Since then, I've not fully got my ‘mojo’ back to be honest with you with one thing and another..but hey ho we must keep trying as I 'proclaim" to my girls!

So, here I am about to “set sail”, & promote the album (on which there will be more news soon!)

May 14th at Langlands Brasserie, Mumbles, Swansea Sold Out within a week or two of tickets becoming available (with a cancellations waiting list in place!) and with much interest in the show so I'll be letting you know future dates very soon!

MORE NEWS COMING SOON!

Take care all and keep listening to the music…and let me know your favourite Bacharach/David songs please!

Thank you for your support-Special thanks to Ros xx

Hearing the news that we've lost the legendary, most wonderfully talented composer Burt Bacharach has made my heart sink.

Only yesterday I was booked to perform the B.B songs I recently recorded on my album ‘'Love is still the answer’' this coming May……now I'm feeling the impact of our loss….and realise the show will be a little different going forward, although I hope the sadness felt right now will ‘ease’ and we can go forward in celebration of this marvellous mans work….his love…

R.I.P Burt Bacharach

May 1928 - February 2023

Your Music Will Live On - With Respect - Thank you

Here we are a few months down the road!

Counting blessings of which there have been many, amongst navigating 'challenges' of which there have also been a few! 

C'est la vie!

I've managed a few sessions/ hours in the studio with Al and we've made some progress on a song I'd written a while back, in fact wait for it......3 years or more ago!!

Progress has also been made on the collaboration with Ian Mitchard who's written some fabulous songs for me and I'm excited to release one of those songs in the not too distant future....with that new album of original music to follow., so that's exciting to look forward to.

Unfortunately I've had some family issues to deal with which have taken up so much of my time and energy this year so far that my projects have had to take a 'side seat' in my priorities, BUT it's just a delay and I'm just getting things done at a slower pace, but you know what?- It's OK. It's good. I'm thankful for so much in my life that a delay doesn't phase me.

I've enjoyed singing at some weddings throughout the year, holiday parks, clubs and beautiful hotels so I think I can be contented with that after surviving the pandemic, being required to cheer people up/entertain with my music/my voice has been an absolute pleasure, it really has.

I'll be appearing again at 'The Ivy Bush Royal' throughout December and there are a couple of other things in the pipeline I'll shout about my new song releases and all on my Instagram, Twitter feeds etc so watch out for that news!

Thank you for reading my blogs and all messages of support/interest - and thank you for buying the album, streaming etc xx

Much love

Elaine xx

Yes this is what's being said over and over regarding my Bacharach album, and d'ya know what? - I'll take that! Absolutely!

What a blessing it is to be able to soothe!  Special  mentions to two ladies this month - Thank you Glenna and Gloria for your messages/feedback, it's appreciated.

Well following on from my last blog, all of those gigs have been great plus what I can probably say was a really special night for me when I got to appear at Swansea Jazz Club with the house band PLUS Laurence Cottle not on bass but trombone!  I can honestly say that I enjoyed EVERY note I sang and every note played!

We opened with "My Funny Valentine" and we also played "This Girl's/guy's In Love" etc and I was thrilled to sing a song that I've wanted to perform for a while - "Spain" (Al Jarreau) I loved it!  Also a bit of a thrill too as the band hadn't  recalled ever playing it with a singer before, usually instrumental! Wow! A first!! #woman

So to finish up for today, Paul & I are looking forward to a break away, he's had a very diverse few weeks playing jazz, soul, so many different styles of music including playing with "Moonlight Serenade" Big Band at The Torch Theatre Milford Haven which featured what I hear to be a pretty awesome drum solo in "Sing, sing, sing" where the band left the stage and Paul Smith was on fine form!! Just fantastic.

We've been busy worrying about our mum's and my mum is currently in hospital, so we have a few things going on so these special times are helping us to 'heal' and enjoy our work - we're both very thankful.

Thank you so much to our friends old and new for your friendship. love & support, in these times we're witnessing/experiencing, being kind and appreciating each other is a precious thing we can do if we're able.

Music is universal - let's continue to enjoy!