For many years now, Nick Rabett has been producing beautiful black and white photographs of musicians who have gigged at the club. Until 2011, almost all of the photos in the brochure, and all of the popup and display photographs are his, except for some older photographs that were in the stairwell of The Fleece (which we no longer have room for). While Nick is no longer associated with the club, we treasure his photography.

Since August of 2005, Dave Lyons has been recording live gigs at the club.
If musicians wish to have a gig recorded, please look at this recording information.

Here are some chances to see and hear the musicians.

The following gigs were recorded at the Fleece, Boxford.

• Celebrating the Jazz Couriers Volume 2, 19 & 20 July 2002

• Peter King Quartet, 16 September 2005
• Protect the Beat, 30 September 2005
• Trudy Kerr, 18 October 2005
• Renato D'Aiello, 18 November 2005
• Alan Skidmore Quartet, 16 December 2005. His "Impressions of Coltrane", recorded at the Fleece, is for sale at www.records-nordic.de, amazon.co.uk, and at the club.
• Mark Crooks Quintet, 2 February 2006
• Martin Taylor and Jack Emblow, 10 February 2006
• Guillermo Rosenthuler, 3 March 2006
• Marlene VerPlank, 21 March 2006
• Kirk Lightsey Trio, 21 April 2006
• Nikki Iles Quartet, 19 May 2006
• David Newton and Michael Hanson, 23 June 2006
• Hanna Richardson Trio, 30 June 2006. Her new album, "Live at the Fleece" is soon for sale at www.hannaphil.com and now, at the club
• Basil Hodge Quintet, 14 July 2006
• Peter King / Alan Skidmore Quintet, 18 August 2006
• Katya Gorrie, 6 October 2006
• Quentin Collins, 3 November 2006
• John Law, 10 November 2006
• Sarah Jane Morris, 2 December 2006
• Protect the Beat, 29 December 2006
• Sebastiaan Cornellison Trio, 12 January 2007
• Gemini, 16 February 2007
• Chris Laurence Quartet, 16 March 2007
• Alan Barnes Quartet, 23 March 2007
• David Gordon Trio, 13 April 2007
• Tommaso Starace Quintet, 1 June 2007
• Victoria Newton, 17 August 2007
• Roger Beaujolais Quintet, 21 September 2007
• ... and Roger and Mark Lockheart again from that gig
• Threeway, 19 October 2007
• Jutta's Party Band, 2 November 2007
• Judy Lewis, 7 March 2008
• Snake Davis, 28 March 2008

And at Kersey Mill

• John Etheridge and Christian Garrick, 23 May 2008

And now at Stoke by Nayland Club

• The Alan Skidmore Quartet - 19 February 2010
• The Jon Lloyd / John Law Quintet - 30 July 2010
• Gabriel Garrick's Sidewinder Quintet - 3 June 2011

And classical music at Lion Walk Church

• The Kingfisher Quartet, 15 February 2009
• Beth Spendlove and Nigel Clayton, 21 June 2009

and at St Botolphs Church

The Colchester Symphony Orchestra, 23 January 2010

The Colchester Symphony Orchestra, 7 May 2011

• ... and more to come ...

Clip quality

The clips are mp3's, so the quality will not be at CD level. The recordings themselves are, in fact, better than CD quality.

Some notes on recording

The club, through Dave, now has the facilities for recording gigs. They are done for archival purposes (with the express permission of the musicians), or by request, and are not available for sale or copy.

If a band wants to request a recording, contact dave@jazzatthefleece.org.uk, and please, a little notice and a rig spec are really appreciated.

The recordings can be done in two ways.

• A stereo pair can be used, picking up the ambient sound.
• Up to 28 tracks (10 is normal) can be recorded, and later mixed (not that I have access to that many mics!)

For multi-track recording, the sound direct from the mic preamps is used, unequalised, no reverb, providing the largest amount of information from which to mix. A typical big mix might be

• Piano - contact mics and an ambient mic
• Sax - a bug is nice, otherwise a 57B or MK012
• Trumpet - SM58 or 57B or MK012. Equalisation for mutes is done at the mix stage
• Guitar - NT5 on the guitar and another on the amp
• Bass - mic the instrument, and di from the amp.
• Drums - two overheads, a kick mic, snare and high hat
• Singer - SM58B or a Röde M3 or whatever she/he brings
• Ambient - two SM58s to pick up audience, and
• Safety - a mono channel from the live desk.

That is 17 inputs. We can cope with 28 (if we had that many mics).