In July 1999 Jamie Harris was asked by the Brighton based arts group Same Sky to organise a series of workshops under the auspices of saxophonist and composer Trevor Watts. The idea was that the participants in these workshops would learn various techniques developed by Watts through his involvement with Moire Music; this would lead to them taking part in a performance organised by Same Sky in Alexandra Park, Hastings that October. Amongst them were saxophonists Rob Leake, Amy Leake, Marcus Cummins (who had already performed with Trevor in a previous Same Sky production at St Mary's in the Castle Arts Centre, Hastings) and guitarist Geoff Sapsford.

There was never any conscious idea about putting a band together at this point. But as the enthusiasm began to grow, Trevor intimated that he would perhaps like to carry on with the workshop process after the Alexandra Park event, that's if all the participants were interested. They were. So we carried on. No fees were charged for these continuing workshops, and everyone stayed together through sheer enthusiasm for the work.

The "Hastings Street Band" was formed during this time with the idea of utilising the four saxophonists with three drummers, Geoff Sapsford on guitar making up the harmonic/rhythmic link. We gained useful experience from taking part in these street festivities, one being Burning of The Clocks In Brighton and another for the Strange Cargo Community Group in Folkestone.

Towards the end of the year 2000 Trevor had the feeling that we were becoming accomplished enough within the framework of his music to start playing indoor concerts, so we began with a self promotion at the Carlisle Pub on Hastings seafront. Marcus Cummins suggested drummer Giampaolo Scatozza, who was a friend and playing companion of his, and brought him to Hastings for a rehearsal and to see if there was any mutual interest. There was, so he has remained the drummer ever since. Eventually we asked Roger Carey the bass guitarist to become involved, and that became the permanent line up that we still have today. In fact we have NEVER used a dep on any concert or club date yet! A true band and music, in other words.

In April 2001 we recorded some music for a demo with the hope that we could "spread our wings" and get some festival and club work. There was absolutely no expectation that this would become something that we could realise, however we did manage to start getting this work, and by Nov 2001 the process that had begun six months earlier yielded "Trevor Watts and the Celebration Band". Our first CD, simply called "Trevor Watts and the Celebration Band" on ARC 010, has attracted nothing but rave reviews at home and abroad, and these can be seen on our website at: TheCelebrationBand.whistlingmule.com It was even given a four star review in "The Penguin Compendium of Jazz" and that's out of a maximum of four... A rare and prestigious accolade.

In 2002 we began, with the help of the critical success of the album, to play concerts abroad including a tour in Ireland and at the Ljubljana Jazz Festival in Slovenia.

The band members have always worked hard and enthusiastically at the music but none more than Trevor; he has written all of the music, leads all of the numerous rehearsals and does the bulk of the various administrative jobs of mailing, e-mailing and phoning for prospective performances, with some help from myself. Trevor operates from a seemingly endless reserve of energy. This became astoundingly evident when the band undertook a recent British Council sponsored tour to Macedonia. The work was hard yet rewarding enough for all of us. Three concerts with a workshop before each concert where local musicians would learn "The Friendship Ship" (this was the name Trevor had given to the workshop piece). They would then come on stage that night to play this piece with us.

As well as leading the workshops Trevor conducted numerous interviews with local media and also met various diplomats and local organisers etc. His sense of enjoyment at all this and indeed the whole band's sense of enjoyment was infectious towards all who we met there. The tour was a resounding success. We played to full houses of five or six hundred people every night and when we departed Skopje a major daily newspaper declared "And so the Friendship Ship finally sails away".

At the time of writing we are scheduled to do a USA and Canada tour, concerts in Poland, Austria, Holland and Switzerland, with a possible visit to a festival in Brazil. We are also in the process of recording our second CD.

Jamie Harris (May 2003).