The paperback version of ‘Tubby Hayes – The Life Behind The Tenor‘ is now available.
It is a limited edition of 100 copies, and has been hand bound at Tangerine Press.
Each copy is numbered and signed by Mark Baxter, the curator of the book.
The price is £39.95 which includes signed for delivery to the UK.
Please email – mono_media@hotmail.com – for purchase info.
Overseas buyers, please contact Mark on that email for postage information.
Today sees the launch of the soundtrack to our short film ‘The Little Giant‘.
Marvellous work from Kris Halpin, with Saxophone by Richard Hyla.
1. I Was The Governor
2. The Little Giant (reprise)
3. “Now That’s Free”
4. The Little Giant (End Credits)
You can download the soundtrack, for free, from Kris’ bandcamp or listen to it, on the MMF YouTube channel.
The following film is the first drama piece from the studios of Mono Media Films. For its inspiration, we’ve gone back to our first documentary, namely ‘A Man in a Hurry.’
With a script by celebrated tenor saxophonist and writer Simon Spillett, ‘THE LITTLE GIANT‘ details a few days in the life of perhaps the UK’s finest jazzer, Tubby Hayes. We find him in 1967, now struggling after a few years of unrivalled success running from the late 1950s to the early/mid 1960s.
Tubby’s life was simply beginning to unravel. Modern jazz as he played it, was in the doldrums. Pop music swept away all before it. Added to this, Tubby’s personal life was in a destructive spiral too. Drink, drugs and a succession of women were all in the mix, whilst he frantically tried to get back to what he once had.
Our film documents a week in the life of Tubby and sheds light on his troubles. Produced by Mark Baxter and edited and directed by Lee Cogswell, Mono Media Films are proud to present ‘THE LITTLE GIANT‘
Language some might find offensive and mild sexual content.
Tubby – Paul Tadman
Ronnie – Charlie Carter
Doris – Cassandra French
Bob – Alexis Saunders
Based on a script by Simon Spillett
Addition Script by Mark Baxter
Hair & make up by Claudine Rose
Director of Photography – Daniel Thompson
Sound & Edit by Lee Cogswell
Music by Kris Halpin
Producer by Mark Baxter
Director by Lee Cogswell
All characters, places and incidents in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
© MMXX Mono Media Films. All Rights Reserved.
Here’s a new book from Mono Media Films’ producer, Mark Baxter.
If you enjoyed our film ‘A Man in a Hurry‘ about Tubby Hayes, you may be interested in this new, limited edition, book.
TUBBY HAYES – The Life Behind The Tenor
Curated with an introduction by Mark Baxter
Foreword by Simon Spillett
Afterword by Richard Hayes
Book binding by Tangerine Press.
For information on how to purchase the book, please contact mono_media@hotmail.com
Mono Media Films began, when myself and Mark met, back in 2013. And so, as this decade draws to a close, I’ve looked back at the work we’ve achieved so far. I could never have imagined where this would lead to.
Our independently made documentary films were really well received and have been screened all over the world. These were made with a lot of passion and hard work, both on niche subjects, they somehow seemed to find audiences far bigger than we expected.
Our first big project as MMF, Tubby Hayes: A Man in a Hurry was narrated by Martin Freeman and featured Sir Peter Blake, Michael Horowitz, Jeffrey Kruger, Ray Gelato.
John Simons: A Modernist featured, amongst others, Paul Weller, Kevin Rowland, Suggs, John Hegarty and Robert Elms.
We teamed up with Channel X to create Peter Blake: Pop Art Life, commissioned by Sky Arts. We looked at the work Sir Peter Blake created over his career within the world of music. This was a real big one for us. This doc featured Sir Peter Blake, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Suggs, Chris Jagger and Bob Geldof.
We had the pleasure of being on set and documenting the making of the film JAWBONE, interviewing director Thomas Napper, writer and lead actor Johnny Harris, actors Ray Winstone, Michael Smiley and Ian McShane, trainer Barry McGuigan and sound track composer Paul Weller. We have also made ‘behind the scenes’ docs for Sulphur & White and the short film Beverley.
We created lots of work with musicians and bands.
With Stone Foundation, we made many music videos (featuring Calum MacNab, Steve Furst and Andy Nyman), we made EPKs for several of their recent albums, filmed and edited the live show ‘Live Rituals’, I traveled with the band, documenting their first trip to Japan and also made the short documentary Keep On Keepin’ On about the band’s collaboration with soul legend Nolan Porter.
For Paul Weller, we created EPKs about his albums ‘A Kind Revolution’ and ‘True Meanings’. Spending time in the studio while Paul records is fascinating and always an education. We made music videos for his song White Horses, probably the piece of work I am most proud of, and for Movin On, with artist Ed Gray. We made the short film First Day that was shown in cinemas alongside Paul’s 2018 Royal Festival Hall gig and we also filmed and edited The Black Barn Sessions featuring Miles Kane and Samm Henshaw.
We made a short doc called If Destroyed Still True with Pete Williams about his album H.O.L.L.A.N.D. and a short film with Kris Halpin, The Gloves Are On, about his 2016 adventures with the Mi.mu gloves. We made performance promos with Steve Pilgrim featuring Double Bass man Danny Thompson and a music video for Mark Butcher.
We made a short documentary piece about LeRoy Hutson, The Man!, for Acid Jazz Records and PIAS that was released by Apple. For this we interviewed Craig Charles, Norman Jay MBE, Femi Fem, Andrew Levy and Simon Bartholomew.
As a Beatles fan, it was incredible to get to spend a day at Abbey Road in Studio 2, documenting album recording with the band The Moons.
DJ Gary Crowley was the subject of a 10 minute profile piece, The Life, Music & Hairstyles of Gary Crowley, Commissioned by Demon Records and Modfather Clothing. Always a pleasure to work with GC.
It’s hard to believe how many great projects we’ve had the privilege of being involved with so far.
We’re a small team but we’re passionate about what we do. We’re currently in the edit, on a feature length TV documentary due for release in 2020. More on that in due course.
Thank you, to everybody we’ve had the pleasure to work alongside and to those that have supported us and followed the work we’ve done.
Happy New Year. Happy New Decade. Much love, all.
Lee
January 30th 2015 marked what would have been the 80th birthday of Edward Brian Hayes, known to the world of jazz as Tubby. A professional jazz musician at just fifteen, by his untimely death at thirty-eight, he had left behind a body of work, that has both stood the test of time and has proven to be an inspiration to many like minded musicians today.
For ten years from the mid 1950s to the middle of 1960s, jazz musician, composer and arranger, Tubby Hayes became a household name in Britain. He had his own shows on national television and he played on some of the most iconic recordings of that era, including the soundtracks to the films ‘Alfie’ and ‘The Italian Job’. Tubby became the first solo UK jazz performer to be invited to play in the United States, where Miles Davis attended his first gig in New York and his services were much in demand here in the UK by the likes of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones and Dizzy Gillespie. However, the combination of years of over work, drug abuse and the rise of Pop music in the UK – much to the detriment of the world of British jazz – ultimately found Tubby struggling to complete sometimes poorly attended concerts. He had burnt very brightly but then quickly faded from the general publics consciousness soon after his untimely death in June 1973. Perhaps, now a forgotten man by many. But 2015, over forty years since his sad demise, Tubby and his numerous recordings from a highly productive twenty-year period have steadily attracted a growing band of dedicated fans around the globe.
October 2015 will see the release of the film ‘Tubby Hayes – A Man In A Hurry’ narrated by actor and Hayes fan Martin Freeman (produced by Mark Baxter/directed by Lee Cogswell). Featuring exclusive interviews with people that knew Tubby, worked with him, musicians influenced by him, people from the music industry and fans, Tubby Hayes – A Man in a Hurry charts the life and times of Tubby Hayes.
Directed By
Lee Cogswell
Written & Produced By
Mark Baxter
Narrated By
Martin Freeman
Appearances From
Sir Peter Blake, Simon Spillett, Eddie Piller, Richard Hayes, Robert Elms, Michael Horowitz, Jeffrey Kruger, Ray Gelato, Patrick Forge
Release Date
26th October 2016
The ‘Tubby’ plaque could only really go to one place and that was on the old Hayes family home at 34 Kenwyn Road, Raynes Park. Thanks to the current owners who kindly agreed and who made us welcome on the day, though they wanted to keep it a small event in the end, hence the radio silence.
We were delighted that Richard Hayes, son of the great man, could make the unveiling, perfect man for the job.
Tubby Hayes – A Man in a Hurry has won the 2016 Audience Award For Best Feature Film, the Chichester International Film Festival.
Here’s a short highlights film, from the premiere screening of A Man in a Hurry, at Foyles, London, with the fantastic Simon Spillett quartet.