Thank you to French poet Sophie Foucher for her lovely testimonial. I had the privilege to coach Sophie through the editing, design, and publishing of her poetry anthology Alchemy of Love. Each poem is in both English and her native French and features an original hand-painted illustration  For information on coaching, editing, publishing, and marketing services to take your book from concept to completion, check out my new www.Sandscribes.com partnership with Tom Vater and Henry Roi. 

“Brian has been my Jiminy Cricket to help me finish my first work as an author and artist. He was guiding me the all time, and I could go where I needed to go in the process of this work without any hesitation. 

“He supported not only the flow of my work but also giving very beneficial advice on marketing ideas. He made the connection for me to get a graphic designer and supervised all the work also in this field. He did my proof reading in English and still gave me marketing and strategy advice till now. I’m so grateful I met him for my first project, because he had removed all limitations to realise the finishing product. 

“He is specialised in self-publication so the distribution part is through Amazon (in my case). 

“Brian was also with when I first give a lecture of my book in front of an audience and today I can lecture during book festivals with ease. 

“He is enthusiastic, realistic, find solutions fast, he is reliable, affordable, super communicative, and funny. 

“Beside, the book project, I also met an amazing human being and working together was a source of joy and immense pleasure. That also inspire me a lot to work in this way now. 

“Cannot wait to collaborate again with him from his tropical island Koh Phangan!”

To check out the book, go to https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Love-poems-dreams-about/dp/171109787X

“Six Days” book review on the UK’s number three-rated jazz blog, bebop spoken here:

This is one of those books that you can’t put down although, initially I thought I’d struggle to get beyond the first page, not being a big fan of fusion and it’s practitioners.

That was then! Now, after devouring every word like someone coming off a hunger strike, I find myself listening to Bitches Brew and, if I had any any Mahavishnu albums I’d be listening to them too! Whilst I’d hardly describe myself as a convert, such is the impact of the writing, both by Gruber and Cobham, that you are drawn into the music without even hearing it!

Set over six nights at Ronnie Scott’s it describes not only Cobham’s playing behind Guy Barker’s hand picked British big band (Paul Booth is in the line-up) but also includes the before and after (fly on the wall) conversations with a lot of memories along the way.

Intriguing is the meticulous attention Cobham pays to his kit. Three missing floor tom-tom legs almost became a world (jazz) crisis. Every drummer in the universe should study Cobham’s tuning of his drums. He pitches them as carefully as any horn or string player so that he is in accord with what is going on around him.

But, apart from the description of the gig which sold-out 6 nights running, there are also his memories of the many previous highlights in his illustrious career. There was his time in the army where, by a fortuitous posting, he was able to spend time at home and do some moonlighting jazz club gigs in the evening. His big time breakthrough with Horace Silver which brought him fame if not fortune leading to the ensuing super stardom with Miles, the Breckers, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and his present status where he has annually pulled full houses at Ronnie’s for 11 consecutive years.

Needless to say, author Gruber extracts opinions from him on the various musicians he has worked with. He speaks frankly and honestly. His opinions, although never malicious, come across as genuine and observant.

To sum up, it’s one helluva book. I didn’t need to be at Ronnie’s for those 6 nights – I’ve just been there! Every unheard note and drum beat is ingrained inside me.