Caffè Gio now available to listen and download from the iTunes store:
Hot on the heels of September 2015’s release, Mosaic, comes Greg Walker’s latest album, Caffè Gio.
Featuring nine laid-back latin/jazz-infused compositions, together with a new version of Rio Geo, a track which first appeared on Straight From The Source 1 and one which is often cited as a favourite from that album.
Caffè Gio is in the final production stages and will be released soon – please check back here for details.
New album coming soon… samples can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/gregwalker-2/mosaic
After a six year hiatus I entered four compositions into this year’s UK Songwriting Contest, which attracts entrants from around the world.
The results were published yesterday (December 21) and three of my entries – And Still The Snow Must Fall, Tailwind to the Sun and September PM (all taken from the latest album, End Of Summer) reached the semi-finals in the ‘Instrumental’ and ‘Open’ categories. The last of the four received a ‘commended’ in the ‘Acoustic & Folk category.
Full results here.
The contest entry tracks can be purchased here – or if you’re a cheapskate you can listen to them in full, free of charge, on my SoundCloud page.
The entry for the acoustic category, Certain Sure, can be viewed here. Drop me a line via the contact page if you’d be interested in a downloadable (free) mp3 of this track and I’ll email it you for Christmas/New Year/birthday/Easter/Mothers’ Day or whatever other celebration is current at the time you’re reading this!
About the UK Songwriting Contest
Showcase your songs to the music industry in London with this international song contest. It doesn’t matter where you live in the world – all songwriters have the chance to be noticed, produced and mentored by top names in London’s music industry.
This is an international contest that invites entries from all parts of the world and it is the favourite songwriting event of many writers from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Asia and Europe. Everyone has the same opportunity to have their work showcased to the music industry in London no matter where they live. Songwriting ability is being judged, not performance or production and beginners have as much chance as everyone else who enters.
Prizes include mentoring by top producers, production packages with world class musicians and much much more. Entries from countries outside the UK are welcome in this prestigious international event.
Judges include Sting’s producer Kipper Eldridge, legendary producer Stuart Epps (Elton John, Robbie Williams, Oasis), Britney Spears’ musical director Simon Ellis, producer and arranger Richard Niles (Paul McCartney, Kylie Minogue, Take That, Mariah Carey), CMA Award winning country star Lucie Diamond, and past UKSC winner and Platinum Album artist Natalie Chua (signed by Simon Cowell after her win). In the words of the UK’s Channel 4 Television: “The UK Songwriting Contest does what it says on the tin! This is a real chance for new songwriters to break into the music business.”
This contest is often described in the media as ‘prestigious’ and it is the only songwriting contest established with respected bodies such as The BRIT Trust and Music Aid International. Many entrants have gone on to success through the contest with signings, releases, publishing deals, radio play and major network TV appearances. Anyone who enters this contest could be noticed by the many top industry professionals worldwide who follow this event closely looking for songwriting talent. We invite you to join us in one of the world’s most prestigious, popular and important songwriting events…
Explanation of the Judges’ Scoring
Songs are scored between 1 and 10 – but most songs in the contest will not receive a score higher than 5 or 6. Semi finalists and finalists will receive a very high score of 7, 8 or 9.
A score of 1 or 2 indicates that the song was considered to be poorly written in comparison to other songs in the contest. It indicates that in the judges opinion the song needs either almost complete re writing or, in the case of a score of 1, abandoning. Very few songs receive such low scores.
A score of 3 indicates that the song follows accepted standards of song form and that the writer shows potential and some songwriting ability and talent. But the song is among the weakest songs in the contest and will certainly benefit from re working and re writing. Few songs receive low scores of 3 and below and receiving one of these scores is a clear sign to look critically at your songwriting style and approach.
A score of 4, 5 and 6 indicates that the writer has demonstrated genuine songwriting ability and understanding and all songs with these scores will receive a Commended Entry Certificate to reflect this. Scores in this range are regarded as good scores by the judges.
As the UKSC always attracts a very high standard of entries most songs in this contest will usually fall somewhere in this range. A score of 6 is a borderline semi finalist score and indicates that the writer has above average composition skills and that song nearly made it into the semi finals.
Songs that make it into the semi finals are awarded a score of 7 or 8 and a semi finalist position and certificate and are considered by the judges to be among the strongest songs in the contest. At this level songs are carefully examined multiple times by multiple judges. A score of 8 indicates that the song was a borderline finalist and almost made it into the finals.
Songs with a score of 9 are finalists and these very high scoring top songs are considered for the winning positions in their respective categories. The winning song in each category is given a score of 10 to show that it won the category.
Visit the UK Songwriting Contest website for more information.
