Just a line or two this Tuesday to confirm that we do have live jazz at The Hedsor Bar this Thursday, January 29^th .

And not just any ragamuffins either, but that superb London based saxophonist (with a big Texas sound) Al Nicholls.

He will be accompanied by Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Al Pirrie on bass and Mike Jeffries on drums.

Two hours of great jazz from four of the best jazz specialist around all for a cash payment of just £12. We start at 8pm so don’t miss a beat.

A few photos of Al from past visits are below, but however good (or bad!) my photos are, they don’t convey the greatness of Al’s tenor sound or the quality of the guys behind him.

Ken McCarthy on keyboard is West End quality. He was MD of the London based productions of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat”, and “Bubbling Brown Sugar” and numerous other London theatre productions. We are fortunate at Hedsor Jazz to have had him as our musical director for a number of years.

Al Pirrie, has been a regular bass player for us at Hedsor over recent years, travelling from Oxford to play behind many well known jazz front liners, including Bruce Adams, Art Theman, Duncan Lamont Jr, Vasilis Xenopoulos, and Steve Waterman. He has been building his reputation as a one of the UK’s great bass player.

Mike Jeffries on drums has recently taken on the task as the regular drummer for us, having previously only stepped in on occasions. He now combines the regular drum chair with the task of being our booking agent for all of our Hedsor Jazz gigs! He plays in a number bands with a variety of styles, including the more traditional jazz based bands as well as the modern jazz style we promote at Hedsor. He also owns a set of bongo drums, so if it’s a Latin drummer your after, look no further.

On the basis that pictures are worth a thousand words, I will now insert a thousand pictures (or do I mean pixels?).

Do brave the elements and join us at Hedsor this week. You wont be disappointed by your effort.

TTFN    

        Geoff C

Al Nicholls with Al Pirrie

Al Nicholls with Jezz Cook

Ken McCarthy 

Just a short line or two to remind you all that Hedsor Jazz now runs every Second and Fourth Thursday of the month, except in JANUARY, when our next gig is in fact the fifth Thursday!!

How logical can we be?

But seriously folks, their wont be any jazz at The Hedsor Bar this week.

BUT NEXT WEEK on Thursday 29th (yes, the last Thursday you can get in January!), we have that great saxophonist Al Nicholls coming to play for us.

Al has been a frequent and welcome visitor to Hedsor since we began running gigs in The Hedsor Bar 20 years ago. It was called “The Hedsor Social Club” back then.

Even before then he helped us raise money for Cancer Research UK by playing (and being recorded) at the tribute concert to the drummer, the late Keith Vitty held in Maidenheads Norden Farm in April 2003. Keith was the founder of “Century Jazz” and started the promotion of swinging modern jazz in and around Cookham and Maidenhead after his return from Honk Kong at the end of the last century.

If you search today online for information about Al Nicholls you will find this:-

“Al Nicholls is a prominent UK jazz and swing tenor saxophonist known for his big, open sound, leading his own bands like Blue Harlem, performing with groups like the Big Town Playboys, and appearing with artists such as Imelda May, all while championing authentic 1940s-50s American jazz and R&B. He's a veteran of the UK jazz scene, often playing festivals and clubs, known for tasteful, swinging performances on tenor sax with a sound reminiscent of Texas tenors”. 

A couple of recent photos of Al at Hedsor are below.

 

So put the date in your diary (January 29^th 2026) NOW, so you don’t miss it

Our first gig of 2026 last week was with Frank Walden and James Fenn, who have recently released a CD AND an LP!! under Frank’s name.

The Frank Walden CD   https://www.frankwalden.co.uk/shop

 

With our rhythm section they were also superb and we had a wonderful evening of jazz.

My pictures of them at Hedsor are below 

But do check out their new release. The first track, “Just Friends” the Amy Winehouse tune , should sell you the whole CD!

For historic interest the artwork for the Norden Farm CD is below. Copies can still be purchased (see Geoff), with money going to CRUK.

The Century Jazz CD

 

 

So, I will see you all NEXT WEEK

Geoff C

 Jazz at The Hedsor Bar is BACK

Yes, this Thursday January 15^th live jazz is back at Hedsor.

Just to remind you we have Frank Walden and James Fenn coming to play, alongside, Ken McCarthy, Al Pirrie, and Mike Jeffries. We’ve heard them before, so we know what’s coming—and it’s going to be special.

Here is a reminder of who they are: 

Frank Walden is a tenor saxophonist based in London and he performs regularly at Ronnie Scott's, the 606 Jazz Club and the Jazz Café.  Frank Walden is also known for Amy Winehouse: "I Told You I Was Trouble (Live in London) (2007)" as he was part of her backing band.

James Fenn is a guitarist and plays cool jazz guitar and together they make up part of “The Filthy Six” with an EP ‘Soho Filth, Live from Dean St Studios and Ronnie Scott’s' out now.

Ken McCarthy – is our regular keyboard man at Hedsor Jazz and is a very experienced musician with a long successful musical career.  From Amsterdam he toured Europe and Japan with visiting American Jazz stars. Then followed a career in TV, recording and orchestral work. He has always had a keen interest in "classical music"   As a musical director and arranger his credits include: "Bubbling Brown Sugar" , "42 Street" , "Barnum" and "Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”.  And he was accompanist and director for Dame Vera Lynn.

Al Pirrie - is a versatile bass player with years of experience playing bass around Oxfordshire. Al's bass lines ooze groove and emotion, whether playing swinging jazz on the double bass or syncopated funk drops on the electric version.

Mike Jeffries – our drummer is a veteran of London’s jazz scene, Mike has played with leading UK jazz musicians and leads his own funky jazz band In the Pocket. AND he’s the man to see if YOU want to play at Hedsor Jazz!

The above information about the players is courtesy of Tracy Georgiades. If you would like information like that in your inbox before each performance at Hedsor do give Tracy your email address.

Just to give you a visual reminder of who this weeks players are here are a couple of photo from last year.

If you are happy to know in advance who is coming to Hedsor in the next couple of months do look at (and print) the poster art below.

 

If you enjoy our jazz presentations at Hedsor do tell others. Putting up our poster somewhere where people can see it will help.

In order to survive we need you to come out, (“Come Rain or Shine!”) and bringing friends would help secure a jazz music future.

So, here’s to a great jazz year.

 

Geoff C

 January 2026, and A Wednesday Blog!

And it’s all about reminding you that Hedsor Jazz wont have any live music until Thursday January 15^th, when our 2026 season starts with two escapees from “The Filthy Six”, saxophonist Frank Walden and guitarist James Fenn.

We hope that you now have this in your diary and that your diary has already been marked to show that our jazz nights are now the second and fourth Thursday of each month.

Sadly having a jazz session every week has become uneconomic for us until we can encourage more jazz fans to come on a regular basis. Our two jazz evenings a month system will still have the same high quality as before, and we will see how this goes until May, so do put these dates in your diary if you haven’t already done so.

Hedsor Jazz Thursdays:-

January 15^th and 29^th, February 12^th and 26^th, March 12^th and 26^th, April 9^th and 23^rd, May 7^th and 21^st

Frank and James have played for us many times at Hedsor in recent years, but James has an even greater claim to Hedsor fame as he was one of the young musicians who not only helped start live jazz at Hedsor, but he also introduced us all to Vasilis Xenopoulos.

 

I have produced a poster that may catch the eye of passers by, and doesn’t need replacing every month, so if you are in a position to download, print and display it please do.

 

Thinking of all the jazz that helped us on our jazz journey I have been catching up with some from my CD collection.

One CD played recently was of Alex Welsh and his band. Back in the 1970’s the Alex Welsh band came fairly regularly to The Bell in Maidenhead and two of the members from that band have also played either Hedsor, or The Fifield Inn. Trombonist Roy Williams and multi reed man John Barnes. The recording I played recently was a “live” recording from a concert they gave in Nottingham in 1967 which had as a guest another great star, trumpeter Ruby Braff. I saw Ruby Braff many times at The Brecon Jazz Festival, and he was an irascible person, but one who played beautiful jazz.

The recording of them playing together is on Lake Records LACD223. The Sound engineer at “The Dancing Slipper” in Nottingham, Allan Gilmour, used to record the sessions for his own use. This was fortunate for historic reasons and these private recordings are now finding there way into the more public listening of CD release. The music is excellent, and the sound balance reasonable. In those days electric keyboards were unheard of and “The Dancing Slipper’s” piano had a unique sound (!) but pianist Fred Hunt makes a fine job of getting the best out of it. This is a fine release and a release of some fine memories of sessions I was at.

 

 

Hi Everyone, the last blog of 2025! Wow how did that one go by so quickly?

Just to remind you all that our first gig of 2026 will be on Thursday January 15^th, where Hedsor Jazz will host saxophonist Frank Walden together with his colleague from “The Filthy Six”, guitarist James Fenn. A very suitable high profile event to start off our 2026 season.

Also just to remind you that our initial gigs for 2026 are going to be every 2 weeks, and the second one of the year will be on January 29^th, when we will have that wonderful swinging saxophone sound of Al Nicholls.

All our gigs are under the musical directorship of pianist Ken McCarthy, and our entry fee will be £12 per person, using CASH payment please. We are trying to keep our costs down to a minimum and don’t want extra bank charges if we can avoid them.

2025 Hedsor Jazz had some memorable gigs, with some great names helping us keep live jazz alive. In no particular order, but Alan Barnes and Dave Newton helped to distract me from the increasingly large number on my birthday cards that arrived in August. Steve Waterman and Gill Cook, Bruce Adams and Art Theman, Duncan Lamont Jr and Jennie Howe, Al Nicholls, Nigel Price, all came and helped us in the joyous creation of jazz music at Hedsor. And who can forget our Hon Chair, Vasilis Xenopoulos!

There were also names less well known, but there is a name that those lucky enough to have heard him more than once very much appreciate, Alam Nathoo, who during 2025 collaborated almost every month with Stuart Henderson to bring broad grins to many faces. Alam also has the ecological advantage of being able to walk to our gigs!

Thank you to all of you who have played for us, some at short notice, some almost every week. Those regular names include Ken McCarthy, Al Pirrie, Mike Jeffries, and Martin Hart. There are many others, we thank you ALL.

We aim to keep this same high standard going into 2026. We would like you, our audience, to come out and enjoy this music too. Audience, musicians and organisers are all needed to be joined together in the creation and presentation of our jazz experience.

Do look back on previous blogs issues. You can go back many years and see the changing faces and comments.

Yes, you will see many faces, pictures taken over the weeks and years to add visual colour to my text.

I do still have cd’s, many thousand of them, and I do still enjoy playing them. But comment on them less, as fewer are now bought and sold to comment on.

BUT, and it is a big but, the living performance is far better than the historic, however important some of the recordings may be. Last night I listened to a Buck Clayton recording made in 1959. It was live, before an audience in Stockholm. It wasn’t seminal, not one you just must have, but pleasant to listen to again. However I am looking forward to meeting again and listening to again the living musical creations of Frank Walden and James Fenn on January 15^th.  

Only by coming out to listen to them will you find if their music will be truly unmissable!

So God rest you merry gentlemen (and ladies!) as we enter 2026.

Geoff Cronin

 I Went Missing

Having spent most of October and November being checked out for bowel cancer, the result of the operation in November proved the lump to be benign.  I was told this, with great relief, over the phone on Monday 8^th December. On Tuesday 9^th, I went down with this years version of the flu, and I have had no energy since. It is not a good illness to have. Yesterday my temperature started to get back to normal, and I am able to speak again, just.

So I was unable to remind you that there was no jazz at Hedsor last week. However, I just want to put this note out to assure you that Hedsor Jazz’s Christmas Party will be taking place on Thursday December 18^th

Music, food and of course great jazz which should propel us into the festive season. 

Do come out and have fun, and help us finish off a year of ups and downs that Hedsor Jazz has had in 2025. Many friends have promised to pop in and play and help with the consumption of mince pies.

My pictures from the 4^th December are below. It was a superb session, and all who were there enjoyed remarkable music, played by Stuart Henderson, Alam Nathoo, Ken McCarthy, Ester Ng, and John Sargent