Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A Short Summery of the Jazz soon to be Coming to Hedsor

This week we have as our special guest, lady saxophonist extraordinaire Tracey Mendham. Not only is she a musician who has something to say with her saxophone (not all do!) but she has a terrific personality, bringing her big smile to lighten up any room. As holidays are about us, I am not sure who is in the quartet behind her, apart from Ken Rankine on bass, but Clive Burton will be playing the trombone at Hedsor this week! So we have a great evening in prospect for Thursday.

The following week, August 4th (where is the summer going, we shall all soon be playing Christmas Carols), we have that wonderful saxophonist Don Wright coming to play for us. Those of you who have heard him before will need no second invitation. He is well worth coming out to see.

The rest of August we have a regular Quintet! Mike Wills, complete with car, will be with us for the rest of the month. Watch this space for any news regarding accompanying musicians.

The last two blogs concentrated on my view of the Swanage Jazz Festival. Another more local festival is approaching, Ealing is running during this week, right up until Sunday evening. Do check out the event list, and find out more about it by going to

http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200247/ealing_summer_festivals/501/ealing_jazz/1

Recently Heard CD

Terry Seabrook is a name I don’t know. Yes, probably I should have done by now, and you have I know, but when I saw a CD entitled “Sketches of Miles” I initially thought of it as a Miles Davis reissue. Then I noticed it was being played by Terry Seabrook’s MILESTONES. So I looked more closely at the cover, and found it features Alan Barnes, Spike Wells, Graeme Flowers, Ian Price and Dave Whitford. It is a very good tribute band, and they don’t just play Davis originals either. The first 7 tracks are a suite written by Terry Seabrook called “Sketches of Miles”, followed by 4 tunes composed either all or in part by Miles Davis himself. It was all recorded in performance last year at either Bury St. Edmunds or Warwick. It is well recorded, and you cannot tell at which venue any one piece was recorded. I enjoyed it greatly and I think you will to. TSM Records CBCD4 2010. Also have a look at www.milestonesjazz.co.uk

Well that is enough for now, more probably soon!

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