I have been remise,

for the past 2 weeks I have not written a blog!! Things other than jazz have rather taken over!!

Some very good jazz has been listened to at Hedsor in that time of course, last week with Stuart Henderson and Tolly being “just one of those things”.

And without doubt this week will be NO exception. For at Hedsor Jazz on Thursday we have as a special guest that award-winning saxophonist Simon Spillett. He will be joining Clive and the band just to be part of our Hedsor Jazz Scene. No special build up, no posters, no advanced ticket sales, and no bumped up price either. Just one of those nice events that Hedsor Jazz is becoming renowned for.

Simon on an earlier visit to Hedsor

 I was asked last week if we were going to have a Christmas Special this year. Yes, and it will be on December 22^nd. I’m sure that there will be food, and tickets, and special guests, so make sure you have it in your diary, and if you plan to be away for Christmas, go the following day!!

Sadly, someone who has always been at our Christmas events every year in the past as a member of the band, Ken Rankine, will not be able to be with us this year. Some of you are by now aware that Ken’s illness has taken a turn for the worst, and he is back in Dorchester General Hospital in the Stroke Ward. After a period of confusion initially thought to be caused by his need for morphine, he had another scan and blood clots were discovered in his brain. Sue will be returning to Portland on Friday to be near to him again.

CD’s Listened to.

I have had great enjoyment this past couple of weeks in listening to two young British bands.

A Quartet called “Echoes of Swing” generated a broad smile to my face. They are great players with a crisp sound and they do swing. Colin T. Dawson trumpet and vocals, Chris Hopkins alto sax, Bernd Lhozky keyboard and Olive Mewes drums bring a refreshing change to those great old (traditional?) tunes. They have definitely taken a good look at the repertoire. My favourite from this disk is Bechet’s “Premier Bal”, but equally well they bring dancing steps to “Moonlight Serenade”  and the “Original Dixieland One Step”. All in all they are great fun. ACT 9103-2 is the disk number.

The other British jazz group has one more member than “Echoes of Swing”. It is by “The Man Overboard Quintet” and they follow in the manouche tradition, with Thomas Gould violin, Jean-Marie Fagon guitar, Louisa Jones vocals, Ewan Bleach clarinet and Dave O’Brien double bass. They swing, and again generated in me a broad smile. They say of their material on this album that it “..ranges from early 1920’s (New Orleans Wiggle) to the mid-1950’s (Sister Sadie). Hot swing, torch songs, raw blues, and a little ragtime….and all can be found Down in the Deep, Deep Blue”. And “Down in the Deep Deep Blue” is the title of the album available on Champs Hill Records CHRCD089

So there you have it (or not, as the case may be). Live jazz, unpredictable exciting and “never the same way once”, or recorded music you can listen to at home, where you get to know every note. You can of course have it all. Come and be sociable and support live jazz, especially at THE HEDSOR SOCIAL CLUB.