Another sunny Tuesday. Another lockdown day. Another blog
from Geoff possibly even mentioning JAZZ.
I hope you are all coping well. I also hope you enjoyed
the VE Day celebrations. I can still remember the original street party, held
in a cul-de-sac just off Hammersmith Grove. In my current cul-de-sac most
neighbours held afternoon tea in their front gardens, with bunting from tree to
house. Other neighbours doing their daily exercise stopped and chatted from the
other side of our low hedge, and 2 neighbours, neither of who had been very
well recently, came and pulled up a spare chair each and chatted for half an hour
from a suitable distance. Even that level of social contact made all the
difference to all four of us. The photos of our front were taken the following
morning (no not after the raid)!
May 19th is coming up, and I would suggest
that we all hold in our memory on that day Jazz Angel John Jordan. Do look back to
last weeks blog issue for further details, but just as a thought reminder for
you now as you read this, his funeral will be at 1pm on May 19th. Some
of the music to be played at that funeral will be a recording of “Some Other
Time” as played by Stuart Henderson at Hedsor back in 2019.
I am going to list below all the Hedsor Jazz that is
still in my DropBox folders. I am going to add one more this week.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kos48ixrb3lw3t7/AACnaIFj1qGxJvMIaE7Dgf7oa?dl=0
Exactly a year ago on Thursday we had an evening with
singer Gill Cook together with guitar John Coverdale. It seems like another
life ago now, but that evening was recorded, and it is available from my DropBox for
you to listen to, to remind you of those good times past. Do that soon (you can download the files) because I must shortly remove
the files to make more space for new (old!) ones!
Files from the Gill Cook cd upload to Dropbox:-
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/diq2tvzfzz01wqv/AAC7Q7p0u43U7ArOIvUQE_F_a?dl=0
Over the past 7 weeks or so I have been listening to some
of the jazz recordings that encouraged me on my jazz journey. Today I am going
to re mention a double CD I have of a jazz ensemble led by trombonist Vic
Dickenson. Back in 1953 he recorded with his septet what became known as the
first recordings of Mainstream Jazz. In the days of Bop and more Traditional Jazz these recordings were referred to as being from the mainstream of jazz, and that phrase stuck as a label. Where would we be without our instant label "tags"?
Issued on a 10inch LP were “Russian Lullaby”
and “Jeepers Creepers”, closely followed by another 10 inch LP (all recordings of course
were done on the same day, December 29th 1953) of “I Cover the
Waterfront”, Sir Charles at Home” and “Keeping Out of Mischief Now”.
What a
class band they were, how relaxed their playing, and how at ease they were with there own
ability to play together. They were also able to use the new media of long playing records to record with solo and tune lengths never before achievable on 78's. It is no coincidence that early jazz recordings were between 3 and 4 minutes long. That was the capacity of a ten inch 78 record.
With Vic were Edmund Hall clarinet, Ruby Braff
trumpet, Steve Jordan guitar, Walter Page bass, “Sir” Charles Thompson piano
and Les Erskine drums. Eleven months later they all went back into a studio and
recorded 7 more tunes.
Do go and search, my double album was issued first in
1993 on Vanguard 662221. I believe that most of this material has since been
reissued again at a bargain price, so do check out Avid Jazz.
Well, I hope you do find some new recordings to listen
to, I also hope you find some of your own collection to re- listen to. Don’t
forget if you want to make comment about what you have found, or even what you
have found MISSING, email me on Octogeoff@outlook.com
And finally, do think of Joan and Mandy as they go to
John’s funeral next Tuesday, May 19th at 1pm. I know they have found
the support of jazz friends a great help and comfort .
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