Tuesday, time for
a little Jazz (Reflection) from Geoff!
And it’s a hot time, even if not for jazz in the Old Town.
All the indoor clearing out of cupboards and shinning of the
kitchen sink have had to be put to one side, because its time to relax in your
garden or any other open space that is open to you. Maybe even a BBQ has been extracted
from the shed, and you have burnt sausages out there again.
BUT somehow it isn’t the same. We aren’t allowed to
invite friends and family to come and inspect the burnt food and warm white
wine. And like the beer, it all seems a bit flat! Yes, even I am now getting
bored with it all. Sadly, the virus that has caused all of this is still not
tamed, and even though many people are trying to find innovative ways of
getting round the social distancing mix, more are trying less hard and are
simply becoming a crowd again. For us who like to meet in groups and listen to
jazz in company, there still isn’t that opportunity, and it may well be 2021
before we can do it again.
BUT
There is still jazz out there that you might not have
listened too or watched before.
In my quest this week to find some such on YouTube, I
have come across a super concert, given in Croydon, featuring Helen Shapiro.
Now I remember going to see a “Humph and Helen” show back
in the 80’s, and she had by then transformed from a good pop singer (walking us
all back to happiness!) into a really good jazz singer, and on her 30th
anniversary concert she performed with the Humphrey Lyttelton Band for about
half of her show. It was video recorded (and may have been broadcast), and it isn’t
bad on quality of sound or vision either and it is now available on via YouTube.
In the Humph Orchestra were Jimmy Hastings and alongside
him is a VERY young Alan Barnes. Some
fine memories can be brought back when watching. Bass player Paul Bridge for
example.
A tune was
composed by Mr. Lyttelton called “Barnes Bridge”. It featured Paul, but not
Alan Barnes. It was John Barnes on the original and it had of course been
played for the first time very near Barnes Bridge on the Thames in “The Bulls
Head”, a very famous jazz venue.
There is another little link to Hedsor Jazz. John Barnes
played alongside the Clive Burton Qtt one Sunday night in “The Fifield Inn”!
AND John Barnes was an inspirational friend to “our” Mike Wills when Mike was
younger and living in London not far from John Barnes home. AND that night in
Fifield had John and Mike playing together side by side.
Those Shapiron and Humph bits on YouTube are in 2 parts:-
part 2 with HL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQr5-cphaCQ
part 3 with HL 23 mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfIvKN_TW8
part 1 is without any Humph input, but does have some
Brian Lemon on piano, and some Benny Green verbal links.
I know that many of you gave a thought to John Jordan and the family last Tuesday
and Mandy emailed to say
“It
was lovely to hear the music as we walked through the forest to the gathering
room. The music was been played outside where everyone was waiting and was
perfect.” Stuart Henderson’s “Some Other Time” was the music played.
I also had an email from Zane Cronje’s sister, who now
lives in France. She had discovered something on YouTube that brought tears to
her eyes, so I thought I would share it with you all. OK, not jazz, but really
very good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9R8uzCXS10
One final link that you may wish to indulge in. A Hedsor
Jazz concert from 2013. The Clive Burton Quintet, with Jezz Cook on guitar and that
had Ken Rankine on bass can be downloaded from my DropBox via the following
link.
Please note, that I will be removing some of the material
previously put out during the Covide lockdown in order to save space for
further uploads, so if you have previous links via my blog and haven’t saved
the music, do it this week, or you will loose it!
So for now, let me say...
TTFN
a catch phrase which started out in a very different war!
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