Geoff’s Blog, again possibly a little late again this week, but ALWAYS of the same high quality!! After all it does have an inbuilt delete button on the device you get it on!

First of all, an email message from one of Hedsor Jazz’s favourite guests.

Vasilis Xenopoulos wrote in this week with the following:-

Dear Friends,

Apologies for the radio silence all these months but as you can understand not a lot happened during the lockdown period. Finally, there is some activity again in the music scene and I will be appearing in several venues around the country mainly with the Nigel Price Organ trio who they're currently on tour. We have already done 7 appearances this month already in the West Country and the North. 
For the London based jazz fans, I'm very excited to announce that I will be at Ronnie Scott's jazz club this Thursday 22/10 with Nigel Price and next week 31/10 at 606 jazz club with an exciting new band called 5-Way-Split. 

In these strange times we're living your support is more valuable than ever as we're trying to rebuild our music scene back from its ruins. I hope finally get to see some familiar faces soon! If you want a full list of dates please click here. 
https://vasilisxenopoulos.com/new-events

Many thanks 

Vasilis 

One day, we will be able to send you all an email telling you that Vasilis is playing again at Hedsor, but until then, do at least follow him on the electronic device of your choice

As I mentioned in a recent blog, I still buy CD’s. I really do find a sense of ownership and a more direct connection to the music if I can actually hold something that contains it, rather than just the right to listen to it! And so it was that this week I got to listen to a Chris Barber CD again!

A very recent purchase, as it was only released in October, is a Chris Barber recording from 1963. Alan Gilmour was the sound engineer for Nottingham Jazz Club, and he used to record the sessions for his own use through the PA. Alan died in 2003, and his family has gifted the tapes he left behind (over 1000 hours worth) to Lake Records. This is their first release, and the first of a recording of Chris Barber in a real club atmosphere. You may recall that there have been many recordings released of The Barber Band recorded live during prestigious concerts, going as far back to1954 (an LP containing bits of the National Jazz federation’s Festival Hall Concert), when they were formed, 

but I don’t think there have been any recoded in a live jazz club, and thanks to Alan Gilmour and Lake Records, now there is!

It is a double album, so you get most of the evenings music, including an extended set by Ottilie Patterson. What a joy to hear her again, vibrant, slightly husky, and as sexy and as driving a singer as I remembered her.

In the days of early courtship and marriage my wife June often used to accompany me to jazz events, and neither of us have ever forgotten an evening in Hammersmith Town Hall where Ottilie came out in front of the Barber band in a long black dress, and started to sing and dance in front of the band. It wasn’t long before, and with a gasp from the audience, she lifted her long skirt to show long bright red leather boots! Wow, it was 1959!

This new CD release is well worth having, not just for Ottilie, but for all of the vitality it shows that the band could have in 1963. With Ian Wheeler on clarinet and alto sax, it was “just” the 6 piece Barber band, but already showing the signs of things to come. Still much to cheer the Trad fan of the day, but also some Ellington and some Rhythm and Blues along the way.  Lake LACD 363

Despite my purchasing continuity, the enabling of me to hold the music purchased (a contradiction in terms surely), I do subscribe to Amazon Prime and one or two other music streaming services. I must say that they do often tempt me to actually purchasing something solid, but they are a good way of testing it out and/or finding something new to like. 

One of my favourite pianists over recent years has been Scot Brian Kellock. He can often be found both live and on cd alongside fellow Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsaScfdvGhM  click the link!

I managed to catch Brian “live” at a Swanage Jazz festival gig some years ago. He is tremendously inventive, and sometimes, to the annoyance of other musicians on the stage with him, carries his solos on a bit, usually to the excitement of the crowd.

The CD’s of note I have of him are with Smith and the Scottish Jazz Orchestra, playing some great Ellington, “In the Spirit of the Duke”

 

Another that I have loved has Brian playing alongside singer Catherine Legardh on “Love Still Wears a Smile”, and also with her on “Gorgeous Creatures”.

But, thanks to my subscription to Amazon Prime I have discovered a solo album entitled “Bidin My Time” and it says that the label it is on is brian kellock!! Do try it (and him) out. All his recordings are well engineered, and are producing a great piano sound. On this his 2020 release he plays a variety of styles, but it is truly jazz piano of the highest quality. Seek it out via https://briankellock.bandcamp.com/releases

Well that is enough from me for now, I can smell the coffee. In the meantime until we meet again, enjoy your jazz wherever you find it!