I sit corrected. Our drummer this week will be Mike Jeffries!!

Coming to Hedsor Jazz this week on Thursday May 1^st we have Stuart Henderson and Alam Nathoo, trumpet and tenor sax respectively, as our front line guests. Ken McCarthy on keyboard will be back from his holidays. Bass player Al Pirrie will also be back with us again this week, and Martin Hart will be our drummer man.

May Day used to be an international distress call, but for us at Hedsor Jazz this years May Day is an invitation to excellence in jazz performance.

Since the beginning of this year we have been attempting to book Stuart and Alam together on the first Thursday of the month as we wanted to encourage the joint talents of two superb musicians. Individually they are wonderful; together we have found that they are a chemical reaction. Sparks and unexpected harmony together they make some of the most exciting jazz you can get. ANYWHERE! But we have them at HEDSOR JAZZ.

 

Come this week, come every week, as what we have at Hedsor Jazz is remarkable.

The Hedsor Social Club, morphing into The Hedsor Bar, has hosted our live jazz for over 22 years. Like fine wine, the quality of performance and the fame of our guests has slowly matured and I really think the music and the audience can only be bettered in one way. We need more audience! Those who come realise it is special, we just need more to come!

OK you may not have liked modern jazz before when you’ve heard it performed on The Radio (rarely!), but come to our live shows and the excitement and excellence of the players will draw you in. We of the audience will try and make you welcome, we are a friendly bunch. AND if you can still play CD’s we do sell jazz CD’s at a £1 a go to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Our live jazz sound is pretty good, the lighting is comfortable, the beer is excellent, the car park is free. The music starts at 8pm and will be finished by 10.30pm. If you look below you can see who is coming in May. All of the named players have international credentials, so you can look them up!

 

Last week we had an excellent evening from two renegades from “The Filthy Six”. Saxophonist Frank Walden and guitarist James Fenn. Excellent music, with tunes like “Skylark”, “In Your Own Sweet Way” and “Bluesette”. Great tunes often overlooked by musicians. It was a very enjoyable evening. My photos are below.

 

Guest pianist Martin Pickett

 

Do please keep an eye on this blog for late changes and updates. Also have a look at the Facebook page for Hedsor Jazz https://www.facebook.com/people/Hedsor-Jazz/61555280143899/

 

Do like us, as the more hits we get the higher up the search engines we come.

We also get regular listings on the London Jazz News. Why not sign up there too for a wider look at the UK jazz scene  https://londonjazznews.com/

Late Breaking News

Tomorrow night (April24th) our pianist will be Martin Pickett, an Oxford based musician who has been to Hedsor Jazz a number of times before. Our regular keyboard man, Ken McCarthy, is taking a short holiday to get used to his new eyes! He now has the new glasses to go with his cataract op!

Last night at The Marlow Rugby Club was the first in that venue for the long established (in other venues!) Marlow Jazz Club. 

Vasilis Xenopoulos and trombonist Mark Nightingale broke the ice!

Good Post Easter to you. I hope you all enjoyed your bank holiday break. It was pointed out to me this past few days that us retirees don’t have bank holidays and it all does seem rather ironic anyway that we call a public holiday a bank holiday, when its hard enough to find a bank anywhere these days that is physically open anyway!

But I’m just getting bitter and twisted, as we all know that things are really getting better and better all the time, aren’t they?

 

Courtesy of that drummer Dave Simms

But to cheer us all TODAY jazz lovers have a choice of evening activity. 

At Cookham Methodist Church you have a Big Band raising money for good causes

 

 

And at Marlow Rugby Club and with Marlow Jazz you have Vasilis Xenopoulos and Mark Nightingale to blow your blues away, for a fee of course!!

 

 

And further into the week our Hedsor Jazz weekly regular.

From 8pm on Thursday 24^th April you can listen to saxophonist Frank Walden with guitarist James Fenn, both long time favourites with us at Hedsor Jazz. And with every justification too. They do have separate careers, but they also can be seen together in the band “The Filthy Six”. 

At Hedsor earlier this year

Do check them out via YouTube. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=thje+filthy+six&rlz=1C1AWFC_enGB938GB938&oq=thje+filthy+six&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQLhgNGIAEMgkIAhAAGA0YgAQyCQgDEAAYDRiABDIICAQQABgWGB4yCAgFEAAYFhgeMggIBhAAGBYYHjIKCAcQABgKGBYYHjIICAgQABgWGB7SAQgzNDU0ajFqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:993abe54,vid:K8P67sqNu-E,st:0

 

Last weeks session at Hedsor was a master class in sight reading (of the arrangements) and the arrangements themselves. Duncan Lamont Jr and Mike Innes showed us how they were craftsmen of the highest order in both. They also demonstrated a fine degree of actual playing ability too. All those of you who weren’t there missed a real treat. I still get amazed at the quality of the performances we consistently get at Hedsor Jazz.

I know at Hedsor Jazz we are blessed with 2 regular drummers, but last week both of our regular team were playing away!! So we had a guest drummer in the shape of  John Sergeant. He will be invited back!!

My pictures are below.

 

As some of you may know I have been trying to use jazz music within church worship, having so far run 2 jazz services with a third still to come in June. These events have been inspired by the Duke Ellington Concerts of Sacred music. Last week I came across another chance for people to experience something like the Ellington Originals. DO check out the poster below.

 

Finally for your future diary our program for MAY

We can only continue to produce a WEEKLY program like this with audience support. 

We have left Palm Sunday behind, and we proceed at pace on to Easter. So apart from eggs, (chocolate or decorated), I do hope you have other plans.

We do have some jazz plans for Hedsor Jazz.

For our Maundy Thursday Jazz session (April 17^th) we have some definite non attendee’s! Neither of our regular (as in never missing a beat) drummers, in the shape of Martin Hart or Mike Jeffries will be with us. In fact the only “regular” member of our band will be Ken McCarthy, although you may not recognise him, as he will by then have his new glasses! But we will welcome to Hedsor John Sergeant on drums. On bass we will have a mostly regular Al Pirrie, but fronting them all will be Duncan Lamont Jr on reeds with Mike Innes on trombone. That makes it a pretty good band for you to Maundy Thursday about. Do look up there CV’s.

But spending your £10 to check them all out at Hedsor will be an Easter bargain. OK Hedsor Bar isn’t as smart as Ronnie Scott’s, but it offers very similar great music and Rebellion Beer! (OK the beer is an, additionally paid for, option!)

Duncan and Mike on an earlier visit

 

Last week we had one of the combinations of musicians that have been pretty frequent visitors at Hedsor over recent years. Lester Brown with Mark Aston backed by Martin Hart, Ken McCarthy and Peter Hughes. Last week they played some great old tunes including “Alfie”, from the film of the same name, “Weaver of Dreams” and also “Misty”, written by Errol Garner to name but 3. “Play misty for me” became a novel and film that were both best sellers!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067588/soundtrack/

My pictures from the evening are below. They are free!

Once Easter is over we will again get into planning mode, because May will soon be upon us. But do be assured, we do have great Thursday Gigs in the offing already booked. All we need now is the assurance of audience! That’s down to all of YOU!

 

Do Have a Happy Easter

TTFN

 

Geoff

“The Sun Has Got His Hat On” and he appears to have had it on for a few days now, and with the promise of a few days more too.

Mind you, it is an old tune, and I don’t think I have heard it played since the 1960’s!

Hedsor Jazz did have some great tunes played last Thursday. There are always some each week that one is glad to hear again. Stuart Henderson’s choice in playing “Moon Alley” by Tom Harrell brought great solos from both himself on trumpet and from Martin Dunston on tenor sax. I think everyone enjoyed the evening, certainly the players did. Sadly we only had a small audience, and we do need to do better.

I really, genuinely, feel sorry for those jazz lovers who are missing the superb music we put on at The Hedsor Bar each week. Those of us who get there on a regular basis know we are witnessing something pretty special each Thursday.

My photos from last week are below.

Coming this week (April 10^th) to entertain (or entrance?) us will be Lester Brown on trumpet and Mark Aston on reeds, backed by Ken McCarthy on keyboard Peter Hughes on bass and Martin Hart on drums. Having Peter with us again will give us an opportunity to see if his experiment with the addition of headphones into his bass amplifier circuit has helped with his hearing loss. If you recall when he was with us last he was experimenting with this idea and I thought he played very well. It really is a bitter pill to be a musician and to loose the ability to hear those you play with.

 

Whilst writing about Peter I must say that coming after Easter there is a conflict of interests. On Tuesday 22^nd April Peter is playing in the Big Band that rehearses in Cookham Rise Methodist Church. They are putting on a concert to raise money for charitable causes.

But also on the same night, Marlow Jazz are having another Cookham musician playing for them, Vasilis Xenopoulos is playing alongside Mark Nightingale. I’ll put up posters for both gigs and you can make your choice. I can only support one!

Marlow web https://www.marlowjazzclub.com/

My introduction and journey through jazz didn’t start with bop or modern jazz. And although I now get a great deal of joy listening to the early exponents of that jazz style I didn’t find or enjoy it at the time. In the 1950’s I was exploring revivalist jazz, transitioning to swing and mainstream by the end of the decade. Therefore I never really listened a great deal to Miles Davis until I heard “Echoes of Spain”. More recently I have appreciated what he and his colleagues were doing and recently I have come across a cd that isn’t under his name, but does have him as a very frontline “sidesman”. Under the leadership of Cannonball Adderley “Somethin Else” is a gem. Recorded in 1958 this 5 piece ensemble is something I’m glad I have found. Miles is playing without flamboyance, but with great creativity. Listen for his solo on “One for Daddy”, putting together a sequence that doesn’t lead to swamping the band or the listener, and leaving some space for Cannonball to add his mark (and glitter) to the tune as well. Out of the five musicians in this recording 4 of them became, or were already bandleaders!

 

I picked up my copy of this recording in a charity shop, and it is in mint condition!

YOU can pick up a listen to superjazz as well, just turn out for live jazz, not only at Hedsor Jazz, (other products are available) but preferably there as well!

TTFN (for those too young for ITMA, look it up).

Geoff 

Hedsor Jazz this week has one of those famous combinations of trumpet and saxophone that we are becoming famous for as a first Thursday of the month Hedsor Jazz event.

This week (April 3^rd) we will have (as has been this year so for) Stuart Henderson on trumpet but with him will be Martin Dunston on reeds.

So far this year the first Thursday of the month has had Stuart accompanied by Alam Nathoo, but sadly for us, Alam has other duties to perform this week.

Martin has been with us a number of times before, and is a very experienced saxophonist, playing largely in the swing era style so he should fit in well with Stuarts playing.

Another link to Stuart is through that famous music shop in Maidenhead, Dawkes. They have both recently played there!!

Stuart Henderson with Ken McCarthy

 

Martin Dunston

 

Last week was another successful combination of trumpet and saxophone. This time that friend of Hedsor Jazz, Duncan Lamont Jr. was accompanied by trumpet player Pete Rudeforth. This is another combination that we will encourage back, as the mix of style and ability was great to hear.

In a discussion with them both after the show I mentioned a tune called “Jersey Lightning” and Duncan thought I had the wrong title, (he thought I meant “Jersey Bounce”), but I was sure I was right, and after some mobile phone research we discovered it. It’s a tune that was played in the 1930’s by the Luis Russell Orchestra, but we thought it had been written by trombonist J C Higginbothom. Pete and I chimed in together with that name (after all it is a hell of a name!) closely followed by me quoting another tune by J C called “Give Me Your Telephone Number”. Pete then agreed they were both great tunes, and promised to play them for me next time he is at Hedsor. Yes Please!!

Last Thursday it was also nice to have Peter Hughes on bass back with us again. Peter has been suffering a bit lately from hearing loss, and has been experimenting with headphones to enable him to hear both himself and the band better. I assured him it was working, as I thought he had played well. As Pete himself said “I’m only 23 but I seem to have been saddled with this 86 year old body! Who wants that”? Better than No Body Pete! But I expect you know “I Aint Got No Body”.

Pictures from last week are below.

 

Another small correction to the listing for April 10^th. You will be able to hear again Peter Hughes on bass,(with headphones?) as he will be replacing Stuart Barker behind Lester Brown and Mark Aston.

Don’t forget that if you have a musician that you would like to hear at Hedsor Jazz you can always let Mike Jeffries know who that might be, and to make it more possible, if you were prepared to sponsor that musician for that occasion it would make it even more possible!

Don’t forget No 2, to keep live jazz alive, you have to be there! Owning the “live” recording wont do!

 

Geoff C