Jazz from Geoff

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Hi, time for a little light blogging.

Life has been a bit hectic of late, and apart from trying hard not to miss a Hedsor Jazz Thursday, I haven’t had time for a lot of listening. I do have a lot of recorded music at home here in Cronin Towers and of late I have kind of ignored it. Later in this edition I will write up about part of my collection.

First though I must highlight this coming Thursdays Hedsor Jazz on August 14th. It will be a truly special evening as we have one of Britain’s busiest and very affable jazz saxophonists Alan Barnes coming to Hedsor to play duets with his Leeds collage room mate pianist Dave Newton.

Yes Hedsor will have just 2 musicians playing on Thursday. But what musicians!

In order to help me celebrate two of life’s milestones, 87 years of life and 66 years of marriage, I have invited Alan and Dave to come and play duets for me, and any of you who would like to come along.

Alan has been to Hedsor a number of times before, but it will be the first time Dave has come to us. The evening will be intimate, enthralling and a truly wonderful experience. Two musicians who are at the top of their game and who have known each other for over 40 years.

On Thursday August 14^th we have the Alan Barnes & Dave Newton Duo

Alan Barnes and David Newton have been playing duets together for over 40 years. These multi award-winners cover a vast repertoire from Louis Armstrong to Chick Corea and play with an empathy that can only come with long experience. The emphasis, as always, is on swinging, accessibility and interplay. Expect a hugely entertaining programme of straight ahead jazz flawlessly played and interspersed with lots of anecdotes. And that is from their web entry!!

The last time I heard them together was at The Swanage Jazz festival in 2024. They filled the marquee and held everyone’s attention. To have them in the Hedsor Bar will give everyone a chance to hear the music in proximity. Don’t miss out.

Last week we had an excellent evening of music presented by Al Nicholls and Lester Brown. A different style from the week before with Bruce Adams and Duncan Lamont Jr. It’s not often we start off an evening with “The Sheik of Araby”, include Basie’s “9.20 Special”, and conclude with Ellingtons “Cottontail” BUT we did last week. And you missed it?

My photos are below.

Now what was the CD that caught my attention last week.

In the Cd’s for sale box was a quartet album on the Concord label by The Frank Capp Trio with saxophonist Ricky Woodard and it reminded me of a CD it took me a long time to find in the late 1990’s.

Drummer Frank Capp led a big band called “Juggernaut” in 1977. I did eventually find a copy of the CD I wanted which was called “In a Hefty Bag”. This was quickly followed by another CD even more simply called “Juggernaut” where Frank was joint leader with pianist Nat Pierce in 1994.

Playing the quartet album featuring saxophonist Ricky Woodard for the first time so inspired me that I dug out both big band CD’s and played them again after a number of years of them staying in the rack. They are great examples of West Coast big band music.

Both are truly excellent, and playing them led me to pull out another that had laid idle for some years, the Thad Jones, Mel Lewis orchestras CD called “Central Park North” this time recorded in New York in 1969

Details and cover art are below

The Frank Capp Trio with Ricky Woodard Concord CCD 4469