A Short Reminder

Of what’s on at Hedsor Jazz this week.

If you read last week’s blog you will realise that this week we have The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet. And this week it will have one of our regular dep players, Ken McCarthy will be on Keyboard for us.

Martin last week reminded us that with Lester Brown joining the band that there will be some new tunes and some new arrangements of old tunes too. So do come and join us to see and hear what’s new (sorry we don’t do pussycats!).

Last week we had Lester joined by Kelvin Christiane on reeds (Mike Wills will one day get the painting of the railings completed. How many hours of community service will it be?) and a vibrant session was had.

Two items stand out for me, Kelvin’s feature “Nostalgia in Times Square” was not a tune we hear very often, and you don’t get it played on 2 saxophones at the same time by a single musician very often either.

The other outstanding number was the last of the night, Miles Davis’s “All Blues”.

Many of you will know the original tune is from Miles’s album “Kind of Blue”, but hearing it played so well and live at Hedsor Jazz made me revisit the original, and, yes, our live version on Thursday last week was pretty special.

It just so happened that my mobile phone was recording the evening, and if you want to see and hear what I am talking about take a look at my DropBox folder by following the link:-

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w3gopkngx7fhdgu/AABMzNT0B3lHoZkw53vFCovEa?dl=0

I will leave it there for a couple of weeks to allow you to download it if you would like to.

As I said it did make me go back to some of the Miles Davis I have in my collection. I was fortunate to be given a promotional sample in 2009 of a selection from “The Complete Columbia Album Collection”. It arrived on one USB memory stick. Nearly 3 GB of WAV files, 27 tunes in all. I was fortunate, as even today, second hand, the complete set sells for £245, when first issued new it was £709!! Staggering!

Please don’t forget that for considerably less you can support not only Hedsor Jazz, but Cancer Research UK too by coming to our special evening on March 22^nd. See last weeks blog for the poster. Yes, it will cost you £10! That’s each!!

All the profit from the evening will be going to CRUK.

See you all on Thursday.

TTFN

Hedsor Jazz

I hope we have all now recovered from snow, ice and burst pipes. After last weeks cancellation I can now bring you news of lots of Thursday night jazz at Hedsor for you to look forward to. Martin Hart has been working hard on his telephone during the snow break, and we now have a program up to and including May 10^th.

Tell your friends and especially encourage them to come to our Cancer Fundraiser on March 22^nd. It should be a great night, with an early 8pm start and a light finger snack to eat at half time, all for just £10. ALL of our profit from this evening will go to CRUK.

Now for that list:-

March 8^th         Kelvin Christiane (saxophone) 

                             with Lester Brown (trumpet)

March 15^th       The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet 

      

March 22^nd       Our Cancer Research UK Fundraising night with

                       Singer Sarah Moule & saxophonist Duncan Lamont jnr

                       PLUS The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet 

March 29^th        Simon Spillett (saxophone)

April 5^th            Frank Griffith (saxophone)

April 12^th          The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet 

April 19^th          Robert Goodhew (saxophonist)

April 26^th          Alan Grahame (vibs)

May 3^rd             The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet (to be confirmed)

May 10^th           Terry Hutchins (guitar)

All of the above will be accompanied by elements of The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet, whose members are:-

Lester Brown (tpt), Mike Wills (reeds), Nigel Fox (keyboard) John Monney (bass) and Martin Hart (drums).

More next week, when I may tell you what I listened to in the cold snap,

but until then, 

                             Do help to keep Live Jazz ALIVE

Kelvin, yes, playing two at a time!

HEDSOR JAZZ

After due consideration and consultation with all the musicians, tonights Hedsor Jazz has been CANCELLED on safety grounds.

PLEASE tell as many people as you know who may be tempted to travel to Hedsor tonight that there will be

NO JAZZ SESSION TONIGHT

Keep safe, keep warm, and listen to or watch some jazz at home.

Hopefully next week will be a little warmer, and you can all come out to listen to Kelvin Christiane on Thursday March 8^th

Hedsor Jazz Notes

Just a few word this week. First , we do have a plan for Thursday night. Our guest for March 1^st is guitarist Terry Hutchins. He has been to Hedsor a couple of times before, and I hope he will be accompanied by Mike Wills and the rhythm section.

I also have a list of forthcoming guests, which I will add in at the foot of this blog.

However hope may be required for this weeks gig. We all by now will have seen the forecast for blizzard conditions for Thursday and Friday and it is very much down to the musicians and if they want to travel. So DO WATCH THIS SPACE. If the gig has to be cancelled, I will blog it out as soon as I can.

Many of you I know read Jazz Journal, and those of you who were with us last Thursday will be aware that Simon Spillett wrote a beautiful appreciation of Clive Burton in this months magazine. I don’t feel that I want to bridge copyright by copying his article into my blog, but do try and get to see a copy of it.

Clive himself would be amused that the only photo they published of Clive playing came from the all day Jazz festival we ran at St Piran’s school a couple of years ago. No, he wasn’t playing any old trombone (even his own) but a red plastic one being provided by Dawkes Instruments for school use. Their publicity shot was the photo used!

Last week we all experienced the new bar at Hedsor. All very wood! New tills and a few new pumps as well.

We also experienced our invited guest, Sue Greeway, who joined Mike Wills on a selection of saxophones, soprano to tenor, sometimes two tenors at a time (OK one each, although I have seen one person playing two at a time!). BUT we also had a surprise (to me) deputy pianist. Alan Berry joined us for only I think the third time at Hedsor since we started in 2002. He was the regular pianist with The Lennie Best Quartet who were regular at The Bell in Maidenhead in the 1970’s. He appears on the Dick Morrissey CD released last year from my 40 years of tape storage in the loft!

So great music was had by all. Yes, we are still sorting out the cables for the new lights, but the lighting effect is now rather good.

OK who is coming soon?

March 8^th our guest will be Kelvin Christiane

March 15^th will be another outing for the Clive Burton Celebration Quintet, with trumpeter Lester Brown.

March 22^nd Our Cancer Research fundraising night. Singer Sarah Moule is our named guest, and we were going to be joined my Alan Grahame, but sadly he wont now be able to join us. In his place it will be saxophonist Duncan Lamont junior. The regular quintet will also be in attendance. Tickets at £10 each can be purchased from Dee on a Thursday, or The Stationery Depot in Cookham during shop hours. The evening will include a light buffet, and we will start at 8pm.

March 29^th we have a welcome return of saxophonist Simon Spillett.

April 5^th we will be joined by saxophonist and teller of bad jokes Frank Griffith

Hedsor Jazz

There WILL BE a Hedsor jazz session this week.

Martin has checked out the Hedsor Social Club, and the works Foreman is sure that the only inconvenience we will suffer this Thursday is a smell of paint!

So February 22^nd should not be missed! WE WILL ENJOY again the added benefit of lady saxophonist Sue Greenway joining forces with Mike Wills.

We will also have the (en)joy of pianist Ken McCarthy being our pianist for the evening.

I now have tickets available for our Cancer Research UK fundraiser on March 22^nd. You will be able to get yours from Dee at the door this Thursday.

I have also talked with the Cancer research team in Maidenhead and they hope to be with us as well, with perhaps some leaflets of there own, and probably a big collection bucket too!

Some of you I know took some of Ken Rankine’s collection of LP’s, and the donated sum of £19 was passed to CRUK this week. I still have more available, but they are very heavy to lug about, so if you have an interest in vinyl, do let me know and we can arrange a fork lift truck viewing!

I have had an interesting few days listening to one or two of the LP’s that have recently arrived at Cronin Towers. I tend to forget the joy of just 20 minutes of music. CD’s usually trap you for far longer. The 20 minute length per side seems very comfortable, and what is even better is the large artwork and sleeve notes LP’s could give you. CD’s do obviously have a large place in my collection, and they are convenient, don’t usually have clicks and surface noise, and yes, do have (small) works of art and sleeve notes. But somehow LPs add in an extra element, perhaps its called nostalgia! AND perhaps it is also that they have a slightly more mellow sound.

However of the new CD’s in my listening experience this week is Nat Steele’s “Portrait of the Modern Jazz Quartet”. It is a very good, fresh listen to the sounds made famous by Milt Jackson, John Lewis, Connie Kay and Percy Heath. The CD is a joy to hear, very well recorded and of course well played. I hadn’t heard Nat Steele before, but he has resurrected the quartet once formed by pianist Michael Garrick just before he died in 2011 which had Jim Hart on the vibes. 

It is good to hear in it’s entirety “The Golden Striker” for a change because almost every week someone playing at Hedsor will “quote” from it!

I can really recommend the CD (on Trio Records TR958), and look forward to April 3^rd when we can all hear them live at Marlow’s Jazz club.

Look out soon for our new Facebook links, and our own web site too, both currently being worked on by our connections with and in Brunel University. Soon you will be able to tweet to your hearts content, enabling you to all KEEP LIVE JAZZ ALIVE!

HEDSOR and all that jazz!

The important news is that THIS WEEK, Thursday 15^th February, THERE WILL BE NO SESSION AT HEDSOR AT ALL!! Sadly for all, the Hedsor Social Club is closed for refurbishment.

We hope that it will be ready and all bright and shinny for our session on Thursday February 22^nd, as we have booked that lovely lady saxophonist Sue Greenway to be our guest. Do keep an eye on my blog, as confirmation of this will have to be given late in the day (well, week actually) for Feb. 22^nd.

If you miss your injection of jazz and swing you could get one on Friday February 16^th. Cookham Rise Methodist Church is putting on an evening of Big Band Swing from 8pm to raise funds for the Heads Together, a charity supporting Mental Health organisations.

Tickets, including refreshments are £10 from 01628 522797 or kathryn.rickman@talktalk.net or possibly on the door on the night.

Yesterday was a sad but lovely day for the friends and family of Margaret Kape. Her funeral took place at Slough Crematorium, with a reception afterwards at the Fifield Inn.

Margaret was Zane’s partner and the Fifield was where they first met. Although the Inn has been transformed into a modern bar/restaurant, it still held memories for those of us who used to go on a Sunday night to listen to Century Jazz/The Clive Burton Quintet. Our time there gave opportunity to remember both Margaret and Zane as both Margaret’s family and Zane’s niece were there. Yes a sad day, but a lovely day too.

an extract from Margaret's Service paper

As most who come to Hedsor are aware we are trying to make the atmosphere more jazz club like, and are experimenting with lighting. We may not have yet got it right, but it is, I think, looking a lot better. Geoff Swaffields photos (taken on his very expensive smart phone!) of our session last week with Alan Grahame, give an idea of our results so far.

The FRIDAY of NO HEDSOR JAZZ WEEK

There may be no Hedsor Jazz on Thursday February 15th BUT there is a Big Band night at Cookham Rise Methodist Church on Friday 16th February

Geoff C

Hedsor Jazz 6.2.18

The first thing to note this week is that

THERE WILL BE NO JAZZ AT HEDSOR ON FEBRUARY 15^th

I’m am sorry to have to say this but we wont be able to run our session on February 15^th as the club IS CLOSED for refurbishment.

We sincerely hope that our schedules session for February 22^nd with Sue Greenway is able to proceed. We have been told that Hedsor Club is only expected to be closed for 10 days and should be available for this session, BUT WATCH THIS SPACE.

We had hoped to have a jazz evening in “another place” that night but the OK for this was given too late to ensure that we would get an audience in “that place”. It was a venue that Hedsor Jazz had not presented in before, and we thought it better, in view of the limited time to advertise this new venue, not to go ahead. However it may well be available to us at a future date if we should so desire.

This week we have one of our favourite guest musicians, vibraphone player Alan Grahame. Do come along and enjoy someone who has played with all the stars of stage and TV.

Alan Celebrating Christmas with us in 2011

Make sure you have in your diary March 22^nd. We are going to run our Cancer Research UK fundraising night that evening and our special guest will be singer Sarah Moule. Sarah has played for us at Hedsor once or twice before, and she is a really great jazz singer. Do look her up on Google.  A good place to start is with her record company, Linn:-

http://www.linnrecords.com/artist-sarah-moule.aspx

Last week we had the second session by “The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet”, and this time they were joined in the second set by Martin Hart’s son Miles on trumpet. A Geoff Swaffield photo of this is below.

Finally I hope some of you listen to BBC 3’s “Jazz record Requests”, something I have done almost every week since FM radio came about (yes, with VALVES!). Those of you who did so last week would have heard, as a tribute to the late John Critchison, a track from Simon Spillett’s album on Gearbox Records “Yesterday I Heard the Rain”. If you missed the program it can be had on http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09qclq3

Simon Spillett playing in Primrose Hill This Weekend

Whilst referring to Radio 3, straight after this weeks broadcast of JRR a Jazz Line-up program had a short set by Tommy Smith and Brian Kellock. A session well worth trying to grab hold of (and it can still be had via https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09qdb58)

Its always amazes me what just 2 jazz musicians can do. I remember long ago Alex Welsh dueting with pianist Fred Hunt, and Humphrey Lyttleton did a whole album with pianist Mike Pyne. I can still remember Peter Clayton introducing them as the only band that could get to gigs on a tandem!

So jazz has a great heritage. But jazz can still be heard and still surprise,delight and amaze, if YOU go out to Live Gigs!

TTFN  Geoff C

Hedsor Jazz News

I am touching wood, but I do believe our numbers coming to the jazz at Hedsor are slowly going UP! We now are able to let you know in advance who is coming, and we are also trying to make the venue look more appealing. 

To help us become better know we are also receiving professional help in constructing not only “our” FaceBook page, but a web site of our own too. We hope this will enable the more social media aware (young?) people to find us!

Thank you to all who are helping in all of this rejuvenation, especially for the work of Martin Hart, our drummer, who is taking over the admin of the band.

The band, as you will recall, is now named “The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet”, and they will be our feature act this coming Thursday (February 1^st). So this will be another opportunity for you to see and listen to Lester Brown on Trumpet.

IF you missed the Celebration Quintet’s first night, OR would like to keep a copy of the music from the night, I am putting up my recordings of it on my DropBox page.

Following the link below (which will only remain available for 1 month) and download the music files in mp3 format.

DropBox Link=

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rxrllz4j93hxrp5/AACBtpStb4ztiwodH7VT94QMa?dl=0

Last week was a wonderful session with clarinettist Julian Marc Stringle playing, singing and almost hosting our evening with links to the tunes and stories from the music he played. Julian came across as a charming man, and I think he also enjoyed the evening with us so I hope we can save up our pennies and have him back again to us at Hedsor before too long.

He will however be playing at one of Martin Hart’s Oakwood Centre, Woodley, concerts in May.

Julian did mention last Thursday that there were a few videos of him on YouTube. Do take a look, there are probably hundreds, not all in Hi Def, but fun to trawl through if you have the means (and time!).

One thing that wont be happening, (and please put this in your diary), is jazz at Hedsor on February 15^th. The club is closed for 10 days around that date for the bar area to be refurbished. This situation is beyond our control, but we are investigating another venue for the night, so watch this space.

However before then on the 8^th of Feb we do have that wonderful vibes player Alan Grahame back with us, playing alongside Mike Wills. Mike, having brought out his clarinet to play alongside Julian last week MAY bring it back again on the 8^th, you never know. Then we could perhaps have some of those wonderful Benny Goodman Quartet tunes played for us again.

For your diaries we now have info on the following Hedsor Jazz nights:-

1^st Feb          The Quintet

8^th  Feb          Alan Grahame vibraphone

15^th Feb        No Hedsor See above

22^nd Feb       Sue Greenway saxophone

1^st March      Terry Hutchins guitar

8^th March      Kelvin Christiane saxophone

15^th March    The Quintet

22^nd March    Our Cancer Research fundraising night. Guests to be finalised

29^th  March    Simon Spillett saxophone

Well that is about it for now, I will leave you with some of the photos that Geoff Swaffield took last Thursday of Julian.

Appologies

I posted the major portion of the blog last night and I must apologise for the odd error of grammar! One should never rush these things, but sometimes it is necessary to do things in the time available. Next blog may be better constructed, you never know!

In the meantime, the nub of the blog is correct!

Geoff, as now!!

 

I'm in here somewhere,and outside a grammar school too!

Hedsor Jazz

Last week had the FIRST night of jazz from the Clive Burton Celebration Quintet. Lester Brown trumpet, Mike Wills reeds, Nigel Fox keyboard, John Monney bass and Martin Hart Drums. It was a really good start, with some new tunes and some old familiar ones too, but with a bite and a swing, and warmth and melody as well. It was well attended and it was great to see the room beginning to look full. Lets hope we can keep it that way. It was good have see Jan Burton with us at this new start.

One of the innovations we are taking at Hedsor for jazz nights is moving the tables nearer the band to encourage a gangway behind the chairs that used to be against the long wall. This will also enable us to create a more jazz club like appearance to the place. I know it isn’t to everyone’s liking, but change is taking place with new people coming in and we old hands must welcome new ones even though it inevitably becomes less comfortable and less familiar for us. “Everything Must Change” says the song. Some of the changes have been forced on us and I am as saddened as anyone by the loss of old friends and faces. It IS painful, and we must try and help old and new alike to come and enjoy this vibrant music and help to keep it alive.

The first poster for the first jazz night in 2002

Lester was delighted to become part of the band. He said to me that he was honoured to be invited to join it. He will be with us on alternate Thursdays, which gives us able opportunity to vary the guests we have alongside the regular band.

Pictures below from the night are from Geoff Swaffield.

It was a sad necessity last year with Clive often not well enough to be with us that we frequently had to have different jazz forms, and it has proved to be something people like. The variety of sessions as well as the quality of the music has been favourably commented on by a number of our regulars.

This coming week our Thursday session will have another first. Julian Marc Stringle, the renowned clarinettist who has played with EVERYONE including the Spice Girls as well as Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen is coming to keep Mike Wills company in the front line. Do join us, usual start time of 8.30pm and entry fee of just £7!

I now have details on Margaret Kape’s funeral from her daughter Kate:-

Mums funeral will be at Slough Crematorium, 12th Feb, 10.30am and afterwards at the Fifield Inn (subject to them confirming with me) which was always a favourite pub of hers, as you all used to play wonderful Jazz there. 

The reference is to “all” is for the band. Century Jazz used to play at The Fifield Inn every Sunday night! Many of you will remember Margaret as our pianist Zane Cronje’s partner in those days that now seem so long ago.

COMING GIGS

February 1^st The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet

February 8^th Alan Grahame with Mike Wills and the rhythm section

February 15^th The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet

February 22^nd Sue Greenway with Mike Wills and the rhythm section

News From Hedsor Jazz

This week we have perhaps the first outing of "The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet". After Clive's passing the rest of the band members wanted to keep Clive's name at the front of the band. They also want to invite trumpeter Lester Brown to become part of the band, and THIS THURSDAY he will be with us. So possibly some new tunes and some new arrangements for familiar ones. Do join us for our next step into 2018.

Last Thursday I was unable to get to Hedsor Jazz. I had to go to the funeral of a friend not associated by jazz at all. I did have a life before jazz (well, part of one, there has ALWAYS been jazz!), and this time it was someone from my past that I felt I needed to respect by being at his last ceremony. 

Last ceremonies seem to be happening a lot recently and I have some more sad news to pass on. Many of you will remember Margaret Cape, Zane Cronje's partner. She passed away in Frimley Park Hospital on Friday 12th after a short illness. I'll pass on last ceremony detail when I get them.

Now for a proud boast!

I haven't reviewed a CD recently. I know that a few blogs back I mentioned one I was closely associated with. Simon Spillett finally got me to give him a copy of a recording I had made back in 1972 and that had lain unheard by many ever since. Now you can buy it! 

"Dick Morrissey at The Bell" was issued last year, and now has a review in Jazz Journal. OK I risk being sued because I am going to reproduce all of the review now below. BUT remember, it was MY LOFT that had kept this gem safe for 40 years!!

DICK MORRISSEY

LIVE AT THE BELL 1972

Speak Low; St Thomas; Whisper Not; Over The Rainbow; Unidentified Theme; Down Home (63.03)

Morrissey (ts); Lennie Best (vib); Alan Berry (p); Bill Larue (b); Ron Hetherington (d).

The Bell, Maidenhead, 8 August, 1972.

Acrobat 4395

****_____

Although he flirted with jazz/rock and crossover music, saxophonist Dick Morrissey was at root a straight-ahead jazzer who would always return to his first love with alacrity if a blowing gig came up. On this hitherto unreleased and only recently discovered date, he guested in the congenial and entirely suitable company of vibist Lennie Best's quartet. The setting was the Bell, Maidenhead, an important watering hole on the suburban pub circuit which offered invaluable outlets for British jazz soloists even in the relatively dark and dire days of the 1970’s. Annotator Simon Spillett provides an insightful essay on the role of jazz pubs in nourishing the music over the decades. Morrissey was widely admired by patrons of those tav­erns, and his visit to Maidenhead ensured a packed house.

On the many times I heard him, Dick never stinted in his effort; he gave 100 per cent. Such was cer­tainly the case on this gig which captures him in full cry, relishing the occasion and the support of a well-established, swinging group. The agreed agenda incorporates a brace of standards, three jazz originals and one "mystery" theme, yet to be identified, although someone must know its title and composer (Spillett specu­lates that it may be a Milt Jackson number). For the duration of his tragically curtailed career Morris­sey retained a strong Sonny Rollins influence, and Sonny's tune St Thomas was an ever-pre­sent part of Dick's book. He recorded it on his first album, and a later version by him can be heard on a Birmingham date recorded by the late Tony Levin. Whisper Not finds the saxophon­ist in particularly fine form, and he delivers a vibrant version of Over The Rainbow, makes hay on Speak Low and has great fun with Phineas Newborn's Down Home, sadly incomplete but containing an ample outpouring by the ever inventive Morrissey - how the crowd loved it! An excellent musical memoir from one of our finest players.

Mark Gardner

NOT only has it received this very favourable review, but JJ's Critics Choice has placed it in the top 10 albums the critics most wanted to hear!!

What gems have you got hidden in your loft?

So that's it for now folks........................

Geoff C

Jazz, Hedsor, and THINGS!

Having had a stuttering of last posts last year, welcome to the first post of 2018.

Our first gig last week was an excellent start. Our guests, saxophonist Duncan Lamont Jnr and guitarist Max Brittain combined with deputy drummer Mike Jeffries, John Monney on bass and Nigel Fox on keyboard to give an evening that could have been advertised in a number of different ways. Sadly I didn’t record it, and kick myself for not doing so. Duncan’s concept of using tunes requested by famous “Desert Island Disks” guests in the first set, and then canvassing the audience for their essential recording/tune for the second was a great idea, and he linked it all together with what I can only think of as a cabaret act, brilliant! One of two tunes did stretch the musicians a bit, but the bands rendition of the requested “Stolen Moments” was very well done. It had been requested by Jan, as she was sitting next to me I could read her request. Well done all.

Looking back even further our Christmas gathering was brilliant and very well attended. Tina May struck just the right approach, using a number of Christmas orientated tunes to engage us in the festive spirit, and the Duncan Lamont Duo adding just the right instrumental approach.

Photo's courtesy of Geoff Swaffield 

You may think that I have been ignoring the elephant in the room.

Hedsor Jazz has suffered significant loss during the last couple of years, and with our beloved Clive Burton passing away in October after 9 months of illness and Glenn’s tragic and sudden death in December adding to our loss of Ken Rankine in 2016 has had a significant impact on me, and I am sure many of you as well.

Jan Burton wants Hedsor Jazz to carry on, and so does Martin, who had already taken up a leading role in the band immediately after Clive’s passing. I think this is something we all want. Our friendships are as important as the music we promote.

It will not be the same, and we might find the inevitable changes forced upon us may not always be what we would have chosen. It will be different, but it will be to the same high standard. Hedsor Jazz will carry on. Jazz Angels (the underwriters of Hedsor Jazz) have already paid for the room rent for all of 2018 as a sign of our desire to do just that. Please be patient as we transition. It will become a butterfly in the end!

Glenn’s funeral last Friday was a lovely event. Martin and Miles with their different spoken tributes were both very brave and very eloquent and as a jazz family we at Hedsor Jazz will continue to hold them in thoughts and prayers.

The funeral reception (wake?) was held in an old Baptist Church that I hadn’t been inside for over 50 years. A youth club I used to help run would come out of London to Woodrow High House near Amersham, (then run by the London Association of Boys Clubs), for an Easter Retreat every year, and would travel en mass for Easter Sunday in what was an original Baptist Chapel in the same building. The minister at the time was always very inventive in his presentations. At one time bringing in a live cockerel, another time leading in a live donkey, all to illustrate his points! Coming in the back door for a sad social gathering it was all quite a shock! Another shock was finding in that gathering my old dentist!! It is a small world really.

This Thursday “The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet” with guests, vocalist Alison Bentley and her partner guitarist Kevin Armstrong will provide our Jazz Content at Hedsor. Usual entry of £7 and usual start time of 8.30pm.

It is after all the beginning of another year at Hedsor Jazz. It would be good to see you all again.