Coming This Week to Hedsor Jazz

 Duncan Lamont Jr on Reeds and Mike Innes on Trombone

 Accompanied by our Hedsor Jazz trio

 Which this week has a return of drummer Martin Hart who has had the audacity (no, not the sound software) of having taken a holiday!!

Duncan and Mike on their last visit to Hedsor

 

Last weeks session had the trumpet/sax combination of Lester Brown and Frank Walden, which was greatly enjoyed by our audience. Yes, it was the same combination of instruments as the week before, but hey, this is jazz, and the different players brought a different approach to, of course, different tunes. Over the weeks (and we do meet EVERY WEEK) we do often have similar instrumentation, but don’t be put off by that, as what happens in front of your ears is NEVER boring.

My never boring pictures from last week are below.

Last week also had some big band jazz in Cookham, and the Echoes of Swing Orchestra was playing Tuesday night in the Methodist Church. They raised over £400 for a charity helping children’s education in Africa. A common link to Hedsor Jazz is E of S bass player was “our” Peter Hughes!

Also notable in the trumpet section was musical impresario Toby Cruse, who next day posted a photo on Facebook showing him departing the UK again from an airport!

Sorry but I have no photos of their Big Band gig, I had buried my phone in a raincoat pocket, it was the night of a storm!!

Last weeks blog carried our poster art for October and November. Please copy, print and place in view of the general public. They may even come one day!

Last week also saw an email from Simon Lenton who has agreed to help maintain Marlow Jazz following on from the sad and sudden passing of Michael Eagleton.

Tuesday 22^nd October WILL see Bruce Adams and Alan Barnes together at Marlow. See poster below:-

That's about it from me for now. 

Keep in touch, there's a budget coming and you know governments love older people!

Good Blog to all! It was a delight to get back to Hedsor Jazz last Thursday. The clamp of COVID was loosened enough, and the music of Pete Rudeforth and Alam Nathoo was incredibly enjoyable and refreshing. The beer also went down well!

My pictures of the evening are below, but I must say both front line musicians were/are superb, and although they are players of different styles, they sorted out enough tunes for each to play and combine without any glaring hints of conflict. Neutral style tunes like “Bye Bye Blackbird” and “In A Mellow Tone” allowed everyone to play to there strengths, and for everyone to admire their tremendous skills. It was another great evening, something that Hedsor Jazz can sometimes pull out of the hat. Our friendly atmosphere and intimate environment somehow encourages such lovely evenings. And all at just £10 per head!

Thinking of our entry fee, I received this week the program for the autumn season for The Wycombe Swan Theatre, and was kind of surprised to see that most evenings there would cost you an entry fee of at least £30 each!

A different venue, but TONIGHT, you can hear Big Band Jazz at Cookham Rise Methodist Church, see advert below.

If you can get to it this evening, you will find one of “our” bass players standing, bass in hand, slightly to one side!! Yes, it will be Peter Hughes, who is band by the band (!) from showing off his braces!

Coming to Hedsor Jazz this Thursday, October 10^th, we have Lester Brown on trumpet and Frank Waldon on tenor sax. Again these are two musicians of tremendous ability who have developed within different styles of jazz. They are both regular contributors to our jazz life at Hedsor, and again both have learnt to adapt to produce a great partnership in front of “our” Hedsor Jazz rhythm section. Come and listen. Its a £10 bargain!

 

Below are our posters for October and November. If you can please print them off and display them to the public. You never know, our next sponsor may well be out there just waiting to find us!!

 

Well, those of you who made it to Hedsor Jazz through the torrent of rain that came down last Thursday will know by now that I didn’t make it! The current brand of COVID saw to that. Many thanks to those of you who wished me well. I really do hope to make it back to Hedsor Jazz this week. (BUT a week is a long time in COVID)!!

However I am told that those who DID get to Hedsor Jazz last week (fortunately all the musicians did) were entertained most royally.

I have read and heard many comments about Al Nicholls being “great” on the evening, (which he surely is every time), and I am told as well that we actually had dancers at Hedsor!!

The other musicians I missed were Jezz Cook on guitar, Martin Hart on drums (now off on holidays!!), Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Steve Riddle on bass.

Against all common sense, we have booked Al again! But do look out for new names in our coming program.

I was sent by Peter England some photos of last week session to share with you all, and they are below

 

Our advertising for October is now wrong, sadly Stuart Henderson isn’t able be with us, but in his place is one of those new names I mentioned above. Pete Rudeforth – Trumpet and Vocals – studied at the Royal Academy of Music. He has worked with Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball and many other leading musicians. He is the front-line man with the Charleston Chasers, the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, Chris Barber and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra. You can see from his CV that he may be a new name to us, but he is definitely an old hand at the jazz game! So having him alongside Alam Nathoo will be a very interesting combination indeed, one that I dearly hope to be at! That is THIS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3rd

 

Below is our poster for the November gigs. Do copy it off and display it for all to see.

Please also spread the word about Hedsor Jazz. We do need to recruit a few more regular customers. We have some great ideas for future gigs, many of which are now "firm". A larger audience will not only help finance those ideas, but also encourage the players.

 

A week is a long time, not only in politics (the labour party conference may be too long for some), but for me the past week has seemed a long time too.

A week ago yesterday I tested positive for COVID. I am one of those “at risk” people who have had all the booster jabs and haven’t actually had COVID before. Yes, it is just as nasty as people have told me it could be, and although this week I am writing the blog, I am still very “tired”, and may miss more than one week of Hedsor Jazz. COVID may seam like flu, but it doesn’t let go in the same way. It is diminishing, but seems to have a ricochet, with a kind of bouncing back affect.

But to miss 2 weeks of Hedsor Jazz will be a very unhappy experience!

Last week I was very sad to miss Hedsor Jazz’s tribute to the late Mike Wills. He was “Our reedman” for Hedsor Jazz for over 20 years and to me a personally friend.

I was devastated when he was first taken ill, visiting him at his home in Oxford in his then “recovery” mode just after he was fitted with his pacemaker. I was also in the audience when he played The Brecon Jazz Festival, now many years ago. He may have been “our” man at Hedsor, but he was always in great demand as an all round jazz musician.

One of the last things we shared was our love for the live recordings of Louis Armstrong’s All Stars. There have been many reissues of these recordings, with varying degrees of quality of recording and of presentation, from the budget cd to the expensive box set reissues. Over Christmas I had been given a marvellous box set of ALL the live recordings from 1947 onwards, starting with the New York Town Hall concert. It includes all the stuff that was never issued on those early LP’s and shows just how good Louis and the early All Stars really were. No outtakes, no tape cutting and joining, just the music as you would hear it live. Mike and I talked about it, and I lent him the set. (Do look up Mosaic MD9 257, its a 9 CD box set with excellent sleeve notes and discography. The sleeve notes alone are worth having.).

Mike’s grasp of jazz was wide, and I hope we still get to hear from time to time some of the arrangements he contributed to Hedsor Jazz. Yes he played many jazz styles, from Revivalist to Bop with the Benny Goodman Quartet and Manouche in between. I was very sad that I was unable to be at Hedsor Jazz for his tribute night, but I am assured that Hedsor Jazz did him proud. I have one photo from last week, taken by Peter England, and it is shown below.

The Front Line, Lester Brown, Duncan Lamont Jr and Sue Greenway

Coming this week (September 26^th) will be another saxophonist with a swinging style, Al Nicholls. He is also a great friend of Hedsor Jazz (he sometimes depped for Mike as far back as the sessions held under the band name “Century Jazz” in what was then “The Cookham Tavern”.  Al produces a really booting sound (sometimes referred to as the “Texas Tenor” sound) and will be joined at the front by another of Oxfords great musicians, Jezz Cook, on guitar. With any luck I will be COVID free and will be able to join you.

 

Jezz Cook and Al Nicholls at Hedsor this Year

We already have published the program for October, and I will be producing the artwork for the November poster just as soon as I can.

Until then do share, its what jazz is for!

I have it on good authority that the Marlow Jazz Club evening on Tuesday 17th September with guest Tony Kofi, will be going ahead.

https://www.mymarlow.co.uk/event/tony-kofi-at-marlow-jazz-club/

 Michael Eagleton

It is with great sadness that I must pass on to you the sad news that I received yesterday that Michael Eagleton, promoter and passionate jazz fan, died on Monday.

Below is that news via Marlow FM

https://www.marlowfm.co.uk/news/michael-eagleton-marlow-legend

He hadn't been in the best of health for some time, but it was a shock to hear of his passing. All our condolences must go to Ann, and to his many friends and family. 

He may no longer be physically with us, but I'm sure his legacy will live on.

Over the last few days I have been to a couple of amazing sessions of great jazz.

AND I am looking forward to another evening of great jazz coming to Hedsor Jazz this Thursday!

The “amazing” started last Thursday, when we had presented to us as a surprise that great (no actual reference to size is intended here, but he is “well built”) Scottish jazz trumpeter Bruce Adams. He came as a replacement for Mark Ridout to play alongside saxophonist Frank Walden and it turned out to be a totally wonderful evening of jazz and of fun.

He is a startling trumpet player, but also, when you actually listen to what he is playing, he is also a great improviser. Set alongside the younger saxophonist Frank Walden (whom he had never met before) we had an excellent evening of fun that also satisfied as intriguing jazz. Bruce, even though only playing to our small audience, thoroughly enjoyed playing for us, and has said he would love to come again. He has known and played with Ken McCarthy over a period of 30 years, so although he had never been to Hedsor before, he felt very at home with us. 

As I said, “great”.

 

The other amazing session was last Sunday afternoon, where Vasilis Xenopoulos played at the first of the Autumn season of Dawkes of Maidenhead’s live sessions. He was alongside pianist Paul Edis as they played titles from their new album “Feels Like Home”. The musicianship was of an incredibly high jaw dropping standard.

The music finished at 5pm, and Vasilis rushed off for his next gig...in St Albans!!

 

Below you will find the details of Dawkes program. It is a comfortable and smart venue and has excellent sound properties for the listener, sitting around small tables with a choice of drinks available for you to complete your afternoon.

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/dawkesmusic

 

Don’t forget that Dawkes is a musical instrument store, not a jazz venue, so the style of music played at their live events has a wider appeal.

 

The Hedsor Bar isn’t quit so smart (or as new!), but isn’t too uncomfortable or shabby and of course has a full bar. So this Thursday you will be able to hear in comfort what I am sure will be another extremely good session of modern jazz. Really even I have to pinch myself sometimes when I realise the quality of the product Hedsor Jazz produces. This week it is pinch time again, as trumpeter Stuart Henderson and Saxophonist Alum Nathoo come to play for us. Both musicians are outstanding in their own right and don’t forget all our sessions have a trio of experienced musicians backing those on the front line.

 

Once upon a time we used to travel into London to listen to the standard of jazz played at Hedsor. Now some of the people who used to be in that audience IN London now travel out to us at Hedsor!! Beware, we don’t have street lights!!

Here at Hedsor Jazz we are working on a plan for next year. We have ideas for the 52 Thursdays of 2025, but it would be good if you could let us have your ideas as well. One thing we can offer is that if you have someone in mind and feel that you could actually sponsor that person, we will do our level best to fit them in to our program for 2025. Do let us know. We will get back to you with the likely cost to you of that guest.

There are other jazz venues.

Check out Marlow Jazz  https://www.marlowjazz.co.uk/WEBSITE2024SEPT.pdf

Also Alam Nathoo is playing Bourne End Community Centre on Tuesday November 5^th

Finally please keep in mind September 19^th, where we at Hedsor Jazz pay tribute to “our” late reedman, Mike Wills. 

It will be a special evening.