The Weeks Go By………

with amazing speed, so here I am again extolling the virtues of jazz, and Hedsor Jazz in particular.

To write this blog I use and choose words. I assemble them to be understood in a language that is read. I also assemble them to encourage and to bring amusement perhaps to those who read them.

Music is another language. One that needs, perhaps, to be understood, but it doesn’t need to be studied to be enjoyed. There are many dialects within the language of music, and JAZZ is just one, itself divided into subsets of style.

At Hedsor Jazz we try to provide a variety of styles, but always performed with skill by true exponents of the music. Coming to Hedsor Bar this week on Thursday March 27^th , (hopefully with a less raucous bar room next door) we have two true leaders at the front, people who have built their musical language on the basis of entertaining through it.

Duncan Lamont Jr will be with us on reed instruments. He is a fine exponent of music from stage and film. Yes, he still pays it though the jazz frame, but you may know more of the tunes than those of us who came up through swing and the bop eras. Duncan also has the gift of explaining the tunes with words. He will tell you more about the songs played during the evening than you would get through an evening of BBC Radio 2.

Duncan Lamont Jr

 

Pete Rudeforth is a trumpet player with an exceptional ability on that instrument and with a breadth of understanding for the music that comes from playing in more traditional jazz styles. He was one of the last trumpet players in the late Chris Barbers band.

Pete Rudeforth with Al Pirrie

 

Behind them will be “our” rhythm section, Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Mike Jeffries on drums, with a bass player (Peter Hughes) who used to run his own jazz club and therefore has a wealth of experience playing any tune.

So do join us this Thursday (March 27^th) for a great evening of music in the language of JAZZ.

Last Thursday we had fewer players!

Yes, we did have Ken McCarthy and Mike Jeffries with Al Pirrie on bass, but in front and in soul charge was that Master of Music from Greece, (via Berkley Boston’s music collage), Vasilis Xenopoulos. And for the better part of 2 hours he gave us a master class in the jazz saxophone. It was a superb evening where he played standard tunes like “You Don’t Know What Love is” and “Blame it On My Youth” from memory. No music stand, no mobile phone, just his memory.

 Vasilis just wanted to have an evening playing less organised tunes as he had been working on a number of projects recently and just wanted to play rather than concentrate (!), and he did so with fervour and excitement, and with a tone I hadn’t heard from him before. It was indeed a master class. It was only marred by the noisy crowd that night in Hedsor's bar room!

We look forward to more evenings in “conversation” with other jazz voices. Do take a look at our program for April and try and make Hedsor Jazz your Thursday Night habit!

 

There is a bright star in the sky! Sunshine?

AND we also look forward to a bright star at Hedsor Jazz this coming Thursday, March 20th!

Saxophonist star Vasilis Xenopoulos will be leading our rhythm section of Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Al Pirrie on bass and Mike Jeffries on drums and I’m sure he will be exploiting some of the meaning of jazz for us. Sometimes it is good to have just one front line voice to exploit tunes that we may have heard multiple times.

More can sometimes come from less. I personally always enjoy listening to the harmonies generated by two instruments at the front, one leading the other and then changing the rolls. But by giving some individual musicians the chance to explore before an audience a tune that they know well will often illuminate for us a tune that we thought we knew well too! On Thursday we look to Vasilis, a Master of Music from Boston’s Berkley Collage of Music, to shine that light.

 

Last Thursday we had at Hedsor Jazz one of those sessions that I thought before the night might not work. Guitarist James Fenn and trumpeter Lester Brown have different jazz backgrounds, and with piano, bass, and guitar all being chordal instruments I worried that it might not work behind a single note instrument. In addition, Lester and James had never met before, and Stuart Barker on bass had never met James before either, so I was a little worried.

I WAS WRONG! It was one of those evenings where jazz magic did actually happened. We had some of that wonderful musical cohesion that you can only dream about. The three, plus drums, worked beautifully, with an integrated sound whilst Lester was playing above them that much rehearsal would have killed. In my mind it gave Lester a freedom that I hadn’t heard from him before, and I do believe it was the best I have ever heard him play. We will be booking them again! Smiles all round. My pictures from the evening are below.

 

Coming to us at the end of March (Thursday 27^th) two players with a breadth of experience in jazz. Trumpet player Pete Rudeforth and saxophonist Duncan Lamont Jr. Pete is another musician who comes via the mainstream and traditional jazz background, having his own band playing in that style, and having been part of the last version of the Chris Barber Band, whereas Duncan comes with a strong affiliation to the musical (as in stage and story with music) genre. Both have a host of stories to tell, and some of those stories they will tell by playing. Don’t miss it!

Below is our program poster for April. Do copy, print and display. We need more in our audience to guarantee you can have a Christmas Party at Hedsor Jazz!

 

In recent years I have written much less about recorded jazz than I used to do 15 years or so ago. It is one thing to move from LP albums with great cover art, to cassette tapes with minute sleeves, on to CD’s with great booklets of information, on to streaming music with no notes and no art at all. Personally I think that only streaming your music leaves you without a sense of ownership, whereas you did actually cherish your purchased solid object, being LP, cassette or CD.

So this week I thought I would at least mention 3 CD’s that have come my way this month, all by Jacques Loussier and his trio. 2 CD’s are actually double albums, and are later recordings of some the J L Work we knew from 1959. They are mostly recordings that were made later in the 2010’s reflecting back on those recordings that so surprised the jazz and classical world on their original release.

In this reissue format they are stunning. Both recording and execution are of top quality, and well worth your ears and time to listen. I still think the Bach titles are the best, although much of the Vivaldi is kind of thought provoking. All in all, if you can still play CD’s, and you have the time to listen to them, do give them all a try. Three musicians playing very nicely together!

In these days of “instant” Music, taking the time to listen will reward you in more than 3 ways!!

Album artwork below.

That’s it for now folks, enjoy all the sunshine! 

Tuesday 11^th March. ALREADY!

And we still have plenty of good jazz things for you to look forward to!

This week at Hedsor Jazz, it’s Lester Brown on trumpet, and James Fenn on guitar. Two long time associates of jazz at Hedsor, with Lester being more recently regular, and James being a longer term associate!.

Lester Brown

James Fenn and Martin Hart

I know many of you now get a synopsis from another Jazz Angel about who is playing in any given week, but I will enlarge on James’s. 

“James Fenn Guitarist  a member of The Filthy Six with a EP ‘Soho Filth, Live from Dean St Studios and Ronnie Scott’s'. He also plays cool jazz guitar”.

Soon after we started running regular Thursday evenings at The Hedsor Social Club I was invited to run another evening there, as the Hedsor Club wanted to increase their footfall.

I was already running a monthly Tuesday evening at The Old Bell in Wooburn, so I elected to do a monthly Monday at Hedsor, but in order not to clash styles we decided to place a guitar emphasis on our Monday nights, and these monthly meetings were led by James Fenn. With Lisa Amato on bass guitar, Nick Maragoni on drums, and usually a guest or two. We had some memorable Mondays, with a young Vasilis Xenopoulos on tenor sax sometimes joining in. On one occasion John Critchinson came on keyboard as well! The pictures below on the cd cover are from those days, now long since past

 

In those days, James was also an associate of saxophonist Dave O’Higgins who came to play at both Hedsor and The Old Bell . James also recorded an EP CD with him as well. 

So James may not be so well known to most of our now Hedsor Jazz regulars, but has an excellent pedigree, and a long association with Hedsor Jazz. Do come on Thursday (13^th, what an auspicious date) to see how nicely James and Lester can play together!! (yes, that was a phrase from my experience of bringing up children!!). 

Last week was one of the sessions we hope to continue on the first Thursday of each month. We have been so astounded by the combination of Stuart Henderson and Alam Nathoo, trumpet and tenor sax respectively, that we are booking them for each first Thursday of the month, just to maximise and share the joy! You wont get to hear better jazz ANYWHERE, so put the dates in your diary now. My photos of the last session are below.

Do keep an eye on this blog (Jazz from Geoff), updates and late alterations are here by most Tuesdays per week.

You can also keep Meta in mega money by looking for Hedsor Jazz on there FaceBook page.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555280143899

  

Time and tide wait for no man so they say, and as Canute tried to disprove. He failed and got wet feet.

So here am I again writing to encourage you that live jazz Hedsor Jazz style is worth all of your time and effort.

And as it is (again) a new month, our first Thursday of the month (March 6^th) has trumpeter Stuart Henderson teamed up again with saxophonist Alam Nathoo. This has proved a very popular pairing this year so far, and we hope to establish it as a regular pattern. With them this week will be Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Al Pirrie on bass and Mike Jeffries on drums.

I have at this point got to mention that prior to last weeks session our drummer Martin Hart had a fall, and although he hasn’t broken anything, he is a bit bruised, and so will not be with us this week. Loss of balance is sadly often a part of the aging process, and some of us have done it before, even when sober!!

Do get well soon Martin, but in the meantime, enjoy your record collection!

Sadly I was unable to get to last weeks Hedsor Jazz for domestic reasons  and therefore don’t have any photos of that to show you. I am assured that it was a great evening. Many kind friends have rubbed it in that I had missed a good night. I will hasten to add that in my view all Hedsor Jazz nights are good, and if you miss one for whatever reason, you ARE going to miss a good one. So pay attention, because below is our listing for March. Please copy it off and put it before the passing publics gaze!

 

Below are a couple of older photos of Al Nicholls that I have taken at past Hedsor sessions.

 

In addition to taking note of who is on at Hedsor Jazz in March, do put into your diary August 14^th, as we have another “special” evening coming to Hedsor Jazz.

Saxophonist Alan Barnes will be coming to play alongside his fellow Leeds Collage of Music graduate pianist David Newton. It will be just the two of them. They have duetted together occasionally for many years. I saw them doing so again at last years Swanage Jazz Festival, and in their Marquee you could hear a pin drop, such was the attention given to their playing by the audience. Sadly the noise from the other Marquee tried to interfere, but it was such a delight to hear them that they are coming to Hedsor just for us to do it all over again.

 

Don’t stop reading my blog, BUT do point people at our “new” FaceBook page, and help spread the word.

I am no expert on the use and operation of Facebook, but do encourage others to like us (I am told this is the right thing to do) so that we become famous!!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555280143899 might even get you to the right page.

 

 

A short, but hopefully informative, blog today.

A number of computer items seem to have crashed in the last few days with less reliability built in than the Wright Flyer!! So, I am behind schedule!!

First, coming this week, one of Hedsor Jazz’s Favourites. He has been coming to play with “our” guys since the 1990’s when jazz was being played (yes, on a Thursday) in what was The Cookham Tavern, now Costa’s Coffee!  

He played in the tribute concert at Norden Farm after the death of Keith Vitty in 2002, which was recorded (CD’s still available) and has been coming back over the years. AL Nicholls on tenor sax will be with us, with Ken McCarthy , Al Pirrie and Martin Hart with him. We thought we would give him all the space at the front, with maybe room for dancing at the back!

 

Last weeks session (pictures below) had another old returner, guitarist James Fenn, who has also been playing at Hedsor since the beginning of the century, sharing the limelight with a relative newcomer, tenorist Frank Walden, before Frank sets off on his tour of Germany.

These people enjoy coming to Hedsor Jazz, to play the music they enjoy in company with people who enjoy their music!

We will be putting out flyers for March (artwork below), but we are also trying to be more attractive with our poster art. If you fancy (and are able) displaying one in a public place near you, please do! Again the artwork is below.

 

That’s it for now folks. Do support live jazz wherever it may be found. Marlow Jazz, and Dawkes listing is also below.

 

The weeks fly by, and we are heading towards the third week of February already. I always seem to have more things to do than weeks to do them in, which in many ways is a good thing, as I don’t know what it would be like to be bored!

But I wouldn’t miss who we have coming this Thursday, February 20^th. 

When I wrote last week that guitarist James Fenn might have a dep playing next to him, I was mistaken. Saxophonist Frank Walden is billed and is coming! You can see them together in action in “The Filthy Six” on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8P67sqNu-E.

But at Hedsor Jazz this week our trio led by Ken McCarthy on keyboard  will be behind them.

James Fenn

As I wrote in last weeks blog James was one of the early players at Hedsor Jazz, and we had some entertaining Monday nights back in the early noughties!

Frank has only relatively recently come to be one of our regular saxophonists at Hedsor, and he is shortly to go out on tour, so we are fortunate to catch him before he goes.

Frank Walden

 

Last week (my photos are below) we had an evening with a difference inasmuch as not only did Lester Brown and Mark Aston play some familiar tunes, but we also had an original baroque style composition by Mark himself in the second set. Played as an unaccompanied duet with Lester “Small Piece” was a delight.

Another part of our evening with a difference was provided by singer Paul Cherry, who joined the band for a couple of tunes in the second set. As someone said to me “who needs to go to Ronnie Scott’s?”  At the prices they charge I would say “no one”. Their charges are very definitely out of my league. As an apprentice back in the 1950’s, I could afford to go to London Jazz Clubs and theatres, but not any more. Even the cheap seats are £30, and you will really have to make one drink last the night!

Paul Cherry, "sitting" in last week

 

OK, having quality jazz at The Hedsor Bar does have some drawbacks. Very few people would ever find out there is jazz there, as it doesn’t get many people walking past it, and yes, it is dark, with few (if any) streetlights. It isn’t the most luxurious place to be once inside, but there is a competitively priced bar, the venue is comfortable enough, the toilets are clean and you do have free car parking. AND you do get some really great jazz for your £10 entry.

So why not turn out and help us keep live jazz alive? In these challenging times our friendly atmosphere coupled with our wonderful musicians may make all the difference to your week.

A SAD FOOTNOTE

One of the guys who used to make quiet a difficult journey to get to Hedsor Jazz, (not every week, but over many years), coming part by train, and part on his bike, has recently passed away. Will Paine died suddenly in December. We didn’t learn about this until this week, and sadly, the funeral has already taken place. 

He was a keen open mike singer and now he can do so with a better class of choir!