This week is one of the “jazz free” weeks at Hedsor Jazz, which is good for our finances but not so good for our jazz and social lives! I for one miss the conviviality of weekly meets.

After last Thursday perhaps I miss jazz this week more than usual, because last week became extra special.

Special because our special guest was Alan Barnes. 

I thought he played really well, and it was good to have him at Hedsor again. I have know him and listened to him over many of my 88 years, and probably for about 40 of his 67!

He is a great British player who makes modern jazz very accessible with his light hearted comments and attitudes to playing it. Plus also his undoubted skill as a saxophonist. Last Thursday he brought his “big one” to Hedsor, his baritone sax. What a wonderful rasping sound that generates!

But he also brought his clarinet (for his Thursday clarinet practice night?) and an old alto sax donated to him by another musician who is no longer able to play through ill health. He told me that since acquiring this he has favoured it over newer instruments in his collection. In his hands it did sound really wonderful. “Isfahan”, played by him on it in the second set, was truly beautiful.

Also last week joining us and Alan in the second set was singer Nanci Zhang, a delight to see and hear. One of the songs she sang was about the city she comes from - “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans”. 

Hedsor Jazz has been very lucky in having her come to sing for us when she is in the UK

The supporting trio behind them this week was Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Mike Jeffries on drums.This week our bass player was a barefoot Richard Sadler.

 

I will add that all of the above was enhanced by The Hedsor Bar’s air conditioning.

We had a good appreciative audience, and it was very pleasant to have so many friends, some not seen for some time, come and visit Hedsor for this celebration of (my) survival.

To finish our August month (!) two more friends of Hedsor Jazz will be with us. On August 27^th we have on saxophone Duncan Lamont and on trumpet Lester Brown. All backed by our regular trio led by Ken McCarthy.

Duncan Lamont

 

Lester Brown

Our first gig in September is on September 10^th when we will have an exciting bringing together for the first time of saxophonist Alam Nathoo with guitarist Mark Ridout. We have had many exciting moments from both of these fine musicians before. We all agree that they have been real finds for Hedsor Jazz. But they have never met, little own played together before. The weather may be cooling off by the time of this gig, but I recon sparks will fly! Definitely “mark” you diaries NOW.

As is his want, Alan Barnes did bring some of his CD’s to Hedsor to sell. He has gone past the age where he announces them as a means of providing for his starving children. Now he sells them to provide for his aging relatives! 

His plea was so heart warming that I bought two!

One was a reissue from the 1980’s and is one of the earliest recordings of Alan with Dave Newton. Even then they were pretty good, and it is a very enjoyable listen.

The other one I acquired is a recording from last year with Alan joined by Mark Nightingale on trombone and James Davison on trumpet. It’s called “Jazz Classics with a Twist” and is a really well crafted set of well loved (by jazz musicians) tunes! It really is excellent, and I would suggest that you tap Alan on the shoulder next time you see him and purchase it.

You know it makes sense, at least another cup of tea for an aging relative of Alan’s!

Artwork for both is below

 

One final nudge.

Some years ago Hedsor Jazz had some help from Brunel University. One of those assisting us was Charlie Wren, who at the time sang in a pop rock group. She has recently started to make more waves in that genre, and has released a pop single on YouTube. Give it a listen, and perhaps boost her way to stardom!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmokDUptTRI&list=RDGMEMQ1dJ7wXfLlqCjwV0xfSNbAVMfmokDUptTRI&start_radio=1https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmokDUptTRI&list=RDGMEMQ1dJ7wXfLlqCjwV0xfSNbAVMfmokDUptTRI&start_radio=1

TTFN

Geoff

THIS WEEK AT HEDSOR JAZZ

THIS Thursday August 13^th at The Hedsor Bar, we have the great ALAN BARNES!

Coming to celebrate the great heat wave, but in the cool of The Hedsor Bar’s AIR CONDITIONING is multi-reed instrumentalist Alan Barnes, one of Britain’s top saxophonists, and a great humorists to boot.

Accompanying him at Hedsor this week will be Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Richard Sadler on bass and Mike Jeffries on drums.

We are also hoping to see American singer Nanci Zhang this Thursday too. After her last appearance when she saw on our handbills that Alan was with us this week she suggested that she might like to come and sit in for a couple of songs too.

So cool jazz in a cool room! What better way is there to celebrate a hot August.

Last time Alan was with us he came with his long time friend and associate Dave Newton on keyboard. Sadly Dave is unable to come to us with him this year, (we are trying to book him for later in the year), so there will be more space for Alan’s humour!

Alan and Dave do have an excellent program of piano-saxophone duets worked out. They have played together for many years since their time together at Leeds Music College and have an excellent rapport. A video of them working together in concert at St Mary’s Church, Perivale,( filmed 9 months ago) can be viewed from the link:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq1jzAb4whw

If you copy and paste this in your browser you will get 75 minutes of the complete concert. (be aware that the first 15 minutes from the link is waiting time and preamble)!

“The quality of Hedsor is not strained” is obviously a corruption of Portia’s speech from “The Merchant of Venice”, but you might like to consider it, because two weeks after Alan’s appearance at Hedsor, we have a return of another well loved saxophonist and friend of Hedsor Jazz. Duncan Lamont Jr. is coming to play for us on August 27^th, together with trumpeter Lester Brown.

Reducing Hedsor Jazz’s frequency may have enabled us to keep going, but it also means that we cannot see friends quiet as often as we all would like, and I do mean friends who play as well as those who listen.

One final sad note. You may have had, or may still have, a strange email message purporting to come from me. Please DO NOT RESPOND. It isn’t from me, my address book has been “compromised”. To be on the safe side I would suggest you change your passwords.

 

 Today, A Wednesday, is an unusual day for a blog.

But due to yesterday being taken up with a need to “rationalise” some storage space which meant triggering some memories that had been encapsulated onto floppy disks (remember them, early memories indeed) I ran out of energy, really perhaps more, the will to live (in the past!).

And then the first part of my evening was taken up with an extraordinary 100 ball cricket match (241 for 2, SunRisers Leeds Men, off 100 balls) it meant that I didn’t get to write the blog ‘till this morning.

Sadly NO JAZZ at Hedsor this week, but next week??!!

ALAN BARNES COMES (AGAIN) TO HEDSOR.

Yes,as part of my celebration of survival we have Alan coming to us at Hedsor. 

Make the date, August 13^th. Usual entry time and fee 8pm start, £12 entry. Which includes the AIRCON!! AND the evening MAY also include a guest appearance of  singer Nanci Zhang!

 

We do of course always have some great jazz for you to listen to at Hedsor. The second and fourth Thursday of every month is set aside for it.

Our future looks bright:-

 

And we have an advanced booking for us all to look forward to.

On November 26^th we have the combined mighty talents of Vasilis Xenopoulos and Nigel Price coming to Hedsor Jazz.

 

One of the joys of survival is that I can go back a long time. To a time when no one had heard of either of these two stars of the British jazz scene.

BUT they played at Hedsor for us, initially in the bar when we used that. Initially it was on a Monday when we ran some guitar led jazz, and James Fenn introduced us to Vasilis.

And then for a Cookham Festival Jazz Night Vasilis introduced us to Nigel.

Today of course jazz festivals are organised around them, but they still find time to play for us at Hedsor Jazz. DONT MISS IT. They may even play requests. A duet of “The One Note Samba” perhaps!

Going back a long time has made me look back at the kind of jazz I started listening to.

I’ll try and write some more on this another time, but for starters an LP I heard in the early 1960’s was “Coast Concert” with Bobby Hackett and his band. It was recorded in 1955 and is timeless, label less, jazz, with that master of the trombone Jack Teagarden joining Bobby alongside Matty Matlock on clarinet.

I’m not sure if it is still available, but it was reissued on CD paired with another similar recording called Jazz Ultimate on Dormouse Records DMI CDX02, artwork below. 

As a matter of no interest at all, I first heard the recording from off of a reel to reel tape machine. They did indeed issue commercial recordings on this once popular recording media.

Good Tuesday everyone.

Sadly no jazz at the Hedsor Bar this week.

But last week was rather special.

It turned out that we had 3 great guests last week. Not only was Nanci Zhang every bit as good as we had expected her to be, but saxophonist Martin Dunston was a really excellent supporting voice on saxophone and flute. I should of course say saxophones, as he not only had his tenor with him, but also his soprano sax as well. Silky tones and really great accompaniment for Nanci, with some great jazz on his solo inputs.

Our third guest was on the bass (“Its All About the Bass”!!). Richard Sadler was taking the place of Al Pirrie, who was on a short break from Hedsor, and Richard showed his excellence as a bass player. He will be back, see below!!

Some pictures of our evening are below.

 

Writing in the word “back” has prompted me to say how great it was to welcome back as part of last week audience, Martin Hart. Martin is recovering from quite a serious illness. He has been the mainstay of most of the jazz at Hedsor over the past 20 years, and it was really good to have him in the audience with us again and also back taking photos, (he is a renowned prize winning exhibition photographer).

His playing career goes back further than Hedsor of course. He was a founder member of John Mayall Blues Breakers!

Martin did have a very photogenic subject to take photos of, Nanci! My “snap” of her above may just give a hint at the photographic possibilities.

Looking ahead comes August. An important month in my diary. I was born in August and Married in August, so I always try and have a special jazz event in August.

OK, ALL our Hedsor Jazz evenings are special, but to have Alan Barnes come and play for us is, in my view, special. I have listened to him and chatted to him and even at one point looked after his very young daughter in a pram in Swanage until his gig finished and she could be collected.

So on August 13^th we will have Alan, plus Richard Sadler on bass (Al is still holidaying), Ken McCarthy on piano and Mike Jeffries on drums.

When Nanci saw our flyer for the next month she did express interest in maybe coming and sitting in with Alan. We will still charge our usual entry fee!! Maybe an exit tax!?

Alan Barnes was a member of the Humphrey Littleton Band for some years earlier in his career. Do go and check out his back catalogue and also have a read of Alan own recollections of his time with Humph.

https://www.alanbarnesjazz.com/post/manage-your-blog-from-your-live-site

That’s about it for now; do encourage others to support live jazz, just as you do yourself of course!

Geoff

A one time member of The 100 Club!

Yes, it IS Tuesday and, YES, you are reading Geoff’s blog on a Hedsor Jazz week!

And what a week it will be. Coming back to sing for us on Thursday July 23rd, all the way from the U.S.A., is NANCI ZHANG. She will be accompanied at the front by saxophonist Martin Dunston, and as our regular bass player Al Pirrie has decided to take a holiday, another bass player used to having a lady singer fronting the band, Richard Sadler, has been drafted in in his place. Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Mike Jeffries on drums complete the ensemble.

Try not to miss this, no football, no tennis, and cricket? are going to preoccupy your time, so why not come out and really enjoy an evening of song.

Nanci was with us last year and we are all delighted that she wants to come back.

We have future plans. Yet to be booked, but we know they want to come, are Vasils Xenopoulos and Nigel Price together, we are trying to negotiate a suitable date. Both played for Hedsor Jazz in there progress to top billing, now they are top billings it is harder to get them, but they still do want to come.

Take a look at the program below for August and September. You may have heard of one or two of the musicians before as well!

 

Last Saturday Marlow celebrated the life of Michael Eagleton with a concert in Court Gardens House given by “Five Way Split”, I listed it in my last blog.

 

The music was superb, the room acoustics dreadful! I must remember never to put on music in that room ever! As Vasilis said after the show, “its the sign of a good band that they can play well in a room with dreadful acoustics.” I can assure you that they are a very good band!

 

I can understand the choice of venue, it is a very smart room to sit in, but for a musical event it had drawbacks.. The room layout around big tables mean that a lot of people had a sideways view of the band, and pre-allocated seating meant that you couldn’t sit with your friends. 

A sideways view of some of the band is below. See last weeks blog for the poster.

 

Michael is sad loss to the world of jazz. I first got to know him in 1971and in the years that followed I did occasionally join him for one or two of his radio shows, broadcast from a hut in the Longridge Activity Centre on The Thames.

He also ran a record shop in Marlow selling not only records (LP’s in those days), but some Hi Fi as well, in a upstairs room above the shop. He was a generous man, now much missed.

Don’t forget that to keep live jazz alive, you have to come and see it LIVE, wherever it is performed.

But ESPECIALLY at Hedsor! 

Sadly NO JAZZ at Hedsor this week,

BUT in Marlow on Saturday 18^th July tribute will be paid by Vasilis Xenopoulos and Five Way Spilt to the late Michael Eagleton who provided many of us with many hours of fine jazz over the last 50 years. See advert and links below.

 

Our last session at The Hedsor Bar was another that can only honestly be called “OUTSTANDING”

Trumpeter Steve Waterman had not played with saxophonist Alam Nathoo before, but that teaming was an outstanding success. Steve wrote afterwards 

” Thank you so much for the gig last night. As always it was a great pleasure to play with Ken, Al and Mike, and I was absolutely thrilled to be working alongside Alum who is a wonderful player”. 

At Hedsor we are well aware of Alam’s wonderful playing, and he is fortunately able to come and play for us quite often.

You Missed it? Well it was a hot night! (We sat in the cool of Hedsor Bars Aircon!) and there was a lot of tennis on, as well as other distractions like cricket and football. But sometimes the magic happens with the music and is only for you if your there!

Some photos of the night are below.

Our next gig at Hedsor is on Thursday July 23^rd and I am delighted to say that we have a singer from America coming to entertain us again.

NANCI ZHANG will be with saxophonist Martin Dunston, Richard Sadler on bass, Ken McCARTHY on Keyboards and Mike Jeffries on drums

So as it is still very lemonade weather, I will call it “A Sunny Afternoon”! and go for a lie down!!

See you in Marlow on Saturday evening.

This week at Hedsor Jazz

SUPERJAZZ and AIR CONDITIONING

Yes this Thursday, July 9^th at the Hedsor Bar there will be some superb live jazz.

Trumpeter Steve Waterman, one of Britain’s top trumpeters, and well known on the international jazz stage, is coming (again) to play at Hedsor. This time (yes, he has been before) we are teaming him with a jazz musician, who due to family commitments, could not continue in his award winning career, saxophonist Alam Nathoo. Alam  lives near enough to The Hedsor Bar to be able to walk to us, and he is a very special jazz musician. His technique and understanding of a tunes musical structure are truly wonderful, and I’m sure our jazz evening will be very special with the fusion of these two players. Our regular rhythm section will be backing them.

The weather is very warm again BUT The Hedsor Bar has air conditioning! What more do you want for your £12 entry fee (in cash please, we don’t want to pay a bank even more for giving them our money to look after) and with club bar prices it should be more than enough to encourage you to come.

Photos of both of these star players from previous Hedsor gigs are below.

 

 

Looking ahead to July 23^rd we have a return visit of New Orleans singer Nanci Zhang. Nanci has sung for us before on her visits to the UK, but this time we are featuring her, and she will be the star of our evening. That is as long as saxophonist Martin Dunston doesn’t mind being a mere mortal for this night! Also guesting with us will be the renowned bass player Richard Sadler  coming as part of our backing trio.

 

Finally this weekend I was due to go to The Swanage Jazz Festival, 

but due to a health problem that needed checking out I have had to cancel 

my visit. I have therefore a Stroller Ticket for the entire weekend going spare. 

Contact me if you can use it as I would hate to see it going to waste. 

I will bring it with me to Hedsor on Thursday if is not claimed before hand.