Oh yes, this is a blast from the past! It’s a Geoff’s Jazz nag!!

Back from Swanage (See the Festival report at http://jazzfromgeoff.blogspot.com) and now sweltering in this summers heat (we are British, we WILL complain about the weather!), I thought it appropriate to nag a bit about events on the live jazz front.

Tomorrow night we have The Clive Burton Quintet at The Hedsor Social Club, 8.30 ‘till 11 ish. The last few weeks have seen a thin on the ground audience and with it being very hot, some discussion is taking place about continuing with this event. I will reiterate, If you don’t come out to support live jazz, it will disappear. The government has already done its best with music prohibition, so just think of yourselves as gangsters and molls and come out discreetly tomorrow night. Knock 3 times on Hedsor Clubs door and pay £3 at the red tin and you will be let in to music and cheep booze!

Sunday, well you could go sailing in the serpentine, but better still go to The Fifield for a bit of Century Jazz. 8 pm ‘till 10.30 pm. This is an event actually paid for by the landlord, who recoups some of his outlay for the price of a raffle ticket. Help to keep it alive!!

Mondays you can catch some live jazz at Burnham’s Jolly Woodman, so if your bag is more traditional, go for it!

Review of the week.

Well, as is now my norm, I will try to fit in 2.

First, a CD that was sent to me because of my recent association with the jazz programs on Cookham Summer FM (now sadly at an end, did YOU listen?).

This is by a group of lady singers called “The Puppini Sisters”, who have recreated the sound of the 1940’s war time harmony groups. Not quite jazz, but a very creditable effort, wonderfully well produced, and definitely in the fun category. They are also very pretty, and dress in period style. How do I know this from the CD? Simple, they have an excellent web site as well. Go and have a look at www.thepuppinisisters.com and you to can see and hear them. There is even a downloadable video of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” which is very pro. You can also sample a few seconds of every one of the tracks from the CD. These tracks include “Mr Sandman”, Bei Mir Bist Du Schon” “Jeepers Creepers” as well as more modern songs like Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” all performed ah la Boswell Sisters or Andrew Sisters. You will soon see where they are coming from. My only criticism is that I’m not sure you will want to listen to a whole CD of very similar materiel, but, as its free to look, do try out there web site and see if you like it.CD No. is UCJ 9857592, again written in print on the sleeve so small you will need a magnifying glass to read it!

The other CD to bring to your attention is one I picked up at Swanage (OK, I did pay for it!), by Steve Waterman called “Stablemates”. This is the music of Benny Golson and Wayne Shorter, and has a different line up for each. The Golson Sessions are by a quintet with Ben Castle tenor sax, Mark Nightingale trombone, Nick Weldon on piano, Andy Cleyndart bass and Clark Tracey drums. A super sound and somewhat reminisant of our own Clive Burton Quintet. The Wayne Shorter tracks are by a quartet with Anthiny Kerr on vibs, Mike Outram gtr, Laurence Cottle bass gtr, and Ian Thomas on drums. This group reminded me of “The Usual Suspects” who used to play for me at The Old Bell. A great CD, available on Mainstream Records as MSTCD 0035 (in print size I can read!).

That’s it for now, the text of this nag, together with cover art will be found later in the day over on my blog.

Have a nice hot day now!!

Geoff C