The Back Cover of the 1938 Carnegie Hall Paul Whiteman Concert


The Front Cover of the Keith Nichols tribute to Paul Whiteman


Just a short Blog this week.

On Thursday at Hedsor we have John Rolls on saxophones (one at a time, but still a muliread player). He has a wonderful way with ballads, so come and pay your £3 and have a listen from 8.30pm onwards.

Sunday at Fifield, another great sax player (and wasn't John Barnes wonderful there last Sunday? But where was the jazz loving audience?), Al Nichols will be swinging along, mostly on tenor sax. This is a free event, but I'm sure the landlord would like to recover some of the costs of his new carpet, so do buy a decent number of raffle tickets.

Coming soon to Hedsor (23rd August) another rising star in the jazz firmament, Vasils Xenopoulos. Miss that gig and you will really miss something very special. He is a regular with "The Sound of 17" big band, and so knows Ken Rankine very well, and I was talking with Ken McCarthy about him on Sunday too, and he is truly a star coming over our horizon.

Thinking of stars, John Barnes played a truly stunning solo on Stardust last Sunday. He started out the number on baritone, but switched to clarinet for his solo, which came as a fitting finale to an evening where meteorites could really be seen outside!

CD Listening

This week I have listened to a recreation of Paul Whiteman's Orchestra by Keith Nichols with the Northern Sinfonia recorded at a concert in The Sage in Gateshead. Initially one would think that the music was passed it's sell by date, but after a few minutes one is captivated by the arrangement and orchestration. Its another success for Lake Records. Its recorded in very good quality sound, and makes you realise what the original must have sounded like. Yes, we do have recordings of the Original Whiteman sound, so I dug them out to listen to.

On Nostalgia Arts ( a division of storyville records ) you can find all of he Christmas Day Carnegie Hall Concert of 1938. I was 4 moths old at the time and don't remember it well! But if you really want to hear the original band (in less Fi than Keith Nichols) then try for 303 3025.Its a double CD, and the last piece is Rhapsody in Blue. Originally written for, and performed by, The Whiteman Orchestra for his first Carnegie Hall concert in 1928.

The album is a must for serious jazz musicologists, the sleeve notes are extensive, and the whole thing very worth having.

One final thought, we could put together a very useful trio, of just Nichols!! Chris Nichols on Drums, Keith Nichols on Piano, and Al Nichols on Tenor. Now there's a thought!

TTFN


Geoff C