I'm rushing this out in a hurry, because I don't want anyone to have forgotten, that TONIGHT, we have another of our wonderful jazz sessions at The Hedsor Social Club from 8.30 pm onwards. From TONIGHT, the entrance fee goes UP to £5, but it does include a raffle ticket (just 1).

The performers tonight are, of course, The Clive Burton Quintet.

CD's

Having rushed that off my chest, let me tell you of 2 of the CD's I've been listening to in the last few days (covers illustrated above).

First a lovely album from the present. Alan Barnes, who is in danger of being the most overworked saxophonist in the business, has released an album on his own Woodbridge label, playing just clarinet! Its in trio format, and is really paying tribute to the Benny Goodman Trio of the 1930's. With him he has 2 young musicians, Jim Hart on vibraphone, and Paul Clarvis on drums. It is incredibly well done, and wonderful in that these guys are playing music that one thought of as forgotten in the rush for young jazz musicians to reinvent the jazz genre!

Its well recorded, it swings, and you can whistle the tunes. "Seven Come Eleven", "Slipped Disk", "Airmail Special", all the tunes are there. But they are not note for note copies of those 1930's originals. Each musician appreciates the tune, but adds to its value. Highly recommended. And it is always nice to know that buying a copy will keep Alan's children from starvation!! "Swinging in Studio One" is on Woodville WVCD118.

The other Cd is in fact a Lake Records double album (2 for the price of one as the cover says), and like the majority of Lake releases, a re-issue.

This time its from the 1960's. Disk one from 64 and disk 2 of 66. They are both of the Humph band of the time, but accompanied by Count Basie trumpet Star Buck Clayton. In the days of the recording, the MU were still in dispute over visiting American musicians, and recording them in the UK was not allowed. So, the LP's (yes,I DO have the original LP's!) led one to believe they were recorded in a restaurant in Switzerland. Actually they were recorded in the back of a pub in Willesden!

Between 64 and 66 the band Humph led went through a number of changes. The earlier tracks have Tony Coe on tenor sax, coupled with the amazing Joe Temperly on baritone sax, a marriage made in heaven from my viewpoint. On bass was Pete Blannin, and Eddie Taylor was on drums (Stan Gregg, who had been playing drums up to 1956 (yes, drums) for Humph had been called up as a reservist to do his bit in the Suez Crisis and never got back to being the drummer. He got back eventuallyas the pianist!). On piano was Eddie Harvey, who also played the trombone! Its just wonderful music, and as we are all blindfolded you cannot easily tell who is playing the trumpet at any one time. "Unbooted Character", "The Hucklebuck", "The Wrestlers Tricks" are the better known tracks, but they are all good, and despite the venue of the recording, its not half bad.

The second disk see's Chris Pyne on Trombone, and Kathy Stobart on tenor sax. Eddie Harvey remains on piano, but Dave Green is on bass, and Tony Taylor on drums. "One for Buck", "Poor Butterfly" (well they are now an endangered species!), "Russian Lullaby" and "Bernies Tune" leave you with plenty of opportunity to join in on your whistle. Lake should be congratulated on there reissue of British Jazz heritage. These 2 came from 77 Records, which used to be Doug Dobell's label (the 77 being the shop address in Charing Cross road). It's not a lot of money for a double album, so spend it! LAKE Records LACD227

Well, as the winter returns (did it ever leave?) I shall probably get around to listening to more from my collection, bu until the next time its

TTFN

Geoff C.