Last night, I made a couple of mistakes!

Mistake number one. I tell you all to get to Hedsor early, and I get there slightly later than usual (for me!), to find the usual seats full!!!

Mistake number two, I didn’t take my camera! If I had, then I could show everyone how full it was for our debut session for Debbie Wilson, and how blonde a blonde she really is!

Debbie was accompanied by one of our regular famous friends, Simon Spillett, (who, I think, knows Debbie better than we do!) on tenor sax, and despite PA gremlins in the first half the entire evening had a real wow factor. Debbie sang a lot of songs usually referred to as from “The Great American Songbook”, including one made famous by Louis Armstrong (“We Have All the Time in The World”). Debbie’s voice is deepish, but thankfully, better ranged than Louis!

So, it was a delight to have her with us for an evening. There were a number of new faces in the audience, and I think they are now aware of how good a night at The Hedsor Social Club can be.

Another noteworthy point was teaming Simon and Debbie together has enhanced Simons ballad playing. He, (and for that matter Clive Burton on Trombone), played some wonderful ballad choruses last night.

Which only goes to show that “If I could be with you (one hour tonight)” could prove very beneficial to everyone!

Before leaving the subject of Debbie and Simon, do take a look and listen to www.debbiewilsonsings.com

Next week we also have another of our favourite guest artists, saxophonist Peter Cook. I know Clive announced that it would be the “usual band” with Mike Wills (no bad thing anyway), but Peter Cook is coming as I mentioned in my last posting.

So, if last night was your first experience of Jazz at Hedsor, don’t make it your last, do come next week (Thursday 20^th).

As an afterthought, if we regularly get 40 people coming in on a Thursday, we will address the space issue, and we will be able to add a third guest member to the front line on a more regular basis. It is only with an audience that we can keep live jazz alive.

Finally may I wish Debbie Wilson a great tour of the South. Yorkshire knows it is a lucky place!

Blog updates from me have been a bit thin on the ground lately, but here is a quick REMINDER for tomorrow. Also at the end of the page, you will see some news of forthcoming events.

I don't think that any of you will need a reminder, BUT, just to let you know AGAIN, that not only do we have incredible good jazz at Hedsor every Thursday with the Clive Burton Quintet, but TOMORROW from 8.30 pm onwards, we will be joined by tenor man SIMON SPILLETT.

And if that wasn't enough to make you realize just what value you get at Hedsor for £5, tomorrow we will also be joined by singer DEBBIE WILSON. Go on, do a Google, you can even hear samples of her album recently recorded with Simon and his quartet which also includes pianist John Critcheson (he played Hedsor on Monday for me last year).

Tomorrow should be a real wow evening. If you want to get a seat, do come early.

Oh, and for those of you who come mainly for the raffle, your £5 ticket will again give you the possibility of winning one of our magnificent prizes.

Jazz at The Hedsor Social Club takes place every Thursday from 8.30 pm. Coming soon on August 20th we have another saxophone legend, Peter Cook.

Watch out for a soon to be released CD featuring many of the musicians we see regularly at Hedsor, including Peter. Our regular drummer, Martin Hart, has been busy again! You could ask him for a copy of his last album "Mind Games". If my memory isn't too rusty, that was actually played on Humph's Monday night show!

Tell your friends, keep live jazz ALIVE.

Geoff C