A BLOG FOR CHRISTMAS

Just so that I have time to wrap my Christmas gifts, I thought I would write up my Christmas Blog today, Monday!!

It is composed in 3 parts!

First. To all of you who read this, and have yet to receive a Seasonal Card from me, I would like to take this opportunity of wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas. I also hope that we can all have a successful New Year too. Perhaps the EURO countries will gain sanity, and not lead the world into trauma in 2012. We can but hope.

Second. Our Party Plans for December 22^nd are complete. We have some superb guests coming. I dare not mention too many names, but Stuart Henderson and “Tolly” are coming. We also have Alan Graham on vibes and Willy Garnet on tenor sax. Clive has also promised to be with us. Michael Weinblatt will be running the RAFFLE, and in the second half of the evening we have every expectation of guitarist Nigel Price joining us after a strenuous day in the recording studio. We start at 8 pm don’t forget, and there are no seat reservations!! We are going to run the raffle early in order to have at least a full hour of Jazz after our buffet supper, so don’t leave it too late before coming!

Third. I did promise to at least mention a couple of CD’s you might like for Christmas.

One you may well be able to buy on the night and comes from Nigel Price. His Organ Trio Live!

In 2009 at Cookham we heard Nigel with a Hammond Organ player in The Vasilis Xtet. A memorable night. The advantage of a Hammond Organ is that it can fulfil the needs of a bass player as well as a keyboard player. And the sound can also have an amazing “swell” to it. Well, Nigel’s trio doesn’t have the same player, this time it has Pete Whittaker, but he does have another player with him who graced this years Cookham Festival stage in the shape of drummer, Matt Home. The CD has been recorded, as the cover tells you, “Live” ( I know actors can corpse, but I don’t know how you can record dead musicians!), in three different locations. The sound quality is excellent, and the playing throughout superb. Three musicians, but a very full sound. Matt on drums pushes all along with that effortlessness that means he has made many efforts before, it all swings wonderfully well. Nigel is a great Wes Montgomery style player, and can also drive all along with him. Pete makes the sound of the three totally homogenous, blending, standing to one side, commenting, also soloing when the need arises as can the other two. Its well worth considering for self imposed spending and is out on the JAZZIZITRECORDS label JITCD0953 AND is available via Amazon!

The other CD is by someone I have never heard “live” at all, only on CD. But for Christmas I thought it very appropriate. After all, Christmas is for the (small) child in all of us.

The Dominic Alldis Trio are Dominic on piano, Stephen Keogh drums and Mark Hodgson drums. Dominic has been recorded as a self accompanying singer before now, but on this album he just plays a Steinway Concert Grand piano, (and it sounds superb too). He is playing a range of tunes that we all must have heard as children. Tunes like “Rock a Bye Baby”, “Three Blind Mice”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and 7 others. He makes them live again as real tunes, improvising, enhancing and perhaps illuminating for us these well know titles. “Songs We Heard” is available on Canzona Music CANZ CD6

Well, that’s it for now, do have a very merry Christmas.

Geoff C