Jazz at Hedsor

First, some dates for your diary.

We still have to finalise a date for Vasilis to come with Peter Cook, but we do have 2 confirmed dates for star events.

Thursday April 5^th has a return visit by Tracey Mendham. Yes, that is the day before Good Friday, and it is also the day before her birthday, but Tracey will be with us in the bar at Hedsor that night. She said that she couldn’t think of a nicer place to be the night before her birthday. Usual start time, usual £5 entry that night, but come early, she packed the bar out last time she was with us.

A little further ahead we now can confirm that The Remix Jazz Orchestra http://www.remixjazzorchestra.co.uk/ under the direction of Stuart Henderson will be with us on Thursday May 17^th. This will be a big room event (already booked AND confirmed!), 8pm start, £10 entry, a little light supper, and a lot of big band. 17 of them, check out the link above and hear what they sound like. This will be a ticketed event, and tickets will be available shortly. But put that date in your diary NOW.

This coming Thursday we will have the regular Clive Burton Quintet with us again for the second time in 2 weeks. The week after that, the fans of bass player Steve Pickings are in for a treat, as he will be with us that night in place of Ken Rankine. I have refrained from asking for Steve on April 5^th! A clash of personalities in the Hedsor bar may be too much for its structure!

Recent CD Listen.

As is well known, I sell at Hedsor some previously listened to CD’s at bargain prices. One CD that I dug out from the “rescued from the floor collection” and played this past week is the second album by a band that started out in Manchester, “The Magic Hat Ensemble”. The CD is called “Made in Gorton”.

It is young modern jazz and has a terrific vibrancy. Well known tunes are used, but given a definitive twist, which I found incredibly exciting. The 4 core titles of the CD “You and the Night and the Music”, Seven Steps to Heaven”, “Just Friends” and “Blues March” must be played at one sitting (there are 2 other titles, plus a 13 sec fanfare intro!). Seven Steps segues in to Just Friends anyway and once you have heard how they play those you will not want to miss Blues March. Wonderfully inventive arrangements, pretty good solo’s for everyone and a sound that makes you listen very hard! Blues March starts out as a march, complete with snare drums, gets into a crawl, and ends with a gallop, but the tune is always recognisable. Their playing is immaculate, and I haven’t enjoyed a post bop modern jazz album so much in a long time. Even the cover brings a smile to ones face, after all, we all remember 45’s don’t we? It’s on the Jellymould label and was recorded in 2011. Do try some of the complete tracks from their web site http://themagichatensemble1.bandcamp.com/ but don’t stop there, buy it! Full details on heir web site.