Good Evening England,

And to the first Blog of Autumn! Yes there are only 112 days left to Christmas!!

I really must get my Christmas shopping done soon!! Oh, and yes, I must print off the tickets for our Christmas party on December 19th!! No kidding, it will all come in a rush!!

But to get there, we have to time travel through this coming Thursday evening to Hedsor Jazz. This week we have the regular quintet. Starting from 8.30 pm we will have our regular reed man Mike Wills back with us. I wonder if the railings he has been detailed to paint are black or white?

After an admission price of £6 you can always ask him yourself!!

Looking back on last week it was really nice to have Simon Spillett back with us again. Some terrific playing by everyone concerned, and a reasonable number in the audience which obviously encourages everyone. My favourite tune of the evening was "Love for Sale". Some great off the cuff harmonies were generated by Clive and Simon, with lead swapping and counter melodies to boot. It's live jazz, and we are so lucky at Hedsor Jazz to have such quality in such regular profusion.

It also nice to see so many of our regulars cueing up to buy Simon's latest CD too. It is only available at gigs, from himself, and for double the price you can get a 12" vinyl of it as well! It is well recorded with some innovative tunes and well worth cueing for. His best yet!

This week I have listened to a very good recording of a BBC broadcast from the 2011 Gateshead Jazz Festival now released as BCLB001. Now this seems to me to be a first release, perhaps on a private label because those letters might stand for The Buck Clayton Legacy Band, who are performing under a title called "Claytonia".

There are some very well know British Jazz names on this release, including Alan Barnes, Alyn Shipton, Martin Litton and Norman Emberson, plus a few others (see the artwork for a full list) and my initial listen was to see how they all played, and to my surprise I thought it was a typical ensemble arranged for a Jazz Festival. BUT I have gone back to it three times in the last week, and the more I hear it the better I think it gets. All the tunes were written by Buck Clayton, and it really does sound like one of the Jam Session LP's from the past.You can by it on-line for around £11, but do make sure your search includes the words Buck Clayton Legacy or you will be directed into the garden!

That's about it for this week. Tell your friends about this blog, and about Hedsor Jazz or it will all end in tears and the only excitement left will be East Enders!!

TTFN

Geoff