Today for all on the blog network, a simple blog, advertising the fact that Hedsor Jazz this week has as our guest saxophonist Peter Cook. He hasn’t been seen at Hedsor for a while, but he will be with us on Thursday (December 12^th) alongside our regular trombone playing Clive Burton and our regular rhythm section. Admittance £6. 8.30 start time.

Peter Cook

Next Thursday of course we have our annual Christmas party, with special guests singer Tina May and vibraphone player of renown Alan Graham. There are some tickets still available from Cookhams Stationery Depot (tel 01628 531178). I would STRONGLY encourage anyone who wants to come to buy a ticket beforehand. It may be too late to wait till you get to our door! They are £10 each.

CD Listen

One I heard this week is beautifully recorded and crafted by “Echoes of Swing” and is called “Blue Pepper”. All of these words would rather make you try to have a guess at the sort of music played. Especially when you add in the bottom line of the cd cover which says its Good Time Jazz.

Echoes of Swing are a quartet, and although they hint in the album notes at a background in New Orleans jazz, stride piano and classic drum styles, I don’t think they are any of these things. They are very gifted multinational musicians, with no allegiance at all to Art Pepper or trad jazz!

But they do swing, and it is fun. All the tracks are a bit on the short side, as though they were all meant for a 78, but there is also a lot of Duke Ellington influence in their choice of material ( Blue Pepper being a tune written by Ellington and Strayhorn). It’s a great listen, but I felt I would have liked to have heard longer solos. It is very crisply played, and the band sounds larger than a quartet. It will also make your Hi Fi rejoice as it is a great recording technically. 

It’s all released on the German label ACT as ACT 9102-2. It was recorded this year, and those taking part are Colin T. Dawson trumpet and vocals, Chris Hopkins alto sax, Bernd Lhotzky piano and Oliver Mewes drums. As you will see, it comes in a (fairly) plain white wrapper!

So till Thursday, take care, there is a Christmas Present out there waiting to be caught!