This Week at Hedsor Jazz

Our guest this week is guitarist Jez Cook. Jez will be joining our regular quintet, adding an extra dimension to the familiar sounds of The Clive Burton Quintet which will enable the band to add some Django Reinhardt tunes into the mix. 

Mike Wills, our regular saxophonist and reed section, sometimes joins Jez to play this light and swinging music in and around Oxford, from whence they both come. Looking back to the music and atmosphere of the 1930's and 40's is very "in" at the moment. I'm sure there are deep psychological reasons for this, perhaps a yearning for an age destroyed by the outbreak of WW2, itself an age trying to obliterate the horrors of WW1. Whatever the deeper meanings might be, the tunes themselves are very catchy. 

We had a session with Jez joining the quartet last November. If you follow the link to my DropBox MP3 file, you can hear a Django tune they played then.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3eclr2bxc6ysnp3/03%20Jez%20Cook_At%20Hedsor%2028.11.13_Track%203.mp3

It may take a few minutes to download, but it's well worth the wait, and may will encourage you to come out to play (OK be played to) this Thursday March 27th. Usual admittance charge of £6 applies.

Having now returned from my little break in Dorset, I will get back to work and produce a poster in the next day or so to advertise some of our upcoming events, particularly the May 22nd concert by The Remix Jazz Orchestra. Profit from this event will be donated to Cancer Relief UK. Tickets will be £10 each, and a light buffet will be provided.

Don't let the lack of paper posters stop you. Do tell your friends. Live and very good jazz is played at The Hedsor Social Club EVERY THURSDAY. There is only 1 week in a year when it isn't, and that is between Christmas and New Year. 

So don't let it all come to an end. It has been a regular part of musical life for over 12 years. It's not unique, but pretty b....y special! 

Hedsor Jazz is held in The Hedsor Social Club, Hedsor Road, Bourne End,Bucks. SL8 5ES

Some More Dates for Your Diary

Confirming some of the information from my last blog we now have some definite dates for you to add to your diary.

Next week, March 27th, we have been able to re book that lovely guitarist Jez Cook. 

I can now confirm the date for saxophonist Robert Goodhew (sorry for the mis-spell last issue). He will be joining us on April 17th (Maunday Thursday).We will be back with a two saxophone and trombone front line that night, which give Hedsor Jazz gives a wonderful sound!

I can also now confirm that singer Gill Cook is going to be coming to us on June 19th. 

With our previously confirmed bookings (The Remix Jazz Orchestra) on May 22nd and Vasilis Xenopoulos and "The Wind Machine" on August 7th, we have a fine and varied selection of live jazz coming to Hedsor. Spread the word.

Try the links for some of their recorded sound:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c5MeH_J5gU  for a Jez Cook video

http://www.robertgoodhew.com/wordpress/?page_id=40

http://remixjazzorchestra.co.uk/app/download/5781965114/Bags+Groove.mp3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf21zcSc2jI   for The Wind Machine

http://www.gillcook.co.uk  will get you to some sample sounds from her forthcoming album.

Just a passing thought, it's amazing what you can do on a netbook !!

One final passing thought, is this all vanity?

Good Morning England!!

I am away at the moment and wont be at Hedsor this week. However JAZZ WILL!

The Clive Burton Quintet will be giving another excellent performance, something which is ALWAYS well worth the £6 entry fee. Hedsor Jazz has been established now for over 12 years, and we will continue to bring you great jazz every week.

We have not been sitting on our hands either, February as you know had some great sessions brought to you by some great saxophonist augmenting our always excellent quartet. Well, other great guests are in the pipeline.

Saxophonist Robert Goodhuw, who guested alongside Vasilis Xenopoulos in Febuary, is being re booked just as soon as we can get him, and singer Gill Cook has also asked to come and sing for us again. She will have a new album out in May and we hope she can come and sing for us in June

On 22nd May we have The Remix Big Band led by trumpeter Stuart Henderson. We are going to use this occassion to raise funds for Cancer Reserach UK, so do put that firmly in your diary NOW.

On August 7th we will have Vasilis Xenopoulos's new band "The Wind Machine" coming. Do listen to there new album. Their arrangements of big Band tunes for quintet are wonderful, but then so are the musicians playing the tunes. They will all be with us on 7th August so again put it in your diary.

Another musician some of you have requested to hear again is Jez Cook (OK no jokes about too many cooks please) and we are going to get him along VERY soon. 

So jazzers, just keep supporting Hedsor Jazz by coming out on a Thursday night. Tell your friends, Hedsor Jazz is NOT supposed to be a secret!!

So from a grey coast near me,

TTFN

Geoff C

Due to certain time constraints this will be a short entry to advertise Hedsor Jazz for Thursday.

Tomorrow is Thursday! It will be as normal a session at the Hedsor Social Club as jazz allows. Usual price £6 to get in, and usual time for the music to start (8.30 pm). The Clive Burton Quintet will be the players.

Some of my time this last few days has been spent in Norfolk. On my way up I stopped at the Imperial War Museum site at Duxford. If you like aeroplanes, click  on the link to my dropbox files and have a look.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/eogjp5d0cg4pkjr/Rmt42m2vHt

I DO hope to see you all this week at Hedsor. You never know who or what you might miss. Last weeks session was a case in point. The regular band, YES, but an outstanding performance, and joined by two guest musicians, pianist Ken McCarthy and bassist Steve Riddle.

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

Do continue to watch this space, as we are planing some nice special guest for us all to enjoy.

Geoff

It is going to be something of a shock this Thursday that we return to a Hedsor Jazz with no extra saxophonists. We have been really spoilt over the last month with guest upon guest saxophonist in all shapes and sizes, and what a treat it has been.

I think last week will have topped the month. A nicely full house, a guest drummer (Mike Jeffries, playing for us again this coming Thursday) and not one saxophonist, but THREE.

Alongside our regular quintet we expected to have ONE additional saxophone in the hands of Vasilis Xenopoulos, but I had no idea he would bring a friend along to augment the sound.

Vasilis is a long time friend of Hedsor Jazz, and these days it is a privilege to have him at Hedsor. His fame has spread far since he first played for us at Hedsor and we are indebted to him for turning out to Hedsor for little more than his fare home. He did us proud, and also encouraged us to listen to a young friend of his, Robert Goodhew. He I am sure will also go far. He has already started well on his life as a musician, and you can read more about him from his web page www.robertgoodhew.com were you can also sample some more of his music. I am sure that we will be able to encourage him back to Hedsor before too long, because he was excellent.

Our little band of brothers made a superb BIG sound. In the second set we had 3 saxophones and a trombone (what would we do without Clive! Answers on a postcard please!) backed as usual by our Nigel, and our Ken!! (And not forgetting “OUR Mike Jeffries”). We all had to go home much too soon.

We were also fortunate in being some of the first people to be able to buy Vasilis’s new CD “the Wind Machine”, available for the first time that day. I know I led you to sample it last week with a web link, and I know that those who did bought the full album on the spot. You can still do that, and I do have some copies with me for sale.

It is a great album with some great UK resident  players. Please make sure you reserve in your diary now August 7^th, because that very wind machine will be coming to Hedsor to play for us. They are, in addition to leader/arranger Vasilis, Steve Fishwick on trumpet, Nigel Price on guitar, Bill Mudge on Hammond organ and Peter Cater on drums. OK, its another birthday treat for me, but also a treat for all who can get there on the day.

The music on Vasilis’s new album will be recognisable; we know all the tunes as they are mostly associated with big bands from the past. They have been brilliantly updated for Quintet with and by the above lineup and you will love it.

In his sleeve note Vasilis says he was inspired by the Stanley Turrentine album “A Chip off The Old Block”. If you follow the link below you can get short samples of that album too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chip-Off-Block-Rudy-Gelder/dp/B001O12TJO/ref=sr_1_11?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1393924217&sr=1-11&keywords=Stanley+Turrentine

Various Stanley Turrentine tracks are available for a fuller listen on Spotify.

Well, that was last week. Why not try out the old slimline Quintet led by Clive Burton that plays regularly for us at Hedsor. It would be good to see many of you who were there last week with us again.

One very quick plug for someone who has also played for me at Hedsor, Dave O’Higgings is playing with Geoff Gascoyne in at Marlow United reformed Church (Christ Church) TONIGHT. 8.30 pm start. I think it is £10 entry, unreserved seating, (save me one), I do have a ticket already!

TTFN