Last Blog before DORSET

Yes, just as the summer sun slowly fades into the west, I am going there too!!

Some will say I went West long ago, and who am I to say they are wrong, BUT…..

This week at Hedsor Jazz we have the same band as played last week, with one notable exception. We wont have the lovely Gill Cook this week. Wasn’t she good, no not a question, an out and out statement of fact! So good in fact that we have already booked her for our Christmas Special on December 18^th. Put THAT in your diary now, just to make sure you don’t book it for a pantomime or something.

Coming soon on August 7^th Vasilis Xenopoulos is bringing “Wind Machine” to Hedsor for another of our “special” evenings. Make sure your diary knows about that one too!

After August and before December we do have one or two ideas for special guest nights, keep reading the blog to find out who and when.

Dont forget that if you fancy having a guest of your choice come to play with The Clive Burton Quintet you can always “sponsor” them. i.e. agree to pay a substantial portion of their fee. Talk to Clive or me about that if you have someone in mind. Just to give you an idea, both Tina May and The Remix Jazz Orchestra were both gigs sponsored by one of you (actually two of you!).

Going back to Gill Cook, her new CD, although delayed (she had hoped to have some with her last week) will be launched at 1 pm  on Sunday 14^th September  at the Pizza Express in Dean Street, W1. Ring 08456 027017 for a reservation, or read more at www.gillcook.co.uk

A CD I have listened to this week could be one that pleases more than one type of jazz fan.

 Evan Christopher’s “Django a la Creole” was released in 2008. Evan is a very talented American clarinet player, now largely resident in New Orleans playing up to date New Orleans traditional jazz but also doing European tours from time to time with a Manouche type of group (clarinet, lead guitar, rhythm guitar and bass). When done well, this kind of music swings along very nicely, with whistle-able tunes and a slightly latin rhythm, and in Evan Christopher’s case it is done very well indeed. As the title suggests, the music was inspired by the gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt back in the 1940’s. Evan has a very clean rich tone and the whole CD is a delight. Freemeaux & Associes FA 505

First a little reminder that tonight 

we have that lovely singer Gill Cook coming to sing for us. 

Please give her all the Hedsor jazz support you can, we need YOU honest!!

We need you so that we can carry on running jazz events and on at least one occasion a year run an event that raises money for Cancer Research UK. We had a very successful evening doing this with The Remix Jazz Orchestra on May 22nd. Yesterday Dee and I went along to present a cheque for £620 to the Cancer Research shop in Beaconsfield.

The sequence of events:-

 Advertise, perform and collect

Write the cheque (this picture has been censored)

Give it to CRUK

See you all tonight

Geoff C

This coming Thursday is a special night for Hedsor Jazz. 

We have that lovely singer Gill Cook coming to sing for us. 

She will be accompanied by the full Clive Burton Quintet, with only a slight alteration in that Ken McCarthy will be playing the keyboard. Lucky Nigel is off on his hols to some exotic Greek Island.

I am also aware that there is an important football game being played in Brazil Thursday evening as well. I hope you choose to come and support our jazz!! If you don't, and you want to watch the football with a crowd of other people, the Garibaldi's web site tells me that they will be showing the match on their TV!.

I just hope we are all winners. With a great jazz crowd and a win for England!!


See you ALL at Hedsor Jazz on Thursday, where we will part you from £6 but give you LIVE JAZZ!

That's The Hedsor Social Club from 8.30 pm!

Morning All,

I do hope you are all enjoying the current wonderful sunshine. I have been catching up on some exterior house maintenance, and then when I feel I have been industrious enough I have been catching up on some escapist reading, you know, a book with a story line! Sadly, no matter what the weather, this afternoon I have to investigate the interior of High Wycombe Hospital!

Still until then I thought I would just mention what’s happening at Hedsor Jazz!!

Tomorrow we have another session with the Clive Burton Quintet. I do believe that it will be performing it its complete form!! So some of their arrangements of 50’s and 60’s bop and Big Band tunes will, I’m sure, be in evidence.

Next week we await with eager anticipation another visit from singer Gill Cook. She is a London based singer whom I have seen a number of times at Ealing Jazz Festivals. She has one CD out in her own name already, and she tells me there will be another one soon. SO come and hear some songs from her old album and some perhaps from her new one too. She has been with us twice before, so I’m sure we are in for a great night at the bargain price of £6 for entry.

Big bands are still around of course. We had a great session from the Remix Jazz Orchestra on May 22^nd, raising £620 for Cancer Research UK in the process. But generally there are very few full time Big Bands, mainly due to the cost of keeping them together. But when you do hear one live and in the flesh the sound can be stunning. Many schools try and encourage young musicians into playing in groups by running a big band, and they make a great fist of it usually, and of course counties often have the best young musicians form school bands, and they can be very good. This years Swanage Jazz Festival will feature the Dorset Youth Jazz Orchestra on Sunday morning. I’m sure more fans than just mums and dads will be in Marquee 1 to listen.

There are still one or two Big Bands that regularly issue CD’s and still come together for certain periods of time. Recently I have raved of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and their CD “In The Spirit of DUKE” (Spartacus Records STS 017). I give that a whole hearted recommendation. They have issued a couple of other recently. One I have yet to listen to is “American Adventure” where they have added into their regular mix some very well known American musicians (e.g. Randy Brecker, Kurt Elling, Mike Stern and Joe Locke). That is available on Spartacus Records STS018.

Another Big Band CD waiting for me to give it a proper listen is by the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw called “Scribblin’ ”.  A band made up of continental based musicians and recorded in 2012. I’ll let you know, but a listen whilst working in my garage on PC stuff has encouraged me to bring it indoors. That one is on Challege Records CR73366

But for now, tomorrow we have a Quintet. Mind you, the Remix Orchestra has asked to come again soon, they enjoyed playing in front of YOU, the Hedsor Jazz Audience. Don’t go away!!

Morning everyone.

Just a few words in plain email (which I will add to the internet as a blog!) to tell everyone that the railing painting season is over for the time being and the Clive Burton Quintet will be playing for us tomorrow June 5^th from 8.30 pm

Very soon we will have singer Gill Cook coming to sing with the Quintet (June 19^th) and I have attached a PDF file poster so that you can draw in all your local jazz fans to come and hear her if you print from it and put it up somewhere where the great general public can see it!

Talk more jazz with you very soon, TTFN

Geoff

PS, for the bloggers only set, the PDF file is a JPEG file. You can still copy and print:-

Right click and "save as" then you can print from the file saved at any size you think appropriate!