REFERENDUM DAY!
Today, whilst Scotland
votes on if it wishes to continue being a member of the UK, and the rest of the
UK have no say in this, purely democratic you understand, we in reachable distance of
the Hedsor Social club can vote with our feet for the survival of live jazz!!
Just to encourage you we
have a guest coming to fill our piano chair this week. Neither of our regular
pianists being available we are delighted to be able to welcome Alan
Berry to Hedsor.
Alan used to be the regular
pianist with vibes player Lenny Best at The Bell in Maidenhead back in the days
when jazz (and I) were there every Tuesday. He has been to Hedsor once before,
but I don’t think he has visited us in the larger room. He is now a regular part of
the Ealing Jazz Scene.
Now some news for next
week. Coming along with our regular reed section (Mike Wills) from Oxford we
will have the addition of Kevin Armstrong on guitar.
This will be Kevin’s first
visit to Hedsor, so we look forward to giving him a warm welcome. You can
easily find out more about him, as he has his own page on Wikipedia!! Also he
has a page in the Oxford School of Music web site and you can follow this on
the link
We try to keep Hedsor Jazz
an interesting place to come to. Not on account of the new chairs! but it would
be hard to find music this good for £6!! anywhere else in the UK, and every week too! (next week we may have to add a different reference to what might be left of our country). Our
friendly atmosphere is renowned, and as Simon Spillett said during his recent
visit to us, there is no other jazz venue anywhere else like it in the UK. He
wasn’t cracking a joke at the time either!
You can sample the reality
of this and with the music from 8.30 pm every Thursday!! AND you can also park your
car for free too!!
CD Listened to.
This week I have been
impressed by a jazz CD made by a musician who was largely made famous in a
more popular musical field.
Peter York came to fame in
the 1960’s as the drummer with the Spencer Davis Group. He then crossed the
boundary to Jazz by becoming the drummer with Chris Barber’s Band. He has
always been a fan of jazz and of Count Basie and has recently made a very enjoyable CD
with some young Continental Friends.
Called “Basiecally Speaking, the band is
imaginatively called “Pete York & Young Friends”! It is released on the ACT
label (a German Company) and it follows some of the same ideas as “Wind Machine”
in playing well know swing tunes with a modern jazz twist.
The line up includes
Hammond organ, guitar and tenor sax, so there are more similarities with
Vasilis’s band. However this album reflects some of Peter York’s background by
also including a few vocals. It is a great listen, very well recorded, but with
slightly too many drum solos to be perfect. Great stuff though, with some great
Basie tunes refreshed. Look for ACT Good Time Jazz ACT9101-2
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