OK, so the blog has been missing for a week and a bit!! OK I’m sorry, but I didn’t feel like doing ANYTHING, as I had a trapped sciatic nerve!! SLOW improvement is now taking place, and I can now access my keyboard!!

So to things jazz, and Hedsor Jazz in particular.

Clive Burton, our regular member of the brass playing fraternity, is blowing away next Thursday (30^th April) and in his (brass) place we will have a first appearance at Hedsor of trumpet and flugel horn player LESTER BROWN. He comes highly recommended by our reed section, so it should make for a good evening.

Now what do You expect of our election night? Like us at Hedsor jazz, ”they” have elected  to hold this election (as all the others!) on a Thursday. Some competition eh?

You will still have time to come to Hedsor Jazz and vote for FRANK GRIFFITH!

You can also put posters up for him if you like, because Frank, who is the Director of Performance at Brunel University School of Arts is coming to play for us at Hedsor on election night!!

Frank is an American Saxophonist of great repute, having had a couple of recent collaborations with singer Tina May. There may even be CD’s for sale, no doubt autographed by Frank!!

It is a great credit to the stature of Hedsor Jazz that musicians of this calibre want to come and play for us. So when you have crossed out your democratic rights (or do I mean exercised them with a cross?) you can come and while away the election night with us. Coalition? Collaboration? Now That’s Jazz,

HEDSOR JAZZ!!

I mentioned a CD in my last email. OK I didn’t blog, but from the confines of my laptop, I did mention in my round robin nagging email that I was about to listen to a Harry Allen CD new to me. Now I have!

One or two of us saw saxophonist Harry Allen at Marlow URC a month or so ago. Here he is recorded in Copenhagen in July last year with pianist Jan Lundgren, bassist Hans Backenroth and drummer Kristian Leth. And very good they all are. A very melodic sound, which is highlighting the compositions of Johnny Mandel. 3 of the 4 musicians were born in 1966, and the drummer in 1973, yet they play with a maturity that belies there years. And they are playing in a style that goes back to a much older generation. Swing and melody are paramount. There are 3 tunes that you will know, and perhaps a couple that you don’t. “Suicide is Painless” was the theme tune to MASH! A good mainstream buy: Harry Allen/Jan Lundgren Quartet “Quality There” is on STUCD 14142 from Stunt Records.