Tuesday, January 31, 2017

This Weeks Info about Hedsor Jazz

As I write this I am waiting on information about Clive. He was due to be checked out by The Royal Berks Hospital today, and if he is considered well enough, I know he is anxious to come and play this week. A medical decision may well also be needed for Mike Wills, so a definitive personnel listing for Thursdays session is still to be arrived at, so do watch out for the late breaking stuff.

In the meantime I have come across a recording I must have made some years ago from someone else’s LP. I was drawn back to it by our recent visit to Hedsor of trombonist Roy Williams, one of our Christmas guests.

In 1978 he was at the Bern International Jazz Festival as part of a band led by Chicago born trumpeter Wild Bill Davison.


The band sounds awfully familiar. With Roy are two more ex members of the Alex Welsh band, reedman John Barnes and pianist Fred Hunt. Wild Bill had recorded and toured with the Alex Welsh band only a few years before. In Bern with them was Jesper Thilo on tenor and clarinet, Hugo Rasmussen on bass and American Cliff Leeman on drums.

As was usual in LP days there were only 6 tunes to listen to, (that would have been 3 per side), and one of them is a feature that used to be done in the Welsh band, a duet by Roy and John of “I May Be Wrong (but I Think Your Wonderful)”.

It makes a great addition to the nostalgia of those Alex Welsh years. They were great favourites of mine, and as I mentioned before Christmas, the band often used to come and play at “The Bell” in Maidenhead in those days. I think if you ask Clive B he may remember that he was often taking your 7/6p  on the door in those days too! 

Roy reminded me at Christmas that he often used to play as a guest soloist with the Lennie Best Quartet who were the resident band at "The Bell".

I have tried a little research on the internet, but I don’t think The Wild Bill Davison recording has ever been released as a CD. A Second hand copy of the LP is available from the continent via Ebay


Whilst thinking of Lennie Best and things “Old Bell” I came across a Maidenhead Advertiser article from August 4th 1972. It is reproduced below!!
 As a matter of interest, on the reverse of the clipping is an estate agents “houses for sale” list and an “Excellent Semi-Detached house in Woodlands Park was for sale at £12,350

I will print a copy of this historic article and bring it with me on Thursday!

TTFN

Geoff



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