News of Hedsor Jazz

I always seem to be running a day late these days, where does the time go?

This week we have an exciting guest, Tracey Mendham, the lady saxophonist with the big toned tenor (and laugh)! We hope to have Clive with us again, and we also hope to be able to use our new-to-us Peavey PA system, which I though sounded pretty good last week.

Sadly, the person who wont be with us for the next few weeks is our regular reed player Mike Wills. Unless he gets a lift, he can’t get to us as he now has to stop driving for 3 months as his pacemaker was shown to have kicked in, something he was unaware of as it happened in his sleep some week ago. A recent check has shown it up. I know that Mike is pretty fed up about this, and I’m sure he would appreciate your good wishes.

The gap made by our missing saxophonist will, I’m sure, be filled by others, and we look forward with eager anticipation to a jazz variety in the next few weeks.

However, one firm booking for all of us is our Cancer Research Fundraising evening on May 18^th. Two of the best musicians in their class will be together for us. Vasilis Xenopoulos on saxophones and Nigel Price on guitar. You know my view of both. I think they are world class jazz musicians and I am delighted they will be with us, helping us to raise money for research into an illness that has caused so many to suffer. The Clive Burton Quintet has had its fair share of casualties from it, and still does.

The evening starts at 8pm, will cost you £12 to get in, and there will be a light buffet for you to fraternise over included in this price.

Tell your friends, buy your tickets, either from me of Cookham’s Stationery Depot. 

Pre-buying helps us with our catering requirements, so do give it a thought.

One last comment. You will be pleased to know that Dee, our keeper of the red box, is now back at home, having had her knee op. She is feeling sore, but is glad it’s been done.

Enough for now, see you all tomorrow.

Wednesday, 19 April 2017      Todays Blog

About tomorrows Hedsor Jazz!

There is a saying that “Rubbish In means Rubbish Out”, and so it was for my last week blog edition.

Those of you who came will have noticed that we didn’t have Ken McCarthy as a deputy pianist, because Nigel Fox WAS there. I had been incorrectly informed 3 weeks ago about who was or wasn’t playing last week.

THIS WEEK I can be sure that Nigel IS away in France, and that Ken McCarthy will be playing at Hedsor! ALSO we have as a guest (who must by now have frequent traveller points for his trips to Hedsor) on drums Mike Jeffries. The person who does have without doubt frequent traveller points is Martin Hart, who is away travelling!

This week we anticipate Clive being with us alongside Mike Wills who is back! Clive is actually having his second round of Chemo TODAY, so there is a possibility that he may be a little frail and we might have a surprise extra guest. We may also have Jazz Angels new (to us) PA system!

YOU can find out by actually coming and supporting Live Jazz at The Hedsor Social Club!!

I have enjoyed some not so live jazz by listening to both LP’s (Yes a new Audio Technica cartridge has been installed in my Technics SL1700 turntable during the Easter Break), and CD’s.

The CD set that I want to draw your attention to this week contains music that was ALL released on black plastic disks. Actually some of it was released on round shellac disks too!!

What I have been playing is a Proper Box set of the jazz that writer, poet and critic Phillip Larkin used to love. He started collecting records in 1936, so 3 minutes listening before turning the record over would have been his norm. It is an excellent collection of music recorded from the 1920’s right up to 1959. It has some absolute gems on it. Who can forget Earl Bostic and “Flamingo” (1951) or Duke Ellington at Newport in 1956. The collection also includes a superb 12-minute track from an Eddie Condon Jam Session in 1954.

This 4 CD set, with an excellent booklet, starts off with music from 1928 by Louis Armstrong and His Hot 5. All of the recordings in this box set have been remastered with great care, and I can recommend it without any hesitation! “Larkins Jazz” is on ProperBox 155.

Phillip Larkin (who died in 1985) didn’t just sit indoors and listen to music on his gramophone. In an interview with “The Guardian” in 1965, He said “I can live a week without poetry but not a day without jazz”.

He did go out to find it live, as you can too.

Good Morning England,

Just a VERY quick blog today.

Do enjoy your Easter Break. Tomorrow, our Maundy Thursday pre holiday treat will have Max Britain alongside Clive. It will be good to have Max back with us again.

The last time Max came to Hedsor a number of us were away on Portland for Ken Rankine’s funeral, so it will be good to listen to him again.

Nigel Fox is taking a short break to be with his sister in France, and as last week, we will again have Ken McCarthy on the piano stool.

What a privilege Hedsor Jazz has to have such a fine array of musicians who often come at short notice to make up Clive Burton’s Quintet. We have to thank Ken for last week, and of course Simon Spillett, a great friend to Hedsor Jazz. I did like his story about people who come to jazz events who know nothing about jazz!! Normally they would be very welcome, but if they happen to be the Rhythm Section, maybe not!

Yes, Clive will be with us again. He has been reassessed after his first Chemo, and all is looking very positive. It is hopeful that he wont suffer too much after his next Chemo as he responded so well from his first. However, Jazz Angels have purchased it’s own PA system (a Peavey Escort), which should be with us soon. This will save Clive lugging his PA system about every time he comes, and of course, gives Hedsor Jazz a PA system no matter who comes!! That doesn’t mean that you can’t come. We need you to be the P in PA!

Next week we should have Mike Wills back with us, and the week after, wait for it (it isn’t Halloween is it?), Tracey Mendham. A great tenor sax player and a great character to boot.

Coming next month is our cancer research UK fund raising night, May 18^th. Be sure to come, you don’t want to miss Vasilis Xenopoulos and Nigel Price together with us at Hedsor Again DO YOU!! Maybe, just maybe, they will play “The One Note Samba” again!

One final note! Our deepest sympathy goes out to Gill Jones who lost his wife Stella to cancer just over a week ago. Gill had “gone out” with Stella since they were 14 years old, and they had been married for 62 years. I am glad that he felt able to be with us at Hedsor last week. I know that at times like these one needs the warmth of friends with a common interest.

Happy Easter, and mind out for those chocolate Easter Eggs, they can bite back! 

The blog this week is slightly truncated, 

my main objective is to get you to look, and then print and PUBLISH a summery of what we have coming up in the next few weeks. 

I have produced a poster, reproduced below, which you can print by downloading a PDF file from my DropBox account. 

Please do this, and persuade all your friends, family and neighbours to make the Hedsor Social Club jazz night on THURSDAYS, their regular residence!!

The link to the PDF file is 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/znvaeratfq5ziux/hedsor%20jazz%20poster.pdf?dl=0

Those of you who have keen eyesight will see that we have internationally renowned saxophonist and author Simon Spillett coming this week. We hope to have Clive alongside him, and we hope to have Clive's PA system with us as well. In order to take the strain off of Clive, Jazz Angels is in process of purchasing our own PA system for all our musicians to use at Hedsor. 

The Jazz Angels Logo

For those of you who don't know, Jazz Angels is a support group for jazz in and around South Bucks, mainly for Hedsor Jazz, but the fund has supported other local jazz events in the past. If you would like to be associated with this support do contact it's treasurer Mr John Dutton.

Clive with Vasilis and Nigel at a Cookham Festival some years ago

It was really good to see Clive playing last week and feeling reasonably well too. He has only just started on his Chemo treatment, but already his goitre has shrunk in a manner that Clive himself has called a miracle. 

Do come and support Live Jazz, and its continuance with such quality at 

Hedsor Jazz