Swanage 2018

Well, my view of it anyway!

Part 1

And my first comment must be what a wonderful job Nigel Price has made of taking over this famous 28 year old jazz festival.

On the whole the good bits of previous years have been kept, and the innovations and changes Nigel has brought in have improved on the old.

The use of the Big Tops has 2 advantages. In the heat this summer the darker side and roof panel kept out a lot of the heat compared with previous hot summer festival marquees. The higher roof space also gave more air. I also think the multi lane seating plan gave better access. One downside of the darker sidewalls was that at night it was pretty dark in the Big Tops. This did improve after Friday but coming in out of the sun into a marquee was a bit of a problem, especially if you were looking for someone!

The sound systems were a definite improvement on previous years, and this may have a correlation with the marquee wall materials. But the sound was excellent. I am sure the young lady sound engineer has now got over Alan Barnes remark, when she was trying to adjust Bruce Adams microphone on Friday night “Don’t worry love he always sounds like that and you wont be able to improve it”

Food availability next to the Big Tops was good, perhaps the choice could have been wider. The provision of one common external bar for both Marquees was on the whole a good idea, as was the covered table and seating area for it. It did keep the bar noise away from the music, always a contentious issue. However, the fact that the music breaks for both marquees coincided did mean that at times there were long queues for beer and food.

One goes to jazz festivals to hear jazz, and this year the standard and choice were as wide (or wider) than ever. I am less able to get about these days, so some of the venues were not accessible to me, but what I saw and heard was so good that at times it brought genuine tears to my eyes. Here I am still able to hear such wonderful music performed by such talented musicians 17 years after being taken away from the side of a marquee for heart surgery. I returned to Swanage Jazz in 2002 4 months after open heart surgery and only a few days after my son died. I went away form that years festival with his funeral still to be. The Swanage jazz Festival has been an important part of my live ever since.

Friday

Marquee 1. The Bateman Brothers tribute to the Louis Armstrong All Stars.

Great fun, and pretty well done. Not many hands went up when the audience was asked if anyone had actually seen Louis and His All Stars. Mine was one!

I’ll try and list all the musicians at the end of the article, but I did love the introduction to the singer Rachel Pennell. OK, it was a bit dark, but I thought she did look a bit like Velma Middleton even if it was being denied on the microphone!

However I didn’t realise that I would be seeing Ian Bateman at most sessions over the weekend! If you look at the pictures you will see a lot of him!

The Lindop Tent. The Alan Barnes Octet

What a stellar line up! Modern jazz at its very best. Not only was the music very good, but Alan makes such a fun compere. Good comedy, but with information too. I was telling myself this early in the weekend that this session was worth the price of the whole weekend. Well, when all is counted (ticket, food accommodation…) maybe not. But it was VERY good.

The evening is over. Oh no it isn’t, not this year. One of the innovations introduced this year was the jam session run in the Conservative Club from 11 pm on to 1 am. I managed it ‘till the interval. Great trumpet playing by the sessions compere Andy Davies, with Andy Cleyndert on bass, Craig Milverton keyboard and drummer Nick Millward, joined, as the evening went by, by a lady on electric bass, and trombonist Ian Bateman!

The only drawback for this session, although the club had been granted a licence extension, they didn’t open the bar in the upstairs room. Your refreshment had to be purchased downstairs, a real drawback, and I noted angst by a number of punters.

But then, my B&B was only a few doors away and I felt the need to reach it and be embraced by the wonderful room I had in it. I have used the Robertsbrook Guest House for 10 years now. It is EXCELLENT. Clare who runs it is a regular joy!

Saturday, and still the sun shines! And before we get to a Marquee we walk the streets behind the brass band parade, umbrellas and all. It was good to see it start at the Railway Station as it used too, and even better that it finished up on the field by the tents!

Marquee 1

Martin Litton’s “Red hot Peppers”.

Having only recently seen Martin in Christ Church Marlow I thought I would go and hear his recreation of Jelly Roll Morton’s big band music. Not having heard JR myself except on record, I can only say it sounded pretty good. I can only wonder at what my mother would have thought of this kind of big band music when she first heard it in the 1920’s. To our ears it is an “old” sound, but still vibrant and tuneful. Back in the 1920’s it would have been revolutionary. This music was created only a few years after ragtime and was often very rag timed. Again, Martin made a very good compere and educator. Sadly I didn't manage to save any photos from this session

The Lindop Tent

Yes, I know I could cram more music into my stroller ticket, but I have learnt that one has to keep a balance to these weekends and not cram too much in, or you land up with musical indigestion. So after a period of digestion, I returned to the Lindop Tent to listen to one of Hedsor’s favourite son’s, Simon Spillett. Not headlining here, but with trombonist Ian Bateman playing a tribute to Frank Rosolino and JJ Johnson. It was fast becoming Ian Batemans weekend, but it was an entertaining session, playing some tunes I hadn’t heard for some years.

I still remember listening with my drummer friend in his father’s pub (The Blue Anchor in Hammersmith Reach) to the J and K album when it first came out. The Wiffenpoof Song being played as a jazz tune was a revelation. I was still playing trad! Not that I heard it at Swanage, but maybe Mr Bateman hadn’t heard it when I did!

It was good to hear Simon playing someone else’s choice of material, and very good that he was very well received by the Swanage faithful. Hedsor doesn’t really know how lucky it is to have such talent come to us and be a friend to us.

I did take a break then but returned for the second set of Scott Hamilton and pianist/singer Campion Fulton. Now I was a little disappointed with what I heard. I consider Scott Hamilton to be a true jazz star of the present-day jazz era and I got the impression that MS Fulton considered herself to be THE star of the show. She is enjoyable to listen to, both as a singer and a pianist, but from what I heard she took over, leaving Scott as a support act. I felt that it showed a lack of respect, to use an overused protest phrase of today!

Then in the same marquee, after a food break, the highlight of my weekend.

The Echoes of Ellington Orchestra.

Superb. Great tunes played well, with an impact of sound. Excellent solos, (what a cast list), with great direction from drummer Richard Pite.

By now though believe it or not it was getting a bit chilly, and I didn’t stay for all of the second set. I had not anticipated the need to take a pullover out on such a hot day, and by the time I got back to my digs I was shivering! And so to bed, without the jam

session at the Con Club.