Hedsor Jazz last week was a bit better populated than of recent weeks thank goodness. And so it should be. The evening was vibrant, innovative, swinging, and after the announcements they played wonderful jazz as well!! 

No, joking aside, our session last week with Lester Brown and Kelvin Christiane was, to use a well worn phrase "great"! If you missed it LOOK OUT, we have them back in two weeks time!!

But, oh my, what a session we have coming up for you this week. Our old friend and supporter, that award winning saxophonist Simon Spillett is teamed up, I think for the first time at Hedsor, with another Hedsor favourite, trumpeter Stuart Henderson. With our Celebration Quintet rhythm section led by drummer Martin Hart this is going to be a session to remember. 

BUT you can only remember a session if you were actually AT IT! 
So be at Hedsor from 8.30pm on Thursday October 25th. £7 entry and you wont find a more exciting session at that price anywhere.

Well you might, because on November 1st we do have Kelvin and Lester back.

In my view this weeks session is rather special for another reason altogether. It is almost exactly a year since our dear Clive Burton passed away. I know we have all missed him. The stories and the false teeth, the hosting of the raffle, the phrases like “he's no athlete", and "is English your first language sir?”. 

But also the very sound of his trombone. The way he could harmonize with whoever was in the front with him and also the way he encouraged all the players who stood beside him. He had that ability of enabling them to play at their very best.

Yes the jazz we have had in the past year has changed. Hedsor Jazz has evolved and out of necessity has come some excitement, innovation, and a wider view of the jazz talent that is around. Since Martin has taken over the organisation of the musicians, we also now know in advance who is coming not only next week, but next month too. 

Like all of you I miss Clive. His deep knowledge of the music educated us all and I can still clearly hear his voice in my head of his way of answering the phone. 

But we must look forward and not back, someone who once did that got turned into a pillar of salt! 

Yes I do sometimes think (in crusty salt fashion) that everything was always better in the old days (my car insurance definitely was!). But we must forge the new, we must make more memories for ourselves and hopefully for the new “others” who will come in one day and find out just how good live jazz music IS.

Only by supporting the live jazz that is put on locally, be it at Hedsor, Bourne End, Marlow, Reading,  or anywhere brave enough to do so can we create more memories. 

But in this first anniversary period of Clive’s passing I am so glad I had him as a friend and will lament him.

Last week our regular sound engineer was away, and Geoff S usually takes the photos of each session that I put in this blog. This week the photos from last week (below) are all my own work!! I do hope he’s back on Thursday!!

Not only did I take some photos on the old camera I had in the boot of my car, but when I realized what a remarkable session it looked like we were going to have last week I whipped out my phone, and recorded most of it (in mono). Check it out from my DropBox files:-

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qvlqy6k74oce1f0/AAAzr5NbGTJIPPwv1XjrHstYa?dl=0