Doesn’t time fly by when your having fun? Blog day already, and I have nearly missed it.

However there are things one doesn’t want to miss, like the last post (GPO of course, not the one with epitaphs)! My eldest granddaughter started teaching at a school in Birmingham this week, so we have  had to catch a couple of posts in order to wish her well, and to send a “welcome to your new home” kind of thing. SO here is another, the tradition of writing my blog on a Tuesday, before Tuesday becomes Wednesday!

Last weeks session at Hedsor Jazz, with Stuart Henderson and Kelvin Christiane was another of Hedsor Jazz’s sessions that you could describe as “faultless”. I never cease to be amazed at the quality of the jazz that we now regularly get at Hedsor. Stuart is a star still climbing into the firmament, but he does shine brightly. Kelvin is another of those relatively local musicians who has a tremendous reputation, but not nearly enough fame.

Stuart remarked towards the end of last weeks session that the tune they were about to play had been written by a musician who left the business to become an accountant! Yes, I knew one too. He gave up being a concert pianist to do the accounts with Lord Stokes!! When I last saw him ten years ago I asked him what he was doing now. “Looking after the financial interests of certain African countries” was his reply. Must beat hell out of a Rachmaninov Piano Concerto!

Well Stuart and Kelvin worked wonders for us last week, accompanied by the Hedsor “usual suspects”. My pictures of them are below.

Coming to us this week (September 5th) we have “The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet”. Yes, Mike Wills is mobile again so we have our read section back, and alongside him our new(ish!) brass player, Lester Brown. Martin Hart will be on drums, Nigel Fox on keys, and a different Davis on the bass, this time Roger Davis.

Hedsor Jazz has been at The Hedsor Club since 2002. We have seen many changes, both of personnel, and of the premises themselves. We used to meet in the bar, which was very cosy, but had limited seating, some of it very orange, and last week Clive’s Jan gave me a 10 year old photo of me sitting in that bar. Behind me on the very mock Tudor bar can be seen the CD’s For Sale, something we still do. Now CD’s are not such a valuable asset as once they were. Nowadays many people like to stream their music. Personally I still love to actually own the material I want to listen to, whether it is LP, Cassette tape, or CD. I also like to listen to Jazz Record requests on Radio 3 on a Saturday afternoon. One gets to hear music one hasn’t heard before, as well as some you have in your own collection, and I think there is a feeling of community about it all.

Of course, none of the above mentioned means of listening beat hearing music live. Each session different from the last one or the next one. I can now report that we will be carrying on with Jazz at the Hedsor Club through the rest of 2019 and throughout 2020. Jazz Angels (who underwrite the jazz at Hedsor), met with Hedsor ’s management recently and agreed a forward plan. We are very much wanted at Hedsor. There are always “but’s”, and everyone’s costs do go up, but we do have an assurance that our presence at the Hedsor Club is very much wanted. So do support our efforts, no matter who is playing. If you want a special musician  to come and play at Hedsor, maybe someone we haven’t had before, and you are prepared to sponsor that musician, then please speak to either John Dutton, Martin Hart or myself, and we will see what we can do.

In the meantime just come and enjoy the music, the free car park, the club facilities and the ambience of our special Thursday nights. Oh, I haven’t mentioned the raffle. Yes we still have a fun free raffle, but only for as long as you bring the prizes yourselves!

Michael, keeper of the raffle