Jazz from Geoff

As the weeks and months go by it is harder to find something to write about in this space. There are things to see on your screen at home, and I will continue to let you know what I have found.

But live and local jazz?

It now seams very unlikely that live jazz will resume at Hedsor in the near future. The risks seem to me to outweigh the benefits. The safety requirement and the control of that safety isn’t just down to the management of The Hedsor Club. I think they have done all that they could to ensure the building is as virally secure as it could be. But to manage people coming in, to ensure only 25 are in the audience, that the audience remain in their respective bubbles, that no bubble exceeds 6 people,  that the separate bubbles stay apart from other bubbles AND that all drinks are ordered and delivered from your table AND that we have to be out of the building by 10pm makes the promoters responsibility a bit hard to swallow. So, be patient, it is all a waiting game, and one day, as the saying goes, all our Christmases will come at once!

I will congratulate Norden Farm, Maidenheads Centre for the Arts,  for their efforts in running an evening of live (and of streamed) jazz last Friday.

It was all a bit scary in as much as almost the entire Norden Farm management team met me at the door, and that my bubble had an allocated table so that we could order drinks before the show and during the interval. Yes, not only did I have a seat in the theatre, but at table for personal use in the bar and dinning area!

But to see Norden Farm with only 30 visitors was kind of ghost like. Norden Farm had done an excellent job of spacing and sanitisation. They had bitten the bullet, and Alan Barnes, I know, was grateful to play to an audience of 30, almost a record for this year. And we were all indoors!!

The band of Alan, who played alto, baritone and clarinet (because it was clarinet practice day, it being a Friday!), Alex Hutton on grand piano, Andy Cleyndert on bass and Clark Tracey on drums were excellent,  as you would expect. Once or twice with less familiar material they sounded a little unsure of what they were collectively doing but on the whole we got a full 2 hours of very good jazz music.

Sitting listening wearing a covid mask was a little uncomfortable, but during the interval at my bubbles allocated table you could take your mask off. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to down my half of IPA!

To hear quality live jazz again, from people most of us have listened to over many  years, (except of course this year of AD 2020), was a true delight.

http://www.woodvillerecords.com/Andrew%20Cleyndert.htm

I have added in a link to Andy Cleyndert, because it illustrates a CD I have been playing recently. The Jay and Kai tribute CD listed at the top of the Woodville page is very well worth seeking out. The first time I played it I played it all through in one go, something I don’t do that often. An excellent CD, and yes, I do still buy them.

When CD’s started to replace LP’s I felt there was a law of diminishing returns. Click and scratch free music, but much smaller artwork and sleeve notes. Let’s face it, some LP covers were great works of art. To now replace CD’s with music streamed via Prime or Spotify, (there are other streaming services!!) with no notes to read at all and no feeling of ownership is, for me, a step too far backwards. Those media do give you a chance to sample music you haven’t heard before, but without a solid purchase the experience has become cheapened too an unacceptable level.

An Original Jay and Kai LP

Alex Hutton (https://jazzinlondon.live/alex-hutton/) is an interesting pianist, a true character. Exciting, sometimes not to the advantage of the tune being played, he is still a musician to go and listen to. He plays with a passion, sometimes even with a frenzy, and although he may knock your socks off, he keeps his on. He does however take his shoes off to play, but I have yet to see his toes play the piano keys.

Norden Farms sound for this concert, (perhaps because it was being streamed), was of a very high order.

So, well done Norden Farm. Like my mum told me in order to be polite, I did write and thank them for their hospitality!!    https://norden.farm/