A Quick PS, 

check out the links to The United Nations Jazz Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGAbp1Ro_q0

There is more to hear from Dimitri and his friends!

 Jazz from Geoff, THE BLOG, you will appreciate, is late this week.

Late is becoming the new normal.  It is very sad to say BUT with no gig at Hedsor to advertise for the last few months, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find things to write about. No photos to colour the page with either, so this week I was really casting around for things to lift our spirits.

In a way, I have failed. One of the things this corona virus period has given us though is time at home, and I have been playing things from my collection that maybe I haven’t played in a while. In doing that this week I came a cross a recording, made at Hedsor, that you won’t have!!

Back in 2008 I ran a series of monthly Monday jazz events in the bar at Hedsor (in its scruffier days) that were concentrated on jazz led by guitar. In this I had the help of, amongst others, guitarist James Fenn. 

It was James who introduced me to Vasilis Xenopoulos, and on May 19^th 2008 Vasilis came with a Greek friend called Dimitri. Now, I don’t know his second name, and it was whilst trying to find who it might be that I came across Dimitri Vassilakis on you tube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNJCRSABvw

Do take a look and a listen, as you will find a 20 minute exploration of the structure of jazz, which is quite fun, but sadly hasn’t got enough real musical content. It IS however very well done. I will try and find more from this musician, as he sounds pretty good, and comes across well as an educator.

I don’t think that this was the Dimitri who came to Hedsor in 2008. But that session in 2008 was recorded by me onto a mini disk, and I saved the music onto CD. Playing it this week, I realise that over the years those of us who were at Hedsor Jazz in its early years had some excellent jazz to listen to. I am taking a risk now, as I am going to put those recordings into DropBox without asking permission of the players, but will take it down if they really object. I don’t think they need to be bashful of the content, as it is all pretty good jazz. James Fenn on guitar, Lisa Amato on bass guitar, Nick Maragoni on drums, Vasilis Xenopoulos on Tenor sax, and the aforementioned Dimitri on alto sax. Like I said, no photos, and no cd cover, but if you want to have a listen go to

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/eoadexsaqz1se3s/AACcNnGwUs_CJSAh5bC0TgVKa?dl=0

Were YOU there? 

Do make comment via octogeoff@outlook.com

My memories of that bar were the long settle seats. You really did settle in to the ground when you sat down, but at least all the seats in the bar were comfortable enough to sit on (or even in) without bringing your own cushion!

The photo below was taken in the bar in 2011, but the décor and the seating were the same, if not the band!!

I'm sure you can name all of these!!

Geoff’s Blog, again possibly a little late again this week, but ALWAYS of the same high quality!! After all it does have an inbuilt delete button on the device you get it on!

First of all, an email message from one of Hedsor Jazz’s favourite guests.

Vasilis Xenopoulos wrote in this week with the following:-

Dear Friends,

Apologies for the radio silence all these months but as you can understand not a lot happened during the lockdown period. Finally, there is some activity again in the music scene and I will be appearing in several venues around the country mainly with the Nigel Price Organ trio who they're currently on tour. We have already done 7 appearances this month already in the West Country and the North. 
For the London based jazz fans, I'm very excited to announce that I will be at Ronnie Scott's jazz club this Thursday 22/10 with Nigel Price and next week 31/10 at 606 jazz club with an exciting new band called 5-Way-Split. 

In these strange times we're living your support is more valuable than ever as we're trying to rebuild our music scene back from its ruins. I hope finally get to see some familiar faces soon! If you want a full list of dates please click here. 
https://vasilisxenopoulos.com/new-events

Many thanks 

Vasilis 

One day, we will be able to send you all an email telling you that Vasilis is playing again at Hedsor, but until then, do at least follow him on the electronic device of your choice

As I mentioned in a recent blog, I still buy CD’s. I really do find a sense of ownership and a more direct connection to the music if I can actually hold something that contains it, rather than just the right to listen to it! And so it was that this week I got to listen to a Chris Barber CD again!

A very recent purchase, as it was only released in October, is a Chris Barber recording from 1963. Alan Gilmour was the sound engineer for Nottingham Jazz Club, and he used to record the sessions for his own use through the PA. Alan died in 2003, and his family has gifted the tapes he left behind (over 1000 hours worth) to Lake Records. This is their first release, and the first of a recording of Chris Barber in a real club atmosphere. You may recall that there have been many recordings released of The Barber Band recorded live during prestigious concerts, going as far back to1954 (an LP containing bits of the National Jazz federation’s Festival Hall Concert), when they were formed, 

but I don’t think there have been any recoded in a live jazz club, and thanks to Alan Gilmour and Lake Records, now there is!

It is a double album, so you get most of the evenings music, including an extended set by Ottilie Patterson. What a joy to hear her again, vibrant, slightly husky, and as sexy and as driving a singer as I remembered her.

In the days of early courtship and marriage my wife June often used to accompany me to jazz events, and neither of us have ever forgotten an evening in Hammersmith Town Hall where Ottilie came out in front of the Barber band in a long black dress, and started to sing and dance in front of the band. It wasn’t long before, and with a gasp from the audience, she lifted her long skirt to show long bright red leather boots! Wow, it was 1959!

This new CD release is well worth having, not just for Ottilie, but for all of the vitality it shows that the band could have in 1963. With Ian Wheeler on clarinet and alto sax, it was “just” the 6 piece Barber band, but already showing the signs of things to come. Still much to cheer the Trad fan of the day, but also some Ellington and some Rhythm and Blues along the way.  Lake LACD 363

Despite my purchasing continuity, the enabling of me to hold the music purchased (a contradiction in terms surely), I do subscribe to Amazon Prime and one or two other music streaming services. I must say that they do often tempt me to actually purchasing something solid, but they are a good way of testing it out and/or finding something new to like. 

One of my favourite pianists over recent years has been Scot Brian Kellock. He can often be found both live and on cd alongside fellow Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsaScfdvGhM  click the link!

I managed to catch Brian “live” at a Swanage Jazz festival gig some years ago. He is tremendously inventive, and sometimes, to the annoyance of other musicians on the stage with him, carries his solos on a bit, usually to the excitement of the crowd.

The CD’s of note I have of him are with Smith and the Scottish Jazz Orchestra, playing some great Ellington, “In the Spirit of the Duke”

 

Another that I have loved has Brian playing alongside singer Catherine Legardh on “Love Still Wears a Smile”, and also with her on “Gorgeous Creatures”.

But, thanks to my subscription to Amazon Prime I have discovered a solo album entitled “Bidin My Time” and it says that the label it is on is brian kellock!! Do try it (and him) out. All his recordings are well engineered, and are producing a great piano sound. On this his 2020 release he plays a variety of styles, but it is truly jazz piano of the highest quality. Seek it out via https://briankellock.bandcamp.com/releases

Well that is enough from me for now, I can smell the coffee. In the meantime until we meet again, enjoy your jazz wherever you find it!

 

Jazz from Geoff, The Blog

 

The Blog is late again this week. I have actually been OUT 2 days in a row! Old friends and what were once familiar faces. How we have all slipped into the routines of shutdown, whatever level we are or will be in.

I sat down last night and played the last recording I made at Hedsor Jazz. March 5^th 2020. Do YOU remember that night? There was only one more to come a week later, but March 5^th was the last that I recorded, and it now seems so strange that then we were all used to going out to Hedsor on a Thursday evening, meeting familiar faces and as well as having the amazing social contact that we took for granted, listening to amazing jazz, which we also took for granted.

On March 5^th we listened to Ian Smith and Ollie Wilby. We talked with them in the interval; we shook hands with them at the end of the evening. We enjoyed the banter with others as they left. “Thanks Geoff for doing the tables and PA, see you next week”. The sort of evening and evening end that we had enjoyed every week for umpteen years at Hedsor Jazz. Almost every Thursday evening this century in fact.

 But in this past 7 months that normality has died. In that 7 months we too have all changed and, I for one, don’t want the Hedsor Jazz habit to be allowed to die too, which is why I have attempted to write something every week in order to keep the memory of our previous normality alive.

This hasn’t been helped by computer hackers. My address book was got at by, I am told, a Russian. I have had to think hard about how to email again to let you know about my weekly typing's, and I have still to solve that puzzle. More than one antivirus program has scanned my PC, and they all tell me it isn’t infected, and that I am protected. But do please be aware, all of you who read this will now be known by someone else.

On the music front this week I have seen no new live jazz. Scour the internet, use some of the links I have put out in this blog in previous weeks  and you can see live jazz broadcasts that you can stream for a price and there are also many streams and films from the past can be had for free via YouTube, which is great.

I understand that the musicians need to keep in practice and also to gain some income, but sitting in front of a screen listening through relatively small loudspeakers is nothing like the live vibe of club or concert. Even the glass of beer isn’t quite as good, even though Rebellion Beer have been brilliant in keeping me supplied!

No I haven’t an answer, or date to give you a hope of a return to live interaction (I was tempted to say “live social intercourse” but thought that might be misconceived!!). We are almost back were we were in March. Covid 19 isn’t going away, and I don’t want to risk lives by offering the temptation of live jazz. What I am going to do this week is put the whole of our last concert at Hedsor up on DropBox and let you all grab it for your self, and for you to have that funny nostalgia feeling for yourselves.

 

DropBox link for Hedsor Jazz March 5^th 2020

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ohtymbe5ik6xgx9/AAAbYLm16CEOpLLhOm9lc4NJa?dl=0

 

More blog natter next week, but whatever you do, stay safe.

 

Don’t forget to make contact with me use octogeoff@outlook.com

 

 Tuesday, and a blog day. Just about on time this week.

BUT

 “I think its going to rain today”

“Broken windows and empty hallways

A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with grey

Human kindness is overflowing

And I think it's going to rain today”

It's a great tune by Randy Newman which I first heard in about 1966 from an LP by The Chris Barber Band. It was on an LP on the Marmalade label back in those trendy times. 

I did have 2 copies of this LP, and on a radio program offered one as a quiz prize. Some weeks after the show, I discovered that the LP was worth at least £25!! DAM! It last sold on eBay for £75!

I reproduce above the LP Cover. You will notice that this copy isn’t on Marmalade, but Polydor!! SO, Marmalade is probably worth more now, and I do still have one copy!! 

The damp weather of the last few days has prompted a bit more looking and listening than the previously warmer days, and I have found a true treasure source of jazz because of it.

Initially I was looking for music for another project. The German ACT label has some interesting artists signed to it, and one of them is Swedish trombonist and singer Nils Landgren. I have actually seen him play (and dance!) with The London Philharmonic Orchestra. In the first half of the concert he played a trombone concerto with them. In the second he played jazz with some of the orchestra members accompanying him.  I must say were well up for it!

I knew I had heard a recent CD where he played with other Swedish musicians, and I found it and added what I want in to the project. 

However, there was a song on the CD that captivated me. A song by a Swedish lady called Ida Sand, who plays piano as well as sings. So I YouTubed her, and found the resource mentioned above. 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC08F0Rbl03DBZLOi0UZXE_Q?reload=9

Started in 1990 the “Jazz Baltica” festival is now organised by Nils Landgren in the Baltic port of Lubeck in Germany. The link above will give you access to hours of great jazz music from that festival with concerts not just from this year, but many past years as wells.

This years product does seem slightly strange, as it is audience free, and views of the camera people wearing covid masks adds an eerie feel to it all.

The music is however of a very high quality. The sight gives access to many performers (including Ida Sand), and a variety of jazz styles. And it is in depth. No 5 minute bits, but complete concerts. It does have advert breaks, which is how you can watch it for free.

Swedish Jazz has been on my radar ever since I first borrowed an LP from the Maidenhead library of “Jazz at the Pawnshop” by saxophonist Arne Domnerus, who died in 2008.

Recorded in 1976 it had long been used as a Hi Fi demo LP. It is a live recording (differing from the mainly silent dead ones) from a jazz club/café called “The Pawn Shop”.  It has a quintet playing top quality mainstream to bop jazz  music and it introduced me to the quality of Swedish Jazz  including vibes player Lars Erstrand. So back before the day of CD I went out and purchased my own copy of the LP.

Since the days of Long Playing Vinyl, all of the music recorded at that club event in 1976 has now been released on 3 CD’s on the Proprius Music label, (yes, its based in Stockholm). They are illustrated in miniature in the clip about Arne above. Innovatively the CD’s are called “Jazz at the Pawnshop 1”, Jazz at the Pawnshop 2” and Jazz at the Pawnshop 3”. Proprius PRCD 7778, PRCD 9044 and PRCD 9058

So this week try some Baltic with your chips!

The song that captivated me was “Now the Time is Here” which includes the words, “be kind, be patient, let someone be your friend”. 

In these very difficult and different times we all need to do that.

Enjoy today, tomorrow it may still be raining!