Well, here we are again and it's Tuesday.  Still unable to meet friends and family, almost threatened now by Christmas and its associated risks, BUT now with a hope for 2021. 

I just wonder how often we have said in the last 9 months, “can’t we start again please”? Well seemingly no we can’t YET. Final details will be announced on Thursday I understand, then we will know if we can start having live music indoors again or not. 

We have all missed the jazz family as well as our own. Back in March when I had to tell you that we would not be able to run jazz at Hedsor for a few weeks, we had no idea that it would go on so long, which was just as well. 

Little by little our hopes have been kept alive throughout the drabness of lockdown. We have lost friends (how bizarre to have virtual funerals!), but we have gained new ones too. During our exercise periods we have met people we didn’t know before, who all said Hello, and who, like us, just wanted human contact.

Yes, some people have been selfish, and the sight of crowds on Brighton Beach back in the summer via TV were dreadfully amazing, as were those of the “outdoor” meals seen in London, with streets closed to traffic but filled by people eating and drinking at tables very socially unaware or distant.

Through all of this, we were unable to see and hear live jazz. I think we have all begun to appreciate better the people we met regularly at Hedsor Jazz. Friends, but only though our joint love for the music that drew us to Hedsor Club in the first place. But won’t it be a joy when we can meet and talk with them again. Maybe through this dreadful year we will be able to re-evaluate what friendship means, and to make sure we value it in all its forms into the future.

But the new or old normalities won’t be yet.

One or two things have kept my sprits high this week. The BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year broadcast on Sunday evening was able to show us a little of the future. I wonder if you thought the right young person had won? In my view they, and we, were all winners. Some I’m sure will become future guests at Hedsor, or dare I say also at Swanage! If you didn’t watch the program, it can still be had on iPlayer

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b00bb3wt/bbc-young-musician

Whilst on the subject of links, when I wrote last week of the Ronnie Scott program I wasn’t sure if the actual program could be still watched, but Martin Ashford of Marlow Music sent me the link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pjcm/ronnies-ronnie-scott-and-his-worldfamous-jazz-club

This should let you watch it again for about another 11 months!

Some of the guests we have been fortunate to enjoy at Hedsor have been famous names in the firmament of jazz. Two are now combined on a new CD just out on the 33 Records label.

“52^nd Street (and other tales)” has Tina May singing the songs of the late Duncan Lamont. So far I have managed to play it through just once, but I urge you to go and buy it, not just for the excellence of the recording or the music it conveys to your ears, but for the wonderful printed content of the sleeve too.

 You may need a magnifying glass to read some of he small white on black text, but it gives a great insight into Duncan, who played Hedsor many times both with and without Duncan junior

For me one song stands out, not just for the beauty and simplicity of the performance, but for the words and music themselves. On this CD ALL of the music and 99% of the words were written by Duncan himself, but on this one, “English Folk Song” the words were sent to Duncan by comedian Spike Milligan. No, it isn’t a funny song, it’s a beautiful song, poetry and melody, but a tune not unlike one that Vaughn Williams may have written during his days of collecting English folk songs. Other songs on this CD have more jazz style to them, after all with Tina together with James Pearson on piano, and with some solo work undertaken by trombonist Mark Nightingale why wouldn’t they, but do go and buy this. It gives us a better idea of the man who played that saxophone at Hedsor, which makes me realise what a special place Hedsor Jazz has been. And will be again.

Below some pictures from previous visits by Tina and Duncan to Hedsor Jazz

 

In the meantime, keep safe. We will all listen to the new rules on Thursday with bated breath.