HEDSOR JAZZ GIG LIST

AUGUST 2021

All the gigs start at 8.30pm with a ½ hour break between 9.30 and 10pm. Entry fee is £10. Please make sure that Tracy (tracy.georgiades@gmail.com) knows you are coming. We need to keep track of the numbers until we feel more comfortable about the numbers in the hall.

All gigs are accompanied by a trio led by drummer Martin Hart

August 5^th      

Lester Brown trumpet + Frank Walden tenor sax + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Peter Hughes bass

August 12^th     

Lester Brown trumpet + Kelvin Christian tenor sax + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass

August 19^th     

Duncan Lamont jnr tenor sax + Mike Innes trombone + Ken McCarthy keyboard + bass to be arranged 

August 26^th      

Lester Brown trumpet + Mark Aston tenor sax + Ken McCarthy keyboard + bass to be arranged         

SEPTEMBER 2^nd   

The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet which is comprised  of Lester Brown trumpet + Mike Wills reeds and a trio led by Martin Hart

ADVANCED NOTICE

Our Christmas Party will be on December 23^rd. One of our guests will be the renowned singer TINA MAY (with thanks to our anonymous sponsors!).

HEDSOR CLUB can be found in Hedsor Rd, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire SL8 5ES

One more week of July to go

And another week of the returned Hedsor Jazz.

Our week by week jazz sessions at Hedsor Club carry on, with more than enough room for 30 people (please make sure you reserve your space via Tracy (tracy.georgiades@gmail.com) and great joy at every session so far. A variety of jazz styles so far too, and last weeks was a surprise! Gary Woods is a great trumpet player, but it turned out he was a singer as well!

And he sang songs that reminded me of another trumpet player. 

Al Fairweather had been the trumpet player with Sandy Browns Jazzmen, and although Al didn’t sing, he ended his playing career in a band where they did have singers! AL was involved with a Bristol based band called “Groove Juice Special”, and they recorded and played some gigs with girl singers “Sweet Substitute” and it bought a big smile to my face when Gary Wood sang “Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens”, one of their (and Louis Jordan’s) songs.

Try looking up “Groove Juice Special on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0Sghy0BQt4 will give you “Big Bill”

And https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iSQld0mdMY will give you “Save the Bones for Henry Jones”

And you will see what I mean about jazz being special and fun.

“Big Bill” was written by Al, and I had the privilege of hearing him play it with Groove Juice at a Brecon Jazz Festival.

But one search leads to another, and whilst searching for Al and “Groove Juice” I came across 2 20 to 30 minute portions of clarinettist Sandy Brown in video, see links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s803Kga3v3c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPdxXWltr3U

Sandy was a unique voice in British Jazz, and there is almost no video of him playing. He did leave behind a great legacy of recorded jazz, so do look him up. 

I clearly remember seeing his band at The Royal Festival Hall in about 1956, when he came on after, I think, Acker Bilk’s band and the audience started to leave! It was sad because Sandy was playing mature jazz in a traditional format, but NOT British Trad!

I saw him and Al Fairweather a number of times at Southall’s “White Heart” where his band was the dep for Chris Barber in their regular weekly Wednesday night slot there.

Well, enough of memory lane, but thanks Gary for nudging out the memories!

Last Weeks Photos:-

The Link to my DropBox  files for last weeks music is here:-

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tv95cab27pj4pr5/AAASiYBIpQGBui-M7oBlUq4ya?dl=0

I have yet to add a cover design, but the music is all there. 

There will be more memories to be created THIS WEEK at Hedsor Jazz, as we will be celebrating with Alan Graham the fact that he has reached just  94 years! Do come and be part of it, but don’t forget, tell Tracy your coming, and please be aware that THE VIRUS has NOT gone on holiday!

Good Morning England!

Probably a short blog today, as it is already HOT, and I will keep it brief.

First. Despite the governments clear message ( I DO Joke!) Hedsor Jazz is requesting you all to keep to the same “space, face” rules that we have used for the past 7 weeks. Monday may have been freedom day, but the virus thought so to. For the time being we will be limiting our numbers to about 30 guests. Still please contact Tracy to assure both you and her that you will be coming on any particular Thursday. Book by contacting tracy.georgiades@gmail.com IF it is the first time you have been to Hedsor Jazz we will ask you to provide contact details, both for tracing, and for future Hedsor Jazz news.

I think what we put on week by week is well worth coming out for, so please do continue to support Hedsor Jazz. When we feel more confident in humanities ability to survive covid 19, we will put on some even more special concerts on a Thursday, but this week (July 22nd)  you should be thronging through the doors (socially distance of course!) because we have back with us Mike Wills, our long established reed man. Alongside him will be someone new to Hedsor Jazz, although NOT new to jazz. Trumpet man Gary Wood. There is a lot about him on YouTube and Facebook, so take a listen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaBodwy4w28

 

You might also like to look up Richard Leaches 7 Star of Jazz, because he is one of them too!

 http://richardleachjazz.co.uk/7-stars-of-jazz/

After last weeks fast tempos and traditional jazz tunes we might like to ask for a few slow mainstream ones this week. Those of you who were with us last week for what I have called “The Hedsor Jazz Pickup Band” might like to hear a few blues and ballads this week, as I don’t think anything was played S L O W L  Y last week. You can check out the whole evenings music via my DropBox link:-

https://www.dropbox.com/home/Hedsor%2015%207%2021%20pickup%20band

This meant that the rhythm section couldn’t take a break. The bass player was slapping like Slam Stewart and was visibly warmed, even though wearing truncated trousers! Well done Terry Davis. 

Well done too to Mike Jeffries. But that's stardom for you! How did they manage in the heat of New Orleans back in the day? At least “Oh Didn’t He Ramble” was taken at 3 different tempos!

On Thursday July 29^th we will be having another very special occasion. We will be celebrating Alan Grahams 94^th birthday. Because of the current difficulties we will be doing it a bit more low key than for his 90^th. When times allow, we will be asking him to bring all his friends in so that we can celebrate his life in music in a truly proper manner. However, for July 29^th, we will have Alan, and Mike Wills, Ken McCarthy,  Martin Hart and Terry Davis and perhaps one or two other musicians along, and also a snacklet or two at half time just so the event doesn’t pass by uncelebrated.

Last week we welcomed to Hedsor Jazz a couple who were visiting Hedsor Jazz for the first time. They had also found us via the blackboard outside Hedsor Club. They have just recently moved to Cookham, and I could easily throw stones at there flat (not that I would!). Alam was until recently a professional musician so we hope to attract him and his partner along to more Hedsor Jazz concerts. 

Cookham has in the past 2 months attracted 2 jazz saxophonists to it! Vasilis Xenopoulis is also now a Cookham resident. I saw him Sunday afternoon and he told me he had had breakfast in Aberdeen!

Pictures from last week below,

 

Take care

Here is the DropBox link to my audio files from last weeks concert with Max Brittain and Kelvin Christian

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/17qikz6m72jdzns/AABm9lVpJEID2pnFLCpMkaRKa?dl=0

Having added in this link, I have now removed the link to the June Mark Aston, Lester Brown concert. If you haven't yet downloaded those files do make contact with me.

I hope to see many of you this evening for our session with Martin Nickless and Simon Wylde. 

Do check your route as I understand the part of the A4094 Ferry Lane from Cookham Bridge to the Hedsor Road will be closed this evening for maintenance.

 Here we are again, a blog on a Tuesday.

Maybe I should have written “HEAR we are again”, because we are still able to come out to play (or listen) to live jazz at the Hedsor Social Club. This week, we will have had 8 opportunities to hear live jazz at Hedsor this year!

Last week we were slightly down on our audience quota of 30 people. There was still some room for 3 or 4 more. So don’t forget, as various media people keep telling us, covid 19 isn't over yet, and the future, may well become “unlocked”, but it still isn’t clear, so do come out and support Hedsor Jazz. 

I personally don’t like wearing a facemask (you may prefer me to have one on at all times as a visual amenity!) but I do feel that going in to the future still with the unseen covid 19 will mean that morally we should keep using them. We still have one more session where the rules are mandatory, so please keep to the sense of hands, face, and space. After that it will be up to you. 

It has been a delight these past 7 weeks to listen to live music again, and to meet with friends and musicians (who are also friends, especially our Hedsor regulars) to share our love of jazz, and of the tunes associated with “our” kind of music.

Last week I know I was unsure of how guitarist Max Brittain would combine with saxophonist Kelvin Christian as a “front line”. Those of you who were there now know, they did it very well. Some of the evening, especially for me some of the second set, was really special. Max’s feature (Pure Imagination – from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory) was amazing. You would never have know that this was his first gig in 16 months!

My pictures of the night are below; my recording will be “DropBoxed” later in the week.

Do however check out one of our new Hedsor Jazz regulars via his YouTube Pages. Alex has been videoing us for the benefit mainly of himself and his wife Nicole, but then shares his recordings via

 

Bardmann Baad TV    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoTCMDC3wB6fTdGV8yKLKrA/videos

 

Coming this Thursday July 15^th we have a different collection of players!

Martin Hart is on his community service, so he has replaced the Martin of the band with two Martins! (does that make Martin Hart our house martin)?

First a reed player who has been to Hedsor a number of times before. Usually a clarinet player, Martin Nickless, (who I think was last at Hedsor in May 2019) will be joined at the front by trombone player Simon Wylde, who was last with us in October 2019. Behind them will be Martin number2, keyboard player Martin Picket who was with us last month. On bass will be Terry Davis (also with us last month) and on drums, a special welcome to our resident deputy drummer, Mike Jeffries.

So, if you want to come and be part of Thursday Night Live at Hedsor Jazz tell Tracy tracy.georgiades@me.com or tracy.georgiades@gmail.com

One final point, do check the route to Hedsor. Last week Ferry Lane (that’s the bit of the road A4094 between Cookham Bridge and Hedsor Road) was closed for road repairs, and it may well be so again this week. Traffic alerts (https://www.rac.co.uk/route-planner/maps/) may help.

 

That’s about it for this week, now’s the time.....for a cup of tea!!

I now have a link to my DropBox files to enable you to download the music and artwork for last weeks Hedsor Jazz Concert Recording

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wma8ez8vemjsqav/AAD87qds4GKTmA_WXoC0pwota?dl=0

This link will remain accessible for one month.

Time for a little blog.

Hedsor Jazz this week (July 8^th) has a slightly different mix. In the front line guitarist Max Brittain will be joined by saxophonist Kelvin Christian. It should be interesting to see how these two different instruments approach the music. Both musicians have been with us at Hedsor many times before, but I am unsure if they have played Hedsor Jazz together before. 

We are very grateful for Kelvin stepping in for this week’s session. We were due to have another old friend of Hedsor Jazz, and of our late leader Clive Burton, saxophonist  Al Nichols. Sadly Al is indisposed, and we wish him a speedy recovery, and look forward to seeing him at Hedsor Jazz again very soon

Al played with Clive (as a dep) many years ago when Clive was part of “Century Jazz” and jazz was played at “The Cookham Tavern”, which 21^st century residents now know as Costa’s Coffee! 

Al also played in the transition of Century Jazz into The Clive Burton Quintet at a famous Norden Farm Concert which was run as a tribute to drummer Keith Vitty. Keith had formed “Century Jazz” but was claimed by cancer in 2002. The Norden Farm concert was professionally recorded, and if you don’t have a copy of that double album do see either me, or Jan Burton as we do still have a few copies of it.

Last weeks session (my photos are below) was performed by the successor to “The Clive Burton Quintet”,  “The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet”. This was formed after Clive died of cancer, and the quintet replaced the trombone sound with that of a trumpet. Lester Brown's trumpet sound added a slightly different dimension to the quintet, and together with our regular reedman Mike Wills last week they played some new arrangements. It is a great credit to all in the quintet that Mike’s arrangements could be played sight read! Later in the week I will put out a link to my DropBox files of last weeks recordings and if you weren’t there yourself you can hear how well they made out.

Don’t forget that for the time being we do still need you to book in your intention to be at Hedsor Jazz this and every Thursday with Tracy, who on the night will also take your £10 entrance fee.

Email  tracy.georgiades@gmail.com

Last Week photos

 

Our future gig list looks like this at the moment:-

8^th July               

Kelvin Christian sax+ Max Brittain guitar +Ken McCarthy keyboard + Peter Hughes bass + Martin Hart drums and leader

15^th July             

Martin Nickless sax+ Simon Wyld (trombone) + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums and leader

22^nd July 

Mike Wills sax + Gary Woods (trumpet) + Ken McCarthy keyboard + ??? bass + Martin Hart drums and leader

29^th July 

Alan Graham vibes+ Mike Wills sax + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums and leader

That's it for now. Don't forget when at Hedsor Club to keep to covid 19 behaviour guidance...hands, space, face and.... do let us know who you are!!

 Geoff