Another blog, 3 in a week!!

Over the lockdown and then the unlock periods I have established a link to Maidenheads Norden Farm. I know that some of you go to their jazz evenings, and this week they have offered us the following:-

We would also like to offer your network 2 for 1 tickets for this Friday’s event John Horler – A Tribute to Bill Evans if anyone would like to join us. John returns to Norden Farm with Alec Dankworth. This time in classic jazz trio format, celebrating the music of Bill Evans. They are joined by drummer Ronnie Jones, to mark the 60th anniversary of the release of seminal Bill Evans album Portrait in Jazz.

Buy one, get one free tickets can be booked online here https://norden.farm/events/john-horler-a-tribute-to-bill-evans - using the code JAZZ241 or by calling the Box Office on 01628 788997.

Many thanks to Norden Farms Alex Vander Borght for this. If you are free, do avail yourselves of this special deal.

 I noticed when looking at the issued blog that the Vasilis poster for Thursday says you need to pre book. 

THIS IS NO LONGER A REQUIREMENT

I did the poster some weeks ago!

Also Marlow Jazz Club has just issued its forthcoming program, do take a look.

A short blog today just to encourage you all to come out for our special event on Thursday.

Vasilis Xenopoulos and Nigel Price, together with Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Andy Crowdy on bass and of course Martin Hart on drums ( and occasional microphone)!

The highest class of jazz coming to you at The Hedsor Club. All for £10 a head, with free parking.

Just compare that with going to see Vasilis and Nigel at Ronnie Scott’s! You would pay your entry fee at Hedsor for one drink at Ronnie’s!

If you have access to facebook do check out https://www.facebook.com/vasilisjazz/videos/1044355002981551/

Strangely, last weeks session had exactly the same mix of instruments. The front liners of Al Nicholls and Max Britain provided a wonderful mix of tunes and harmonies, and I am sure this Thursday’s session will do the same, but it won’t sound the same. The styles will be different that’s all. So nothing too boring then! 

My recording of last weeks session will be available via DropBox later in the week.

My photos are below.

Now you see the braces!

NO, not musical mops, just spilt beer!

Our opening evening for October will have

October 7^th    Sue Greenway reeds + Mike Wills reeds+ Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums

Two reed players! For us it will be a welcome return to have Mike with us again. We were so used to seeing him every week alongside Clive, but as everyone’s circumstances have changed it will be great to welcome him back. Sue, like Mike is also from Oxford, and is well used to playing with Mike in that local circuit. It should be a harmonious evening.

I told you this blog would be short, but one final thing.

One of my favourite pianists is Scot Brian Kellock, who is often associated with saxophonist Tommy Smith. He is also known for accompanying singers, Catherine Legardh for example.(Check out “Love Still Wears a Smile”).

Recently he has released on a self released, self financed basis a CD of solo piano. He has amazing technique, and I would recommend you listen to it. It's all just wonderful imaginative, exciting piano playing. Strands of music are literally woven into different shapes.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bidin-My-Time-Brian-Kellock/dp/B07WJB6S7F

Check out what The London Jazz News Review has to say about it at

https://londonjazznews.com/2019/08/17/brian-kellock-bidin-my-time/

Don’t forget to keep live jazz alive, the musicians need an audience, and so do the venues!

A slightly late and also a bit brief, the blog this week does concentrate the mind on what we have coming up this week and next week too, and a recapitulation on what we had last week as well!

So, to be perverse last week first!

Our session with Stuart Henderson and Anatoliy Vyacheslavov was first class modern and exciting jazz. It was good to have both musician with us again, but particularly so to have “Tolly” back with us as he is quite hard to get hold of. A hard and exciting modern bop player with a big tone, he combined well with Stuart. His own solo’s within each tune were innovative and hard driving. The evening did get recorded, and it is available to download from my DropBox over the next month, just follow the link above the image of the cd cover.

dropbox 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/55mxedkn8pmflvj/AAD_F5X_jl82Vy0cK1FavzNja?dl=0

This coming Thursday we have a different sort of tenor player, but none the less an excellent one. We are pairing Al Nicholls with guitarist Max Britain, so the evenings sound might not be quite so hard driven as last week, but it will be interesting and full toned and full of invention. That’s this Thursday, September 23^rd from 8.30pm so do come along.

As you may have heard me say in the recent past we could do with more in the Hedsor audience. What Hedsor Jazz is putting on week by week is jazz music of a very high quality. We do have the funds to keep going, BUT unless we get a bigger audience I fear we will not be able to encourage the musicians we have so regularly had in the past to come out and play for us. It is just as important for the musicians to enjoy playing as it is for the audience to enjoy their music. If those musicians feel underappreciated, and we loose them, then I don’t see a future for jazz at Hedsor. We need an audience.

Don’t forget we have a very special evening coming up for the end of the month.

On September 30^th we will have Vasilis Xenopoulos and Nigel Price coming to play for us at Hedsor. We have been privileged to have them at Hedsor many times in the past.

Last week they were at Ronnie Scott’s! Please ensure they have an audience to play for at Hedsor by coming to see them, and by encouraging others to come too. It will only cost you £10 to get in, the car parking is free, and the drinks are very reasonably priced! You cannot say any of that for Ronnie Scott’s!

I do understand that there are still risks attached to going out and socialising. There is ample space at Hedsor to double our usual audience and still not to be crammed together and if you take the usual covid precautions you will probably be safer coming to sit and listen to Jazz at Hedsor than you would be shopping in the supermarket of your choice!

One young man came for the first time last week, a rock guitarist, who also happens to be the lead singer of “The Small Fakers”, yes a tribute band! Do look them up!  http://www.smallfakers.co.uk/

A short blog today, but it is coming out on the correct day of the week this time!

We have been a little short on numbers recently, and I want to stress that if you would like to come to ANY Hedsor Jazz session now, you don’t need to pre book with Tracy, but when you pay her on entry do be prepared to give her your contact details for covid 19 tracing.

It was pointed out that maybe people who thought they would like to come at the last minute might be put off because they hadn’t email Tracy, our money launderer (that’s cash to jazz!), and therefore didn’t come. Well, we don’t want anyone to miss the exciting evenings we get at Hedsor Jazz, and I can assure you all that our live jazz is better than your broadest band TV!!

And this week is pretty special! Thursday 16^th September we have Stuart Henderson on trumpet and flugel horn and Anatoliy Vyacheslavov on tenor sax as our front line guests.

Last week saw another excellent evening with Kelvin Christian doing his Roland Kirk impersonation on “Blue Rol” and trumpeter Andy Gibson blowing some high notes on Clifford Brown’s “Joy Spring”.

Sadly my Tascam recorder decided it had run out of memory in the second set, but if you missed both the above, they can be found via the DropBox links put out yesterday.

My photos of the evening are below.

 Coming soon is our evening with Vasilis Xenopoulos and Nigel Price on September 30^th. We won’t be allowed to fill the room, but we are anticipating double our usual number. Do tell your friends, your neighbours, and you can always bring your mum. Let’s welcome these guys to Hedsor. They have gained fame if not fortune since the days when they played in the bar! As I said last week, the musicians play better to a supportive audience.

Have any of you caught up with a CD released recently by Tony Coe?

Called “Dancing in the Dark” it was released last month on Gearbox GB1567CD. It has Tony playing alongside pianist John Horler back in 2007 in St Michaels Church, Appleby. Just the two of them with Tony on clarinet all the time. It is a wonderful showcase for one of the UK’s most innovative jazz musicians. No matter what reed instrument he plays on he has an identifiable sound, almost dribbling out some of his notes but always making perfect and exciting sense within the context of the tune being played. Tony has been one of the jazz musicians I have tried to get to see whenever possible ever since he joined the Humphrey Lyttleton Band at the age of 18. He replaced another of Britain’s great reed innovators, Bruce Turner!

"Some other Autumn" is a tune Tony wrote back in the 1970’s and appears on this latest release but is also on a CD in the HEP catalogue (HEP CD 2037). It was originally released on the Doug Dobell 77 Records Label around 1971!

That's it for now folks, stay safe.

HEDSOR JAZZ RECORDINGS

As promised last blog, below is a list of links to my recordings from Hedsor Jazz now in DropBox

The titles are as they appear in DropBox. Please feel free to download and enjoy

Hedsor Jazz 5 8 21 Lester and Frank           https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1q9drjb86t8tnu8/AABDQvKe0SUUFuObUf5S2J7ha?dl=0

Hedsor Jazz 12 8 21 Lester and Kelvin     https://www.dropbox.com/sh/494jsakl1dh6i1g/AADyaXif1P-Zx9irVZwf5B5Ea?dl=0

Hedsor Jazz 26 8 21 Lester and Mark https://www.dropbox.com/sh/571n5z374hcy2jd/AAAQ3LBwCqv8RTgTAgPdRmp4a?dl=0

Hedsor Jazz Al Nicholls Lester 2 9 21 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kqnr33ik3nio4e6/AAAfpfjjgeP8mXtDghLOYDQCa?dl=0

Hedsor Jazz Duncan L and Mike 19 8 21 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zr3ld0vr7olamew/AAD-wWmCXkA6iHVBEOmWQvUga?dl=0

Hedsor Jazz Kelvin C Andy G 9 9 21 https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qx8ejnnpan7p08s/AABy0vXsZyXXb3JjwYOKcREKa?dl=0

 

Late again I’m afraid, but with news of almost 2 months of glorious jazz for you to look forward to.

Below you will find our listings up until the end of October. Please do try and come to as many as you can, we hope to continue the program, but only

a) if we are allowed to. (the covid infection rate is currently 383 in 100,000 in RBWM) and

b) if enough of you come out to listen to the marvellous music that Hedsor Jazz is currently providing. This is not just a financial consideration. Musicians like to play to an audience!

Last weeks session with Lester and Al Nicholls was truly wonderful. One regular attendee said Al was his favourite sax player of all time, and made a nice donation as well as paying his entry fee. Well, Mr Anonymous, you will see AL Nicholls will be with us again in a couple of week time!

Photos of the night are below, I will put my recording of it into DropBox later in the week and let you all have the download link later.

 

Our program for the next few weeks

 HEDSOR JAZZ GIG LIST

September/October 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. The appropriate Government Covid safety measures should still adhered to.

 September

  9^th    Andy Gibson tpt + Kelvin Christian reeds + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Peter Hughes bass + Martin Hart drums

16^th    Stuart Henderson tpt + Tolly* sax Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums

*Tollys actual name is Anatoliy Vyacheslavov

23^rd    Al Nicholls reeds + Max Brittain guitar + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Peter Hughes bass + Martin Hart drums

30^th    Vasilis Xenopoulos reeds + Nigel Price gtr + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Andy Crowdy bass + Martin Hart drums

October

  7^th    Sue Greenway reeds + Mike Wills reeds+ Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums

14^th   Lester Brown tpt + ALAN GRAHAM vibes and percussion + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Peter Hughes bass + Martin Hart drums

This will be a party night to celebrate with a few of Alan’s friends his 94^th birthday, which took place earlier in the year. There will be a buffet included in the normal entry price.

21^st   Stuart Henderson tpt + Frank Walden sax + Ken McCarthy keyboard +Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums

28^th   Lester Brown tpt + Mark Aston reeds + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Mike Jeffries drums. Bass to be arranged

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!).

Please Note, ALL these gigs take place in 

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

 

 

 First, no apology for a Wednesday blog?

I had a bank holiday too!

    I’m not taking a week off though, because it is important for you to know that tomorrows Hedsor Jazz gig has been modified. 

In place of Mike Wills, who is unavoidably detained, we have the greatest of pleasures in welcoming back Al Nicholls, that well known tenor sax player and the musician behind (or even in front of) "Blue Harlem" to play alongside Lester Brown. That’s tomorrow, September 2^nd, at Hedsor Club.

Last week Lester was beside another saxophonist, Mark Aston, and didn’t they do well. I think it was the best I had heard them play together. The arrangements were crisp and harmonious, and the individual improvisation was excellent. AND you can still hear it all, because you can download it from my DropBox file by using the link below:-

DB Link    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/571n5z374hcy2jd/AAAQ3LBwCqv8RTgTAgPdRmp4a?dl=0

Listen out for the very good “behind solo’s” riffing that goes on. The choice of tune was also innovative and great to hear.

Here are my photos from the evening:-

Below you will find our gig list for September. Please consider coming, we do now have space for you, all you need to do is to let Tracy know you are coming. email tracy.georgiades@gmail.com

That includes our VERY special gig on September 30th. Just let us know you are coming and pay at the door.

SEPTEMBER AT HEDSOR JAZZ

Sept  2^nd     Lester Brown tpt + Al Nicholls sax+

          Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums

          9^th      Andy Gibson tpt +  Kelvin Christian reeds +

           Ken McCarthy keyboard + Peter Hughes bass + Martin Hart drums

         16^th    Stuart Henderson tpt + Tolly* sax  

            Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums

         23^rd    Al Nicholls reeds + Max Brittain guitar +    

            Ken McCarthy keyboard + Peter Hughes bass + Martin Hart drums

        30^th    Vasilis Xenopoulos  reeds + Nigel Price gtr +

             Ken McCarthy keyboard  + Andy Crowdy bass + Martin Hart drums

 

*Tolly’s full name is Anatoliy Vyacheslavov

I do have artwork for a poster for September 30^th, see below:-

 If you would like the pdf file in order for you to print and put up near you please see the 

DropBox link  https://www.dropbox.com/s/syek9gahdydl64m/vasilis%20poster%20v1.pdf?dl=0

That's about it for now, I have probably forgotten something, after all I was born in 1938 

Please consider not only coming yourself to a Hedsor Jazz gig, but bringing a friend. 

Without an audience we wont be able to keep the musicians amused! 

And no amused musicians means NO LIVE JAZZ!