Today’s blog comes with mixed feelings. So let’s get the sad bit over first.

Jan Burton, Clive Burtons wife, whom many of us know as Clive led the jazz music at Hedsor Jazz for over 20 years, had a stroke at her home in Reading last Wednesday night. She is currently being treated in The Royal Berks Hospital, and I have managed to speak with her. She is without feeling down the right hand side, but is able to speak. She now faces many months of treatment, and for some part of that time will be transferred to the Radcliff Hospital in Oxford. Her family have been able to visit and she is reasonably comfortable. She has the ability to watch TV and listen to the radio which helps her to pass the time. I will endeavour to keep you all up to date with her progress, but in the meantime I‘m sure she will value the power of your positive thoughts and your prayers.

Now for some of the more joyful stuff for this weeks blog.

It just so happens that we have the nearest manifestation of The Clive Burton Quintet coming to Hedsor Jazz this Thursday, November 18^th.  “The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet” comprising Lester Brown, Mike Wills, Ken McCarthy and Martin Hart will be with us, plus a bass player so far unnamed. Both Mike Wills and Martin Hart were part of the Clive Burton Quintet that had played in Hedsor Club from 2002 until Clive passed away 4 years ago.

For those of you new to this blog and to Hedsor Jazz I should mention that all our gigs start at 8.30pm and the entrance fee is £10. I do apologise to any new attendees because that hadn’t been mentioned in recent blogs. As we are no longer using the red cashbox, we haven’t put the sign back on the door about the entrance fee. With luck, I may be able to conjure up a sign for this week. Apologies for any embarrassment to anyone who was actually asked to pay!

When you consider that our guests next week are the renowned trumpet player Steve Waterman partnered by saxophonist Kelvin Christian, you will realise that what you get at Hedsor Jazz is an absolute bargain. DONT KEEP IT SUCH A SECRET! Do look Steve up, https://www.stevewaterman.co.uk/ he has played Hedsor before, and appeared alongside Gill Cook at the St Pirans Jazz Festival some years ago.

 

Last week (pictures below) was another cracking evening. You do really have to pinch yourself to realise that music of this quality is coming to you without the fine of travelling into London. Duncan Lamont Jr and Mike Innes played some wonderful jazz, and we had a couple of pro musicians in the audience who in the second set “sat in” too. So for part of the second half we had a 3 part front line of excellent quality.

OK jazz of this quality used to be even nearer to me than Hedsor (Thursdays used to take place in The Cookham Tavern, Now Costa’s Coffee, shut in the evenings now anyway), and I know most of you travel further than I do to listen at Hedsor anyway, but such jazz sessions that are so local and so inexpensive in travel cost and parking charges are remarkable.

 

Someone who has travelled further than most of us can be heard TONIGHT at Marlow Jazz. USA saxophonist Greg Abate. Here is a quote from Marlow Jazz’s web page.

“Tuesday November 16th U.S.A. Alto sax and flute superstar Greg Abate with our trio. £10 Fingers crossed that his planned tour will go ahead. If you have seen his two previous Marlow dates you will know why this guy is rated as one of the greatest saxophonists in the world today.”

Last Friday Cookham Rise Methodist Church put on a fund raising concert by the 16 piece big band “Echoes of Swing”, who just happen to “employ” one of our regular bass players, Peter Hughes. One of the highlights of Peters appearances at Hedsor are his braces! BUT E O S have band him from wearing them!!

Even without his braces the church raised £380 for charitable causes.

When I got home from the E O S bands Cookham concert and needing something to watch whilst I had a bit of supper and a glass of vague! I plugged YouTube in to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq6nMspaZYY where a video of Andrea Motis performing in Copenhagen in October this year can be watched.

I have watched Andrea before. A pleasing singer and trumpet player, but this, her latest offering on YouTube, shows a certain maturity in her playing, not just as a singer and trumpet player, but as an on the spot organiser of a jazz session.

We have all seen the instant rehearsal and before tune consultations before, but this raises it to a new level. They all understood what they were being asked to do and Andrea’s hand instructions are obviously being watched for. It isn’t an ensemble that seems to fit naturally into a jazz mould (piano, bass, drums, trumpet/singer plus guest violin), but this is an example of jazz at its best.

The amazing thing comes at the end when you see how diminutive Andrea is. I was surprised during the 25 minutes of video how she could use her arm as a trumpet parking spot whilst she sings, but at the end when you see the size of the drummer....she seems to be about the size of his leg!

Wonderful stuff, all captured on a handheld video camera. The sound isn’t the best, but good enough. Do watch all of to its end, and if you search YouTube there is more of this session out there.

Enough from me, see you at a local jazz session soon.