As promised on Tuesday I now have a poster with details of Octobers program:-

Also below are a couple of photos taken at Sunday afternoon's tribute to the late Michael Weinblatt 

Music was played

And tributes were paid too.

 A Blog a week is no aid to sleep!

And this weeks blog is no exception! You may have had a bank holiday, but you may not have had sun, or an aeroplane to fly you to the sun, but you still have that constant nag, my blog.

Nag, yes but only to tell you of the very best jazz experience that you can find. Where? At The Hedsor Bar every Thursday of course!

This week is absolutely no exception.

Coming to us this Thursday on tenor sax is Al Nicholls. (He will more likely be coming by car, but he will bring his tenor sax with him in it!). He will be joined at the front by the guitar player from The Filthy Six, James Fenn. Both are long associates of Jazz at Hedsor and it will be good to have them back again, this time together, in front of our rhythm section, led as always by drummer Martin Hart. Keys and chords will be provided by Ken McCarthy.

Last weeks outing gave you Duncan Lamont Jr and Johnny Thirkle. These wonderfully gifted musicians never cease to amaze. The opening number was “Sandu” and straight off they appeared to be a pair, so good was the harmony of the sax and trumpet. I wondered where they had found time to rehearse this set to that level. In the interval I talked with Duncan and yes, he had worked with Johnny before, but that was 35 years ago, and they hadn’t met again until “now”!

You may also remember from a previous blog I wrote about Johnny Thirkle’s carbon fibre trumpet. I was therefore surprised that he was playing a silver one last week, so I asked why. He told me he had had to revert back to the silver one for one gig, (it was a trumpet he had played for 35 years before acquiring the carbon fibre one), and he enjoyed playing it so much that he hasn’t got back to the very valuable carbon fibre instrument since. The tone on his silver one is really more incisive and I can see why he didn’t want to go back to the “new” one.

Pictures from last week are below.

Thirkle on Flugel Horn

The filing system

Later in the week I will be putting together a poster for our October gigs so do keep an eye open for that.

Before I finish this week’s reminder of Hedsor Jazz I just want to say “thank you” to Helen for her hospitality.

Last Sunday afternoon she hosted at The Hedsor Bar a farewell event for her late husband Michael Weinblatt. It was an event full of music, laughter, spoken tribute, food and drink. It gave us all an opportunity to meet and talk (something more difficult to do sometimes at Hedsor Jazz, where the music takes pride of place over conversations) and reminisce together about Michael.

He was a great supporter of jazz in many places, but he had supported Hedsor Jazz since its inception, was always ready to help whether moving tables and chairs, running the raffle that we used to have, or offering historical comment on the music being played, and generally being a good companion. I have known Michael since the early 1970’s, and there are so many ways that I personally will miss him.

Thank you so much Helen for giving us the opportunity to mark his passing in the way that we did on Sunday.

Below is a photo of Michael taken from the booklet that was available on Sunday.

A sunny morning blog, what is happening?

I keep having that tune “I think its going to rain today” running through my head, but you never know, it might not (rain that is!).

It is however a great tune, with some words that make you think. Satirical, yes:-

Broken windows and empty hallways

A pale dead moon in the sky streaked with gray
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's going to rain today

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles
With frozen smiles to chase love away
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's going to rain today

Lonely, lonely
Tin can at my feet
Think I'll kick it down the street
That's the way to treat a friend

Bright before me the signs implore me
To help the needy and show them the way
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's going to rain today

Maybe some 60’s popular songs carried more of a message than we realised. Why not have a listen to the Nina Simon version  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjQgN-PhBEU

You also might like to consider what the song is about, and what the references are actually referring to!

Coming to Hedsor Jazz this week we have a musician used to working in the popular music field, trumpeter Johnny Thurkel.

 

Popular music for his sustenance, but jazz for his soul perhaps? He was trained at the Leeds Collage of Music alongside Alan Barnes (who will be with us on September 7^th!). With Johnny will be a long time supporter of Hedsor Jazz, Duncan Lamont Jr on reeds. 

He works a lot in showbiz too, but perhaps more in the world of Theatre. A great jazz player and the son of a great jazz saxophonist and song writer too. So come and join us on Thursday August 24^th.

Last week we had trumpeter Stuart Henderson with us just before he set off on holiday, and he brought with him again saxophonist Jonathan Lewis. A really superb evening of jazz and of tunes that may not be heard that frequently. Like “Terrestris” written by trumpeter Tom Harrell or “Tee Pee Music” written by trumpeter Clark Terry.

 

It’s always good to have a happy jazz session on a Thursday, it sets you up for the weekend.

My pictures from the session are below.

 

As you will see we had “our” Mike Jeffries on drums as Martin was taking a break, and it is also nice to see back with us, after his tour of Tesco’s, bass player Steve Riddle. I had different members of the audience say to me afterwards that they both played very well “tonight”. I personally think they play well most nights that they play for us, but I did say to Mike at the interval that he was playing well, but not to let it go to his head!

So as you will understand, we have good music and good players at Hedsor Jazz. You could come too and make it a good audience. An audience that is a bit like an extended family, all helping to keep live jazz alive by being there!

TTFN

Geoff 

It’s Tuesday again, blog day here in the Cookham’s. Not too much to comment on this week, except coming to Hedsor Jazz this THURSDAY August 17^th,  we have star trumpeter Stuart Henderson, with that saxophonist out of his Remix Orchestra, Jonathan Lewis, so it should be a sparkling evening.

Last weeks session with Mike Wills and Gary Wood was a bit like a blast from the past, slightly more Dixieland than is our usual, perhaps reminiscent of that great Alex Welsh band of the 60’s and 70’s. They played some of the tunes that I used to strive to play back in the day, but I can assure you that Gary could play his trumpet far more expertly than I could play mine!

Many thanks to all last week who helped by putting out and putting back the PA, tables and chairs in John Smith’s period of (almost) inactivity. His cataract op is going well, but he may need that same level of help this week, so “be prepared”!

It has been suggested that before too long we do have another evening of more traditional jazz at Hedsor, with perhaps Mike Wills and Lester Brown joined by the one time leader of Cookham’s now defunct “Fabulous Shirtlifters” Richard Kellaway. Believe it or not Richard did once play alongside Mike and Simon Spillett for a charity do!! That event was recorded, and allows me blackmailing rights with all three players, who were all on clarinet at the time!

Below is a picture of Hedsor Jazz’s new Hon. Pres. Vasilis Xenopoulos playing at a jazz festival in Belgium last week:-

 

Anyway, its a sunny day so far, so I will close this weeks blog with some pics from last Thursdays session, and posters for all of August and Septembers gigs.

 

Have fun.

 

Good Morning jazz fans. Another week, another blog, and the blogger is another year older too!!

Yes I have survived another year, but sadly not without attending to more than one funeral.

That make it imperative that opportunities are taken to enjoy live jazz, to add to the store of great memories I have for jazz sessions that are still alive in my memory.

My pictures of last week session with “our” Lester Brown alongside saxophonist Frank Walden are below.

 

It’s amazing how memories can be jogged by photos. One of the features of the past few days has been the passing down to me of family photos. I have now gained a whole lot of photos of family from the 1890’s. This of course comes with an added sadness that I no longer have anyone to tell me who they were! But they were my ancestors, and some of those photos possibly predate jazz itself!

One of the actual objects that I have recently inherited is a coach horn dating from 1862 that I had completely lost track of. When I first started to listen to jazz on 78 rpm records, I used to blow the horn in time with the music, leading me to eventually buying a trumpet. Now a trumpet is really only a metal pipe with extra plumbing with valve access. I’m sure Lester wouldn’t think of his trumpet in that way at all!

Coming to us at Hedsor Jazz this week we have “our” Mike Wills on reeds with trumpeter Gary Wood. I don’t think Gary has been to Hedsor before, and I’m assured he is good, so please make your way to Hedsor for a memorable evening.

For some months now we have had the room we play in at The Hedsor Bar laid out by one of Hedsor Bar’ staff so that the music is played down the room and not across it from the stage. This means of course that PA, tables and chairs have to be arranged like that and rearranged back at the end of every Thursday session. This week John has had a cataract operation and cant do that for us, so please be a boy scout (i.e. “be prepared”) to give a hand at both ends of the evening. No, you wont get a discount, but you will get a big thank you, and maybe if we ask you nicely you will do it for us again until John if fit to resume.

We have plans for Hedsor, below you will see what they are for September.

 

But we are now booking ahead into October and November, so fish out your diary and make note that on October 19^th we will have a return of trombonist  Nick Mills with trumpeter Ed Benstead. Even further ahead in November we will have saxophonist Karen Sharp with us at Hedsor together with trumpeter Stuart Henderson. Wow! That’s on November 23^rd

That’s it for now folks, but below is a picture of my great grandmother with an unknown male!!! That is my father's mothers mother! Without her there would be no blog!

Hello England and welcome to our summer of, well, discontent. Inflation inflating and with the government helping us all by putting up the tax on alcohol! The sun not shinning, but global warming is warming, and the value of my car declining by the minute. One consolation, I will probably no longer be interested or able to drive it by 2030 anyway!

I’m sure whatever government we have by 2030 will be puzzling on how to replace the £23Million (or should that be billion?) in tax generated by the fuel tax on petrol and diesel, which they are going to be preventing the use of by then!

So we all need something to brighten our lives. Some GOOD news? Well, I do have some.

First, coming this Thursday, August 3^rd, to Hedsor Jazz we have “our” trumpet man Lester Brown paired at the front with that superb saxophonist Frank Walden. As usual, they will be ably supported by Martin Hart on drums, Ken McCarthy on keyboard and this week our bass player will be Esther Ng.

 

The second piece of good news is:-

After some discussion and thoughts about  the future of Hedsor Jazz we decided it would be good to ask another jazz musician to help and advise us in the role of Honorary President of Hedsor Jazz. 

I am delighted to announce that Vasilis Xenopoulos has agreed to help us in this capacity. Vasilis is now resident in Cookham and Hedsor Jazz is therefore very near to him, and he is even nearer to me!

He will meet with the committee of “Jazz Angles” very soon, but has already suggested that he could sound out other jazz musicians who haven’t yet played at Hedsor and whom we would enjoy. He is also offering to revise our social media profile with a view to making and keeping it up to date.

Vasilis has had a long association with Hedsor Jazz, having played in the early 2000’s when our jazz was played in the bar before it was redecorated! Since then we have all “matured”, and he is now married with two small children who keep him very active! 

He is also a very busy musician, so we are very grateful for his willingness to become associated with us at Hedsor Jazz in this role.

 

Last Week

Hedsor Jazz on Film? Well maybe, but last week we celebrated with Alan Grahame his 96^th birthday at Hedsor Jazz, and according to him, 90 of them have been in show business! So his son came with a film crew, and part of our evening was filmed for later distribution on YouTube. It was a super evening and our room was filled with fans old and new. With Alan on vibes were Duncan Lamont Jr on tenor sax and flute, with our usual rhythm section of Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Martin Hart on drums and with a return of Steve Riddle on bass. The music was timeless, with many tunes culled from The Great American Song Book, much of which has been written and become part of our lives during Alan’s time as a musician! Long may he continue to play Hedsor Jazz for us!

My photos of this are below.