A brief blog this week, 

highlighting the last Hedsor Jazz event of the year.

 

Thursday, December 21^st, is our last concert of the year, and is our Christmas Special

Coming to celebrate with us will be trumpeter Stuart Henderson, saxophonist Sue Greenway, singer Gill Cook, and rumour has it that Alan Graham will be with us as well. 

ALL these will be supported by Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Peter Hughes on bass and Martin Hart on drums. 

Seasonal food will be there for you at half time, and don’t forget that time starts at 8pm these days.

Sue Greenway

Stuart Henderson

Alan Graham

Gill Cook

 

Our first concert of 2024 will be on THURSDAY JANUARY 4^th at 8pm, with Mark Aston on reeds and Nick Mills on trombone. That will be something to blow away the Christmas cobwebs.

Thinking of becoming a member of Hedsor Social Club? Now would be a good time to join as membership goes from January to January. Ask at the bar, it could be worth your while.

And Last Week, Ollie was!! Not just Wilby, he was! and Ollie Wilby and Ian Smith blew straight and true, and I think a good time was had by all!

My pictures are below.

 

 This blog message is all about Fridays planned jazz event in 

Maidenhead's United Reformed Church. 

Sadly, due to the illness of two key musicians, this event has had to be 

CANCELLED.

So please do not travel for it.

A Jazz Event in Maidenhead URC will take place in the New Year.

Geoff C 

 Hedsor Jazz and Geoff’s Blog

 

We all know that Christmas is now approaching, seemingly at the speed of an express train, BUT somehow it has caught us all unawares. So I thought I would try and beat the game by starting my blog a day early.

So at 9am this MONDAY morning, I did, and at 9.05, we had a power outage! NOW at 11am, I start again! 

Why did I want to blog a day earlier than usual? Well, 2 reasons. I still have my collection of Christmas cards to do for family and friends, although I do keep trying to transfer more to electronic means, but ...

And that all takes time!

Secondly, I know you have probably read already what Hedsor Jazz is doing up until Christmas, and that we are doing that from 8pm each week from here on in, (and I will tell you again before this blog is over!) but what I haven’t mentioned before is that I have been invited to run a Christmas Jazz Concert in Maidenheads United Reformed Church. And that is THIS FRIDAY December 15^th. 

You may remember that at the commencement of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Hedsor Jazz ran a fundraiser for Ukraine, and the money raised was donated via Maidenheads United Reformed Church. We gave a cheque presentation to their minister, The Rev David Downing. Well, he has asked us to run a Christmas Jazz event in his Maidenhead church, and that will be from 8pm on Friday 15^th December. Entry £10, and all funds raised will go to support their help for Ukraine. 

The church has done a tremendous amount already for Ukraine, and are active every month in shipping necessities out via Poland. Believe it or not, pot noodles are used in their shipments, as all someone hungry needs for a hot meal is a Pot Noodle and some hot water. This may be why Maidenhead is running short of Pot Noodles!

Playing for us at Maidenhead on Friday is a group of jazz musicians that you will have seen at Hedsor Jazz. On Saxophone and possibly trombone, Mark Aston. On Vocals Gill Cook (who will be with as at Hedsor for our Christmas Party). On keyboard Nigel Fox, on bass Peter Hughes, and on drums, Martin Hart. I might add in the odd word, thankfully for you, those word will not be sung!

So please come along and support not only Ukraine, but live jazz. Maidenhead URC can be found in West Street, Maidenhead SL6 1RL. Entry is £10 per head.

 

If you look closely you will see that the church already has a drum kit and a grand piano!

Coming to Hedsor Jazz THIS THURSDAY is that fine trumpeter and raconteur, Ian Smith. Rumour has it that saxophonist Ollie Wilby will be with him. It would be good to see and hear him again. I think Martin is having a night off, and that our drummer will be Mike Jeffries. As usual, the bass player will surprise me! And I will be surprised as well, because our keyboard player will be Ken McCarthy. Yes, he is with us most weeks, but his playing is always surprising(ly good!). 

That leaves just one more week to go before our Christmas Party, December 21^st for fun and food and great jazz for Christmas. Come and share in it all from 8pm.

Below are my pictures from last week.

Talking of surprises, Duncan Lamont Jr brought a great singer with him. Sarah Jane Eveleigh. I know some don’t enjoy singers as much as I do, and from previous experience I have sometimes been disappointed by who does sing at Hedsor Jazz, but Sarah Jane is a star. Her entire performance was without fault and I haven’t enjoyed a singer so much in years. You would not be able to better it for an evening’s entertainment no matter where you go or who you see. AND you would pay much more for the privilege anywhere else.

That’s it for now this MONDAY morning. This MAY be the last blog before Christmas events take over, so I will end by wishing you all a great Festive Time. Enjoy the food and drink and family associated with Christmas.

Perhaps in a quite moment give a thought to those in our society who are not in a position to celebrate and enjoy this time of year in the way that we can.

 As Dickens Tiny Tim said “God bless us every one”.

First Off, we are now in

DECEMBER, and ALL OF OUR GIGS AT HEDSOR JAZZ WILL NOW BE STARTING AT 8pm

Yes, after 23 years of Hedsor Jazz gigs staring at 8.30pm, from now on we will be starting ALL of our gigs at 8pm. This is in response to our audience’s requests, and by a majority paper vote, (honest).

So from now on it will be 8pm to 10.30pm. No change in entry fee, it will still only be £10.

You will also be please to know that we will be resident at The Hedsor Bar for another year, with it’s club bar prices and free parking. If you become a member of The Hedsor Bar (for a nominal annual fee) you will also get a discount on your bar prices. Membership runs from January to January, so do think about becoming a member.

Our January program is below

Our first concert of December (Thursday December 7^th) at our new start time will be with Duncan Lamont Jr on tenor sax and flute, and he is bringing with him a lady singer we haven’t had at Hedsor before, Sarah Jane Eveleigh.

 

 

Following the link will give you more information, and you will see that she has performed with a number of people who have played for us at Hedsor and with others known to us nearby.

https://www.sarahjaneeveleigh.com/

You may notice that this singer is not the one on our gig list. Jenny Howe has had to fly home to Ireland to be with her sick mother, and we wish her well in this difficult time.

Last weeks concert was performed by one of the people you will see on Sarah Jane’s publicity, Lester Brown. He kept Mike Wills company at the front whilst Mike Jeffries drummed away with Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Al Pirrie on bass.

We had an interesting selection of tunes, and although we were a bit down in numbers (it was a cold night), a great time was had by all. One of those little played tunes was “Dat Dere”. Sadly this wasn’t sung, I don’t think many people know the words, but it is all about an inquisitive child wanting “that big elephant over there”!

“Hey mama, what's a square?

Hey, where do we get air?
Hey, mama can I have that big elephant over there?”

Another tune that I hadn’t heard for a long time was “Night Train”. Well that was how it was introduced, but Jimmy Forrest nicked it from Duke Ellington. See the Wikipedia cull below:

"Night Train" is a twelve-bar blues instrumental standard first recorded by Jimmy Forrest in 1951.

"Night Train" has a long and complicated history. The piece's opening riff was first recorded in 1940 by a small group led by Duke Ellington sideman Johnny Hodges, under the title "That's the Blues, Old Man".

Ellington used the same riff as the opening and closing theme of a longer-form composition, "Happy-Go-Lucky Local", that was itself one of four parts of his Deep South Suite. Forrest was part of Ellington's band when it performed this composition, which has a long tenor saxophone break in the middle. After leaving Ellington, Forrest recorded "Night Train" on United Records and had a major rhythm & blues hit. While "Night Train" employs the same riff as the earlier recordings, it is used in a much earthier R&B setting. Forrest inserted his own solo over a stop-time rhythm not used in the Ellington composition. He put his own stamp on the tune, but its relation to the earlier composition is obvious.

By the way, I’m sure you all from time to time refer to Wikipedia. Please be aware that they are trying to stay as an independent organisation, and would value a contribution from it users. It is still free to use.

Below are my pictures from last weeks session.

 

Coming on December 14^th we have another change to our advertised program, and trumpeter Ian Smith will be with us, maybe even with saxophonist Ollie Wilby. We could make an obvious pun about that as we have advertised Ollie Wilby before. May be he will be with us this time!

Dont forget to put December 21^st in your diary. Our Christmas special will be just that, SPECIAL.

That’s about it for this week from me. Don’t forget, if you want live jazz, you have to be a live audience!