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!