So, what does Hedsor Jazz have for us THIS THURSDAY?

We have already reached January 18^th. All the mince pies and all the chocolates have been eaten, and the reality of WINTER is now around us. But we do have something to raise our happiness levels. Hedsor Jazz has that very melodic and informative saxophonist coming to us this Thursday in the shape and sound of Duncan Lamont Jr. He will be on saxophone and possibly flute and he will be accompanied by a trumpet player of his choice, Mathew Hill. Mathew is unknown to us, so it will be fun to get to know him.

 

Joining them on bass is a player who hasn’t been to us for some years, Stuart Barker. I last saw Stuart at Marlow Jazz Club in the Autumn and re-established contact with him. Our back row will be completed by our regular keyboard player Ken McCarthy, (who is always a delight to listen to every week), and on drums by Martin Hart. Martin has been leading jazz events both here at Hedsor and elsewhere for over 30 years, and one of his long standing bookings is sadly coming to an end this Saturday. 

Jazz at The Oakwood Theatre in Woodley has been running almost every quarter for over 20 years, but this Saturday will be the last. With Martin will be that lovely lady saxophonist Sue Greenway. Some tickets are still available if you contact their box office.

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/woodleytheatre/jazz-concert-martin-hart-trio-featuring-sue-greenway/e-dqkvqx

Last weeks Jazz at Hedsor was one of the most exciting we have had in recently, with trumpeter Ben Cummings providing, not only cutting edge trumpet, but very good singing as well. So good in fact that towards the end of the evening in performing Clark Terry’s “My Gal” everyone was clapping along with him in true blues club style!  

It was a gig that I had looked forward to, as we have become to appreciate the ability of saxophonist Frank Walden from his past visits to Hedsor. Ben had been recommended to us by our Hon. Press. Vasilis Xenopoulos, and it should have had a bigger audience, and here’s the rub. Not everyone who likes modern jazz knows the names of the current exponents of the art. And although we are doing more advertising than ever, our audience isn’t growing. We really need some new blood in our regular audience (not by transfusion, even though 20 years ago I did have 8 pints of someone else’s!)  but for some more folk to come regularly.

No we are not insolvent, and we do plan to keep going every week in 2024, but it is only fair to the musicians that they see more people in the audience in front of them. The players often travel many miles to play for us. Last week 2 of the band came from Oxford and beyond. So please do encourage others to at least give modern jazz a try. We are a friendly audience, and would be happy to welcome anyone who would like to experience live jazz in the flesh (and blood!).

My pictures of last week are below. 

Lastly, our program for February is below. Please copy and let others know.