My blog this week, with news of Hedsor Jazz, is being written a day earlier than usual.

A life in retirement seems to have more things that need doing than one when working for a company!

First, who is on at Hedsor Jazz this week?

I am delighted to say we welcome back two friends from the Oxford jazz scene. Our one time regular reedman Mike Wills and that delightful lady saxophonist, Sue Greenway.

Sue and Mike at an earlier Hedsor Session

They will be accompanied by Hedsor Jazz’s trio of rhythm makers, including this week, Alan Berry on keyboard.

Be prepared for some activity, as the last time I saw Sue she encouraged the audience to take part in an action song!! No, not “Pick a Bale of Cotton”, but you may get the drift!

 

Alan Berry at an Ealing Jazz Festival

Alan Berry is of course in place of Ken McCarthy. Ken has recently had a spell in Hospital, is currently at home but with strict instructions not to drive and not to lift anything. We hope he will be able to be back with us soon, but we are using the time he is away to book some keyboard players who have been to Hedsor in the past, and whom you, our audience, have asked to see again. So do check this blog regularly to see who it might be.

Our start time is now 8pm so don’t be late, and our entry fee is just £10.

Alan Berry is a London based jazz legend. When I first came to live in Berkshire in the1970’s he was the regular piano player with the legendary Lennie Best Quartet. I used to see them at “The Bell” in Maidenhead in the days when you could park in the Station Car Park. Nowadays there isn’t one unless you drive a taxi, and the pub is called “O’Neill’s”, which is, I suppose, better than “The Slug and Lettuce”! Probably marginally better than calling it “The Rusty Ball” as well, but I think you get the idea! Anyone would think I thought things were better “in the old days”!

A CD was issued some years back with saxophonist  Dick Morrisey recorded at The Bell with Lennie Best and Alan Berry:-

 

Last week (pictures below) sadly had no relationship to our advertised program (!), but it was still a cracking session none the less. Stuart Henderson came and played trumpet for us before disappearing for a holiday in Australia, and he suggested that he would like to play with a saxophonist from Oxford called Mike Wilkins. Mike had played for us once or twice before, and in my view is now a really accomplished player, perhaps a bit hard toned and with some more rock phrasing, but still someone who knows how to play jazz. So a great evening was had, with Al Pirrie on bass, Nigel Fox on keyboard and Martin Hart on drums.

 

So do make sure you know how to get to The Hedsor Bar, and always do it on a Thursday. VERY SOON we can do it by crossing Cookham Bridge! Now there’s a tune worth bringing out again!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojkhhaC4rlM

 

Geoff