A week is a long time, not only in politics (the labour party conference may be too long for some), but for me the past week has seemed a long time too.

A week ago yesterday I tested positive for COVID. I am one of those “at risk” people who have had all the booster jabs and haven’t actually had COVID before. Yes, it is just as nasty as people have told me it could be, and although this week I am writing the blog, I am still very “tired”, and may miss more than one week of Hedsor Jazz. COVID may seam like flu, but it doesn’t let go in the same way. It is diminishing, but seems to have a ricochet, with a kind of bouncing back affect.

But to miss 2 weeks of Hedsor Jazz will be a very unhappy experience!

Last week I was very sad to miss Hedsor Jazz’s tribute to the late Mike Wills. He was “Our reedman” for Hedsor Jazz for over 20 years and to me a personally friend.

I was devastated when he was first taken ill, visiting him at his home in Oxford in his then “recovery” mode just after he was fitted with his pacemaker. I was also in the audience when he played The Brecon Jazz Festival, now many years ago. He may have been “our” man at Hedsor, but he was always in great demand as an all round jazz musician.

One of the last things we shared was our love for the live recordings of Louis Armstrong’s All Stars. There have been many reissues of these recordings, with varying degrees of quality of recording and of presentation, from the budget cd to the expensive box set reissues. Over Christmas I had been given a marvellous box set of ALL the live recordings from 1947 onwards, starting with the New York Town Hall concert. It includes all the stuff that was never issued on those early LP’s and shows just how good Louis and the early All Stars really were. No outtakes, no tape cutting and joining, just the music as you would hear it live. Mike and I talked about it, and I lent him the set. (Do look up Mosaic MD9 257, its a 9 CD box set with excellent sleeve notes and discography. The sleeve notes alone are worth having.).

Mike’s grasp of jazz was wide, and I hope we still get to hear from time to time some of the arrangements he contributed to Hedsor Jazz. Yes he played many jazz styles, from Revivalist to Bop with the Benny Goodman Quartet and Manouche in between. I was very sad that I was unable to be at Hedsor Jazz for his tribute night, but I am assured that Hedsor Jazz did him proud. I have one photo from last week, taken by Peter England, and it is shown below.

The Front Line, Lester Brown, Duncan Lamont Jr and Sue Greenway

Coming this week (September 26^th) will be another saxophonist with a swinging style, Al Nicholls. He is also a great friend of Hedsor Jazz (he sometimes depped for Mike as far back as the sessions held under the band name “Century Jazz” in what was then “The Cookham Tavern”.  Al produces a really booting sound (sometimes referred to as the “Texas Tenor” sound) and will be joined at the front by another of Oxfords great musicians, Jezz Cook, on guitar. With any luck I will be COVID free and will be able to join you.

 

Jezz Cook and Al Nicholls at Hedsor this Year

We already have published the program for October, and I will be producing the artwork for the November poster just as soon as I can.

Until then do share, its what jazz is for!