Tuesday, February 08, 2022

Another Tuesday, another bog day, but another week to have a Thursday to look forward to.

Stuart and "Tolly"

I don’t want you to miss this Thursday, February 10th, as we don’t get this combination at Hedsor very often. Stuart Henderson and ”Tolly” are a well practiced team and these days “Tolly” is a much in demand saxophonist. Those of you who have had that “Tolly” experience before will need no persuasion that he is worth coming out to see, so put the date in your diary. Stuart we know needs no introduction, we are still remembering the splendid evening we had with him and saxophonist Sue Greenaway at the end of January. For that Martin was heard to remark that it was the best night at Hedsor EVER!! So come and see if it can be another in Hedsor Jazz’s “best nights ever” series. With them will be Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Peter Hughes on bass and Martin Hart on drums.

Last week, (my pictures are below), we had a trombone in the midst again. Not only did Mark Aston  bring his baritone sax, but also his trombone, and he made a pretty good job of playing it too. Alongside him was “our” Lester Brown on trumpet. Mark also played his alto and tenor saxes as well, but we only payed him once, no doubling fees at Hedsor!





 









Lester played, as his feature number in the second set, the tune “I Cant Get Started” made famous by trumpeter Bunny Berigan in the 1930’s. At one time his 1937 recording of the tune was the most requested tune on “Jazz Record Requests”. You never know, next time Lester may sing the words as well. How times have changed. In 1937 to have “flown around the world in a plane” would have been a remarkable achievement. BUT, “I’ve settled revolutions in Spain” could be applied to a number of current situations. Progress doesn’t seem to have diminished violence as a means of resolving a difference of opinion!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2BuWDhuT2I 

The BBC, in there now customary manner, are temporarily replacing a Jazz Record Requests, a “regular” Sunday afternoon program, with another of orchestral music. Albeit JRR will be back in 2 weeks. Usually the Beeb ditch JRR for opera. It just shows you what high esteem the BBC holds jazz. They regular drop jazz programs for something else. Do they really think we get too much jazz on BBC Radio?

Many listeners to radio jazz are of a certain vintage (Yes, OK, MINE!) who like to keep to regular habits. Once Upon a (Peter Clayton ) Time JRR was at 5pm on a Saturday, then it moved to 4pm on a Sunday (I must take more All Bran). 5pm on a Saturday was good time for me, as after spending Saturday working on “a” car (anything from a Triumph Herald to a Sunbeam Tiger!) I could soak in the bath and listen to JRR on a trani radio. It became part of life. Somehow Saturdays and Sundays have never become interchangeable, except of course for the BBC planners!

Certain days of the week have always been embedded in my conscious as jazz days. These days Thursday and Hedsor Jazz go hand in hand. Once upon a time it was Tuesdays and Jazz at Maidenheads, “The Bell”, now called something else. But back in the 1970’s Tuesdays “Jazz at The Bell” was the home of “The Lennie Best Quartet” and some of Britain’s jazz greats played there for us. We had a BBC Jazz Club broadcast from there too. The first time I went it was Tony Coe and John Pickard . Do check out “The Tony Coe Quintet”, a wonderful ensemble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Coe  The "Swinging till The Girls Come Home" LP from 1962 is now worth £200!!).








I also saw Tubby Hayes there twice just before he died. I remember him sitting on a chair and basically giving us all a master class. Ronnie Scott came and played too, as did Dick Morrissey, Bruce Turner, and the complete Alex Welsh Band. 












You might like to check out this very amateur recording of Morrissey at “The Bell”:-  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dick-Morrissey-Live-Bell-1972/dp/B074JQDTD6 The 1972 recording was unearthed from the Cronin vaults and “Spilletized” to CD!

 When jazz at The Bell stopped, I started running record evenings in my front room, which could achieve a maximum of 12 listeners!! Then we were invited to transfer operation to another Bell, “The Old Bell” in Wooburn, and once a month record evening eventually gave way to live jazz.

Thursdays started at “The Cookham Tavern” with Keith Vitty’s Century Jazz. When “The Cookham Tavern” became “The Cookham Tandori”, we moved briefly to Hedsor’s “Garibaldi” and then, 20 years ago, we moved to The Hedsor Club. For over 20 years now we have run live jazz at Hedsor. Long may it continue.

So, why not become part of history. If you don’t already listen to live jazz, try us at the Hedsor Club. https://hedsorbar.com/ If you try it this week, you will be AMAZED!!

Tuesday, February 01, 2022

A short blog for a sunny winters day.

Really just to tell you that last weeks Hedsor Jazz with Sue Greenaway and Stuart Henderson was an incredibly good gig. Martin Hart was heard to say it was the best gig ever at Hedsor!! Arguable, because we have had some superb gigs at Hedsor Jazz. But last week everyone, as my mother always used to ask, “played nicely” together. It was a great session, and it was nice to see a couple of new faces. Friends tell friends, so if you do enjoy the jazz we put on every week at Hedsor Jazz, tell your friends. 

My photos are below.













This coming week Feb 3rd we have a familiar pairing. “Our” Lester Brown on trumpet, and saxophonist Mark Aston are joining us, backed by Peter Hughes on bass, Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Martin Hart on drums.

Mark has restarted his monthly gigs in Teddington, and for those he was promising to play trombone as well as baritone sax. Now I guess that that cannot be done all at the same time! Do ask Mark about the future gigs that take place in Teddington’s Constitutional Club on a Wednesday.

Having heard Steve Waterman live a couple of times recently I have now had a chance to listen to another of his small group albums. From 2009 comes “Buddy Bolden Blew It”, a tribute to tunes originating from trumpet players. He has with him on this one Anthony Kerr on vibs and Chris Allard on guitar with Alex Dankworth on bass and Dave Barry on drums. Not all play on all tunes, and the lightness of sound with just trumpet and vibes, or trumpet and guitar is very well achieved. This is an album well worth considering if you can still find it.  Mainstem MSTCD0056.













If you are planning on coming to Hedsor Jazz (every Thursday from 8.30pm) do please ensure you are covid free, and if possible please take a lateral flow test before you come. They are free at the moment.

Jazz Angel’s treasurer John Dutton has now had his open heart surgery. He is in the Hatfield Hospital after having a double bypass and a replacement valve. They have given him a 25 year guarantee (!!) which should mean he gets a birthday card from the King! Yes, think about it!

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Another Tuesday, another Blog with news of Hedsor and all that (other) JAZZ

Coming to Hedsor Jazz this week we have that super saxophonist Sue Greenaway, and as promised, I can now tell you that she will be playing alongside the trumpet of Stuart Henderson. Rest assured, Stuart will also be holding it! Add in Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Peter Hughes on bass and Martin Hart on drums and you know it will a great evening of well played jazz. Later in the blog you will find an updated list of who is playing at Hedsor Jazz up to Feb 24th.

 










My photos from last weeks session with Lester Brown and Duncan Lamont Jr are below, and you will see that we also had that fine bass player Andy Crowdy in the band. It used to be asked “What do you do during a bass solo”?.....and “talk” was the usual answer, but not so when the solo capability is of the standing of Andy Crowdy. He really became a third member of the front line, excellent stuff.





 










Exactly the same rhythm section was playing at Woodley last Saturday when Martin brought Steve Waterman to the Oakwood Theatre. Steve is professor of Jazz Trumpet at Trinity College of Music in London and visiting Jazz Trumpet specialist at The Royal Northern College of Music and The Royal Welsh College of Music And Drama. That quality shows. It could have been a bit one sided, as a solo trumpet is a lonely instrument to listen to for an evening, but thanks to Andy’s solo ability, the bass was able to feature in a number of exchanges with the trumpet. It was a great evening.

The next Oakwood Theatre presentation will be in May, when saxophonist Karen Sharp will be the featured guest.

At Woodley, I was able to pick up 2 more of Steve Watermans CD’s from the early 2000’s. I had already the 2003 recording called “Stablemates”, but he also had with him the 2005 “Our Delight” album, and the 2008 album “Night Lights”. All three albums are of a similar nature, Steve being accompanied by such excellent British jazz names as Alan Barnes, Dave O’Higgins, Clark Tracy, and Mark Nightingale to name but 4. Over the three albums the music of Benny Golson, Wayne Shorter, Tadd Dameron, Herbie Hancock, Gerry Mulligan and Chick Corea is explored, and explored very well indeed. See the artwork below; they are all on the Mainstem label.



 






Jazz Angels treasurer John Dutton has now had his long awaited open heart surgery, he was operated on at 8am today. We all wish him a speedy recovery.

Future Hedsor Jazz Gigs:-

All the gigs below start at 8.30pm and the entry charge is £10. We would ask all our patrons to ensure they are clear of covid before coming to Hedsor Jazz. ALL of the musicians who come to play have promised to have a lateral flow test before coming to Hedsor.

This Week Jan 27th        

Stuart Henderson trumpet + Sue Greenaway  reeds+ Peter Hughes bass + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Martin Hart drums

Feb 3rd         Mark Aston reeds + Lester Brown trumpet + Peter Hughes bass + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Martin Hart drums

Feb 10th      Stuart Henderson trumpet + “Tolly” + Peter Hughes bass+ Ken McCarthy keyboard + Martin Hart drums

“Tolly” is the stage or short hand name for a great saxophonist. His full name (if you should choose to use it!) is Anatoliy Vyacheslavov

Feb 17th      Frank Walden reeds + Lester Brown trumpet  + Terry Davis bass +  Ken McCarthy keyboard +MIKE JEFFRIES  drums

Feb 24th      Al Nicholls reeds  + Max Brittain guitar + Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass +  MIKE JEFFRIES drums

As you can see from the above list, Martin is taking Brian for a longer than usual walk!! But he had bought him a new harness for it!

 

 

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

A Brief Blog today

Just to remind you that we do have jazz at Hedsor Club every Thursday and this week it is “our” Lester Brown together with saxophonist Duncan Lamont Jr. in front of “our” rhythm section.

Also this week on Saturday 22nd at Woodley Martin Hart is bringing Steve Waterman to play at The Oakwood Centre from 7.45pm. Well worth checking to see if they have a spare ticket, I bought mine a month ago. (https://www.woodleytheatre.org/). If you remember Steve played a blinder at Hedsor and it seemed like a sensible thing to book to see him again so soon. He is a remarkable player, check out his web site here https://www.stevewaterman.co.uk/

Last weeks Hedsor Jazz had another brilliant trumpet player. Our session with Stuart Henderson and saxophonist Kelvin Christiane was another very enjoyable session of great swinging jazz. Great tunes and Hedsor Jazz always has a great friendly atmosphere. Such events can really pull you though the gloom!

My photos of the session are below.






 








Don’t forget that we would love you to come and experience it all for yourself, but we do ask that you pass as clean an NHS lateral flow test before coming. All of our musicians have promised to do that too. With the spacing and care provided by Hedsor Club it is as safe at Hedsor Jazz as we can make it.

Looking forward to next week we welcome back Sue Greenaway, a very talented lady saxophonist from Oxford. I need to confirm with Martin who is going to be on the front line with her. Mike Wills may be, as he tells me his broken wrist is mending very well, but it still makes washing up a task too far!

This is NOT a photo of Mike Wills!










Looking even further forward to July 8th and a restart of the Swanage Jazz Festival is promised. www.swanagejazzfestival.co.uk

I have taken the opportunity of reserving my accommodation already, and the tickets for the festival will be on sale from this coming Saturday. So far there will be Nigel Price doing his Wes Montgomery session, and Simon Spillet with a big band playing the Tubby Hayes Book again (back in 2015 at St Piran’s School in Maidenhead we heard him do this with Stuart Henderson’s band). There will also be a lady singer I have only heard on CD. Jo Harrop is billed to be at Swanage too. I’m looking forward to that as her recordings show she is a singer of considerable promise.

Jo Harrop

 








I just wonder if by July we will be able to sit and listen (and drink beer) without our facemasks on!? I think it’s worth at least planning a bit further ahead than next week in order to get ones mind set back to a more normal level. I do feel that most people have forgotten what it is to go out! Have we been so brainwashed with the fear of covid that we now only watch a screen (large or small) from the viral security of our home?

 

Now here’s a thought. 

Was Boris being brave, and showing us the way ahead after all?

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

 A Blog a Week helps you work, rest and   ??? SLEEP, well maybe!

But our return from Christmas, considering the apprehension provided by covid, was a really good evening.

The attendance was, both in the number of those attending and in the adherence to the rules on mask wearing , was pretty good.

It was also a jovial evening.  I think everyone enjoyed the company of like minded jazz fans after the break for Christmas

Our band for the night also played really well. Mark Aston was a little hampered by the loss of one of his spectacles lenses as it had decided to go its own way, but as I have already commented to him, his playing has improved over recent years. I think his playing now, to use an old phrase, makes you prick up your ears! The sound from his vintage baritone sax is what live music is all about. Lester was his usual self playing trumpet and singing to prove he can! 

So a good start to 2022. Pictures below.





Also good for 2022 was the news than Jan Burton was returned to her own home that afternoon after her long stay in hospital following her stroke. She is making good progress and is very pleased to be home. She is getting about indoors with the aid of a Zimmer frame and her speech is much improved.

Covid

I would remind anyone who is contemplating a trip to Hedsor Jazz (we are planning to keep going every Thursday, see last weeks blog for a listing for January) that you must be covid free and to have passed a lateral flow test within the previous 36 hours. We have the assurance of all the musicians who will be playing for us that they will adhere to this requirement, so we hope all those coming will do so too.

Coming to us this week (January 13th) are trumpeter Stuart Henderson alongside saxophonist Kelvin Christian. Our bass player this week will be Terry Davis. Keyboard and drums are as usual Ken McCarthy and Martin Hart

A Recent CD Listen

Once upon a time I used to play a trumpet, not very well, but I enjoyed it anyway! One of my partners in crime (well we were probably committing some sort of crime on the tunes we played) was a pianist. Often we would play together, just the two of us. I became very aware that this wasn’t easy, especially in public!

Over Christmas I acquired a double album of 2 great jazz individuals who joined together in public and played trumpet and piano together rather well. “Roy Hargrove and Mulgrew Miller In Harmony” is the name of the album on the Resonance Label  (HCD2060) and it really is an example of how it could and should be done. They show excellent rapport between themselves as  these live recordings from 2006 and 2007,only recently been released, prove.


Sadly both musicians died young (Hargrove in 2018 aged 49 and Miller in 2013 aged 58) and these recordings just emphasis what a loss it was for the jazz word.  The album contains mostly well know tunes played without rehearsal, and they sound fresh and spontaneous. 

Jazz at its best.

 

G C

Monday, January 03, 2022

January 3rd 2022

First, Happy New Year to all our readers!!

A Year for hope that some sort of normality and stability will return that enables us to all make plans to meet each other and to enjoy music and each others company.

Also Happy Birthday to Hedsor Jazz’s Band Leader. Our drummer Martin Hart is 83 TODAY.


On this 3rd day of a new year I am already being asked what the plans are for Hedsor Jazz. Well, yes, we do have plans, but we are also aware that many people are concerned about any sort of social gathering.

First of all then our “plans” for each Thursday at The Hedsor Club for our jazz sessions are thus:-

Please ensure you are free from covid infection by taking a lateral flow test before you come. Only come to Hedsor Jazz if you pass as clean using the government approved test kit.

Test may also be ordered online for postal delivery.

We have contacted all the musicians who will be with us in January and February and they have all agreed to abide by this requirement, and we would ask you to do the same. 

No, we won’t ask for proof, only an honest response to this requested test, and also a sensible approach to the usual social distancing measures that are by now a normal part of our lives when you are at Hedsor Club.

The gigs lined up so far this year are:-

January  6th      Lester Brown trumpet + Mark Aston reeds

              13th     Kelvin Christiane reeds + Stuart Henderson trumpet

              20th     Lester Brown trumpet + Duncan Lamont jr reeds

              27th     Sue Greenaway reeds +  ?*

*? We are unsure who she will have alongside her. As I write, “our” Mike Wills has a broken wrist!

February 3rd     Mark Aston reeds +  Lester Brown trumpet

             10th     Stuart Henderson trumpet + “Tolly” reeds

             17th     Lester Brown trumpet  +  ? we hope!

We anticipate that the drummer for all these events will be Martin Hart and the keyboard player Ken McCarthy. A variety of selected bass players will be there as well!

Whilst on the subject of bass players many of you will know that for many years Ken Rankine was our regular bass player. Sadly he left in September 2016 to join that great orchestra in the sky, but he left his bass behind. For many years Ken was great friends with saxophonist Willy Garnet, and acted as an uncle figure to Willy’s son Alex, also now a renowned saxophonist. Alex took charge of Ken’s bass and had it overhauled and refurbished, and it is now in use as the house bass at Ronnie Scotts!

Ken Rankine

Willy Garnet
It is his upright bass that is in use at Scott's, not the electric one seen in the above photo.

Ken’s sister Linda gave me this news at Christmas time with obvious pride in her voice. So often we take bass players for granted, but Ken was a great player. He taught me to listen to the bass, not just in their solo spots, but to listen all the way through a tune at how they support and propel the music forward.

Resent Recordings from Hedsor Jazz

I have collated all the recent recordings I have made at Hedsor Jazz into my DropBox as one listing. Please use the following link, all others are now inoperative.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ocu5evtwvoo93no/AACupgEyWXQMS5j05DpSbdOMa?dl=0

Please only use the music for your own enjoyment and not for any other reason.

As that cartoon often says, "that's it for now folks"!!

Geoff C

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Good Morning England

This may be the last blog before both Christmas and New Year, so here is wishing you all a safe and jolly festive time.

Later down in the blog you will see my pics from our concert on December 16th, sadly the last Hedsor Jazz concert for 2021.

It was one of those concert of jazz at Hedsor that everyone should have been at. The combination of 3 residents from Speen was dam near perfect. In front of Martin Hart, our regular band leading drummer , who has lived in Speen for many years, was trumpeter Johnny Thirkell. And alongside him was tenor saxophonist Frank Walden. Both also now resident in Speen. With Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Terry Davis on bass we had a terrific evening of jazz, with an interesting choice of tune and slightly more adventurous arranging. It was led on the night by Frank Walden, and it really worked.







You may notice from my photos that John Thirkell was playing a trumpet with a black finish to the bell end. I had a chat with him about this after the show and he explained that it had been made for him by a F1 motor racing design engineer who had a theory about the need to stiffen the output end of a trumpet for greater volume. The black finish isn’t a coating, but carbon fibre. The Trumpet was made especially for John, and is truly unique. It also sounded superb. John promised to come (with the same trumpet) to Hedsor again next year.

And so to our plans for next year. You will be pleased to know that we do intend to carry on as and when allowed into 2022, and have already paid in advance our room rent for the year.

SO far we have the following musicians earmarked to come:-

January  6th     Lester Brown trumpet + Mark Aston reeds

           13th     Kelvin Christiane reeds + Stuart Henderson trumpet

           20th     Lester Brown trumpet + Duncan Lamont jr reeds

           27th     Sue Greenaway reeds +  ?*

*? We are unsure who she will have alongside her. As I write, “our” Mike Wills has a broken wrist!

February 3rd     Mark Aston reeds +   Lester Brown trumpet

            10th     Stuart Henderson trumpet + “Tolly” reeds

            17th     Lester Brown trumpet  +  ? we hope!

Throughout the year we hope to have some other great and well known musicians playing for us at Hedsor, depending on what virus lets us do w h u AND on audience numbers.

We are grateful for all who have supported us since were able to restart live jazz at Hedsor in May, but we could do with at least another 20 people coming to be the audience. In the past few weeks we have had a few new attendees’ but also we have lost a few who used to be regulars. So if you enjoy your evenings of jazz at The Hedsor Club, tell your friends.

CD’s for your Santa Stocking

Of recent weeks I have listened to 3 new issues from the label “Lateralize Records”.

I mentioned one a few weeks ago, “The Heart Wants” by singer Jo Harrop. This month I have listened to two more from the Lateralize stable.

Like Hedsor Jazz Lateralize found that they hadn’t anywhere for their signed artists to play live jazz so they set about recording and issuing an album that has a number of different artists on it but playing tunes written largely by British artists. “British Standard Time” (LR013CD) is the result. If you look them up on the web you will be able to sample some of this album for yourselves, but it is surprising to hear well know tunes played in a different way from the original.

Two stand out for me. I have always been a fan of the U2 song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking for” and here it is sung by Jo Harrop. Her clarity of diction does mean that for the first time I can understand what the song is about!

Also sung by Jo on this compilation is “As Long as He Needs Me” from “Oliver”. Back in the 1960’s I saw this sung live on the West End stage, and it was really good the have a revived version.

Other singers sing other songs! One is used to hearing “Mad about the Boy” sung by Noel Coward, but to hear it sung by Carroll Thompson kind of wakes you up!

On the whole a good CD to make you realise there is more than one way to....no, not kill the cat, but to sing a well known song. Do take a look and a listen at https://lateralize.bandcamp.com/album/british-standard-time

I have really enjoyed the listen and the sound quality is excellent!

Comments on the third listen from the me will have to wait for their place in this "jazz from geoff" blog as I’m as yet unsure if jazz and harps go well together, so more on that later after a longer listen.

For a parting shot though I will say that I will look forward to hearing more from Jo Harrop. 

One final note. Together with the raffle run on December 16th and the sale of CD'd I was able to pay in to CRUK in Maidenhead a further £70, which make a total raised for CRUK by you good people of Hedsor Jazz since September of £250

Now what was that about stockings?

Jo Harrop

She has been know to sing alongside Nigel Price!

Monday, December 13, 2021

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ THIS ISSUE

 Most times I write it is only information about what is next happening at Hedsor Jazz. That in part is still true, but sadly due to events completely out of our control, I have to tell you that our Christmas Party Event for December 23rd has been CANCELLED. Please tell others who may not get a nudge about my blog first hand

We took this decision based on the information we have at the moment regarding the virulence of the new corona virus strain. I felt it safer to cancel our party as it was so near to people travelling to relatives and friends for Christmas, perhaps in different parts of the country, only a day or so after our party and therefore unwittingly spreading the virus.

So let me just say a big SORRY to both Sarah Moule and Duncan Lamont jr who would have been our Christmas guests. I know they are disappointed just as I am at not being able to put on this gig at this time. HOWEVER, we will put it on at a suitable time in 2022.

We ARE NOT going to cancel this coming Thursdays gig, and we do plan to resume on January 6th. We have bookings through into February 2022.

But we would like you to be perhaps more careful within Hedsor Jazz than we have been in the recent past. Please bring a mask and wear it when away from your table. We are not going to ask for proof of vaccination, or of testing, but I do recommend that you get 3 vaccinations, as it seems at the moment that that will give you 70% protection from serious illness. 

Again, because of the need to restrict close contact within Hedsor Club we won’t be providing food. There will be no buffet this week as we had hoped.

There will be a Christmas Raffle during the interval though, so do come prepared to buy tickets, as all the money raised from this raffle will go to Cancer Research UK. We have already raised over £180 for CRUK from the sale of CD’s. Many thanks to all who purchased one or more.

So having got the negatives out of the way we are going to offer you something rather special by way of JAZZ this Thursday, December 16th. On trumpet we will have an internationally renowned player who has been on more than 20 number one hit records, Johnny Thirkell. Alongside him will be tenor saxophonist Frank Walden, another session player who has been to Hedsor Jazz before AND has also played alongside Johnny Thirkell before as well. Usual start time of 8.30 and our usual entry fee of £10

I don’t have pictures from last weeks Hedsor Jazz to show you, as for the first time since we got back to jazz in May I wasn’t here!

The pictures below will show you a small sample of the chaos our house was suffering last week. The boiler was being replaced and the project was providing our plumber with a number of problems. He finished the installation at 6.45pm on Thursday. The house was then being warmed, but we then had to have our hot meal of the day and learn the new programmable system courtesy of “Nest”! I decided I needed my brain to have a holiday and the rest of me to have a Scotch, so I stayed in our new warmth.


















After all the negatives and problems of the past year can I say thank you to all who have supported Hedsor Jazz since we reconvened in May. We have had some marvellous jazz. We aim to have more marvellous jazz in 2022 too. Keep an eye on the blog. If we can keep it going with all of us taking sensible precautions then we will.

Can I then take this opportunity of wishing you all the finest seasonal greetings. Have a happy and safe time full of joy this Christmas.

Geoff

Ho Ho Ho! 

Monday, December 06, 2021

A short bog today as we are in the midst of muddle. Our 20 year old boiler is being replaced by a new combi boiler, and chaos reins!

Last week we had a return of the Clive Burton Celebration Quintet.  A night to remember, AND a night to remember both Clive, and some of the tunes he liked to play.

Pictures below




 

News of Jan Burton.  She has had her operation in The John Radcliff Hospital following on from her recent stroke. She will shortly be moved to Newbury for further rehabilitation then hopefully she will be able to return to her own home. She is slowly regaining some use of her right side, so good news.

Gil was also with us last week, and there is good news about him too, he is still cancer free! He will need some further surgery at some future date, but he is still able to enjoy Hedsor Jazz, and all that goes with it!

As mentioned last week, we have that swinging tenor player Al Nicholls playing for us this Thursday (Dec 9th) at Hedsor Jazz and he will be playing alongside guitarist Max Brittain. Another great night of jazz music to look forward to. Do check out the link in last weeks blog for a 25 minute session of Max at Marlow.

Talking of Marlow, Marlow Jazz has just issued it Christmas Greeting with an update for its coming events, see jpeg file below.


Our Christmas Party is still planed for December 23rd. In view of the present circumstances surrounding covid 91 we will limit the numbers to 45, so please ensure to let Tracy know you intend to come. If I get the time I will print some tickets as your place marker. Entry will still be £10, with a buffet and with a raffle to raise funds for Cancer Research UK with a the prize of a Christmas Hamper. Start time will be at 8pm to give you that bit of extra time to enjoy yourself!

On the Cancer Research front, this week I have paid in another £115 from the sale of CD’s, at Hedsor Jazz see receipt below.

 


More Blog may follow when my circulation returns!

But for now listen to Jamie Cullum - But For Now Lyrics - YouTube