Hedsor Jazz

Our band will be as normal (as the band can be) on Thursday. The Clive Burton Quintet are never boring, sometimes I am astounded by how good they are and just how lucky we all are in being able to listen to such quality jazz every week. But variety is the spice of life and we do have a number of "different" events coming up soon.

In March, on 16^th we have singer Alison Bentley coming with guitarist Kevin Armstrong. I may have got the date wrong last week, but it will be 16^th March! 

Clive might be doing the community a service that day, so Mike Wills, our sax section, will be coming with them, as they all come from around the Oxford area. Do look at both guests web sites. It will be well worth your while making sure you can come that night.

http://www.oxfordschoolofmusic.org.uk/alison.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV-JAESguR8

http://www.oxfordschoolofmusic.org.uk/kevin.html

On March 30^th we still anticipate having a saxophone rehearsal group joining our regular rhythm section for the first half of the evening, followed by our regular quintet for the second half. This should be an evening with a real difference. It is good for Hedsor Jazz to be able to support aspiring musicians in their performance aspiration!

Someone who doesn’t need a performing nudge up the aspirational tree is Tracey Mendham. She has asked to come and celebrate her birthday with us on April 6^th. So here is another entry for you to pencil in your diary (OK, it might not be pencil to paper in these days of electronic diaries).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--M-Q6efGfI

Finally we are planning another special evening as a money raiser for Cancer Research UK. Put May 18th in your diary now. We are trying to recruit at least one special guest, watch this blog.

That’s about it for this Tuesday, maybe more news later.

An early in the week blog

As later this week I have to go to a funeral of someone who died one month short of 106! Winchester Wednesday, then Southampton Thursday visiting a student granddaughter!

So, all I can tell you at the moment for this week is that there will be jazz at the Hedsor social Club, and I think this week it will be our regular Clive Burton Quintet. The usual rules apply. Music from 8.30 pm, entry £7 each, raffle ticket included.

Last weeks session was blisteringly good, so do turn out and help keep live jazz alive. Live local jazz venues are getting fewer and further between. It is in your hands to keep Hedsor and its jazz going.

A little further ahead we are currently finalising a gig for March 30^th for Hedsor that will see a saxophone rehearsal band joining our rhythm section for the first set of the evening. It’s a bit of an experiment, and should extend the experience of the saxophone group AND the audience! Put the date in your diary NOW.

Then slightly further ahead on April 6^th we have a return visit from that exuberant lady saxophonist Tracey Mendham. Tracey has asked especially to come that day as it is her birthday. I’m sure our regulars at Hedsor will help her celebrate it in real style!

I have been reminded this week of gigs long ago that used to take place at a pub in Bourne End called “The Firefly”. Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s this was THE place to go every other Tuesday to hear the best of not only British jazzmen, but American stars as well. No, jazz isn’t there anymore, and neither is the pub, BUT a ghost of jazz at “The Firefly” can be found at Marlow’s British Legion Hall every month. There is a common link between the two, both had/have the organising ability of Michael Eagleton. He has kindly given me a recording made at The Firefly of Peter King with the Tony Lee Trio in 1982, hence the nostalgia.

Michael often does joint collaborations with Christ Church URC in Marlow, and the next one, on March 21^st will have American singer Marlene Verplanck with a British rhythm section of John Pearce on piano, Bobby Worth on drums and Paul Morgan on bass. Tickets £10, start time 8.30 pm.

More nostalgia can be had this coming Friday at Cookham Rise Methodist Church. A concert of Big Band music from the 40’s and 50’s is being performed by the Echoes of Swing Big Band. Tickets are £10 each, and the music starts at 8 pm.

Perhaps all this jazz in churches is a further active comment on the article I reproduced in this blog the other week about last September’s Jazz Concert at Cores End URC in Bourne End. If you haven't read  it yet, just turn back the pages!

TTFN

Geoff C

OK, Last Week you had a lot to read, and two issues of blog. THIS WEEK, not so much to read, it's late again, and will only be issued ONCE!

My excuse (if needed) has been computer problems, mine this week as well as other peoples , and a dishwasher that wont! AND actual DAYS OUT!

So, just to let you know that this week at Hedsor Jazz we have our regular quintet, and our regular deputy drummer!! Mike Jeffries will be in the drum chair in place of Martin Hart, who is off to Venice.

Next week may also be a bit light on blog text. We have a family funeral to attend. Mind you, it was someone who we had anticipated might not last forever, she was one month short of 106! I still find it difficult to say the right thing to an unexpected phone call that is announcing the death of a loved one, even someone over 105.

The Swanage Jazz Festival

As many of you will know, I have been an ardent supporter of The Swanage jazz festival for over 20 years, and was greatly saddened to learn last year that this years festival will be it's last. 

Just in case you thought of going this year to see all that you have been missing, I am implanting below the front and back cover of their order form!

Hedsor, and all that JAZZ

This week we are very glad to have back with us the “full” Clive Burton Quintet.

Those of you who came last week, and those who visited Bourne Ends Community Centre Jazz last night will know that both Clive and Mike are back performing as well as ever. 

The past few weeks have been a reminder that not all good things last forever. We must take advantage of all of the good aspects of the life that we have, and the great opportunities that life has to offer. 

Not just to listen to music I may add. My recent bout of deafness made me realise what I had taken for granted for years, the ability to actually listen to music, both live, and quite importantly over those years, at home on Hi Fidelity equipment.

A Concert Review

In September last year I helped to organise a jazz concert at Cores End United Reformed Church which I know many of you came to. I didn’t recognise one of the people in the audience, and in the interval I went up to him to ensure he was made welcome. It turned out that he was a freelance journalist named Owen Peters. He has written a nice review of our evening which has just been published online. OK, when you see it, it isn’t in a prestigious Jazz Magazine, but hey, any publicity is good publicity, and I think this is a good article anyway. 

So, instead of me writing loads more, why don’t you just read it:-

Artist: Sarah Moule
Title: Cores End United Reform Church, Bourne End, 19/9/2016
Category: Live Reviews
Author: Owen Peters
Date Published: 08/02/2017

Over recent years I seem to spend more time in church than in my local pub. That's in line with most of the population, it has to be said, but not as a Sunday attendee. The reason for my non-sabbatical attendance is music. I thought I’d begin on a confessional tone. The use of churches and cathedrals of all denominations has become an ever-growing trend for artists and promoters when selecting gig venues for forthcoming tours. These respected, iconic institutions have become more than buildings passed by without a thought, as part of our daily routines. They have become buildings where the devil's music can be heard, and in most cases enjoyed. One of the more humorous religious faux pas’s I've witnessed was at the Union Chapel in London. A certain Americana dude was clearly relaxed by the liquid refreshment he was partaking whilst on stage. Looking up to the chapel's ceiling, he announced: “Man, this place is fucking awesome." Putting his hand to his mouth, as in realisation of his utterance, he followed it up with, “Fuck, I don’t think I'm allowed to swear in here. I mean, shit." I’m sure St. Peter was smiling. On a cold Saturday night, I once again joined the local brethren. I take my place on the wooden pews of Cores End United Reformed Church in the leafy (in summer) village of Bourne End, nestled between the local towns of High Wycombe and Maidenhead. Tonight is a jazz concert headlined by the acclaimed singer Sarah Moule, along with, as the programme notes state…”some of the best local jazz men around today”. The last time I saw Sarah Moule perform was at the Stables in Wavendon on the outskirts of Milton Keynes. She was elegantly attired in evening dress, accompanied by her husband Simon Wallace on piano, not to be outdone in his dapper evening suit and crisp, white shirt. If that show was more akin to black tie and champagne, this evening is cardigans, tea and homemade cakes. The church setting is small, cosy, comfortable and relaxed, with dress code erring to casual and wrap up warm. Tonight Mark Aston on saxophone is compere and band leader, welcoming the small thermally wrapped audience. He is accompanied by John Coverdale (guitar), Nigel Fox (keyboards), John Monney (stick bass) and Mike Jeffries on drums. The band open the show with a couple of Duke Ellington numbers: 'Don’t Get Around Much Anymore' and 'Take the A Train'. Moule steps up to the microphone, having shed her cardigan. With Nigel Fox on keyboards, she offers a wonderful rendition of 'Prelude to a Kiss'. In just one song she demonstrates why she has established a reputation as one of the country’s leading jazz vocal talents. The band are clearly having fun when they mash up the 1944 classic, 'You’re Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You” made popular by Dexter Gordon. The Frank Loesser composition 'If I were a Bell' from the 1950 musical 'Guys and Dolls' has been covered by many jazz greats: Miles Davis and Stacey Kent quickly come to mind. Moule’s stylish version brings a freshness to the song due to her timing and phrasing. A cardigan replacement is required whilst John Coverdale takes a solo slot with the 1941 Lane/Freed composition 'How about You?' Coverdale's electric guitar chords stir up memories of Julie London’s spine tingling version of 'Cry Me a River'. He takes a well-deserved and enthusiastic round of applause from the appreciative crowd. Next we are back to Duke Ellington with 'Cotton Tail', a tune from 1940. Although the tune is based on varied rhythm changes the band swings it with touches of New Orleans blues and ragtime. Who said it was cold? Moule and the band close the first half with the Ella Fitzgerald classic, 'That Old Black Magic'. They offer a swing version which works really well, with Moule's pitch and range spot on. During the break, I catch up with tonight's concert organiser Geoff Cronin. He tells me, “On the whole, I’m pleased with the size of tonight's audience. One can never tell with jazz who has seen the adverts, etc. Most jazz people don’t seem to like prebooking tickets, which leaves the organiser with no feeling of safety! Jazz is a spontaneous kind of music, and I suppose the audience is therefore made up of a more spontaneous kind of person.” "Another factor is the age range of people who like jazz. It’s more on the mature side, certainly in this area I would say! If younger people became more exposed to jazz, then they would find jazz performed live so much more interesting than they might imagine. Lots of young musicians are coming out of the colleges and universities, but because of the small number of venues to play in, they can't get to play and get paid enough to live on." Cronin has been associated with the local Hedsor Jazz Club for over a decade, which has built up a regular and enthusiastic following. “We struggle to pay the musicians enough, but most guest musicians like to come and play jazz at Hedsor because they can. Because you are always running with poor financial backing, you can hardly ever pay for advertising, which makes it all a vicious circle. As an organiser, I have often lost money." Which begs the question, what is the motivation to continue? His wry smile confirms he’s been asked this before. “I carry on because I want people to actually hear live jazz. Like Duke Ellington, I think jazz should swing. I think within the improvisation there should be some tune. If people can identify with what they hear, you can usually see them smile, which is great. Jazz is both art and entertainment.” Band and audience collectively refreshed with tea, wine and nibbles, they set off again with the popular jazz standard 'Just Friends'. Clearly this is a set of musicians who have played professionally and for fun over the years. They sound good with a limited amount of practice time for this particular gig. When it came to their solo slots, they excelled. No more than the keyboards of Nigel Fox on his rendition of Leonard Bernstein’s, 'Some other Time'. They bring proceedings a little more up to date with Van Morrison’s 'Moondance', Mark Aston taking centre stage on clarinet. His rendition of Dave Brubeck’s 'Take Five' was “interesting” as he struggled with sticky clarinet pads! Moule closed off the show with two Ella Fitzgerald classics: 'Where and When' and 'Cheek to Cheek' from the 1935 film 'Top Hat'. For once, I’m pleased Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers didn’t dominate proceedings. One of the pleasures of attending small concerts like this is the ability to appreciate an artist's talent up close. Sarah Moule is on top of her game, it's a sheer pleasure to watch and hear note perfect phrasing throughout the evening (with or without cardigan). Yes, the programme notes were right, she was backed by some of the best local jazz men around today. There is a nice touch at the end with a prayer and blessing offered by the church minister. Now you don’t get that at Ronnie Scott's. Mainstream jazz programmes on various radio stations are viewed by many to be scheduled either too late in the day, or plonked in a badly selected noon slot. Unless you have a recording device, or access to iPlayer radio, many programmes can be difficult to capture. Last year we had two films featuring the jazz greats, Miles Davis ('Miles Ahead') and Chet Baker ('Born to Be Blue') at multiplex screens across the UK. Whilst the films reminded, rekindled or introduced jazz to mass audiences, nothing really compares with a live set. So when a church, a passionate jazz sponsor, a leading jazz vocalist and local musicians come together, what do you get? Answer: A concert to remember, one which will bring warmth and smiles throughout those long winter nights. Owen finished the article with some YouTube of Sarah, which can be found at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=SRSarah%20Moule&v=IHOGBc4KKWc It was all published at  http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article/8505/Sarah-Moule-Cores-End-United-Reform-Church-Bourne-End-19/9/2016

 Now wasn't that nice? Thank you Owen.

TTFN

Geoff

Further Info:-

I had a chat on the phone with Clive late yesterday and he is very hopeful that both he and Mike Wills WILL be at Hedsor on Thursday. He confirmed that he has got a form of lymphoma, and occasionally this will make him suddenly tired (OK at 78 I know that one too!), and if that happens then Clive wont be able to get to Hedsor. However, he was feeling fine yesterday!

A piece of additional news is that Mike Jeffries has organised a band to play at the Bourne End Community Centre on Tuesday 7th February. He has Ken McCarthy with him on keyboard, and I'm sure there will be others who are known to us from Hedsor helping out as well. Actual lineup is to be confirmed, but I'm sure a fun evening will be had.

Mike Jeffries in Action

This Weeks Info about Hedsor Jazz

As I write this I am waiting on information about Clive. He was due to be checked out by The Royal Berks Hospital today, and if he is considered well enough, I know he is anxious to come and play this week. A medical decision may well also be needed for Mike Wills, so a definitive personnel listing for Thursdays session is still to be arrived at, so do watch out for the late breaking stuff.

In the meantime I have come across a recording I must have made some years ago from someone else’s LP. I was drawn back to it by our recent visit to Hedsor of trombonist Roy Williams, one of our Christmas guests.

In 1978 he was at the Bern International Jazz Festival as part of a band led by Chicago born trumpeter Wild Bill Davison.

The band sounds awfully familiar. With Roy are two more ex members of the Alex Welsh band, reedman John Barnes and pianist Fred Hunt. Wild Bill had recorded and toured with the Alex Welsh band only a few years before. In Bern with them was Jesper Thilo on tenor and clarinet, Hugo Rasmussen on bass and American Cliff Leeman on drums.

As was usual in LP days there were only 6 tunes to listen to, (that would have been 3 per side), and one of them is a feature that used to be done in the Welsh band, a duet by Roy and John of “I May Be Wrong (but I Think Your Wonderful)”.

It makes a great addition to the nostalgia of those Alex Welsh years. They were great favourites of mine, and as I mentioned before Christmas, the band often used to come and play at “The Bell” in Maidenhead in those days. I think if you ask Clive B he may remember that he was often taking your 7/6p  on the door in those days too! 

Roy reminded me at Christmas that he often used to play as a guest soloist with the Lennie Best Quartet who were the resident band at "The Bell".

I have tried a little research on the internet, but I don’t think The Wild Bill Davison recording has ever been released as a CD. A Second hand copy of the LP is available from the continent via Ebay

http://www.ebay.nl/itm/LP-Wild-Bill-Davison-Chicago-Jazz-International-Jazz-Bern-Festival-Nm-1979-/361449232953?hash=item54280d9a39

Whilst thinking of Lennie Best and things “Old Bell” I came across a Maidenhead Advertiser article from August 4th 1972. It is reproduced below!!

 As a matter of interest, on the reverse of the clipping is an estate agents “houses for sale” list and an “Excellent Semi-Detached house in Woodlands Park was for sale at £12,350

I will print a copy of this historic article and bring it with me on Thursday!

TTFN

Geoff

Amendment to the last amendment!

John Monney has emailed me to say that the bass player tonight will be 
Steve Riddle.

An Amendment

I have just had a phone call from Clive Burton and the line-up for tomorrow will include Clive, and he will be partnered by Simon Spillett.

Mike Wills has decided that before he comes out to play again (where have I heard that before?) he must finish the medication currently prescribed for him. He hopes to be with us next week and says that he has had a blow at home and that he feels fine.

That is a very different thing from 2 hours of playing, plus a tiring return journey from Oxford, so we all wish him, not only well, but patience too!


I know that he and I have been having a discussion about C-Melody saxophones, perhaps we should have been discussing Vitamin C tablets instead!!

This is a 1921 Conn C-Melody Saxophone

A Few Words about this week’s Hedsor Jazz

As most of you are aware, both Clive Burton and Mike Wills have been unwell this past week or so. At the moment I have no clear indication as to who might be in our front line on Thursday, but Mike Wills says

“Yes, I’m doing fine thanks Geoff – making the most of an enforced rest!

I may see you on Thursday – I’m going to make my mind up tomorrow morning – but if not it should be next week.”

Last weeks improvised session (well Jazz IS an improvised sport!) with Robert Goodhew on tenor sax and John Coverdale on guitar, supported by our usual rhythm section of Nigel Fox, John Monney and Martin Hart was very good indeed. The duet between Robert and John on “Misty” was worth coming for alone.

So, even if Thursday’s players are as yet unknown, what IS known is that you ALWAYS get first class jazz at The Hedsor Social Club on a Thursday. So do come along at 8.30pm (or before if you have a favorite place to sit), pay your £7 into the red box, collect your free raffle ticket, and sit back and enjoy the ambience!

For those of you who were not there, or those of you who want to hear last weeks session all over again, follow the link below to my DropBox folder and download it all!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tas4z0phweqb8sb/AABuOGMvT_99xDD29GQDymELa?dl=0

There will be a small change to our personnel tomorrow at Hedsor Jazz.

In place of our reed section Mike Wills ,we will have John Coverdale on guitar instead.

Mike is OK, but has had to have treatment in hospital today for a bout of angina. He is now home, but has been told to rest.

The angina may have been brought on by a discussion I had with him last week about the C-Melody saxophone. He does have one, and I had challenged him to bring it to Hedsor and play it. Obviously one ask too many.

Joking aside, I’m sure we all wish Mike a speedy recovery to full fitness.

Geoff C 

A Short note of blog today just to reinforce the message that Hedsor Jazz is alive and well and operates every Thursday.

This Thursday is no exception, and will be with a version of our regular Clive Burton Quintet.

Last week we had an excellent evening of jazz from the quintet, with Ken McCarthy in the piano chair (OK, stool!) but sadly the audience were largely scared off by the weather forecast. By the middle and end of the evening eleven brave souls had arrived, and I think everyone there enjoyed the evening. So, if you are free this week, and it doesn’t snow, flood or come down with a plague of frogs, maybe you too can enjoy the sound of live jazz. OK, I do nag!

If you can get catch up TV in some form or other I can strongly recommend a three-part serial on the “Drama” channel.

From my perspective a program that contains WWII aeroplanes, big band jazz, famous actors, comedy and gangsters is a must. And to have one that has George Melly actually singing makes it even more fun. “Aint Misbehavin” has all of these elements and is available for about another 10 days or so. Its so good in fact that I have just ordered the DVD (from Canada!).

One last conversational piece. Last night a number of the Hedsor Faithful visited Marlow Jazz. The guest musician was going to be guitarist Jim Mullen, but he has very recently been taken ill and is in hospital. In his place Michael Eagleton had booked Nigel Price, another fine guitarist and Hedsor favourite. The supporting trio was Frank Toms keyboard, with Elliot Toms on drums and Malcolm Creese on bass. In order to achieve some balance, saxophonist Frank Griffiths was also added in to the front line and actually acted as host for the evening. It turned out to be a pretty entertaining evening of first-rate jazz. The remarkable bit for me was that Malcolm Creese lives in Bury St Edmunds. I asked him at the end of the evening if he was travelling back that night. “Oh yes” he said “but I have to take Frank home to Bedford first”! So his journey to Marlow from Bury St Edmunds had been via Bedford in the first place.

And we get all of that effort for just £8!!

PS for those geographically challenged, Bury St Edmunds is in Suffolk! It would have meant a return journey of 246 miles.

Good afternoon everyone

A late posting, but a reminder none the less that we have another Hedsor jazz session tomorrow, Thursday, at 8.30pm

It is always difficult after Christmas and New Year to get back into ones regular pattern (no, nothing to do with AllBran!), and even more difficult with this years pernicious cold virus doing the rounds. Hopefully I will be over mine enough to actually get to Hedsor myself tomorrow.

One does miss the friendships as well as the music. The missed pint of Rebellion also needs catching up with!

Tomorrow should be the regular Clive Burton Quintet, so don't forget to get your requests ready, you know how Clive always like to get them, (and likes it even more after he has forgotten to play them!).

The only commercial jazz recording I have listened to this past few weeks (I have tried to catch up with some classical orchestral recordings over the holiday period, and also some unpublished recordings by the Alex Welsh Band I was prompted to revisit after Roy Williams session with us at Christmas), but one jazz issue that I know Alex would have loved has come my way.

It is simply called "BIX" and is by the band "Echoes of Swing". 

This is a double album, and very bravely they have put some original Bix (Beiderbecke of course) recordings on a disk to accompany their version of his music. I will hasten to add that they have not copied the arrangements at all, but have brought new thinking to the familiar tunes, and it is VERY GOOD new thinking. 

There are 14 tunes newly recorded by "Echoes" and 10 beautifully remastered recordings from Bix from the 1920's. The old recordings have come up beautifully, and I have heard worse recorded sound from British 1950's Trad recordings (one in particular I can remember, a recording of Cy Laurie's band recorded in mono from a microphone hung from a club ceiling, actually issued on LP "to bring you all the atmosphere of a live club session"!).

Echoes of Swing themselves are Bernd Lhotzky piano, Chris Hopkins alto sax, Colin T Dawson cornet and Oliver Mewes drums. They are augmented by other guests including Australian Shannon Barnett on trombone and vocals. And she can really play the trombone!! 

It can all be found on the ACT label as 2 CD-Set 9826-2, BUT saxophone purists may well hate it, for their is, on some of the tracks, a c-melody saxophone!! Now I wonder if our regular sax section has got one of them!! 

Maybe tomorrow we will find out.

TTFN

Geoff C

A Few Lines of Blog.

to make sure you know that our next Hedsor Jazz is January 5^th 2017. I think this will be at our normal start time of 8.30pm and will probably have what passes for our normal resident band!! It WONT have food!

January 5^th gives you enough time to walk off the Christmas filling (!) and perhaps the New Year hangover as well!!

I do hope you all enjoyed our Christmas party on December 22^nd. I thought it was all absolutely splendid, AND the room was wonderfully full of all you people supporting live jazz. If you want to see all the pictures I took of the evening, and maybe listen again to the music, click on the link below to my DropBox folder.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1whqt29qkyk7et4/AAD9e7QmOyVbnwccTAHdIEJBa?dl=0

It was a real delight to hear Roy Williams again. Back in the day of jazz at Maidenheads “The Bell” pub, (the 1970’s) he was a frequent visitor with the great Alex Welsh band. He then went on to join the Humphrey Lyttleton’s band, and again played alongside John Barnes. John was a bit like our own Mike Wills, a player of many reed instruments including baritone sax. Mike used to live within walking distance of John’s home and they were friends. It was John Barnes playing that inspired “our Mike” to start on the saxophone. To see Roy and Mike recreating some of Roy and John’s duet moments was very poignant. But that’s jazz!

  

Until 2017 I wish you all a happy New Year.

Now and again life doesn't seem fair! 

I know we all have had this experience. So, what do you want just after a bad health year? Well, a bad head cold week of course!! Add to that a bloggers PC that throws a hard drive wobbly, and you really are down Moan Street! 

That has been my experience since last Friday. So, just a short blog today to remind you all that despite myriad problems, jazz is ALWAYS every Thursday at the Hedsor Social Club!!

This week we have another chance to hear Ken McCarthy on keyboard. He was with us last week for an excellent session with Duncan Lamont jnr, and he will be back to play with a returning Mike Wills, our regular reed section, together with Martin Hart, John Monney and of course Clive Burton!

So good was last week in fact that I wiped out my old mobile phone (well it was "smart" in 2011!) and recorded a lot of the excellent music that was reaching my ears. YOU can have a listen too by going to my DropBox link:-

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ll3h67f31u1rhji/AADiu1lGJSi5BcBtuqfZdpnia?dl=0

(Copy and past this into your browser).

Both music and a CD sleeve should be available for you to download.

Tomorrow, Thursday 15th, will be your last chance to pre-purchase a ticket for our Christmas Party on December 22nd. Our guests include trombone master Roy Williams, and Barbadian singer Judy Vaughn. Some tickets will be available on the night, but why leave it to chance? Previous special evenings HAVE sold out, and we have had to turn people away at the door.

I hope to see you all at Hedsor tomorrow,

TTFN

Geoff C

Hedsor Jazz

Sometimes it is easy to write about jazz, and Hedsor Jazz in particular. I still believe that it is a unique place, especially for a local jazz club. Every month, every Thursday, we have the ability to come and listen, in reasonable comfort, despite the chairs, to jazz of a very high quality.

We can come by car, and park for free, or by train, as we are only a short walk from Bourne End Station. We can hear good jazz played by good musicians. And for this we pay the very good price of only £7.

We get excellent guests to bring us a variety of sound. They very often come and play for less than their fare home. They come because they want to come. The quality of our regular band, the warmth of our membership, your warmth and welcome, encourage them to want to be with us at Hedsor Jazz.

I have been writing about who is on, and encouraging you to keep live jazz alive, for a dozen years. And yet sometimes it is difficult to do. This year has been a difficult one for me. I know I am not alone, but sometimes life plays you a bad hand, and this year for me has been one of those years. My own health issues, and the passing of friends, has become a darker issue than sometimes can be shrugged way. Last night, just as I was about to sit down and write this blog I had a phone call from a mobile phone number I didn’t recognise. My immediate reaction was that I didn’t want to talk to another double glazing salesman, especially as I was just starting on my eggs and bacon.

The phone call was to tell me that another close friend had died that morning of a heart attack.

And so this mornings writing is more reflective than usual.

The objective of my evening was now changed. I had others to tell. When I had done this I sat and listened to one of my favourite CDs.

A wonderful recording, a wonderful reflective and contemplative use of words. The singer Catherine Legardh with the pianist Brian Kellock and the CD “Love Still Wears a Smile”. I have mentioned it in this blog before, it was issued by Storyville Records in 2013. It was just right for me.

I followed it for a partial listen to another CD with Brian Kellock, this time with saxophonist Tommy Smith, called "Whispering of the Stars”. If you look at the sleeve reproduction you may see that there is a ballad medley. In 8 minutes they play 11 tunes, and the changes are very cleverly conceived. Some of the tunes would have been better presented in a more complete fashion, but one has to admire the concept!

On the cover of this album are the words to the opening tune “You Must Believe in Spring”. Sometime we don’t take on board the lyrics to popular songs. In jazz, we often don’t get to hear the words at all. But I though the words did just sum up by contemplation, and so I am going to reproduce them below

When lonely feelings chill

The meadows of your mind

Just think if winter comes

Can spring be far behind?

Beneath the deepest snows

The secret of a rose

Is merely that it knows

You must believe in spring

Just as a tree is sure

Its leaves will reappear

It knows its emptiness

Is just the time of year

The frozen mountain dreams

Of April's melting streams

How crystal clear it seems

You must believe in spring

You must believe in love

And trust it's on its way

Just as the sleeping rose

Awaits the kiss of May

So in a world of snow

Of things that come and go

Where what you think you know

You can't be certain of

You must believe in spring and love.

There is hope, life goes on, not always in the same way, but Spring does always follow Winter.

Tomorrow night at Hedsor music will be played, we will chat with friends and be taken away from our day of good or bad, into toe tapping and good company.

To help us on our way tomorrow we have some of our regular Quintet. Clive will play the trombone, Martin will play the drums, John Monney will play the stick (sorry) bass!! But to help it all along we will have Ken McCarthy on keyboard, and Duncan Lamont junior on tenor sax.

So, if your feeling ever so slightly down, come along tomorrow for some Hedsor Jazz therapy!!

Geoff C

Another short blog today

Always trying to fit life around the writing does mean that just sometimes what I write does sometimes become "compact"!

This week at Hedsor Jazz I understand that we welcome back from the far East, our wonderful sax section Mike Wills. 

Over the past 3 weeks during Mike absence we have been entertained by 3 wonderful guests, sadly sometimes without the quintet leader himself, who has suffered a nasty cold/flu like bug. However this week, he will be back!

Also this week, I too will be back! I'm very sorry to have been forced to miss Max Brittain, but unfortunately an infection of a different kind kept me away.

So this week will be something to savour!

Last Sunday many of us payed tribute to Ken Rankine at Cores End Church. The event, sad though its cause, was well attended, and was filled with, as promised, words and music, and also with laughter. If any of you would like to hear the content of the event, I have posted my recording of it on my DropBox account:-

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9jdb03zcxiqbe8m/AAD4H4ug3uEpI9gMIY0WwnX5a?dl=0

The sound does go up and down a bit, but it is ALL there. Do feel free to download and listen.

Hopefully we can all now put sadness and illness behind us and look forward to Christmas (well I still do, but I may still be that small child inside really). Our Christmas Party at Hedsor is on December 22nd, with at least 2 special gusts so far, trombone star Roy Williams, and Barbadian singer Judy Vaughn.

For now then it's TTFN.

Geoff

Sorry for this late posting, but life does sometimes get in the way of Hedsor Jazz!

BUT Hedsor Jazz this week will again be without our regular sax section, Mike Wills still being away. However we do have the services of trumpet and flugel horn player Lester Brown.

Clive is still having a problem getting over his cold flu-like bug but is still hoping to be with us tomorrow for a double brass front line!

I must praise last weeks guest Simon Spillett. He performed an excellent job for us, especially as he had to occupy the front line all on his own, Clive being unwell. It gave us an opportunity to fully appreciate his big sound, no PA being available without Clive or Mike. But it was a memorable set, thank you Simon. In a room the size of Hedsor, and a sax sound like Simon’s, no PA made no difference!! It did of course make announcements slightly more difficult and shorter, and the raffle certainly got speeded up!!

I have spent some time this week putting together the program for our Tribute to Ken Rankine in Words and Music to be performed at Cores End Church (post code SL8 5HZ) on Sunday 27^th November at 3pm.

The music will be provided by Clive on trombone, with Robert Goodhew on tenor sax, Ken McCarthy on keyboard, John Monney on bass and Martin Hart on drums, with Gill Cook singing a couple of songs as well. 

Do come along. No charge will be made for entry, and light refreshments will be provided afterwards. We will however take up a retiring collection for The British Heart Foundation, an organisation that Ken actively supported.

Next week we have a welcome return of guitarist Max Brittain. He hasn't been able to get to Hedsor for a time, but he will be back with us next week.

Max at Hedsor in 2010

Don’t forget our Christmas Party on December 22^nd. Tickets (£12 each including buffet) will be available tomorrow at Hedsor.

Yes Hedsor Jazz, at the Hedsor Social Club, is regular, and weekly, even in winter. So do keep supporting live jazz, and keep coming yourselves. Tell your friends, and we will be able to  carry on for another year!

Hedsor and All That Jazz

There are advantages and disadvantages when regular members of Clive Burton’s Quintet decide to take a holiday (even those done at the Queens expense) and for the next few weeks whilst our regular reed section Mike Wills tries to restart the Vietnam War we have 3 guests to keep you entertained.

This Thursday, November 10^th , that wonderful friend of Hedsor Jazz Simon Spillett is bringing his tenor saxophone to keep Clive in his place.

On Thursday November 17^th we have trumpet and flugel horn player Lester Brown coming. He was last at Hedsor on May 30^th 2015, and sadly on that occasion I missed him. (Yes, the railings eventually caught up with me, but that’s community service for you). I hope you will join me in listening to him, this time alongside Clive instead of in place of him.

Then on Thursday November 24^th we have guitarist Max Brittain. It is a while since he was at Hedsor, but this will be a night not to be missed. Just take a look at his website and you will see what we have all been missing :-

http://www.thejazzguitars.co.uk/aboutMaxBrittain.html

                                     

Last Friday a number of us travelled to Portland to say Goodbye to Ken Rankine. It was a sad day, sweetened as all similar events are, by the social contact with friends and family after the internment. 

                                     

A more local event is taking place on November 27^th for all who would like to remember Ken. At Cores End Church a Tribute in Words and Music will be performed from 3pm. All are welcome. There will be no charge for entry, but we will give you the opportunity of donating to one of Ken’s supported charities (The British Heart Foundation). Please do come along. The words and the music will all be live and you will recognise many of the performers.