Another blog, and another where we have to mention “rearrangements”.

Last Thursday I had an early morning phone call asking me if I had heard about Mike Jeffries? I asked why, and was very surprised to be told that The Maidenhead Advertiser had published the details of his death and of his funeral arrangements! After a bit of consternation, and some phoning around, we realised/found out that yes, a  Mike Jeffries of about the same age, was in the obituaries column of the Maidenhead Advertiser, but OUR Mike Jeffries was still alive enough to answer the phone!!

WOW, what a relief, because OUR Mike Jeffries will be our drummer this week at Hedsor Jazz! Martin is taking a holiday silly, no not you! He is taking a holiday on The Isles of Scilly!!

Out in front will be “our” Lester Brown, and saxophonist Mark Aston.

The following week, November 4^th, with a return of Martin (hopefully also in time for his gig at Woodley on October 30^th) “our” pianist Ken McCarthy will also be taking a break, and in his place will be John Cooper, who has been to Hedsor Jazz before back in 2018. Out front for that gig will be trumpeter and raconteur Ian Smith and saxophonist Ollie Wilby.

John Cooper at Hedsor in 2018

For any of these gigs, to appreciate them to the full, you have to be there. Last Thursday in particular, because as well as not mourning the death of Mike Jeffries we had a late substitute in the form of Kelvin Christian in place of Frank Walden, who had the flu! However, what added considerable visual interest and some controversy was that  Kelvin had brought along his lodger. It is always good to have new people discovering the joys of Hedsor Jazz.

Now said lodger was a lady that had a posterior that at least one of our venerable regulars thought delightful. She also had the urgent need to use her smart phone as a video camera, and she also decided that no one would mind if she made sure the world could see what musician’s nostrils looked like. After a while this became less funny, and one of our great musicians told her, fairly visibly, to go and sit down (on that posterior!). You just have to be at Hedsor to catch all this great....activity! Below are some of my photos from the evening.

You will see from the last photo that Stuart came to Hedsor again with Clive Burton's old valve trombone, and in the second half he duly played it. What was particularly poignant was that Jan was in the audience this week. It has been 4 years since Clive passed away.

Below I have put 3 posters. Do support local live jazz no matter who runs it or where.

OK, time for coffee, see you somewhere SOON!

Geoff

Today’s blog will be short, and kind of sad.

Last week we enjoyed (very much) our concert at Hedsor Jazz with saxophonist Frank Walden who played alongside our own Lester Brown (pictures are below). It was sad because we had hoped to be celebrating 94 years of a musicians life with vibraphone player Alan Graham. Due to his ongoing health situation, we had to postpone this at quit short notice. Thank you Frank for stepping in.

My recording of the evening can be found by following my DropBox link

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/enwzg624yo3u2pf/AAAdAWsOCmFEePaf2DREkeCua?dl=0

As I write this I also know that our Christmas Concert will have to be rearranged as singer Tina May is no longer able to be with us. Again, this isn’t a cancellation on her part, just a postponement, so do keep referring to this blog from time to time to see what our rearrangements will be.

This week, Thursday October 21^st, Frank Walden is coming to be with us again, but this had already been in our diary. With him will be a welcome return to Hedsor of trumpet maestro Stuart Henderson.

Another part of this week’s sadness has been the news that that well know leader of a big band and also a saxophone legend Willie Garnet passed away last Friday. Willie played for us at Hedsor a couple of times and was a great friend of Ken Rankine. He was a lovely man and will be greatly missed. The photo below shows them both at Christmas 2011.

To finish off October we have coming on the 28^th “our” Lester back with us and he is also back with saxophonist Mark Aston. A great paring. The last time they were both with us they provided some excellent jazz. Together they make a sum greater than their constituent parts!

Two other players who make a great team will be starting off our November gatherings. Ian Smith (the trumpeter, not the ghost of Rhodesia Past) will be paired with saxophonist Ollie Wilby. Dont miss it. The Smith verbal links to each tune are as good as his music! Do look out for him on the BBC Sounds app. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0174gkd

Don’t forget all live music needs an audience.

TONIGHT, October 19^th, Marlow Jazz has Stuart Henderson’s “Back to Blue Note”, (https://www.marlowjazz.co.uk/autumn21events.pdf) .

 Christ Church Marlow has “Celebrating Hoagy” on Friday October 29^th.

 

The Woodley Theatre has Alan Barnes on October 30^th, with a pianist and a drummer you may well recognise. https://www.woodleytheatre.org/

I hope to see YOU somewhere amongst the crowd!

 A short Tuesday blog, as I did my best nagging best on Sunday!

Sadly our celebration with and for Alan Graham has had to be postponed this week, October 14^th, but we will be welcoming saxophonist Frank Walden to Hedsor Jazz to play alongside Lester Brown, so a fun evening is still very much in prospect. Sadly no buffet, but Christmas is coming, and so, I hope, are you! 

I thought today I would add a postscript to my mention a couple of weeks ago of Scottish pianist Brian Kellock.

 I have finally got my hands on a copy of the actual CD “Bidin’ My Time” which has Brian exploring solo piano, (and some stride playing all at the same time) on a Bosendorfer grand piano. He makes a wonderful sound on it, and his improvisations are well worth paying attention to. Try “I Got Rhymn”. 

All the tunes will have you keeping time with your feet (or hands or w h y) but  I. G. R. will make them ache! A truly wonderful exploration of melody (which is well know to all) and of rhythm itself.

It’s a cd with more than one tune to listen to as well. I was pleased to see “Sunset and a Mocking Bird” from Duke Ellington’s “Queens Suite”, a delicate tune beautifully played.

The only time I ever saw Brian play he was in a group with saxophonist  Don Weller. Don got a bit shirty with Brian, as Brian’s solos were a bit lengthy!

DO take a look at Don’s footware, especially his laces!

 

But that's jazz!

PS The piano that is used for concerts in Marlow’s Christ Church URC is also a Bosendorfer grand piano!

 

IMPORTANT ALTERATION

For our Hedsor Jazz program for next Thursday we had hoped to celebrate with Alan Graham and his friends the fact that he has reached 94 years of age, MOST of them as a very well respected musician. 

Sadly at the moment Alan is not too well, and we are postponing (but not cancelling) this evening of celebration. Alan is still keen to do this, and at some point in the future we hope to “inject” this evening back into our program.

For this coming Thursday (October 14th) we have therefore had to rearrange our guest list, and at Lester Browns request, we have secured saxophonist Frank Walden. I think this will be Franks first visit to Hedsor Jazz so do turn out to welcome him to our slice of jazz heaven!

Back in the day when we started Hedsor Jazz we were sponsored by a lovely man called Ernie Evans. He paid for our fun from a bank account called “Jazz Heaven”! THAT is why some of you now subscribe to “Jazz Angels”!

Last weeks session with Sue Greenway and Mike Wills was lovely musically, great tunes, all associated with saxophonists, but our audience was a bit thin on the ground. Not too many people for the musicians to look at!! Yes, I do call my blog a nag, so that’s what I’m doing. No audience will mean ultimately no jazz. We have been running Hedsor Jazz every week now for over 20 years, it would be very sad to stop.

So, I look forward to seeing you ALL on Thursday for Lester Brown and Frank Walden with our regular rhythm trio, at our regular start time (8.30pm) and our regular entry charge (£10)

The alternative is Allbran!

 For those of you who enjoyed Vasilis Xenopoulos last week, you might like to see his gigs for October.

I have culled it from his Facebook page.

Doesn’t time fly? I know that as I get older, refreshing sleep does seem to occupy more of the 24 hours allocated to each day than it used to, but somehow I find more things need doing than there is time allowed to do them in!

However, first things second.

Tuesday Night 5^th October. Bourne End Community Centre is hosting JAZZ, led by people we know quite well.

Mike Jeffries sent me this information:-

“"In The Pocket" is a slightly Funky Jazz group run jointly by Mike Wills and myself, we play a variety of stuff with a funky feel as well as a few swingers thrown in, (much like the audience) and you can take that in any way you like!!

We have a slight change to the band this time, instead of Jez Cooke on guitar we have Terry Hutchins who I am sure will fit in like the proverbial glove. The Bass player will be Steve Riddle on Bass Guitar instead of his upright one, which is still in need of repair, any donations to rectify this will be appreciated I am sure, and on Piano and Vocals we have Martin Pickett. It will be great to see as many of you as possible there, the entrance is £7.00 and the gig starts at 8.00.”

Next, Hedsor Jazz this week (on Thursday October 7^th) has a return of  Sue Greenway on reeds. She is joined by Mike Wills also on as many reed instruments as he can carry. Behind them will be Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Terry Davis bass and Martin Hart on drums and occasional microphone.

So two visits to Bourne End for Mike Wills this week!

Last week we had a return visit from someone who now lives locally. Vasilis Xenopouls came with his long time associate, guitarist Nigel Price, to play for us at Hedsor Jazz. Both are now stars in their own right and to get them to come back to Hedsor was really rather special, and my goodness didn’t they play a rather special gig. There were times when the hairs on the back of my neck rose up it was so tingling good.

I had remembered that some years ago they had played for one of my August birthday concerts and on that occasion they played “One Note Samba” as a duet. So I requested it again! Not part of their normal repertoire they had a little discussion as to whether they could do it again, but they did, and it was AMAZING!! Thanks guys. When we have saved up some more pennies we will ask you back again!!

A musician who has entertained people for longer than most is percussionist and vibes player Alan Graham. 

Alan Graham at 94

We celebrated his 94^th birthday earlier in the year just after the lockdown was slightly relaxed. 

On October 14^th we are giving Alan the chance to celebrate again with some of his musical colleges from his long years of being a leader in the music business. When we celebrated his 90^th birthday we had at Hedsor Jazz some of the glitteratzi of the music business with us, and we will just have to see if they are free to come again. We will be providing a buffet, so make a note in your diary to come too. 

Some of the Musicians at Alan's 90th Birthday

It will be the same entry fee as normal, just £10.

One final mention for now.

A new album is being released on October 8^th that I have been invited to pass comment on. As some of you know, I do like lady singers. Yes I know it isn’t a universal taste, but the album being release on Friday is by a pretty (yes she is) good lady singer born in Durham called Jo Harrop. It is an album of songs all composed by her during the last 16 months or so of lockdown.

Many of us have had time to reflect on life and what it all means during this time. We missed friends and family and felt powerless in the face of “that” virus, but Jo used that reflection, and the time of forced inability to sing before an audience to compose an album of reflective songs in a very jazzy idiom. No great extemporised solos from anyone, but great accompaniment with people such as Christian McBride and Jason Rebello throw into the mix. The 13 songs are only of around the 4 minute duration each, and “The Heart Wants” is a good musical reflection on life. She has good diction, and a voice that is a bit like brown coffee! Do look out for it and try and have a listen. It is on a label called Lateralize Records.

But for now its goodbye from me!

 Another blog, 3 in a week!!

Over the lockdown and then the unlock periods I have established a link to Maidenheads Norden Farm. I know that some of you go to their jazz evenings, and this week they have offered us the following:-

We would also like to offer your network 2 for 1 tickets for this Friday’s event John Horler – A Tribute to Bill Evans if anyone would like to join us. John returns to Norden Farm with Alec Dankworth. This time in classic jazz trio format, celebrating the music of Bill Evans. They are joined by drummer Ronnie Jones, to mark the 60th anniversary of the release of seminal Bill Evans album Portrait in Jazz.

Buy one, get one free tickets can be booked online here https://norden.farm/events/john-horler-a-tribute-to-bill-evans - using the code JAZZ241 or by calling the Box Office on 01628 788997.

Many thanks to Norden Farms Alex Vander Borght for this. If you are free, do avail yourselves of this special deal.

 I noticed when looking at the issued blog that the Vasilis poster for Thursday says you need to pre book. 

THIS IS NO LONGER A REQUIREMENT

I did the poster some weeks ago!

Also Marlow Jazz Club has just issued its forthcoming program, do take a look.

A short blog today just to encourage you all to come out for our special event on Thursday.

Vasilis Xenopoulos and Nigel Price, together with Ken McCarthy on keyboard, Andy Crowdy on bass and of course Martin Hart on drums ( and occasional microphone)!

The highest class of jazz coming to you at The Hedsor Club. All for £10 a head, with free parking.

Just compare that with going to see Vasilis and Nigel at Ronnie Scott’s! You would pay your entry fee at Hedsor for one drink at Ronnie’s!

If you have access to facebook do check out https://www.facebook.com/vasilisjazz/videos/1044355002981551/

Strangely, last weeks session had exactly the same mix of instruments. The front liners of Al Nicholls and Max Britain provided a wonderful mix of tunes and harmonies, and I am sure this Thursday’s session will do the same, but it won’t sound the same. The styles will be different that’s all. So nothing too boring then! 

My recording of last weeks session will be available via DropBox later in the week.

My photos are below.

Now you see the braces!

NO, not musical mops, just spilt beer!

Our opening evening for October will have

October 7^th    Sue Greenway reeds + Mike Wills reeds+ Ken McCarthy keyboard + Terry Davis bass + Martin Hart drums

Two reed players! For us it will be a welcome return to have Mike with us again. We were so used to seeing him every week alongside Clive, but as everyone’s circumstances have changed it will be great to welcome him back. Sue, like Mike is also from Oxford, and is well used to playing with Mike in that local circuit. It should be a harmonious evening.

I told you this blog would be short, but one final thing.

One of my favourite pianists is Scot Brian Kellock, who is often associated with saxophonist Tommy Smith. He is also known for accompanying singers, Catherine Legardh for example.(Check out “Love Still Wears a Smile”).

Recently he has released on a self released, self financed basis a CD of solo piano. He has amazing technique, and I would recommend you listen to it. It's all just wonderful imaginative, exciting piano playing. Strands of music are literally woven into different shapes.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bidin-My-Time-Brian-Kellock/dp/B07WJB6S7F

Check out what The London Jazz News Review has to say about it at

https://londonjazznews.com/2019/08/17/brian-kellock-bidin-my-time/

Don’t forget to keep live jazz alive, the musicians need an audience, and so do the venues!

A slightly late and also a bit brief, the blog this week does concentrate the mind on what we have coming up this week and next week too, and a recapitulation on what we had last week as well!

So, to be perverse last week first!

Our session with Stuart Henderson and Anatoliy Vyacheslavov was first class modern and exciting jazz. It was good to have both musician with us again, but particularly so to have “Tolly” back with us as he is quite hard to get hold of. A hard and exciting modern bop player with a big tone, he combined well with Stuart. His own solo’s within each tune were innovative and hard driving. The evening did get recorded, and it is available to download from my DropBox over the next month, just follow the link above the image of the cd cover.

dropbox 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/55mxedkn8pmflvj/AAD_F5X_jl82Vy0cK1FavzNja?dl=0

This coming Thursday we have a different sort of tenor player, but none the less an excellent one. We are pairing Al Nicholls with guitarist Max Britain, so the evenings sound might not be quite so hard driven as last week, but it will be interesting and full toned and full of invention. That’s this Thursday, September 23^rd from 8.30pm so do come along.

As you may have heard me say in the recent past we could do with more in the Hedsor audience. What Hedsor Jazz is putting on week by week is jazz music of a very high quality. We do have the funds to keep going, BUT unless we get a bigger audience I fear we will not be able to encourage the musicians we have so regularly had in the past to come out and play for us. It is just as important for the musicians to enjoy playing as it is for the audience to enjoy their music. If those musicians feel underappreciated, and we loose them, then I don’t see a future for jazz at Hedsor. We need an audience.

Don’t forget we have a very special evening coming up for the end of the month.

On September 30^th we will have Vasilis Xenopoulos and Nigel Price coming to play for us at Hedsor. We have been privileged to have them at Hedsor many times in the past.

Last week they were at Ronnie Scott’s! Please ensure they have an audience to play for at Hedsor by coming to see them, and by encouraging others to come too. It will only cost you £10 to get in, the car parking is free, and the drinks are very reasonably priced! You cannot say any of that for Ronnie Scott’s!

I do understand that there are still risks attached to going out and socialising. There is ample space at Hedsor to double our usual audience and still not to be crammed together and if you take the usual covid precautions you will probably be safer coming to sit and listen to Jazz at Hedsor than you would be shopping in the supermarket of your choice!

One young man came for the first time last week, a rock guitarist, who also happens to be the lead singer of “The Small Fakers”, yes a tribute band! Do look them up!  http://www.smallfakers.co.uk/