It’s Tuesday, and time for another blog.

A “strange” blog today, because against all expectations I wasn’t able to get to Hedsor Jazz last week, so NO PHOTOS of Terry Hutchins and Mike Wilkins from their set last week. I am told it was a great session, sadly with very few in the audience. Maybe it was viewing fatigue! My excuse was I had my autumn booster jab for covid 19 AND my flue jab both on Wednesday afternoon, and found that by Thursday I was very “tired”. Sofa, TV and blankets were the order of the day (and evening!)!

So Hedsor Jazz missed my 1 man boost for its audience but I got a 2 jab boost (one in each arm!).

So to this week’s session on Thursday September 29th and something rather different. I am anticipating Martin Hart back from his holidays after 2 weeks of absence, and with him will be Ken McCarthy on keyboard. And of course a guest bass player. However we have 2 very special guests this week. On reeds we have a return of Duncan Lamont Jr (I am glad to say! He is a great player and a great supporter of us at Hedsor Jazz) but he will be partnered by a player, and an instrument that I don’t think we have had before. On HARMONICA we will have Phil Hopkins.

https://www.philhopkins.org.uk/

Phil Hopkins

So, discard the TV remote and venture out. Join us for what I am certain will be a greatly entertaining evening.

If you click on the link to Phil’s web page you will be able to listen to some of his work. He is of course paying tribute in his jazz playing to “Toots” Thielemans, a Belgian who played the harmonica with the Benny Goodman Orchestra when they toured Europe in 1949/50. Click on the link to hear some of his playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-Zdn0Rzvks

"Toots" Thielmans

Having already written that I don’t think we have ever had the harmonica played at Hedsor Jazz before my memory tells me that we have had a well known harmonica player in the Hedsor audience before....the late Harry Pitch. He was responsible for the signature sounds on “The Last of the Summer Wine”. I do remember Harry coming to one of our buffet evenings at Hedsor Jazz and helping ensure nothing went to waste!

Looking deeper into October we have some super jazz coming to Hedsor. Make sure you keep your Thursday evenings free for it, because Al Nicholls, Max Brittain, The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet,  Vasils Xenopoulos and Nigel Price are all coming to us during October! Lets make it a warm welcome for all of our guest jazz musicians.

For the time being we still only charge £10 entry, and we start at 8.30pm. We are in the big room at The Hedsor Bar, Bourne End, Bucks. SL8 5ES

Tuesdays Blog, some jazz to look forward to after a sombre day, at Hedsor Jazz.

Our revered band leader, (Martin Hart) is still taking a holiday, so this week , Thursday 22^nd September, we will have the same rhythm section as last week. Mike Jeffries will be taking over the drum chair, even if not the microphone, and Terry Davis will be back on bass. As ever Ken McCarthy will be our keyboard man.

Many people would pay good money just to listen to that trio, but for your £10 entry we will have in front of them this week the guitarist, who is now more often associated with Pangbourne Jazz club, Terry Hutchins and a young saxophonist who has been to Hedsor a couple of times before Mike Wilkins. So, lots of bang for your buck in Buckinghamshire!

Mike Wilkins and Terry Hutchins on their last visit to Hedsor Jazz

 

Last week I know some of you were in mourning for the only Queen most of us have known, certainly for most of our lives, and although we had some well established super players, we had a very skimpy audience. So I do hope now the official period of mourning is over, a few more of you will be able to come out to Hedsor Jazz. For those not there, some photos of our evening are below.

It is worth pondering that it is only when something is no longer available to us that we realise the true value of it.

Last night when all the sadness and pomp were over I pulled out a recording I had made of Hedsor Jazz Christmas 2016 and played the second set all the way through. Clive Burton holding the evening together and orchestrating the players, and one by one they were all revealed. Nigel Fox on keyboard but also Ken McCarthy taking a turn as well. Ken Rankine on bass, Martin of course on drums, but with Mike Jeffries added on bongos. Then one by one more players come to the microphone! Stuart Henderson on trumpet and Tolly on saxophone, Alan Grahame on vibes, Nigel Price on guitar and finally Willy Garnet on tenor sax. The final number before the wish for a happy Christmas, “Oleo”. And that was played slow enough for some great riffing! The memory did bring tears to my eyes. Not long ago in years, but a lot of real time!

Keep coming to Hedsor Jazz, and we may even be able to generate some more memories for you of great jazz nights out.

That's it for now folks.

A Quick PS

It is not often (owing to the age range of Hedsor Jazz patrons) that we are able to announce that two of our patrons have an addition to their family, but congratulations to Davis Pucill and Anna for the birth of Aeron on September 17th

  

Hedsor Jazz this Thursday (September 15^th) sees a return of “our” Lester Brown on trumpet alongside saxophonist Mark Aston. They will be “propelled” by our usual rhythm section with Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Martin Hart on drums. As is also usual, we will have a surprise bass player! So why not venture forth and enjoy some fine jazz, all for the cost of a £10 entry, and possibly a little sustenance from the club priced bar.

Last week's session (pictures below from both myself and Geoff Swaffield) came from that fine trombonist Nick Mills who this time had saxophonist  Alam Nathoo alongside him. A superb demonstration of musicianship and jazz. Yes, m and j, both in the same sentence! Once upon a time (another fairy story?) I used to play the trumpet (not very well), and I used to be able to read the dots (those round black things that tell you to go up a bit or down a bit), but the musicianship displayed by all last week was exceptional and left me in awe. All of last week arrangements were provided by Nick Mills, and he handed them round to the guys in the band for each tune. The band then had to sight read them and they did this almost without fault. Even Alam managed to play the harmonies without having read the sheets before! Jaw dropping! In the front line there is nowhere to hide!

Last week of course Thursday was a sad day, the announcement of the Queens passing was only announced about 2 hours before the first music was played. Some people were surprised that we did open that night, but it would have caused chaos if we had tried to cancel with such short a notice. We carried on in the best spirit of the show going on, and I think everyone appreciated this. We don’t plan any future cancellations, our respect for Her Majesty and her long reign is in no way diminished by this. Maybe at some point we will get the band to play “God Save the King”. When I first learnt about jazz that is what was played!

More about Hedsor Jazz next week, but I sadly have to go to a funeral this pm and I am therefore running short on time. Someone else who ran out of time last week was drummer Trevor Tomkins who lost his battle with cancer also on Thursday. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_Tomkins . A sad loss to British Jazz, and to jazz at The Milford Arms in Isleworth. 

 Good Morning Jazz Fans.

Having woken up to the sound of Boris Johnson’s booster rockets falling into the Pacific Ocean, I feel a sort of mental lethargy creeping over me. Yesterday I read that he was paid £275000 for writing articles for The Telegraph, and as a Minister of the Crown he would have been paid £69000 on top of his salary as an MP of £75000. I feel that not only are jazz musicians underpaid, but also people who write blogs about jazz for absolutely nothing are also undervalued! I wont sulk (yet)! 

So perhaps this edition, which as always is in full colour, may be shorter than usual. After all, I have to be awake by 4pm to hear what our new prime minister has to say once she is standing in front of No.10 at 4pm.

Coming to Hedsor Jazz this week (Thursday 8^th September) is someone new to us. Alam Nathoo is a saxophonist who has stepped slightly sideways from a musical career to help run a family business, but he is a saxophonist of great ability. He also writes! Do check out his website https://alamnathoo.wordpress.com/

 

He also lives in Cookham! Perhaps one day we will be able to gather all the musicians who live in Cookham to play together. Now that would be interesting, as Chris Rea is also a Cookham resident, as is Vasilis Xenopoulos.

Alam will be alongside that superb trombone player Nick Mills. 

Alam has played alongside Nick in larger musical ensembles that ours at Hedsor Jazz, and is looking forward to this small group outing on Thursday. Our usual start time of 8.30pm and it is still only £10 to get in. 

Come and sample two young musicians playing improvised jazz before the booster rockets reappear from their Pacific hiding place!

Last week (pictures below) we had a great evening listening again to some of the tunes Hedsor Jazz’s founder Clive Burton used to enjoy playing. What a treat it all was, even finishing our evening with “Jeanine”*. They were of course brought to us by Mike Wills and Lester Brown, with Ken McCarthy, Ester Ng and Martin Hart all making up  “The Clive Burton Celebration Quintet”. 

Do look back to last weeks blog for the listing of the next 2 months of Hedsor Jazz gigs. We have a great set of line ups coming, with some unusual evenings for you to rant or rave about.

Don’t forget to let me have the names of the musicians you would like to have come to Hedsor to play for us. Not everything is possible, but we do try to please!

Also make a note in your diary for December 15^th. It will be our Christmas Party!

*There is a version of “Jeannine” played by Cannonball Adderley in 1962 available on YouTube, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN1SwOdbdBU

 OK, it's my splash down time, so I'll see you when I have dried out. TTFN.

 Good Tuesday to you. Did you all enjoy your bank holiday? I enjoyed mine, but now time to get back to business.

I now have a list of future Hedsor Jazz events, and below is a jpeg of a poster covering September and October. We hope to pursued newcomers by putting out more posters around the area in the coming weeks. Do tell your friends of our super jazz Thursdays, and where possible, bring them with you.

The current state of our country makes everyone have an apprehension for the future, but we hope to be able to fulfil the program that can be seen in the poster. If you have the capability (no, not Brown!) please print it and display it wherever you can.

A4 and A5 copies of this will be available at Hedsor for the next week or so.

You will notice that there are some slightly different evenings coming up, as well as the tried and tested, we have some innovations. Do let us have your thoughts on this, and also if you have a musician you would like to see at Hedsor Jazz let us know (in writing if possible) and we will see what can be arranged. Dont forget that sponsorship is one way of getting your choice of performer coming to Hedsor.

Last week, (pictures below), with Peter Cook, (mostly on alto sax, but pictured below on baritone) and Nick Mills on trombone was a demonstration of almost pure Bop. The level of musicianship was superb. If you have ever yourself played an instrument, especially in a jazz field (maybe the only place you were allowed to play! I do joke), you will have realised how difficult it is to improvise on the chords, and keep an eye on the melody as well as carrying an ear for what the others are doing. On very few occasions last week did anyone become “misplaced”. Nick Mills on trombone should be especially commended. He was incredibly adroit on an instrument that has no fixed tube length!

Coming THIS THURSDAY we have the full “Clive Burton Celebration Quintet” with Lester Brown on trumpet and Mike Wills on reeds. Of the original Clive Burton Quintet we have Martin on drums, and Mike on reeds with us this week, September 1^st. Do come for a sample of the past.

One final note. I have been selling “part used” CD’s at Hedsor for years. I have recently had a donation of some new stock, which I will bring with me this week. Do take a look. All the money raised goes to Cancer Research UK. With your 50p’s and occasional £1’s we have collected £50 since April.

 

Geoff’s Blog, and if you read this straight away on Tuesdays, then Tonight (August 23rd) at Marlow there is some local jazz for you. Vasilis Xenopoulos (a Cookham resident!) is playing alongside Nigel Price at The British Legion Hall as part of Michael Eagleton’s program of concerts. Do refer back to last weeks blog for more detail of his Autumn program, but tonight the evening starts at 8.30pm and will cost you £10 to get in, just as it will in October when Vasilis and Nigel play Hedsor Jazz, (that’s on October 20^th).

Coming to Hedsor Jazz THIS WEEK (Thursday August 25^th) we have another influential jazz saxophonist. After a break at least as long as the covid one, we have a return of alto player Peter Cook. Peter has trained many of the saxophonists you listen to, being Head of Jazz at The London Collage of Music (https://www.uwl.ac.uk/staff/pete-cook). Also see his web page at 

http://www.petecooksax.com/Site/Welcome.html 

He has a cool pure “Paul Desmond” like approach, which I’m sure you will appreciate, and on Thursday he will be partnered by that super trombone player Nick Mills. Our usual trio will be backing them.

 

Looking back on last weeks concert, what a super evening it was! The combination of Alan Barnes, a saxophonist I have listened to for over 20 years, led by our local trumpet star Stuart Henderson was superb.

 As many of you know my wife and I have recently celebrated 63 years of married life, and I had to mention to Alan that this was as long as he had been around! Yes, he was born in 1959! And long may he continue. He has given so many of us so many happy musical memories, and also many cd’s to keep the memory alive when we are at home. His version last Thursday of Duke Ellington’s “Isfahan” just added to the memories. Superb. 

If you look on Michael’s Autumn program (in last weeks blog) you will find you can hear Alan there again in November.

Some pictures from last Thursday are below.

 

However if you want to listen to Alan again before November 15th, then go to The Wooburn Festivals 30^th September jazz festival dinner, where Alan will be laying alongside pianist David Newton. They shared the same room at Leeds where they both studied music and they have played together many times since. You can check out their Wooburn Festival appearance at https://www.wooburn.com/jazz.html

With the cost of everything going up, we do hope to keep our entry fee at Hedsor Jazz to just £10 per head. That could be made more certain if a few more people came to each concert. We are attempting to raise our profile, and we do now have a miniscule place online in the Bucks Free Press. Do let people know and check it out for yourself by going to

https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/local-events/?_evDiscoveryPath=/event/1286013-hedsor-jazz

If you click on “more info” you can to get to my blog! A full circle from here!

That’s it for now folks

Has the weather broken, or is it just the economy?

Anyway a few lines to let you know of who and what we have at Hedsor Jazz this week. If in doubt we do have air conditioning!! 

But we also have that wonderful saxophonist Alan Barnes coming to us this week, see poster art below.

 

Alan has been one of the mainstays of British jazz for over 40 years, producing music to listen to at home via his record label, and working hard to maintain his family (he will always tell you how much he needs your money to support it), playing live gigs everywhere. He is always producing faultless music linked with good humour. Do take a look at his web site https://www.alanbarnesjazz.com/

I have chatted with him many times; he was the president of Swanage Jazz Festival for most of its life. On one occasion I was invited to look after a pram load of his daughter whilst he and his wife were playing a gig at Swanage! She of course is now in her 20’s!

Alan says he has never been invited to Hedsor Jazz and didn’t think we could afford him anyway. Well, now he has been invited, he IS coming and he will get paid!

SO why not come and see and hear for yourself what a wonderful player he is. Mind you, I guess most of you readers will know of his ability anyway. But as an added incentive this Thursday we will have a light buffet at half time, just to keep (his?) energy levels up!

Last week we had a return visit by saxophonist Duncan Lamont Jr and trombonist Mike Innes. They produced some wonderful music and played some great arrangements.

One has to wonder at the rapport they have with each other. The truth is they have known each other since they were both 10 years old, so it isn’t just that they can read the score with pin point accuracy and timing!

Pictures of the evening are below.

Also worth a mention is Marlow Jazz’s winter program. Do take a look at the jpeg below, but you can also check it out https://www.marlowjazz.co.uk/

Their next gig is Tuesday 23^rd August with Vasilis Xenopoulos and Nigel Price. Two of my favourite musicians, I have already asked Michael for a seat at HIS gig. We have them coming to us at Hedsor on October 20^th    

Looking further ahead for Hedsor Jazz, August 25^th sees a return of saxophonist and lecturer Peter Cook, who is coming to play alongside that adroit trombonist Nick Mills. Peter was a music tutor at Brunel University and taught Vasilis for a short time before Vasilis went of to gain his MA at Berkley Collage USA. Peter is now Head of Jazz at The London Collage of Music https://www.uwl.ac.uk/staff/pete-cook

A bit if brief blogging today. The sun is shining (again, wow) and soon it will be too warm to sit at my office desk. SO for better or for worse (and for me that was 63 years ago yesterday!), here is a brief reminder of what to expect this Thursday at Hedsor Jazz, and a quick look back at  what we enjoyed last week there as well.

Thursday August 11^th

Coming back to Hedsor again this week we have that world class combination of saxophonist Duncan Lamont Jr and trombonist Mike Innes, all backed by The Martin Hart trio. If you have missed their previous appearances at Hedsor do try not to miss this week. You will not be able to hear any better quality modern jazz in quintet form than this combination. They are well worth turning out for.

Car Parking at Hedsor.

Of late The Hedsor Club has had an early evening football game in the adjacent field and car parking has been a bit of a problem. I have been in contact with the Hedsor Club and have had an assurance back that the situation will improve. Below is a portion of the clubs reply:-

“We have already spoken to the footballers about this issue. We have told them that they will have to change their night if this continues. The last two Thursdays they have had a pre season friendly. Also last week the opposition brought two teams - so it was all a bit manic. 

However there are no more games planned for Thursdays now - only training. We are going to use the field to overspill the footballers cars. Might make them more focused on getting the ball in the net.”

A great response from the club who obviously appreciate our custom. Thank you Hedsor Bar.

Last week (photos below) we had the very unusual chance to listen to 9 different reed instruments. No not all at the same time, we only had two reed players, (Mike Wills and Mark Aston). But what an opportunity it was to listen to such a variety of reed combinations (no, I am not referring to bamboo underwear!). There was also a mix of tunes played, from those of the 1920’s to one recently written by Mark Aston in classical baroque style.

In the photos below see if you can recognise the C Melody sax. This was once very popular in the 1920’s but is rarely played now. I once had the privilege of listening to American saxophonist Scott Robinson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Robinson_(jazz_musician) playing his, and talked with him afterwards about it. He has issued a CD where all the tunes are played on a C Melody sax. Last week, only some of the tunes played utilised this instrument!

So thanks again to Mike and Mark for bringing and playing such a range of instruments, and for making it a great musical experience and not just a history lesson!

 

 

 

 

Dont forget that on August 18^th Hedsor Jazz brings you one of the best, if not the best, jazz saxophone players in the UK. Alan Barnes (above) is coming to Hedsor Jazz, and will be playing alongside Stuart Henderson. It is Alan’s first visit to Hedsor and you never know, he might enjoy it enough to come again. But YOU have to make him welcome on this his first visit!

 

As the cartoon says, “That’s it for now folks”

 

Geoff 

 I now have the details for our concert on August 11th so I can not only let you have those detail, I can make a correction to our event on September 1st (accompanying Lester Brown it will be Mike Wills not trombonist Nick Mills). So, I have produced another poster for you to print off and put up within public view, see jpeg below.

If you come to Hedsor tonight you will find one on your table!

Another Tuesday, and another blog from Geoff

And the weather hasn’t got any cooler.  I would love to be able to say “I Think Its Going To Rain Today”, but  maybe I’ll just play the tune instead (its part of the Randy Newman Songbook, and a great tune that I first came upon on a Chris Barber LP called “Battersea Rain Dance” back around 1965).

What a terrific night we had last Thursday. An evening of celebration for Alan Grahame, which was full of joy, and for the first time in 3 years, Hedsor Jazz was full of people too. You would never credit that it was Alan’s 95^th birthday, and yes, I have ask him to place his booking for the 100 with us already.

The music was marvellous, and the people who came to play for Alan could have bankrupted us if we had had to pay them. Alan has been in the business a long time, and not only knows a lot of musicians, but has also raised a family of musicians himself!! Some of the photos are below. I just hope that we will be able to book some of the guests ourselves in the future. Our good friend Duncan Lamont Jr opened the first set and Alan’s daughter Lisa opened the second. She had taken the night off from a West End show to do so. But they were helped out by Ray Wordsworth, Art Theman, Steve Waterman, Andy Crowdy, Nigel Fox, Stuart Henderson and Denny Islet Jr sang for us as well. During “The Peanut Vendor” ALL of Alan’s family came on, as Lisa said “to hit something” with Alan's grandson Barney on drums!

 

Some of you missed it! But we have got some wonderful gigs lined up for you over the next couple of months.

August

4^th Two Saxophonists for a tenner! Mike Wills and Mark Aston

11^th Still to be finalised.                          

18^th As this evening is very near to my birthday I have invited Alan Barnes to come and play for us. He was complaining to me that he had never been invited to play at Hedsor, so now he has!  He will be alongside trumpet ace Stuart Henderson, a regular Hedsor contender. A light buffet will be available at half time.

25^th That super trombone player Nick Mills will be with us for the first of a 3 week stay and this week he will be alongside saxophonist Peter Cook. Pete is Head of Jazz at The London Collage of Music

September

1^st Nick Mills returns to play alongside “our” trumpet man Lester Brown

8^th This time another of my neighbours is coming to play, saxophonist Alam Nathoo. Alam hasn’t played at Hedsor before and he is coming to keep trombone man Nick Mills company. Check out Alam’s web page https://alamnathoo.wordpress.com/music/

I used the phrase “another of my neighbours” as Vasilis Xenopouls is now a Cookham resident and he is coming to play for us on October 20^th. Guitarist Nigel Price is also coming, and we are trying to persuade Nigel to come and reside in Cookham too!

Cant wait until October, Vasilis and Nigel are at The Marlow Jazz Club on Tuesday August 23rd

A Quick Plug for the Wooburn Festival, check out https://www.wooburn.com/jazz.html

Also do check out Pangbourne Jazz Clubs coming event, and read the writup on both Alan Grahame and “our” Ken McCarthy!  https://mailchi.mp/jazzinreading.com/pangbourne-jazz-club-april-2018-jim-6139060?e=9ec6209932

See you all at Hedsor Jazz. We always start at 8.30pm. We are always at The Hedsor Bar, Hedsor Rd, Bourne End SL8 5ES and it's only £10 to get in.