Even the most carefully crafted plans of mice and men do sometimes have to be changed. 

And so it is with Hedsor Jazz's plans for August 7th.

Very sadly neither saxophonist Alam Nathoo NOR trumpeter Stuart Henderson can make that day. BUT we have been able to book two other favourite players in their place. They play a style different to that of Alam and Stuart, but saxophonist Al Nicholls is a wonderful and player and a long associate of us at Hedsor. And he will be joined by "our" Lester Brown on trumpet.

So it will still be three trumpeters in a row. 

So to clarify August below is a revised poster for you to print off and publish.

 Many thanks.

 Goodness Gracious, at long last a blog from Geoff!!

Yes, a number of weeks have gone by since my last attempt at information and amusement via blogspot has been fingered via my keyboard.  But it has to be done today, only to say you may NOT get one next week!!

Excuses are around. First it was The Swanage Jazz Festival (which I will write more about soon), then a short holiday break looking after a very bad tempered cat whilst my daughter was in Greece. The cat and I were in Ipswich!!

Next week may be missed as my Granddaughter is getting married and I will be in Gloucestershire!!

Nonetheless what happens at Hedsor Jazz does carry on almost relentlessly! And ALWAYS with great quality.

And what a quality product we have for you this week. For the third week in a row we will feature a trumpet player, and this week it is Bruce Adams. He is a wonderful player in a kind of bravura style, blowing top notes with real aggression, especially as he is a really nice bloke, do buy him a pint!! This time he is being partnered at Hedsor Jazz with one of our long standing supporters, saxophonist Duncan Lamont Jr. Behind both will be the usual suspects acting as the Hedsor Jazz rhythm section! Do come, both musicians have a great musical heritage, and putting them together should create some magic.

 

Sadly I was unable to make last Thursdays session at Hedsor. Tracy told me “Thursday was very good    see the tune list”!!

So you shall!!   It went like this:-

 1. What is this thing called love 

 2. Stomping at the Savoy by Edgar Samson 

 3. Little Sunflower by Freddie Hubbard 

 4. Sandy by Clifford Brown 

 5. Soulful Bill 

 6. Green Dolphin Street 

 

 1. Strolling by Horace Silver

 2. Ode to a flugelhorn by Clark Terry 

 3. Everything I Love by Cole Porter 

 4. Some other time by Leonard Bernstein 

 5. Minor Chant by Jimmy Smith Back at chicken Shack 

 6. Take the A Train

And they were all played by

Stuart Henderson 

Martin Dunston 

Peter Hughes 

Nigel Fox 

Mike Jeffries 

The previous couple of weeks I did manage to get to The Hedsor Bar sandwiched between my away days.

So my photos below are for July 10^th which had saxophonist Mark Aston paired with guitarist James Fenn. James had recently returned from a gig at Glastonbury and Mark was about to go to Swanage (I did go and see him there, more about Swanage in a separate blog later in the month, probably the month of August!)

I made comment to James about his black guitar and he told me that as it was such a hot day he had brought out his carbon fibre model. This is apparently easier to keep in tune on a hot day. It sounded pretty good but he assured me it was a budget model manufactured in CHINA (the country not the material!). I’ll leave you to guess at the concept of “budget” for James!

As I have mentioned Swanage, below my pictures from July 10^th is one of Swanage at sunset!!

 

Mark playing trad BARITONE at Swanage

Swanage at Sunset

The week of July 17^th was the first of the trio of trumpet players, and we were joined by one of Britain’s trumpet educators, Steve Waterman. He is a 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 Welsh College Of Music And Drama. 

His playing is superb and melodic but he is also able to slowly release energy and increase pressure. Some VERY high notes were played!

He was joined on 6 tunes by the Ealing Jazz Festival Star singer Gill Cook, who has Steve on at least one of her CDs

Steve Waterman

 

Gill Cook

Coming in August

We can look forward to more trumpet on August 7^th as Stuart Henderson is reunited with saxophonist  Alam Nathoo. This is a partnership that we put together at Hedsor in January, and we have tried to make the pairing every month since. They both have spectacular ability, and we think putting them together makes for a very exciting evening of jazz.

Stuart and Alam back in February

 

I really do have to ask myself with this kind of performer coming to Hedsor every week why did I go to Swanage for a jazz festival? We have a feast of festival quality jazz every week at Hedsor Jazz.

And just to underline that point on August 14^th two mega festival stars are coming to Hedsor. Saxophonist Alan Barnes and pianist David Newton.

Alan Barnes at Hedsor in 2024

David Newton from his web page https://davidnewtonjazzpiano.com/

Yes this time it is just the two musicians. But they have been playing duets together for about 30 years! They shared the same room at The Leeds Collage of Music! They have been at the forefront of British Jazz ever since.

“Just two instruments” I hear you ask. Yes, but I can assure you that you wont be bored. The skilful interplay and individual improvisation will astound you. To be able to listen to them in the relatively intimate setting of the room at the Hedsor Bar will be a delight.

OK all we need now is for you, not just to read these words, but for you to come and hear the musicians I write about.

Hedsor Jazz! It should not be the best kept secret in jazz!

A BLOG to cover the next couple of weeks, as we have entered the jazz festival season.

Going to jazz festivals used to be a regular part of my summer, with Swanage and Brecon regular parts of each for many years. Swanage still remains for by me, but with my advancing years even the travel to that is becoming a bit of a chore. Having been going for over 25 years one does get to know many jazz fans from different parts of the country and we become a bit like a big jazz family. Chatting over who we have seen and what we think of it is part of jazz festival breakfasts.

If you have never been to a jazz festival do consider it. It can be a very rewarding experience.

However who and what we put on at Hedsor Jazz every week is a bit like a jazz festival. Many of the musicians I expect to see in Swanage we have seen at Hedsor, and some I’m sure will be coming!

We do have listings now for every week for July and August, and they are reproduced below.

We have been seeking better cooperation with the management of Hedsor Bar, and we are going to try out one or two of there suggestions, so please bear with us if the room isn’t as you saw it last time! The idea is to make it less daunting for newcomers to access the room, and to enable late entry without embarrassment. However if we feel that the prime reasons for running Hedsor Jazz aren’t met, we will go back to previous ones, or try a different new one! We want to ensure first class musical presentation and sound so that we can all have a first rate evening out.

 

Last weeks evening out (pictures below) was absolutely first class, with New Orleans singer Nanci Zhang singing for us four times through the evening.  The combined musical abilities of both Alam Nathoo on tenor sax and Tom White on trombone were formidable such that one of our PA loudspeakers collapsed to the floor!!

 

As you will see from the poster art above we have a terrific few weeks ahead of us. Saxophonist and club organiser in his own right Mark Aston will be with us this week, hopefully bringing a guest of his choice.

The following week, pinch yourself, a superstar is coming to Hedsor Jazz. Steve Waterman (https://www.stevewaterman.co.uk/bio) is a 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 Welsh College Of Music And Drama. Not only that but we have joining him Singer Gill Cook. (https://www.gillcook.co.uk/). Steve is featured on one of her albums and I first saw her at an Ealing Jazz Festival singing to hundreds of people. She has sung for me a number of times and on different occasion, and has also been to Hedsor many times. It should be a really great evening of jazz.

Another great trumpet star is coming to Hedsor before the month is out (31^st July). A return visit by Bruce Adams. And he will be partnered with a real friend of Hedsor Jazz saxophonist Duncan Lamont Jr.

All we need to make Hedsor Jazz more perfect is MORE AUDIENCE. Tell you friends and spend just £10 for 2 hours of great jazz. And it is every week!!

Oh, and make sure you keep this blog in your inbox to read next week. I won’t have time to write more and the next blog issue will include my thoughts on this years Swanage Jazz Festival. Take a preview:-

https://swanagejazzfestival.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/SJF-full-programme-2025.pdf

 

 

Good Morning lovers of jazz. The sun does still have his hat on, and it is a bit warm, but never mind, so is some of our jazz.

Hedsor Jazz is still about, and accessible every Thursday. We have a level of fame, which I would love to see represented in our attendance numbers. Never mind, the people who come are quality!!

Last week we had a surprise “guest”, singer in Nanci from New Orleans:-

https://www.offbeat.com/news/healthy-notes-in-harmony-flu-shots-and-jazz-with-nurse-nanci/

Our evening last week was totally splendid, with one member of the audience telling me it was the best first half he had ever heard, and THAT was before we learnt we had a guest from the land of jazz!!

My pictures are below. I think that the band played there socks off, well done.

As my remarks about the front line last blog indicated, the two front liners (Lester Brown and Frank Walden) come from different jazz backgrounds, but their joint collaboration was magic! With Nanci joining in for 3 numbers in the second set, the whole evening stayed at a very high level. It was apparent even when the music stopped that no one wanted to go home!

Can Hedsor Jazz keep it up this week? We really think so, as this first Thursday of the month of July we have saxophonist Alam Nathoo being joined by one of is contemporaries, trombonist Tom White. If you plug in to YouTube you can hear the two of them, plus some other young talents:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWxo36EcXYI

It will take over 13 minutes of your time, but maybe watch whilst consuming a coffee!

Christ Church, Marlow

One other event that involved me, and a few recognisable faces, took place last Sunday. I have been running a series of jazz worship events inspired by the Duke Ellington Concerts of Sacred music, and last Sunday was the third in the series. This was held in Marlow’s Christ Church, which just so happens to house a Bechstein grand piano. This was played by our own Ken McCarthy, and the songs were all performed by Gill Cook, able supported by Martin Dunston on reeds, Martin Hart on drums and Peter Hughes on bass. I said all the linking words, and for an hour we led the congregation though some thought provoking lyrics. We also managed to persuade the Marlow Congregation to sing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and the Caribbean version of the Lords Prayer!

I think it went down well, and a repeat will be had in Cores End Church on October 26^th

I have been trying to impress on the congregations that many secular tunes have beautiful and meaningful words. One of the tunes played, but not sung this time round was “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free”, which used to be Barry Normans signature tune to a cinema review program.

However, the words are yet some more that make you think:-

"I wish I knew how It would feel to be free. I wish I could break All the chains holding me. I wish I could say All the things that I should say-- Say 'em loud, say 'em clear For the whole round world to hear. I wish I could share All the love that's in my heart, Remove all the bars That keep us apart. I wish you could know What it means to be me. Then you'd see and agree That every man should be free. I wish I could give All I'm longin' to give. I wish I could live Like I'm longin' to live. I wish I could do All the things that I can do. Though I'm way overdue I'd be starting anew. Well, I wish I could be Like a bird in the sky. How sweet it would be If I found I could fly. I'd soar to the sun And look down at the sea. And I’d sing 'cause I’d know And I’d sing 'cause I’d know And I’d sing 'cause I’d know I’d know how it feels I’d know how it feels to be free".

One song that I have wanted sung for me for 2 or 3 years now Gill did sing for me on Sunday

“I Think its Going to Rain Today”, which  is a great tune, but with lyrics that need an explanation. They are sung by a down and out with a begging bowl and are full of cynicism, but they do provoke you into thinking!

"Broken windows and empty hallways,

A pale dead moon in a sky streaked with grey.

Human kindness is overflowing,

And I think it's gonna rain today.

 

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles,

The frozen smiles to chase love away.

Human kindness is overflowing,

And I think it's gonna rain today.

 

Lonely, lonely.

Tin can at my feet,

I think I'll kick it down the street.

That's the way to treat a friend.

 

Bright before me the signs implore me:

Help the needy and show them the way.

Human kindness is overflowing,

And I think it's gonna rain today.

 

Lonely, so lonely.

Tin can at my feet,

I think I'll kick it down the street.

That's the way to treat a friend.

Bright before me the signs implore me:

Help the needy and show them the way.

 

Human kindness is overflowing,

And I think it's gonna rain today".

Sometimes popular music does agitate against the comfortable norms!

Pictures from Christ Church courtesy of Tracy Georgiades

Sorry Ken, you were hidden by that Bechstein grand piano

 

My, doesn’t time fly?

Already we are up to the last week of June, and summer suns have been glowing. Maybe a bit too hot for some, but The Hedsor Bar did have the air conditioning on last week, so inside it was comfortable!

Our session last week with Pete Rudeforth and Martin Dunston was, as anticipated, a mix of tunes making one call to mind music from a pre atomic era. Except that some of the tunes were in fact composed by Pete himself, definitely more recent than Mr. Basie!

It was one of those rare evenings without Ken McCarthy, Mike Jeffries or Martin Hart, but it was refreshing to have some different styles of both piano and drums, Martin Picket and John Sargent being welcome guest replacements. My photos from the evening are below:-

 

Coming to us this week to play in front of Ken McCarthy and Peter Hughes, even perhaps Martin Hart, we have saxophonist Frank Walden. He will be partnered by trumpeter Lester Brown. Again it will be an interesting amalgam of styles, Lester being more in the traditional style of trumpet player, whereas Frank was at one time in Amy Whitehouse’s band. It will be fun to hear.

 

Lester Brown with Mike Jeffries

 

Frank Walden with Ken McCarthy

July and August are usually holiday months and although some of us will have away days, Hedsor Jazz will still present you with somewhere to listen to top class jazz every Thursday.

 

Do see our July programme below where you will be spoilt for choice.

 

August will also bring some great musicians to The Hedsor Bar. So Thursdays are always going to have some great live jazz for you to be enthralled by.

 

All this for only £10 per head. It has to be in cash only to get in, but the bar does accept electronic payment for your liquid entertainment. Don’t forget, the car park is free, and Bourne End doesn’t have a congestion charge or a clean air fine either. In fact Hedsor doesn’t have a lot of street lights either!

 

For those of you who watch and listen via YouTube, do check out a series of videos that I have been following this past week. “Ellington 30” is a competition for American Student bands, and the quality is astounding. Follow the link or search Essentially Ellington 2025

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLReW5Mv77OKA7FpIyl3hK-t3z0HktQ5b-

 

That’s it for now folks, see you (all?) Thursday

 

Geoff