Dennis Armstrong’s Great Northern Jazz Band. I first heard Dennis’s newly formed band at Bude in 1999 and was greatly impressed. However it took nearly four years before I had the opportunity to record them for this CD. The recording was made at Malcolm Hogarth’s house near Chester in July 2004. Malcolm’s front room, with his grand piano, is large enough to accommodate a seven piece band in reasonable comfort, but not a seven piece band and a recording engineer. So I installed my recording equipment on a small table in the hallway, outside the bathroom door, leaving just enough space for people to squeeze past me to the rest of the house, or to the bathroom.
The band had rehearsed the day before the recording session so there weren’t too many ‘second takes’ of tunes, and the day sped by with a total of 21 tunes ‘in the can’ by the end of the session.
Dennis and Malcolm came to my studio in early October to work through the tracks with me. This was just before my Autumn shut-down and then Eleanor’s dreadful accident. So the CD, which was scheduled for release in time for Christmas, was badly delayed. It’s out now and deserves to be well-received by fans and musicians alike.
Richard Leach’s 7 Stars of Jazz. Last September Richard asked me to record his band at Stourbridge RFC in December 2004. The band plays in an excellent modern first-floor club-room at Stourbridge Rugby Club. It has a huge low stage with acres of space for a seven-piece band, and a recording engineer. Normally I dread first floor venues because I have to carry all my equipment up, and then carry it back down again. However this club house has a lift. Such luxury!
The band had just (the day before the session) returned from a two week trip to Gran Canaria - it’s a tough life being a musician. As a consequence of having had two weeks concentrated playing together the band was firing on all cylinders and the session was sensationally good; just about every track was of a high enough standard to be released. So Richard had the difficult task of selecting tracks for rejection. Of the 19 tracks recorded only 14 could be accommodated on the CD and five had to go.
Hugh Rainey Band with Charles Connor. This CD was recorded at the same Essex village hall as “On The Way Up” (PKCD-183 April 2001). It is a spacious hall with good acoustics. I had to make a very early start that day to drive down to South Hanningfield to arrive before ten o’clock - it’s amazing how much traffic is on the roads at 6.30am! Most of the band live fairly locally and they were there when I arrived. So we started as soon as I was set up. Hugh is fantastically well organised; he is also a bit of a slave-driver and we all had a long exhausting day with a total of 26 tunes recorded. It’s remarkable - teenage pop groups, and the like, spend weeks recording one track, whereas a band of middle-aged musicians can get through 26 in one day!
I have very good friends who live only about ten miles from South Hanningfield so, rather than drive home, I stayed the night with them. It made a nice break and saved me having to make the long drive home in the dark and the rush hour.
Pete Baker’s Hot and Crusty Jazzers. St John’s Church in Stansted Mountfitchet is a handsome building; one of the old style churches, but, for the jazz concert by Pete Baker’s band, it had been transformed into a jazz club! The rows of chairs had been removed and tables were set out with coloured table-cloths, candles and snacks. At the back of the church, by the font, was a bar and a table where hot and cold food was served at the interval. In front of the band was a space for dancers. Dancers scare me! Even the most self controlled dancers can get frighteningly close to my expensive microphones at times.
As usual I arrived very early (I hate having to rush to get set up in time) and found myself an out-of-the-way spot by the side of the band. The large audience was not the usual jazz club crowd - but rather local people having a fun night out. Despite this there is very little audience noise on the recording.
At the end of the session I packed the car and drove home - a very late night.
Cuff Billett with The Dave Donohoe Band. I’m sure few of you would argue with my claim that Cuff Billett is one of the (if not the) finest New Orleans-style trumpet players we have. In recent years he has played several festival sessions with The Dave Donohoe Band, and after a three year wait I grabbed the opportunity at last year’s Bude Festival to record them together. Many of you will know the Ivor Potter Hall at Bude - big hall, large high stage, one of Bude’s better venues, which always seems to gather a large crowd of very appreciative fans. I arrived about 10.30am (the session started at mid-day) and set myself up in the wings, out of sight of everyone.
When Dave came to my house in February to go through the tracks with me he had the same problem that Richard Leach had had - too much good material and “what on earth do we leave out?“
When Dave and I were discussing the production of this CD he said, “Peter, was this the last session Eleanor ever saw?” I said “Oh Lord - yes, I think it was.” Dave said “Would you mind if we dedicate the CD to Eleanor?” Thank you Dave.
ELEANOR
Many of you will already know from Jazz Guide and Just Jazz Magazine that, following Eleanor's accident and emergency brain surgery last November, she never regained consciousness. She died in hospital on December 17th. After nearly 39 years of very happy marriage the loss of my dear wife is utterly devastating.
I just want to thank my many friends in the jazz world who sent me cards, letters, e-mails and phone calls expressing their love for Eleanor and sadness at her death, and sending me their good wishes. It is so very much appreciated, and has been a great source of strength when I need it most. I hope in due course to reply to as many of you as possible individually, but in the meantime please accept my thanks via this note. Thank you all.
PIRACY
I suspect most of us have done it at some time or other - copied a CD or cassette for a friend. It's illegal of course and is a breach of several copyrights. On the large commercial scale of the worst pirates it seriously damages the music industry generally. But remember the Traditional Jazz world is relatively very small and even small-scale piracy can do significant damage to a jazz band's CD sales.
Remember also that the people who are most damaged by piracy are the jazz musicians; those who work so hard to bring us the music we love and give us so much pleasure in the process. Why on earth would anyone want to be so selfish, mean spirited and deceitful as to rob a band of a CD sale while purporting to be a friend and a fan of the band?
LOOKING AHEAD
After the uncertainty at the end of last year, I can now start to look ahead, both for P.E.K. Sound and for myself. I have caught up with the back-log of work which built up at the end of 2004.
This Newsletter is a month later than usual for reasons which I'm sure you understand. My plan is to get back on schedule by the Christmas Newsletter. So the Summer one will be published in mid to late June, the Autumn Catalogue and Newsletter will be in early to mid September and the Christmas mailing will be sent out in early December. That's the plan.
In the last few weeks I have recorded John Dunmore's New Orleans Jazz Band , The Wabash Jazzmen and Dave Moorwood's Big Bear Stompers . I hope CDs from some of those recordings will be ready in time for the Summer Newslettter in June.
Work should start soon on CDs from the Bude 2004 recordings by The John Maddocks Jazzmen and Brian Carrick's Algiers Stompers .
In April I am booked to record Maddocks/Huxley Reeds United at a live session in Coventry. A new CD by that great band will be something to look forward to.
I have my tickets for Keswick and Bude. I don't expect to record many bands at Keswick this year - I want to take it easy for once! At Bude I am pleased to say I will have the services of a ‘roadie' - many thanks to Martin Street for volunteering. I hope he won't live to regret it!
JOHN BURNETT
I have just had a phone call from Richard Leach telling me the sad news that John Burnett died on Monday March 14th. I believe he was 56 years old.
I knew John from having recorded his band a couple of times and, of course, the two recordings I made of Richard Leach's 7 Stars of Jazz. He was a very fine trumpet player and his death is a great loss to the world of Traditional Jazz. John will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.
