NEW RELEASES
Five new CDs for your Autumn 2006 -
PKCD-295 The Bob Howarth Big Band “Sentimental Journey” - This 18-piece band plays polished arrangements of 20 tunes.
PKCD-296 Richard Leach's 7 Stars of Jazz “In Character” - The third CD by Richard Leach's superb band.
PKCD-297 The Unity Stompers Jazzband “Swing That Music” - The band's fourth CD on PEK.
PKCD-298 Martin Bennett's Old Green River Band “Rocking My Baby” - The band's unique sound shines through.
PKCD-299 Keith Nichol's Collegians “Collegiate Rhythm with Mike Piggott” - A marvellous CD by a truly great band.
(Full details of these albums are given on the "New Releases" Page)
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BUDE 2006
This year's Bude Festival was as enjoyable as ever. As usual I travelled down on Friday morning - a remarkably traffic-free journey - and I stopped off at Gordon Hunt's barbecue around lunchtime. Then on to Bude and an evening of merriment at The Brendon Arms with Colin Kingwell's (here I'm searching for the right word) 'friends' is too formal, so is 'followers' - the closest I can get is 'gang of reprobates'. No offence chaps - great fun!
Unusually
this year I had no recordings until the Tuesday. So I had three days to enjoy the bands and the company of good friends. Incidentally, for those of you who remember the happy days of jazz at The Duke of Cumberland in Cottingham, I was delighted to meet Mary Andrews who used to run the club with her husband John. She is well and enjoying her jazz; lovely to see her again.
I saw several bands whom I had previously recorded - it's good to see them in action without my microphones intruding - John Maddocks Jazzmen, Colin Kingwell's Jazz Bandits, Rae Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band, Antique Six Jazzband, Harlem Hot Stompers, Maddocks Huxley Reeds United, Old Fashioned Love Band, Gordon Whitworth's Bix Tribute Band, Brian Carrick's Algiers Stompers. However perhaps the highlight was a sensational session by Dennis Armstrong's Oliver Band on Tuesday. It was obvious from the first tune that the band was going to play an absolute blinder of a session, and they did! The faces of the musicians told the story - they knew this would be a very special session. Two days later I met one of the band who said he was still recovering emotionally! Afterwards of course, several people, including one band member said "Oh you should have recorded that one!!" I wish I had, but it's a sad fact that being recorded can, and often does inhibit musicians, so maybe if I had recorded it, it wouldn't have been quite the same. Anyway it was a joy and a privilege to be there.
I also enjoyed hearing some bands
which were new to me including the Blue Rhythm Kings, playing 1920s white jazz; Spats And His Rhythm Boys (Mike Durham, Norman Field, Paul Munnery, Keith Nichols, Spats, Frans Sjostrom and Nick Ward - what a lineup, superb band); Andors Jazz Band from Holland; Gordon Hunt's Algiers Strutters; Fryer-Barnhart International All-Star Jazz Band; The Art Deco Blue Five; Debbie Arthurs' Sweet Rhythm; Sussex Jazz Kings.
It just shows what an amazing feast
of great jazz the Bude Festival is. I've just listed 18 bands which I saw and enjoyed greatly, and yet I barely scratched the surface of what was on offer.
Before you ask, yes, I did some recording - on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Originally I had six sessions booked to record but sadly John Howlett (trombonist with the Sussex Jazz Kings) was unable to go to the Festival due to ill-health so Dave Stradwick, quite rightly, decided to postpone the recording for another time. John will soon be well again.
The five remaining recording sessions were Kaminsky Connection with Judy Eames, Hokum, Ken Pye's Creole Serenaders,
Jeff Barnhart's British Band, and Paul Munnery's Swing Street with Robert Fowler and John Shillito.
All five went well, though the antics of Hokum make it very difficult to record satisfactorily. So far I haven't had time to listen to any of the recordings but I am optimistic that at least some of them will result in CDs early next year.
On Friday my cousin Elizabeth came up from Plymouth
and we had a very pleasant day together. Lots of chat, news to catch up on, saw some good jazz, had a nice meal, and the sun shone - a perfect day. Next year she's planning to be at Bude for more than one day; that will be good.
Finally on Bude, a word of thanks to Martin Street, my 'roadie', who was as efficient and helpful as anyone could be; he and Sylvia were also good company - thank you both.
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NEW ORLEANS RELIEF
This is
almost your last chance to make your contribution to alleviate the plight of musicians in New Orleans by buying a copy of "Let The Good Times Roll" (PKCD-284), as the CD will soon be deleted.
I saw a programme on BBC4 TV recently which showed the state of the Crescent City a year after the terrible destruction of Katrina - it made me weep to see how little has been done.
The US government should hang their heads in shame; huge areas of this once great City are still untouched since the hurricane and flooding destroyed it. Many citizens of New Orleans have given up hope of rebuilding there and have left to make new lives elsewhere; but many others are staying and desperately trying to breathe life into the City. We should help all we can.
So, a final plea to those of you who have not yet bought a copy of "Let The Good Times Roll". For your £11.50 you will get a CD with some fine jazz and, more importantly, you will make a small contribution to help musicians in N.O. - £8 from each CD sold will go to the NOrMAL Appeal who are forwarding every penny they receive directly to The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic and The Jazz Foundation of America.
I am pleased to report that to date I have sent £988.50 to the NOrMAL Appeal (this includes a couple of cash donations). So, including the donations you made to the NOMAF appeal last year, and my own donation from P.E.K. Sound, the total amount I have forwarded on your behalf is £2007.00.
It would be great if there were a late surge of sales of PKCD-284 to push the total even higher.
So please buy a copy of PKCD-284.
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ALAN POTTON
I was very sad to hear of the death of Alan Potton earlier this year. Eleanor and I had known him and his wife Dorothy for several years, and we once had the pleasure of staying overnight with them when I recorded the Sunset Cafe Stompers back in the mid '90s. I last recorded him with the John Maddocks Jazzmen, with whom he had played for about twelve years, at the Bude Festival in 2002. He was a wonderful cornet player with a beautiful tone and superb phrasing and timing.
He was also a true gentleman.
I will miss him - so will countless other jazz fans.
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