Alan Barnes at The Red Lion.

There has definitely been some mistake - I seem to have run out of steroids.

It's true I still have a prescription but they aren't working any more.....I definitely need more drugs!

We went to our Jazz Club but as you would say about an underperforming football club "I didn't turn up".

We are definitely going to have to have some 'steroid days' out having fun to coincide with the big doses.

It would be a shame to waste it.

Alan Barnes was as excellent as usual on saxophone and clarinet although it was a fairly introspective and 'blue' night or maybe that was just my mood?

Trevor Tomkins was on drums with Dave Newton very precise on keys and Paul Morgan exciting the strings on his bass;

By the end of the evening I was feeling pretty much out of it but I did enjoy 'Gentle Rain' which was very special.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Alan Barnes at The Red Lion, Isleworth.

Monday night saw us at The Red Lion, Isleworth for our jazz club although I was too ill to really enjoy it properly.

This is Trevor Tomkins on drums and at the front, the ever popular Alan Barnes on saxophone;

Alan Barnes loves the music so much that he was here in the audience a few weeks ago himself.

You can't see John Pearce on keyboards and Paul Morgan on bass, but this is Steve Waterman on trumpet;

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Save The Red Lion, Isleworth!

I've just got over losing The Hobgoblin in Staines, a very fine music venue in Staines.

Every Monday, when we can, we go to the Jazz club built around Trevor Tomkins incredible drumming and his contacts in the world of British Modern Jazz. 

 

It's unique; the best of Modern Jazz in a friendly old fashioned pub.

 

This is Paul Morgan on Monday night lighting up the bass; 

 

 



It's as good as anything you'd see at Ronnie Scott's and you can park outside.

This is Dave Newton on keyboards on the back row - Robyn (who knows a thing or two about Jazz rates  him very highly) while in the foreground is Alan Barnes who was just amazing on Sax - breathy at one moment, screaming at the next. He is really up there.

 

 

So anyway, we knew something was wrong when the cats (Ronnie, Roxy and Ginge) disappeared.

 

It turns out this magnificent pub is for sale and while that wouldn't normally matter too much, it does these days.

 

Once upon a time no one made too much money running a pub but they made a living. Now, the property prices have risen so much, pubs are worth real money; much more than you could ever make just running it as a pub.

 

 

And so they are all bought up and turned into shops or flats or houses and our culture dies.

 

The Red Lion in Isleworth isn't just about Jazz on Mondays; they have Folk and Blues, there's Rock and even community plays.

 

They have Pantomimes...for goodness sake.

 

There are amazing beer festivals.

 

It's eccentric.

 

It's the centre of it's community and we love it.

 

And now we may lose it.....except that a campaign has started to petition the council to declare the pub a 'Community Asset'.

 

It's important; if that status is granted the pub can be sold but it can only be used as a pub and not converted.

 

This has an important effect in reducing it's value to the level of a pub and goes towards ensuring it's survival.

 

I don't have details of the petition but send me your email and I'll sign you up on Mondays when I'm there.

Meanwhile when I have an e-address I'll post it here.

 

Since I wrote that I have a link and here it is;

 

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/list-isleworth-s-red-lion-as-a-community-asset

 

Please take a look - this is a worthy cause.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

Oompah!

I had an out-of-sorts sort of night. Partly my own fault we all have prejudices and I should do more to suppress mine. I can’t stand ‘Trad Jazz’ –I think it’s a peculiarly English thing, this desire to recreate the music of New Orleans in the 1920’s, usually somewhere in berkshire. I’m a modernist with all that involves; Be-bop, left wing politics, a certain style, a certain attitude. It’s punk but it’s cool. At the end of the day its about who you are.

When I got to the Jazz Club at the Red Lion,Isleworth there were the instruments all set up, primed and ready. There was a trombone, the symbol of all I can’t stand.

It’s a prejudice and I’m not proud of it. Mark Nightingale plays it very well indeed, and not a hint of a bowler hat, a waistcoat, let alone the dreaded oompah! It’s still a problem for me. It’s not him, it’s that thing.

The two people I was chatting with, of course, took Mark’s side and wound me up. We put together my ideal line up for a night of ‘modern jazz’ – two trombones, a banjo, a Tuber and three guys with handheld snare drums. Heck, it’s a marching band. All it needs is a Sousaphone and we’re away.

Then we got on to Nick Weldon – I love his style on the keyboards, very sparse, very precise, the bluenotes like shards of glass. We agreed to disagree on that style. Andrew Cleyndert on double bass and Trevor Tomkins were on the button as ever.

Alan Barnes always fills the room and not just with his sound – the baritone sax came out a lot tonight. One of my companions gave me a tourists guide to the entire range of saxophones – which I’ve forgotten, again. I think he said that Alan was playing the Alto too. Anyway he had a small one which definitely wasn’t a soprano and a great big one.

I forgot my pen and my photos didn’t come out. So, I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself too.

Next week is special – Art Themen, a quartet and some memories of very tough times. I won’t be missing that, I hope. And definitely no Sousaphones.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)  

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com