Peaked too soon.

Come Monday and we made it to our Jazz Club at The Red Lion, Isleworth but I had definitely peaked too soon!

I'd still been feeling good and did a fair amount of stuff during the day including going for a walk in the afternoon but by the time I got to the pub I was out of it; I spent the first half squirming in pain and part of the second asleep.

All of which was very unfair to the musicians who were Trevor Tomkins on drums, Alec Dankworth on bass and Alex Hutton on keyboards.

New to me were Robbie Robson on trumpet and Frank Griffith on Sax;

I was some way under the weather and didn't respond too well to Frank's cheerful jokes but his playing was good.

And Robbie Robson had me warming to the trumpet, never my favourite instrument.

I enjoyed the Dexter Gordon piece they played and 'The Duke' written by Dave Brubeck but owing a lot more to the Miles Davis cover version this time.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
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Simon Spillett and Roger Beaujolais at The Red Lion.

After our draining Monday we went to our Jazz Club at The Red Lion, Isleworth armed with a Christmas Stollen to say thank you to the friends who helped us in the morning.

As it turned out, one of them doesn't eat sweet things?!

But I was in for a real treat - just about my favourite line up.

Trevor Tomkins as ever provided some immaculate drums.

This is Simon Spillett looking immaculate in his MOD suit and a narrow tie straight out of the 1960's.

Now who do I know who dresses like that?

I love his playing and the choice of music was very much in my Thelonius Monk and Charlie Parker world.

Next to him is Roger Beaujolais on Vibes - we even got a Milt Jackson solo from him;

On the back row you can see Alec Dankworth playing Bass and John Critchinson on keyboards;

But both Robyn and me were shattered after our day, lets hope it worked out OK.

But Monday night?

That was magical.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

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Stan Sulzman at the Red Lion, Isleworth.

After another really frustrating day when the phone didn't ring we needed to escape. We went to The Red Lion in Isleworth for some Jazz.

In the corner here on drums is Trevor Tomkins, on Bass Alec Dankworth while on Keyboards is Ross Stanley;

All three are very highly regarded musicians in their own right; all three are busy session players, regulars at Ronnie Scotts and appear on numerous CD's.

The main reason I was there was for Stan Sulzman, a very fine saxophonist, he always cheers me up;

But my problems are starting to mount up and my heart wasn't really in it.

Still a good night - it's hard to be sad when you're listening to good music with friends.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
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Taking a chance on a Monday night.

I'm still ill but we decided to go to our Jazz club anyway.

It may not be sensible (it's getting colder) but it's therapy, in a way.

We aren't having a great week - the TV broke. It's a huge and heavy old fashioned monster of a set and we've no idea how we are going to get rid of it.

It's just sitting there, looking hurt, watching us instead.

It's very unfair, it only needed to last a bit longer. So at the moment I'm sulking and watching a tiny old portable.

I think my laptop has a bigger screen.

Even the pub where we go to see Jazz is under threat from developers. It means a lot to us; it's where we met.

For me there have been whole periods when I've had to fight to get there, to snatch a short while away from caring from my Mum or struggling in when I've been ill.

Always an achievement to get there.

Once again, it only needs to keep going a bit longer!

Last night was fabulous, a great quintet.

Trevor Tomkins on drums was backed up by Alec Dankworth on bass - I wasn't agile enough to catch them.

This is Quentin Collins on trumpet and Dave O'Higgins on sax, both in full flight;

Meanwhile Robyn was getting fed up with me because I always fail to get a picture of Leon Greening who plays tends to hide, hunched over the keyboard in a corner.

He's one of our favourite keyboard players so she borrowed my camera for this shot as I'd given up;

 

 

Leon has his own band and we keep promising ourselves we'll catch him in the limelight.

 

Meanwhile, we spent an evening enjoying some of the finest sounds of Modern Jazz - Ronnie Scotts regulars at pub prices!

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me, go on why don't you;

 

neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

Stan Sulzman at the Red Lion.

 

 

Monday came and I hurt my back again. I just about made it to my jazz club at the Red Lion. It certainly hurt, unlike the music.

 

Mark Nightingale was late; his car broke down. I didn't mind because the trombone isn't my favourite jazz instrument even though mark plays it well.

 

I also prefer quartets - it's just me.

 

Anyway, who could resist Stan Sulzman? He's a fine saxophonist and with Ross Stanley on Keyboards you have a world class group; Ross is a world famous session player and accompanist with his own quartet.

 

Alec Dankworth on bass with Trevor Tomkins on drums made for a fine evening, even if for me all the fun was in the first half.

 

My back? That bad news is going to mess up everything but that can wait for tomorrow.

 

Neil harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

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A mute at the red Lion - Mmmmmmh!

 



This is Martin Shaw blasting out his trumpet at The Red Lion, Isleworth Jazz Club on Monday night, just before my birthday.

I did enjoy Miles Davis's 'Four' and Charlie Parker's 'Scrapple from the Apple', both very familiar and much loved pieces.

With Trevor Tomkins on Drums, Alec Dankworth on bass and John Horler on piano it was a very fine quintet.

Here's Sam Mayne on Saxophone;

 

 

 

And as ever, I love a mute on a trumpet - this is Martin playing Dizzy Gillespie's 'Night in Tunisia'; 

 

 

 

 

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

 

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Back to The Red Lion.

Monday night and we were back at The Red Lion, Isleworth. We hadn't been there for a couple of weeks - this was a star studded cast; Alec Dankworth was on bass;

And Quentin Collins was stunning, as usual, on trumpet and flugelhorn.

 

 

 

It's not been the greatest of breaks for me but I have a few things planned for the last few days, just wait and see!

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:   helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

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Summer Cycles.

A sultry night in west London, hot and sticky;

 

This is Mark Armstrong on Trumpet and Flugelhorn playing his own composition ‘Summer Cycles’

Here’s Simon Allen on Saxophone and out of focus in the background there’s the amazing Alec Dankworth on bass.

 

There was Dave Brubeck, and Charlie Mingus just for me, and a long, sad (when isn’t it sad?) ‘Stardust Memories’ trumpet solo. Trevor Tomkins on Drums and John Pearce made up a fine quintet.

I still haven’t got my act together to tell you about my trip to Amsterdam. 12 hours shore leave left me exhausted with 90 pictures to sort through. One or two even came out right.

What did I do? What didn’t I do!

Tomorrow, tomorrow!

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

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

Leave the lights on; Mr Harris has not yet left the building.

Monday night was very special indeed for me. I made it back to my jazz club – it’s been weeks since I was last there. Either I’d been unable to go due to family problems, or I was ill or just plain worn out.

The week before I’d been ill, I was also recovering from a virus and I hurt my back (ouch! that’s just not fair).

Last weekend I celebrated all that and more by dragging out a room sized carpet heavy with age from under the furniture. Now that’s what I call pain.

Yesterday I took a car load of stuff down to the council recycling dump. Everything hurts.

Monday night? I was with Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Benny Goodman and John Coltrane (and I do love the ‘trane).

Robbie Robson was on trumpet, Martin Hathaway on the Saxophone;

 

Malcom Edmonstone on piano, Alec Dankworth, bass and Trevor Tomkins on Drums.

Best of all I was treated to one of my favourite tunes, ‘The Duke’ by Dave Brubeck. This is by way of Miles Davis who did an unforgetable version of this number on his album ‘Miles Ahead’. Anyone of my generation who watched ‘Tomorrow’s World’ on TV, would immediately remember this because this was the incidental music every week.

In a hard, hard week I was very lucky; on Friday I was enjoying a celebration of Rhythm and Blues, last night it was Modern Jazz. On Thursday I was Skankin’ with ‘The Reggulaters’. In the space of a few days I was able to enjoy the three strands that make up the music of the MODs: all that's missing is some sweet, sweet soul. I'm working on that.

You have no idea what a struggle it was but I’ve definitely not left the building, not yet I haven't.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

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One Note Samba.

          

 

 

 

                                 One Note Samba.

Monday was a long, hot difficult day, full of problems. I washed my jacket in the afternoon and hung it up in the garden to dry. It only took about an hour it was so hot and by the end of the night it needed another.

At my Jazz Club it was hot, hot, hot, the air conditioning didn’t work till the second half. The music? That kicked in from the start with a fast blues.

Third number in and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘One note Samba’, was a masterpiece. Trevor Tomkins was onto his signature sound – one brush, one drumstick, Nigel Price’s electric guitar caught the mood of the piece and the heat of the night while the rhythm of Vasilis Xenopolous’s sax hammered out.

Charlie Parker was a theme for the night – in the first half ‘Ornithology’ allowed Vasilis’s tenor sax a chance to duel with the guitar and Alex Hutton’s keyboards.

By the second set the air-con was on, at last. There was also a remarkable duet – guitar and Alec Dankworth's fine bass on a Stanley Turrentine number. The last piece was another by Jobim.

It may have been hot but it was just about the coolest place in town. Fast but ice cool.

After I wrote yesterday’s Blog (‘geezers’), I realised that when I wrote about how things usually ended up in a riot but; “no one got hurt and I made some new friends”  - that was pretty much my recipe for a good night out.

And for once, there wasn’t even a riot.

 

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

 

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