Art Themen in a mellow mood.

Yesterday, like the tide going out, my pain went away. I wouldn't want to exaggerate this - it comes and goes. The main thing is, it's retreated for a while.

So we went out for the evening to the Red Lion, Isleworth to see my favourite saxophonist; Art Themen - here playing soprano.

It was a very pleasant evening spent with friends and listening to good music; Trevor Tomkins on drums, Andrew Cleyndert on bass and John Donaldson on keyboards.

Perhaps there was less classic Bebop than I would have liked but I was in a relaxed mood and the music suited that.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
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A quiet night with Art Themen.

We made it back to our Jazz Club at The Red Lion, Isleworth - it's been a long time.

It was a treat for me; one of Art Themen's occasional visits to the club.

I love his unrestrained bebob.....unfortunately it was just a bit restrained. The line up was Trevor Tomkins on drums, Robin Aspland on keyboards, Dave Green on bass and Henry Lowther on trumpet and flugelhorn.

We got a lot of Henry's thoughtful and quiet compositions, some standards but not so much of the bop I love, although we did get a few Thelonious Monk pieces.

Ah well, can't win them all!

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
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Worth the extra effort;Art Themen at The Red Lion, Isleworth.

Well, after being ill for about 5 days, I'm over it now. Still got problems and I'm back at hospital this week and I don't expect that to go so well.

But we went out; to my jazz Club at The Red Lion, Isleworth and I got to see my favourite saxophonist.......Art Themen.

I may have been feeling a bit better but I still managed to forget my camera on the night when I most wanted it.

This picture is from Robyn's phone;

I like the kind of music he plays - classic Bebop and I like the way he plays it too - lots of invention and surprises.

There was plenty of Horace Sliver, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. There were noisy, outrageous bits and quiet reflective moments.

Andrew Cleyndert was given plenty of scope on bass and John Donaldson excelled on keyboards.

It had been due to be a 5-piece but Don Weller was ill; secretly I prefer a quartet. And with Art Themen that means a bigger chunk when it's only cut four ways.

Once again, Trevor Tomkins was great on drums.

It's always a special night seeing Art Themen.

Maybe that's because there have been times when I have had to really fight to get the time, to find the energy.... just to make it back to Isleworth and that often seems to have coincided with a visit from Art Themen.

Probably because he's worth the extra effort.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
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Art Themen at The Red Lion.

This week I had a big treat at The Red Lion, Isleworth - the great Art Themen came to play;

Covering a variety of saxophones, one of the last great exponents of British Bebop is not to be missed;

Trevor Tomkins was on drums, Robin Aspland on keyboards and Tim Wells on bass.

For me the evening was tinged with sadness as the last issue of 'Jazz in London' magazine was handed out. I'll do a special article here to commemorate its passing but it has been a vital part of the London jazz scene for 43 years and will be missed enormously.

All the same, it was a great night of music - the finest modern jazz in town tonight.

Neil Harris
(a don[t stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
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Art Themen at the Red Lion.

Saturday night in a night club, Monday enjoying the best Modern Jazz that London has to offer.

How good is that?

This is John Horler giving it some;

In fact it was a special night - the fifth anniversary of the club's move to the Red Lion.

It was special for me because we had Art Themen making a rare visit;

John Donaldson played keyboards, he's probably my ideal pianist while Trevor Tomkins drums and Dave Green's bass all contributed to a great night.

It's always a pleasure to see Art, not least because three years ago when I broke my ankle, one of the things that kept me going was the thought of making it back to see him again.

I wasn't disappointed last night.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
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Art Themen at The Red Lion..

Monday night saw me and Robyn at The Red Lion, Isleworth for the Jazz.

These days I find the stools unbearable - by about 1000pm I'm in agony.

All the same nothing would see me missing Art Themen (above left). When I was on three monthly hospital appointments (and everything was going wrong very quickly) it always coincided with Art's three monthly visits and I used it to cheer myself up.

He doesn't come so often these days, which is a shame.

Art is a leading exponent of Bebop and has been doing that for quite a while - since I was young!

This time he was a bit more subdued, playing with Henry Lowther whose trumpet style is a lot more mellow;

 

 

And tonight you get a rare sighting of Trevor Tomkins who hides on the back row, normally. John Horler was on keyboards and Dave Green on bass.

 

Oh, was I glad to get up by the end of the evening!

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

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My first chance of seeing spring.

 

 

 

You don't know how tough it was to take this picture - today I got dressed for the first time in 6 days. And while I went to the bin just outside the front door yesterday (in my dressing gown) this was the first time I'd been out since last Tuesday.

 

So, while isn't the best picture in the world (it hurt, I can tell you) it's my first taste of spring.

 

They are Tete á Tete narcissi. they get their name because their heads nod together in the wind, as though they are talking.

 

 

And today I got the date of my MRI scan - Friday. No idea how I'm going to make that.....but I will. Dr Feelgood got me that really quick.

 

The sad thing is that Art Themen, just about the best modern jazz saxophonist we have, is making a rare visit to my Jazz club and I had to miss it. Last week was just too painful.

 

It's sad because always used to celebrate my survival by making it in to see him.

 

Grrrrrrrrh!

 

I've got lot's of battles ahead of me - I have to pick my fights carefully.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 



Made it, again!

b

That was nice – I had my appointment at Oncology today (Dr Feelgood has run away to a desert Island or Las Vegas or Machu Pichu or wherever it is that consultants go for their holidays).

I’m OK for another month. That’s nice, thanks Dr Feelgood.

I had a good send-off too; I had a late night last night, and that involved ice cream, beer, Jazz and more. Thanks for that too.

This is Henry Lowther on the left and Art Themen on the right, my favourite saxophonist;

                                  Nice shirts, boys.

Art was in really good form, his sax sqawking and shouting. It always means a lot to me to make it to his appearances at our club; modern jazz at its best.

Trevor Tomkins on drums, Dave Green on Bass and  Robin Aspland  on keyboards made up the set.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
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Hard Bop beats the blues anytime.

Monday was always going to end up at my Jazz Club. It didn’t matter to me whether the news was good or bad at Charing Cross Hospital. It didn’t matter that I had a hacking cough. It didn’t matter that I got home late and worn out. I was always going to make it.

On the way back from the hospital I passed Sid’s Shoe repairs/keycutter/Trophy supplier on The Fulham Palace Road – I wrote about his amazing trophy cabinet last month;

http://helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/thanks-sid.html

This time, to my horror, the life size F.A. and European cups had disappeared from his window. Sid was closing up and I asked him – when the shop shuts he has to lock them away because he is worried that they would be stolen.

In their place?

 

 The World Cup, of course. I fear that’s the only one that’s coming to London this summer.

I made it to the Jazz Club because the great Art Themen was playing. He is the best in British Hard Bop and is there any other kind of Jazz worth listening to?

 

It also matters to me because at every stage in my illness when I’ve need a bit of a boost, Art Themen happened to take his turn at the club and I found that little bit extra I needed to make it in.

My reward?   Art Themen on top form – saxophone screaming and then breathless as he blasted through ‘Trinkle Dinkle’ and ‘Hackensack’ by Thelonious Monk, ‘Four’ by Miles Davis and ‘Doxy’ by Sonny Rollins to name just a few.

Trevor Tomkins on drums, Paul Morgan on bass and John Donaldson on piano made up a great quartet.

Quite a night.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com



 

I was dreading April in New York.

There are some good Doctors, I thanked a good one on Monday morning.

Monday evening and I was watching another one – Art Themen, retired orthopaedic surgeon. There was nothing retired about his Saxophone work.

 

Monday night was always going to be quiet, we clashed with a tribute to Stan Tracey at The 100 club. All the greats of British modern jazz were there including Peter King and Cleo Laine. We also lost our bass player and were lucky to have Steve Watts take over.

This really was Thelonious Monk night with loads of his numbers starting with a bright and sparky ‘I mean you’.

A couple of tunes later and we had a treat from Henry Lowther on trumpet, playing his own composition ‘Mataya Sleeps’, dedicated to a neice who was asleep while he wrote it. More Monk closed off the first set – ‘4 in 1’.

The second set brought us a Henry Lowther solo on a beautifully played ballad; ‘It never entered my mind’, and then Art Themen took over but with a segué into ‘April in New York’. I’d caught sight of the music and was dreading this sad and sentimental song. I didn’t need that on Monday, not after hearing bad news, but I was lucky to hear it torn apart and then reassembled without any fake sentimentality.

There were a few familiar Art Themen setpieces; Dexter Gordon’s ‘For regulars only’ and a Clifford Brown blues to finish giving John Donaldson a chance to shine on piano. It was still a great night of modern jazz from the greats, played on a quiet Monday night.

I should add that Stan Tracey was for many years the house pianist at Ronnie Scott’s and in that role he accompanied the greats of the jazz world. I remember seeing him several times in the early 1980’s, entertaining another local club, with some fairly experimental jazz.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Nitrous oxide.

Monday night and I’ve dragged myself to The Red Lion, Isleworth. Apart from trying to see Ginge the Cat I’m there for the first of three fantastic weeks of jazz, three of the best line-ups of the year.

Tonight there was Ross ‘twelve gigs a week’ Stanley, on keyboards, Trevor Tomkins on Drums and Andrew Cleyndert on Bass. On the front line we had Stan Sulzman on Sax:

And Tim Hart on vibes;

The first number lasted 20 minutes the second 10. After half an hour of thoughtful reflective stuff, Tim Hart fired up his Vibraphone for the third. Hit the nitrous oxide!

We ranged through Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk with a fast blues to finish at the end of the evening. I love Parker’s Amous Amouche which I know well but have never been able to spell.

Look at those hands blurring;

 
Next week apart from an impressive list of musicians, the great Art Themen is on Sax. He plays every three months and every time I catch him it’s a big deal for me – those nights count off some tough periods I’ve got through.

Next Monday is going to be just about the toughest so far for me, and by coincidence it’s Art Themen night again. So I’m particularly looking forward to getting myself to the club, whatever happens.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Day two of the 'tour'

I spent Monday night with the ‘Trane,  Thelonious, and Dexter – ending up ‘Round Midnight’.

Day two of my ‘fill your pockets and run like f@#k’ tour, before playtime ends next Monday when I have to go to my clinic.

I went to my Jazz Club at the Red Lion, Isleworth to see the great Art Themen, giant of British modern jazz, who is kind enough to come and see us freeloaders roughly every three months. It’s his social work.

 

Apart from the jazz it’s also a chance for me to put two fingers up to my illness and celebrate the sheer joy of being alive. Just over a year ago I was still trying to get my act together and struggled in to see him – the Olympics had just finished and a week later I broke my ankle – did I ever mentioned that?

November last year, I struggled in again pretty triumphant, this time wearing an air cast boot and crutches although I wasn’t doing a lot of toe tapping. Then in February it all went wrong on me, my ‘fighting February’, then even worse news in May. So, it means a lot to me, it’s an achievement every time I see him.

The set started with ‘For regulars only’, Art crouched squinting over the music until someone got his glasses from his car – it didn’t seem to do the music any harm though, fast and furious. ‘Forest Fire’ was a quieter contrast and then it was back in top gear again for John Coltrane’s ‘Lollies lament’, with Trevor Tomkins getting pretty fired up on the drums, triggering a first round of whistles while Steve Watts was on bass.

John Donaldson was let free on piano for Michel Legrand’s ‘You must believe in spring’, but then as this was only a quartet tonight (always much better than five) everyone had the chance to play, and they did.

‘Trinkle Dinkle’ ended the set – Thelonious Monk’s part pretty much stolen by Art Themen on the sax.

At half time I snuck out into the garden to check out shooting stars, but it was too cloudy and light.

More Monk (‘Played Twice’) –really tight, really sharp, after the break there was more Monk again a couple of numbers later (4 in 1) – no prisoners taken there or anywhere.

‘I’ve grown accustomed to your face’ was an Art Themen Tour de Force, followed by a brisk old blues.

Then, this brisk old bluesman stumbled out into the night, hoping for a helping of stardust (previous Blog) later on.

The ‘tour’ continues!

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)