At the Red Lion with Lisa and Courtney.

On Monday we were back at The Red Lion, Isleworth for some of my favourite players;

On the far right is Ross Stanley on keyboards. You rarely see him on my photos because he plays in the corner. He's a regular at Ronnie Scott's in his own right and very much in demand as a session musician for the big names, when they are in town.

Dave Green is one of my favourite bassists while Trevor Tomkins is hidden away on drums.

I'm not a fan of the trombone in jazz, played here by Mark Nightingale, it usually means the music is 'traditional' and that's not me.

On saxophone we had the amazing Stan Sulzman, described by the BBC at the moment as 'legendary', because he's due to do a BBC Radio 3 recording in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, as it's in Scotland we can't make it.

We spent the evening wit Lisa and Courtney, Robyn's friends from Philadelphia and then it was time to say goodbye - here's Robyn's selfie from the station;



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

 

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Goodbye Pork Pie Hat.

Monday was the luckiest day – I spent the morning with my Tory dentist – we argue all the time although he usually gets the last word – because he’s got my mouth full of equipment.

Afterwards I spent a while in Hounslow. I never get to go there anymore, which is sad.  I used to work there and lived just up the road.

It’s a wonderful, vibrant Asian town. Full of life and hope. I wrote a Blog about the film ‘Bend it like Beckham’ last year – it was made locally and captures all of that feeling.

 I ended up looking at hats. Its spring, my hats were starting to look as sad and old as I do. I needed a change.

I bought two – big money proper new hats. Not from charity shops, not from discounters.

How about this for a hat:

 

That’s a real Pork Pie Hat, that hat.

It does mean that I could now have Charlie Mingus’s ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ played at my funeral, except it’s not my favourite tune. Written to say goodbye to Lester Young, it does have a bit of class to it.

As does my new hat – I bought it for chemotherapy but then, when it came time for me to go to my Jazz Club I couldn’t resist wearing it.

 

That's Dave O'Higgins on Sax with Dave Green on bass.

In a world of Jazz Hats I have to say that mine was the coolest.

 

It's that cool. 

I said it was the luckiest day – it was. I phoned Impact Tours in the afternoon and they confirmed I have a booking for Saturday.

I AM GOING TO FRANCE!

A day trip to St. Omer!

The blog is going international!

Ever since I got ill, the one thing I dreamt of, the one thing I couldn’t do was to travel. This Saturday, I get a day in La Belle France. I can’t believe it.

If anyone can think of anything to do in St Omer I would like to hear from you.

As far as I know it’s an industrial town in Le Pas de Calais and its only claim to be a tourist attraction is that when you go to France to buy cheap lager – that’s where they make the cheap lager.

Mind you, there are worse things I could do than drink lager.

Wish me luck – it will be a long, long coach trip.

I am so excited.

(roadtrip)

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

A not bad Monday night.

Monday night and I struggled off to my Jazz Club at The Red Lion, Isleworth and the celebrations for its third birthday. It was time to take my thrombosis out for the night.

To mark the occasion they had a sextet – that’s two more than I would want but then I’m in a minority of one on that.

Also I had to swallow all my prejudices as the excellent Mark Nightingale was playing his trombone – not one of my favourite modern jazz instruments.

 

 Dave O’Higgins plays a fine saxophone and duetted well with Quentin Collins on trumpet and flugelhorn. Trevor Tomkins drums and Tim Wells on bass made up the line-up except for a late substitution pianist whose name I’m afraid I didn’t catch.

Six musicians are frankly hard to fit into the cupboard that is the Red Lion stage but on several numbers they took full advantage of Mark Nightingale’s arrangements to revel in a big band sound from a small ensemble.

 

For the real Big Band sound, The Riverside is hosting an 18 piece Big band in a fortnight – more on that nearer the time. It’s a sound that isn’t heard these days – you need a lot of money or a wealthy sponsor to play that kind of music. Famously, Charlie Watts the Rolling Stones drummer fritters away his earnings to support his Big band and the BBC can afford to do the same every once in a while.

With The Riverside, the band is being charitable to us as I suspect their fee would barely cover the travel expenses for 18.

It’s going to be a good night and I’ll be plugging it!

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

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
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