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
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Roger Beaujolais at The Red Lion, Isleworth.

On Monday, Robyn made me go out, as part of her campaign to cheer me up.

I probably would have made it anyway - it was Roger Beaujolais, on Vibes, at The Red Lion, Isleworth.

Roger Beaujolais is a favourite of mine - Modern Jazz through window of the Vibraphone. A very special sound indeed.

Trevor Tomkins was on drums, Robin Aspland on keyboards and Simon Thorpe on bass.

Meanwhile, outside and in, it was in the 90's.

Hot and sultry, smoky and seductive; we got an evening of the greats of modern jazz.

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

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

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
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

A jazzy Monday at The Red Lion, Isleworth.

I'm obviously ill - I wouldn't be waiting for Chemo otherwise but we are trying to cram some things in before it starts at the end of this week.

It's not helping that it's cold and wet.

Monday night saw us back with friends at The Red Lion, Isleworth for our jazz club.

As ever Trevor Tomkins was on drums accompanied this time by Robin Aspland on keyboards, Dave Green on bass, Nigel price on guitar and Vasilis Thenopoulos on Sax;

It was a really fine evening of jazz with not much space to move.

It's 'upstairs at Ronnie Scott's' but 'Downstairs at Isleworth'.

Vasilis was playing good;

The jazz guitar of Nigel Price is a particular pleasure - not intrusive, not imposing but there.

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

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

Simon Spillet and Roger Beaujolais at The Red Lion.

This is the fabulous line up at The Red Lion, Isleworth Jazz club; it's Simon Spillet looking very cool on Saxophone and Roger Beaujolais sounding pretty cool on the Vibraphone.

I love Jazz Vibraphone and it's been a while since I've heard them; especially on Milt Jackson's ' Heartstrings'.....made for the vibes, obviously.

Simon Spillet is a very fine Sax player - I really enjoyed Wayne Shorter's 'Tom Thumb' at the end of the first set. 

I also liked Joabim's 'Favela', a sound of Brazil on a cold night.

Trevor Tomkins was great on drums as usual, and Robin Aspland covered keyboards, Simon Thorpe on bass.

It was one of those evenings that just flew away, it was that good.

Simon Spillet also had with him his new book; The Long Shadow of the Little Giant';




                                       


It's his biography of the legendary Tubby Hayes, one of a handful of brilliant, British Bebop pioneers - he played with everybody - both sides of the Atlantic.

Simon Spillett is not only an accomplished saxophonist, he is also an expert exponent of the music of Tubby Hayes, so it's natural that he should write a biography of him.

It's a real labour of love, I think it took him 12 years to write it.

I haven't seen a copy yet but if you are interested, the reviews are good.

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

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


Equinox

Ow!

 

 

This week we made it to the Red Lion jazz Club - which is getting to be the exception these days - it's a struggle.

 

 

It's also a struggle perching on a bar stool all evening. By the time I got up to take this picture my back was screaming.

 

Here you can see Quentin Collins one of my favourite trumpet players and to his right Theo Travis on Sax. I haven't heard him play before and I wasn't disappointed.

 

 

Robin Aspland was on keyboards as you can see while out of sight was Trevor Tomkins on drums and Andrew Cleyndert on Bass.

 

Good music but a struggle.

 

On the way home we stopped off for curly fries......mmmmmmh!

 

Oh and to my surprise, a number of you have e-mailed me having worked out where we are going to be spending dawn on Midsummer's day morning.

 

I'm not going to tell the rest of you as I'd rather keep it a surprise and it's always possible we may not make it.

 

I must be getting very predictable!

 

Neil Harris

 

(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

Saving the Red Lion? Well, the band played on.

My ribs are still screaming when I change gear but I made it to The Red Lion, Isleworth to take in some Jazz. It was a good night - the next three Mondays will be nights to remember too.

The campaign to try to save the pub continues. If you haven't signed the petition I would urge you too do so. The link is here;

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

This is an independent community campaign. It doesn't have anything to do with the landlords who are currently in the process of decorating the pub and creating a better online image; to boost the sale price.

The petition is to have the pub listed as a 'community asset' which means it can't be redeveloped.

Anyway, in this picture you can see Martin Shaw playing his trumpet with a mute; I love mute trumpet and don't understand why Jazz uses it so little. I suspect that trumpet players want to be as loud as possible....less is more!

Martin Shaw played a lot of mute and it was good!

I really enjoyed a version of the standard 'Bye Bye Blackbird' which is in fact a depression era song about an alcoholic trying to quit a cheap rot gut 'whiskey' called 'Blackbird'.

Martin pulled the theme about and deconstructed it until nothing was left. Then, after a while to think about it, the band pulled it all back together again.

That's Jazz. 

Sheer genius.

This is Sam Mayne on Sax;

Behind, as ever is Trevor Tomkins on drums. Hopefully, Trevor isn't going to have to start looking for a new home for the club - it's about the best in London thanks to him.

Robin Aspland was swingin' on keyboards and Tim Wells was on bass - shining when he ganged up with Martin Shaw's trumpet for a quiet duet.

A good night - we're going to have to fight to keep them happening.

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

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me (I don't bite, often);
 
neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Nice to be back.

We finally made it back to our Jazz Club - at The Red Lion, Isleworth.

It's been over two months since I got ill or that bad things were happening which meant we couldn't go. It was nice to see familiar faces, drink a cider and catch some great Jazz.

The Saxophonist couldn't make it, so Tim Whitehead stepped in to help out at the last minute; 

 

 

I haven't seen him before - he was great, very expressive and a little tension in the air always helps Jazz!

 

It was nice to see Trevor Tomkins on Drums and Henry Amberg-Jennings on trumpet. Tim Wells on bass and Robin Aspland on piano made up the group.

 

 

I even heard some old favourites; Freddie Hubbard's 'Up jump Spring' and Charlie Parker's 'Scrapple for the Apple'.

 

Nice to be back.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

Under fire.

Monday night was Jazz night....this is the great Stan Sulzman;

                  

His playing seems so effortless (of course, that's what's so hard to do).

While this is Henry Lowther on trumpet;

with Steve Watts on double bass just behind him.

It was a funny night, we took our lives in our hands; the worlds worst pool players were in town again.

Through the night we could hear them in the other room, the white ball crashing regularly to the floor.

At the interval we sat out in the garden, and suddenly there it was; the white ball flying off the table, bouncing along the floor, through the open door and out into the garden.

Normally the main danger is an over excited Jazzer.

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
Contact me: neilwithpromisestiokeep@gmail.com

Perfection, almost.

Monday and I’m back at The Red Lion, Isleworth for my Jazz Club, although distracted.

 

This is Henry Lowther on trumpet – using a ‘mute’ to stifle the sound and I do like a trumpet played that way.

Henry also played ‘T.L.’, a tribute to a musician which, with its strong and haunting melody, I love. I've got that– on one of his CDs I won in the club raffle once.

Two musicians I hadn’t heard before were Peter Hurt on sax and Robin Aspland on keys. I certainly know Dave Green on Bass and Trevor Tomkins on drums.

I must admit I was distracted – I was talking to Sue (one of my Monday jazzfriends) about Haiku – a very precise and ritualised form of Japanese poetry, which she happens to be rather good at.

The rules say a Haiku can only have 17 syllables and those have to be divided into lines consisting of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. That’s picky.

Perhaps the most famous (although it has one too many syllables) is Ian Fleming's;

 

You only live twice

Once in your dreams and once when

you look death in the face.

 

I’m not a fan of Fleming but I do like that.

We decided that in the martial art of Haiku she has probably got a blue or a brown belt; proficient but not yet at the Black belt stage where she can kill just by carelessly mishandling a stanza. I only have a white belt myself, with a couple of those yellow stripes. Ah well.

Of course we had a go – exchanging poems written on old envelopes.

Here is Sue’s;

 

Trevor wields those sticks

Like a thing possessed,

like a professor professed.

 

Which is rather good – Trevor Tomkins teaches music at the Guildhall School of Music.

Here’s my effort;

 

The Trumpet is mute

But the saxophone is loud

In my Jazz heaven.

 

It’s springtime and in parks all over Japan, people are assembling to watch the Cherry Blossoms, pure and white. The Japanese may seem to chase perfection….but they are searching for that blemish on the perfect face.

The beautiful blossom is not enough; they are waiting for that special, still moment when the first few bleached white petals fall, driven by the very slightest of breezes to ripple down on a diagonal from the branch.

Just like in Haiku, the poem is not enough.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com