A Bigger band - The Clifford Longhurst Jazz Knights at The Riverside.

It's been more than a year coming....I didn't think I'd get there but I did!

The Clifford Longhurst Jazz Knights finally made it to The Riverside Club, Staines. Last year there was a cancellation and even this time we lost a trombonist who vanished without trace on the way there.

It was worth it - a 17 piece (I think) Big band, celebrating the life and work of the band leader Woody Herman.

Nice lineup - four brothers and a sister (it's a Woody Herman joke!)

Obviously it's a labour of love. I know and appreciate The Riverside Club but the fee would just about cover travel expenses.

It must have taken Cliff Longhurst years to collect together the arrangements - which otherwise might well have been lost.

The Result?

It swung;

It's not my era and maybe it's not my kind of Jazz but I'd travel to support a Big band - it's an endangered species.

Just wallow in the sound (we were on the front row) and feel
the arrangements....that's Jazz.

There were also some fine Jazz vocals from Pam Pecko-Smith;

And who wouldn't want to sing with a Big band?

Here's the Band leader himself, Clifford Longhurst;



Robyn and me had a surprise and a special treat when we discovered the fine Baritone saxophone;

After some detective work, I found that this was Tracy Mendham who we last saw at The Imperial Wharf Jazz Festival in September playing in the front row of the famed Roberto Pla's Latin Ensemble.

Here's my review, take a look for yourself;

http://helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/imperial-wharf-jazz-festival-part-2.html

That was a great night and here's a picture I took back then with the great Roberto just behind her;

As I said, it's not my usual music but Woody Herman was around long enough to have influences ranging from Duke Ellington to the Bebop of Dizzy Gillespie who was hired by Woody to write some arrangements for him. There's something for everyone.

I also enjoyed Sidney Bechet's 'Petite Fleur' given the Woody Herman treatment.


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

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The SkaSouls at The Riverside.

 



  blood

 

 

I'm sorry I'm late with my Blog - had a big old nosebleed in Tesco's - blood on the floor and everything.

 

 

Foolish people might think that I'd been overdoing it - how silly is that?



 

Last night? I'm here at The Riverside Club, Staines. It was massive - we only just got in.

Who was playing?

The mighty SkaSouls that's who.

 

 

 

 

 

Dance floor heaving, rafters vibrating, glasses clinking, toe tapping, Ska band.

 

Neil Harris

 

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

 

 



Double Whammy.

Early Thursday morning I opened up my e-mail to find that my trip to France on Saturday had been cancelled. Gutted.

I won’t pretend it wasn’t a blow and it had taken quite a struggle for it to happen in the first place (thanks S, couldn’t have done it without you and thanks to G). It wasn’t meant to be.

It means a real double whammy for me this week and even I have to admit that it left me reeling on the ropes, gasping for breath. There are only so many rounds you can lose.

Well, I’m a big boy - knock me down and I’ll get up again. Also, I never promised you a happy ending.

Thursday Night, at The Riverside.

Even a night with my favourite Ska band, The Skasouls, it still took me three quarters of the show to thaw out.

 

They did manage to thaw me out in the end.

Now all my hopes of international travel have gone out of the window, I am free to take another look at

 The Reggulaters

Who play The Brookhouse in Hayes on Saturday night and that will be fun.

OK, it’s not Moules Frites, its not baguette, or café au Lait, it will never be France. But it is Ska.

 

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home:   helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact:  neilwithpromisestokeep@hotmail.co.uk

Blue Thursday.

Thursday night which is when I should have been up in town supporting comrades at a meeting, saw me stuck at home instead. Miserable.

By the time I’d got everything sorted out and in spite of being ill, I headed to The Riverside Club in Staines for a special night of the Blues – fitting really.

 

 This is the legendary ‘Papa George’ and the equally legendary Mickey Moody – here Mickey (on the right) is playing a mean slide guitar.

It was a very full house, not least because George’s fairly slow, thoughtful blues is popular but also because this was a special night to thank the flood volunteers and anyone from the services who helped.

 

This is George on the steel guitar – he also had a classic steel’un which wasn’t shiny like this one.

It was classic blues too, played brilliantly and understated; John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson – you know the kind of thing. But also there was J.J.Cale and Tom Waits and some Peter Green - a good mix for my blue Thursday.

Friday and the sun is shining. For old times sake I’m going to go round taking some pictures of the retreating waters.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact; neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Thanks, SkaSouls.

It’s been a very grim week – my poor old Mum in hospital and very ill. I’ve been keeping a sad vigil every day, unable to do anything to help, watching as things get worse.

This evening I cracked and had to get out – I went to see the SkaSouls down at the Riverside club in Staines.

 

Of course, I was never going to be in the mood for it even though they were on top, top form. It’s not just my poor Mum, I’m also unable to drink or dance. Well, I didn’t drink anyway.

 

It was a shame as the band had a great sound and put on a really tight performance. The brass section was better than ever and the reggae beat was stronger and sharper. I think they’ve all been rehearsing hard. They’ve certainly had a load of gigs recently, even pulling in a crowd of 500 at the Thorpe Park show, which I missed.

It was sad too because they are off to Brixton next week (Brixton Hootenanny on the 3^rd) but I’m unlikely to be there. And I feel they are on the brink of making it big, which is always bittersweet for local fans.

While it couldn’t be a happy night for me, it was certainly happy for the crowd, dancing away to some fine Ska from the 60’s and from the 70’s revival.

 

In a way I’m glad I went – the new programme at the club isn’t really my kind of music although I suspect I may pop in sometimes.

So in many ways it was goodbye and thanks for some wonderful memories and my memories from the summer are good ones.
And what's to come? Two fingers to all that.   

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Banned from dancing - it's official.

Looks like the Blog is going to have to get a bit more serious again; I spent seven hours in hospital on Friday. This time I took myself and my new friend (thrombosis) to West Middlesex Hospital’s Accident and Emergency and while it was very busy, it was a world apart from the A and E at St. Peter’s. It’s a shame I had to drive so far to get there.

I’m well and truly on the sick list now, with my wings clipped for a little while. No more dancing – I’ve been banned, which meant I missed the Hoodoo Rhythm and Soul Club night I was looking forward to. (I did ask – the ‘no’ was a bit stern - I'm going to have to use some charm on them)

Luckily on Thursday I had headed on down to The Riverside Club in Staines. To help the club out I became a member, which may not have been my wisest investment – I’m not going to get a lot of use out of it now.

However, it’s in a good cause. These folk are bringing good music to a quiet town. How about this for fun;

Danny giving his guitar a good workout;

 

Or Tony Hall playing some fantastic saxophone;

 

It was Sunset Boulevard’s usual mixture of Rock ‘n Roll, Soul (James Brown and Percy Sledge) and a little jazz.

Short of one member of the brass section, they still had their very committed drummer Johnny Higson and the bass of Bobby Patrick.

The line-up changes every time, depending on who is away on a proper paying musician’s job. They’re flexible enough to make it work.

Worked for me anyway.

It seemed like nothing could go wrong when I won a bottle of Pina Colada in the raffle – serves me right that now I can’t drink it. You’d have to have been there to get that joke.

And me? Not stopped yet, no plans on stopping either.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

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

Saturday night sneaking into Shepperton.

I slunk into Shepperton in heavy disguise – it didn’t work.

The SkaSouls were playing and I wasn’t going to see them. If I’m honest I wasn’t up to it. They are the most exciting local band but I’ve been ill all week and I’ve got a cold too (awwwh). As the Jamaican saying goes; every day you go to the well, one day the bucket run dry. Yesterday, Bagshot was a blast but today the tank is empty. So, no Ska and I’m on my best behaviour.

I slunk in to The Barley Mow to see ‘Sunset Boulevard’ for some hardline Rhythm and Blues, on the strict understanding there would be no dancing. I was strictly non-combatant. Sigh.

 

Well, there was plenty of dancing but I was good and just watched.
I’m not doing a posting on them today, I bumped into Mickey, the Mr Music of the Riverside Club at Staines who was there to confirm a last minute booking with them. Thursday’s band cancelled (Yo! dreary rock giant covers bite the dust) and this band of mature rhythm rockers are coming down to shake the leaves on the trees. And they will.

I’m only going to say that even if it isn’t really my thing – they are well worth seeing and they usually attract a band of mates and musicians who jam a little and generally liven us all up.

 

This is Hayley, with one heck of a voice. Now if only I could persuade her that the music of the 60’s is the place to be rather than the 50’s. I fear that isn't gonna happen.

Come on down, Thursday will be a rockin’ night to remember. There's usually a full brass section ( and they are good), a stompin' drummer, bass and keyboards as well as whoever is passing by.

That's at The Staines Riverside Club, Laleham Road, Staines on Thursday.

Meanwhile:

I think I’ve been letting the hospital off too lightly – I’ll post about it tomorrow but I think it’s time to take the gloves off.

So, it may be time to get serious.

 

 

Oh and did I mention that SB do a mean bit of Funk too, when they get the urge?

Come on down.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home:   helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Leaving the bayou.

Introducing the

NEW HAW LEANS        

JUGBAND b

Thursday evening and after filling a corncob pipe and siphoning off a jug of applejack, I got my shoes out of the pawn shop and loaded up my Model ‘T’ Ford pickup. I hitched up my dungarees and stuck a sawn-off in my belt. It was time to leave the bayou once and for all and head on down to the Riverside Club, Staines.

I was ready to face Jim Boy, Precious Pierre, Alex, Ewan the New’un, Al the hat and Washboard Steve: a more dangerous bunch of outlaws as you could ever meet in these parts.

 

Why on earth did I do that review back in August?
Yee-Haw

Why did I ever describe Al the Hat as looking like @#&4££@& or Washboard Steve as being like a @#£$%@%##?

 

How did I ever think I was going to get away with it? 


I was quaking in my newly redeemed swampshoes when I got to the club. Luckily for me, the formidable bouncers on the door have a strict rule – all firearms to be deposited in the cloakroom.

I got away with it, although I could see the band were looking to get even.

Al the Hat seemed to have sampled some of that co-kay-een they kept singing about. Either that or they finally turned his mike on. Last week I would have loved to have seen him in ‘The Weydown Rhythym and Blues Band’ (he plays for them in disguise) but as they were appearing at Weybridge Conservative Club it was never going to happen. Heck, you wouldn’t get me in there if……well you just wouldn’t get me in there. That’s a mean harp, Al.

Something very frightening has been going on with Washboard Steve as well. He’s acquired a second washboard with a bell and attachments. Good vocals Steve.

Also Alex was sporting a pair of two-tone shoes that probably means

The First National

Building  Society of Surrey

has been held up again.

I was beginning to pine for the trusty sawnoff as they flew through ‘The Man of Constant Sorrow’ and there wasn’t a sharecropper in the hall with a dry eye as they played that well-loved ‘Country Death Song’; ‘Whiskey in my Whiskey:

“I put a whiskey in my Whiskey

And put heartbreak in my heart,

Put my boots on the old dancefloor

And put three rounds in my ‘44”

 

They don’t write them like that anymore.

Well actually sometimes they do – there was a smattering of originals and even something from ‘The Rollin’ Stones’ – a group of youngsters not from hereabouts.

It sounded like they had a busy summer; there was a lot of really good musicianship and a few snatches of mighty fine Acapella.

Mind you, as the evening went on I began to question whether the Juggies actually were from Memphis.

Still, when the Bourbon dried up (I’d been distilling the Jack Daniels all week in the back yard) and all the tissues had gone, I checked the sawnoff out and headed back up the bayou.

Boy, those mangroves had a melancholy air by moonlight.

If I’m well enough, Friday night (Keep The Faith) is going to be a wild night of Northern Soul. We’ll see.

Feet don’t fail me now!

 
This next picture is by special request from the Riverside Club's Webmaster;

 

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

 

 

Autumn leaves.

As promised, here's the new programme for the Staines Riverside Club - I'm not involved in any way.

Although I can recommend The SkaSouls.

 

   Staines Riverside Club

October

10^th The New Haw Leans Jug Band

24^th Asylum Affair

31^st The Proof – Paul Cox Band

November

7^th The Good Old Boys

21^st The Jazz Knights Orchestra

       Big Band

28^th The SkaSouls

December

5^th The New Haw Leans Jug Band

12^th One for the Road

 

 

s

CLUE No 16

Here’s the question;

7000 what? By whom?

K

Clue Number 16;

He was a founder of the German Green party.

The story so far;

It’s a work of art by one of my favourite 20th century artists. If it’s a sculpture, it’s the biggest sculpture ever made. If it’s performance art it will be the longest performance…..ever.

He was German but very European, a sculptor and an early pioneer of performance art who died in 1986. He was enigmatic, charismatic and created a myth around his life which became a performance in itself.

Some of his sculptures were very intimate – vitrines (small glass cases) filled with everyday objects while others were huge and brutal depictions of a brutal century.

When you’ve got the answer, e-mail it in to me at;

neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The first right answer wins a combat bracelet, made by me.

 Now to business;

As Autumn arrives, Winter is near. The staffing crisis at St. Peter's Hospital Accident and Emergency is unresolved.

There has been far too much time wasted being ill or messing about having fun.

Time to restart the campaign.

You have been warned! 

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

 

We cannot guarantee that no Leonard Cohen was used in the manufacture of this evening.

H  Trust me, I’m a doctor

“The Leonard Cohen hyper-allergic reaction is invariably fatal unless the antidote (An intravenous application of 'good-time' music) is applied rapidly to the patient's heart”

 

I went to the Riverside Club, Staines on Thursday night – I certainly hadn’t wanted to but I’d bumped into Micky (who puts on the music) while I was at the Imperial Wharf Jazz festival on Saturday and I promised I’d come.

It never looked like my kind of night – acoustic singer/songwriter, well-meaning, new age and rather spiritual. Me? I’m the opposite, the one in Doc Martens. Meanwhile he played Leonard Cohen and sang ‘Amazing Grace’.

I've always been allergic to Cohen's music and I’d had to listen to his 'Hallelujah' (yelp!) on the radio at lunchtime and that was enough for me. After that I was ready to forgive his manager for running away with all his money. There’s only so much of his stuff a human being can take.

So I didn’t expect a lot. This is Duncan McKenzie on acoustic guitar;

 

And this is his 81 year old steel guitar.

 

That steel guitar was what changed my mind – he played a couple of blues (Unchain my Heart and Mabeline) with a slide which cheered me up.

He was a bit of a vituoso and while some of the stuff (quite a lot really) wasn’t my thing, the dramatic quality of his guitar was enough to keep me sat there - stuck.

Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All along the Watchtower’, on acoustic was as electrifying as the original. As for Frank Scully on drums;

 

using his elbows on the drumskins to bend the sound, sticks on the edges of the cymbals, his hands to play the drums and cymbols, even using the spotlight shade as a cowbell. He was playing more like a percussionist than a drummer especially on ‘Ain’t no Sunshine’.  Chris Mitchell played a semi-acoustic bass, which I haven’t seen before.

Some of Mckenzie’s playing was itself breathtaking – especially on ‘Third Millenium’ where he used a delay pedal to layer his playing a number of times over. I liked the encore a lively, rocking version of ‘Johnny be good’.

So it was a real surprise to me. I didn’t expect to have been enjoying Mark Knopfler or Bruce Springsteen. I can make allowances for anything – but not for Leonard Cohen.

The new programme for the Riverside Club is out and I'll post it soon - it's a great venue in a quiet town and it needs all the support it can get.

They also have a new facebook page; check it out. I've promised to take a look - and I will if I can work out how to register! Oh, how do you like my new logo;

Help me sort out st Peters

 
 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

Down by the river.

Thursday night found me back at the Riverside Club in Staines. If last week was all about the silliness of a Jug Band, today was the serious business of the Blues, that is;

Paul “Chicken Legs” Burris - guitar and keyboards.

“Wildman” Roger Fuller on the blues harp.

The fabulous “Mr 110%” Mark Roberts drums.

“BB” Bruce Fryer guitar.

Alan (sorry no name on your website) on electric bass

Collectively known as ‘Blues Business’ they came from the ‘deep south’, that is the ‘deep south’ of errh, Sussex.

Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads, they came down by the river at Staines.

Now, if I’m honest I prefer ‘Rhythym and Blues’ to the plain old blues but this was good. British ‘R ‘n B’ was harder, faster and tougher than the blues. Like George Thorogood and the Destroyers but angry with it. But beggers can’t be choosers and today was something of a beggers banquet.

You know what they say; “The blues had a baby and they called it Rock ‘n Roll” and several times this strayed over the border, like on ‘Route 66’ when the rubber chicken fell off the Yamaha (and that’s not a euphemism, there was a….and it fell off)

Check them out for yourself at;

 www.blues-business.co.uk

Oh, and here is “Wildman” Roger Fuller giving the blues harp some feeling.

 

                                  Nice shades, Wildman.

The highlights for me were ‘My Girl’, ‘Baby please don’t go’, and at the start of the second set the medley – a series of numbers linked together by some pretty slinky slide guitar from Paul Burris.

The “Wildman” played a mean harp, while Bruce Fryer showed us that his gold Gibson Les Paul was worth every penny.

Solid drums and a very strong baseline throughout.

Still in the game. Eh?

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Oooooh dear me.

I'm paying for it now.....

This is the drummer, I don't really blame him....

But this is half the brass section - now its definitely his fault...
www.skasouls.com

Oooooh dear me.

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

Popsicles and Ska.

 

As you know, things haven’t been going so well for me for a while now. There are things I can’t talk about because it’s someone else’s life, not mine to write about. But it isn’t going well for me either.

 Me? Well things are hurting that shouldn’t, the drugs are messing with my head and with my body and nothing is going right.

And now it’s midnight and I should be in bed mulling over all my problems. Instead I’m sitting here writing this, eating a Mr Freeze frozen popsicle. I’ve been out, and I’ve been dancing the night away – with a walking stick. There seems to have been a man in a Fez involved as well. And beer too (isn’t there always), I think I’d better explain….

I was feeling a bit low (blah blah blah, yawn) and I took a real chance and went out to the Staines Riverside Club (Ex-services and the UNISON Trades Union) to catch ‘The Skasouls’, a local 6 piece Ska band. Their site is here;

www.skasouls.com

You really should check it out.

Normally, I take pictures, write down the setlist together with a few lengthy and relevant comments. Intellectual stuff, y’know.

Well I wrote the pithy comments on a Café Nero paper napkin – it got all sweaty and fell apart. The pictures didn’t come out so well either. Here’s the band before it warmed up (that’s about 5 minutes into the set).

 

 I know there was some Bob Marley, a lot of 1960’s Ska straight off the Trojan label and almost the whole of the Two-tone hits from the 1970’s.

There was ‘A message to you Rudy’, ‘007’, Sally Brown and a lot more…it’s just that then I started dancing on ‘Pressure Drop’ and ‘Madness’, and the rest of the napkin just dissolved. Sorry.

Each number was three minutes long , high voltage music for men of a certain age (that’s me). There was beer involved too, did I mention that?

When a couple of people started dancing, it seemed rude not to join in – and then the dance floor filled out around me;

 

 

So there’s me with a great big nail in my leg (couldn’t have done any of it without the two nailmen) all drugged up (thanks to the Monday people) and having the time of my life, in my Doc Martens doing the skinhead moonstomp.

In the interval I remember one of the Brass section (and they were sooo good) saying to me; “We’re just warming up”, and me saying “That’s OK I’m about to call for an ambulance”. You think I’m joking?

In the toilet I remember a number of quite stocky men quietly and very politely discussing the relevant merits of boxing as against kick boxing. It was that kind of crowd.

It was a great, great night. I didn’t think I would be lucky enough to have such a good time again, with some really nice people who took me to their hearts. And my glasses steamed up too– always a good sign, I think.

If you look up their website ‘The Skasouls’ have a long gig list – ‘The Airman’ pub in Feltham would be a stomping venue, quite a tough pub, but it’s my part of the world, my patch and manor. I’m a face there. May pop in, health permitting.

Some memories came back to me – the 1970’s were a tough, tough time. Anti-racist battles fought out at concert halls, pubs and clubs.

One night spent sharing a stage with Desmond Dekker (and the Israelites) defending them against racist skinheads. Don't get me wrong – I’m not tough and I’m not hard, but if you have right on your side and you fight as a collective, you really can change the world.

We did, you can too.                                                

The Two-tone Ska movement of the late 70’s together with the whole MOD thing, we changed people. We made things better, we made people better. No s@#t.

And as a result, I had this great, great night, great sounds, great good time dancing and memories of well fought battles.

So that’s what I’m thinking about at 1-00 am in the night with all my problems gone and forgotten. And maybe I just ought to have another popsicle.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)