[Dixielandjazz] Bude Jazz Festival 2012, 28th-31st August 2012

[Marek Boym]

Hi,
Originally I meant to send it to the list with a copy to you, but I've
decided to ask for your comments and corrections.  It's a completely
new write-up - I've discarded alomost all I wrote before.

I attended the festival, first time since 2000.  And I loved it!

What first caught my eye was the jazzy decoration of shop windows,
making one feel that the whole town was breathing jazz.  The reason
was quite simple - a window dressing competition!   I am not sure what
the prizes were, except that there was a cup and, I believe, a bottle
of wine.

There was some great music there: George Huxley's All-Star Jazz Band,
John Maddocks' Jazzmen (and even more so - Maddocks-Huxley Reeds
Reunited), Jeff Barnhart's Bude Beach Bum Band and Quartet, The Dart
Valley Stompers, Dennis Armstrong's Great Northern Jazz Band, Chris
Pearce's Frenchmen St. Jazz Band, Martin Bennett's Green River Jazz
Band, and more - too many to mention even though I did not hear all
the bands.  Since I travelled rather far for the festival - after all,
it's a few thousand miles from Israel to England - I decided to skip
the farther removed venues so as not to waste time.  Therefore I
missed Brian Carrick, for example - but then, you can't win them all!

George Huxley (clarinet, soprano and alto) has been mu favourite ever
since I first heard him in Bude nearly 20 years ago!  The cornettist
Dennis Armstrong may not be a household name, but should be.
Armstrong himself is an excellent cornet player and a pretty good
singer. Besides, Mr. Armstrong is a real veteran of British jazz,
having
started playing as a teenager sometime in the late 1950's or early
1060's.  I heard the band before, had high expectations, and was not
disappointed.

And there wee the evening performances at the Bencoolen Inn - a free
venue, which mixed musicians from various groups.  The place has some
great advantages: although it is a bit noisy, it has a real
piano, which I prefer to even the best electronic instruments.  Good
food, too, but the kitchen closes at 9PM, while music starts at 9:30.
And since it is a working pub with the regular pub patrons, it's
better to be there early.  Both the Huxley-Gordon Witworth (Huxley's
trumpeter) - Simon Banks (piano) show there and the Dennis
Armstrong-Chris Newman (piano) "duo" were a gas!  I put "duo" in
quotes because they were joined by the excellent young clarinet player
Adrian Cox, who also sang.  Both evenings the main - announced -
performers were joined by others from various groups.

I was very impressed with John Hallam's (reeds) playing with Jeff
Barnhart.  Although a "hot" name in current British hot jazz, I never
heard Hallam before.  It's great to have excellent young musicians
playing OKOM!

Martin Bennett featured Chaz Chesterman on cornet and vocals - the
closest to Red Allen I've ever heard.  I complimented Chez Chesterman
on getting so close to Allen, and he beamed: "You couldn't have said
anything nicer!  Reda Allen is my idol; he is my god!"

A pleasant surprise awaited me at the Brendon Arms (another free
venue) on Thursday and Friday: The programme only listed the
ubiquitous pianist Malcolm Hoggarth, but when I got there he had
Christine Woodcock (trombone) and Meg Hetherington (trumpet) with him,
as well as Isabell Toner (at least I thought it was she) on double
bass and a gutarist whose name I cannot recall.  Although Malcolm
commented "here goes a solo gig!", he had the same people both times.
This venue provided good food along with the excellent music.

Then there were the morning sessions at G's Cafe & Diner, and the late
night jam sessions, annunced as from 11:00PM to 1:00 AM, but not
actually starting before midnight, after the participants finished
their other jobs.  And there were street parades and two brolly (that's
what the Brits call an umbrella) competitions - for children and for
adults.  In all - great fun!

Of course, some groups and musicians were better than others.  As it
was, there were only two bands I did nto really like two bands; one of
which I had heard before and  remembered as a much better band.  In
the other one, the leader tried to out(p)Elvis Presley, which was
rather unfortunate, but did not bother the dancers, who seemed to love
it.  Which was what mattered -  it was a dancing venue.

People often comment on the list that jazz festival audiences dwindle,
which necessitates widening the scope of music played in order to
appeal to new audiences.  In Bude, it was the other way round.  I met
people who hadn't been there for five-six years (after many years of
regular attendance) because the previous management "widened the
appeal," and came back when they learned that this year it would be a
traditional festival again!  The previous management "suspended" the
festival, ostensibly because of the Olympics (which were over before
the festival commenced), and the Bude Jazz Club decided to have a
"replacement festival" (as explained by Paul Mayor, the Club Chairman,
in his welcome note in the programme).  The festival was shorter than
it had been before, as the organizers had little time and "were trying
to find their feet, so to speak."  I am happy to report that the
organizers' hard work paid off, and the festival ended in the black; Mr.
Mayor told me that they already had a profit  two weeks before the
festival started, and sold a couple of hundred tickets thereafter.

Cheers