[Dixielandjazz] Support live jazz!

[Marek Boym]

Hello,
I should have written this a few weeks ago, but the curse of the jazz class
- WORK - struck again.
On 19-21 October I attended the - unfortunately "Final"  William
Shakespeare Jazz 'n' Swing Festival in Kennilworth, England.
Music was first class, just like at the previous one I attended in 2016.  A
wonderful array of stars, in particular in the f=reeds department: Amy
Roberts, Richard Exall, Trevor Whiting, Karl Hird, Sarah Spencer and Pete
Allen.  Notthat the others were slouches, far from it, but reeds win by
sheer number.  The guitarist Jim Douglas (of Alex Welsh fame) has been an
internationally acclaimed star for many years.  Gary Wood may not be as
well known as Alan Bateman, but if does not mean he is not as good.  Allen
Beechey failed to appear and was replaced by Jonathan Graham, who also
played some excellent guitar.  The two trombonists - Mike Pointon and Ian
Bateman were both very good, and the former shared with us his memories of
Ken Colyer in a programme titled Ken Colyer, Bill Russell and the New
Orleans Revival.  All programmes were good, whether they paid tribute to
the Hot Club de France, BG, the Creole clarinettists. Hogay, Bix & Bing, or
Satchmo, Bechet and Fats (the latter featured the Bateman Brothers with
Pete Allen).  Three shows were not dedicated to any specific stars - the
Remarkable Reeds (with Amy Roberts and Richard Exall), the Karl Hird/Sarah
Spencer show, and Ben Holder and Friends.  Ben Holder, whom I have
mentioned before, is an energetic young (29) jazz violinist.  The rhythm
sections, mostly fired by John Petters, were hard swinging indeed.  In
addition to Petters there was another drummer, Tim Phillips (who also
played banjo), who brought an old bass drum with real skins to the Creole
Clarinets show.  Colin Bray, probably better known as a pianist, was very
good on both piano and vibes.  The two bassists - Keith Donald and Heather
Birt showed that  they can swing with the best.  The only show I liked less
was "Walking with the King", but that was only due to me preference for
non-vocal jazz.  A pity it was the last, but that was inevitable: the ages
of most members in the audience made me feel very young at almost 78!
Dwindling public has brought the demise of many festivals world over.
Teh night before the festival I went to hear my friend and favourite George
Huxley in Stratford upon Avon.  He and his trio were playing in a store, so
it seemed that, although there were plenty of people, some of whom
obviously like the music, there really was an audience of one - yours
truly, who stayed with the band all the time.
After the festival I went to hear Hugh Rainey at he Hornchurch Conservative
club - a hard working swing and trad band, and the next two days I visited
the Gypsy Swing Mecca in London - the Que CumBar in Battersea.  The first
night thee was a group called The Gypsy Diamonds.  The real thing - three
of the four musicians conversed in Romany.  All three were young, two were
originally from Poland but had lived most of their lives in England (they
both spoke fluent Polish) and the third one - the violinist - was a young
kid from Slovakia.  The fourth member, apparently best known, was the
guitarist John Miyawaki.  Unfortunately, the event was poorly attended -
there was a couple having dinner and I.  After a while the diners left -
they had to go to work the next day, so the audience dwindled to one.  But
they still kept playing, and played very well.  The next day was a jam
session day, the only free event I attended.  John Miyawaki was in charge,
but it was a kaleidoscope, as the musician participating were constantly
changing.  That evening was ell attended; the drawback - the audience was
noisy, sometimes to the point of completely obliterating the music!
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it very much, especially after two extremely loud
spoken young guys left!
If you like Gypsy swing and happen to be in London, I wholeheartedly
recommend a visit to Le QuecumBar & Brasserie.  The nearest tube (or rather
- train) is Clapham Junction.
Cheers (fortifying myself with Maredsous Triple, a 10% abv Abbey style
Belgian ale)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ml.islandnet.com/pipermail/dixielandjazz/attachments/20181120/1778056f/attachment.html>