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JANUARY
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A
thoroughly entertaining evening was soon evident with the participation
of a warm audience, including interactive dialogue with
Paul Higgs,
trumpet, as he began his potted history of jazz through the ages with a
variety of music depicting the changes that has taken place over the
years. Starting from jazz traditional roots in New Orleans, into the New
York scene of the big swing bands and then with a slight excursion into
the period of gypsy jazz, where Paul introduced his melodica,
reproducing a typically French accordion sound that accompanied gypsy
style, quickly followed by the introduction of the bebop era.
Interspersed through this history lesson, Sharon Scott sang some
beautiful tunes accompanied by Paul with the resident trio. Paul's
popularity was shown by the appreciation of a good audience. |
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Paul Higgs, trumpet  |
Sharon Scott with resident trio
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Paul
Higgs with trio
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FEBRUARY
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Wow, wow, wow another exhilarating evening with
Graham Pike, whose creative manner breathes new life into so many tunes,
and arrangements bringing a new dimension to many older numbers. Among
the titles he gave this approach to was a little known number composed
by Steve Kuhn titled 'Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers' which for most of
the audience was a first and he followed this with Neal Hefti's, 'Late
Date'. Hilary Cameron gave her stylish rendering to one of her Latin
numbers and our regular warbler Sharon Scott gave her rendering of 'It's
Only a Paper Moon' during which, Graham, with his box of tricks, made
her sound like Donald Duck bringing much mirth from all present. In this
temporary venue thanks go to all who attended bringing a warm ambience
to the evening. Pictures courtesy of Peter Henry Evans |
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Graham Pike,
flugelhorn
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Quartet Graham Pike, Hilary
Cameron, keys, Ted Simkins, bass
& Tim Reyland, drums
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Graham Pike,
harmonica
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MARCH
|
An initial hiccup turned
into an hilarious evening for our guest
Andy Linham
that began when Hilary Cameron became stuck in traffic on the A13 and
panic bells rang for a stand-in that arrived in the form of Paul Higgs
who saved the situation. Well done Paul! We owe you. Andy took all this
in his stride and suggested Paul tried cross dressing to replicate
Hilary, who fortunately for the audience, arrived just in time to take
her place at the keyboard in the middle of a number amid wild laughter!
Andy's humour continued with a mixture of music, jokes and very bad puns
originally based on letters of the alphabet which eventually was
discarded. What did shine through however was the masterful tone and
taste of Andy's playing of tunes in an off-the-cuff, unrehearsed evening
that appealed to all present. Selected from Andy's programme were his
rendering of the 'bad salads' or standard ballads 'Beautiful
Love' and 'Lover Man' both played delightfully, closely followed by
Charlie Parker's 'Confirmation' and a tasteful arrangement of
'Autumn Leaves'. Probably one of the Club's most hilarious and
unforgettable evenings. |
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Andy Linham alto, &
trio
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Andy Linham, Alto
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Dave Grant, drums
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APRIL
|
With a sense of
anticipation the audience watched as musicians set the stage providing
our guest Johnny
Withers with
the prime spot. The trio opened with a lively rendition of 'In a
Mellow Tone' and then was joined by Johnny whose amazing ability on
vibes continued the set with 'Cedars Blues', 'it's You and only
You' and an up-tempo 'Just in Time. the quartet then continued
with Hilary Cameron
vocalising with two jazz standards 'East of the Sun', 'I Get a
Kick Out of You' and concluded with a beautiful Latin favourite
'Trieste' by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The second set began with Johnny
stating he had been set a task he had not planned for, that of playing a
melody with a hidden theme for the audience to find which was easily
guessed to which Johnny commented 'I must do better'. He
continued to entertain his artistry with 'There Will Never be Another
You', 'Only Trust Your Heart' and Duke Ellington's 'Satin
Doll'. In the penultimate number, Johnny, duelling, note for note
with Hilary racing along at a fast pace brought forth her comment
'Johnny really flew that number', before the evening 's last
number, by request, on 'On Green Dolphin Street'.
Earlier in the evening, Johnny had introduced an old friend to
the Club, Dave Barnes, a singer from earlier times at The Old House who
graciously accepted an invitation to sing the jazz standard
'Corcovado' ['Quite Nights'] to everyone's delight. Throughout the
evening with plenty of humorous exchanges that contributed to a relaxed
atmosphere among the audience brought forth the comment from one member,
when leaving the Club, "In all my visits to this Jazz Club, I've never
left disappointed".[Report
& Photos: Brian Leith] |
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Johnny Withers and
the trio
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Johnny Withers on
vibes
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Hilary Cameron
vocalising
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MAY
|
An
air of anticipation was seen among the guests as the evening's five
musicians plus a surprise guest singer started to set up. There was
good-humoured confusion as three keyboard players assembled the stands
for their instruments with regular player
Hilary Cameron
being flanked by the long awaited return of
Bruce Boardman,
and the ever popular Paul Higgs
accompanied by Ted ("The Hat")
Simkins on bass, and standing in
for Dave Grant, Tim Reyland
on drums
Kicking off the evening, Hilary took
the first solo spot and also sang, as she remarked was her favourite
tune, the Marvin Gaye classic "I Heard it on the Grapevine," and
continued on with the beautiful "On Green Dolphin Street."
Bruce Boardman, accompanied the talented
guest vocalist Kate Daniels
[a first-timer to Bardswell ], who gave a delightful rendition of the
little known Benny Golson number "Whisper Not", with her voice
sounding very reminiscent of the great Julie London. Bruce ended with a
clever arrangement of the jazz standard "Lover Come Back to Me".
Next
was Paul who played an unusual but pleasing arrangement of "The A
Train" followed by a funky-styled version of "Coming Home Baby",
with an interpretation of the Mel Torme classic surprising and
delighting the audience. After the interval Hilary started off by
singing "Old Devil Moon" and then accompanied Kate again, who
before singing her version of the Peggy Lee favourite "Get Out of
Town", gave the audience a little background as to how some
composers came to write their songs. Bruce returned to accompany Kate
with a beautiful arrangement of Cole Porter's "Night and Day,"
which clearly delighted the audience. Completing his "spot" his artistry
was demonstrated with another great tune - "You Go to My Head."
Paul
then introduced his other keyboard the hand-held Melodica and together
with the trio of Hilary, Ted and Tim began to blow the pleasant French
tune, with that haunting sound of a typical French gypsy jazz accordion,
called "Flambée Montalbanaise". With time running out the evening
ended riotously with what can only be described as a mad form of musical
chairs with Hilary, Paul and Bruce sharing one keyboard, chasing each
other around the instrument whilst simultaneously playing, a never
before heard version of, "Honeysuckle Rose." It is difficult to
say who enjoyed this entertaining spectacle the most - the audience or
three outstanding musicians. However, praise must also go to Ted, on
bass and Tim, drums, who maintained a steady beat whilst this riot of
musical mayhem was going on.
All
too soon the evening came to a close and as an encore the five
musicians, backed Kate Daniels in her choice of a little-known song
"I Keep Going Back to Joe's", a number she performed with great
feeling. A night to remember was obvious that both the audience and the
entertainers alike enjoyed an unusual musical experience - three
keyboards delivering something that may never be experienced again - Now
that's entertainment! |
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Ivory & Ebony
Quintet
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Three Keyboards
of Bruce Boardman, Hilary Cameron & Paul Higgs
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The Quintet
comprised the keyboards of Paul Higgs, Hilary Cameron & Bruce Boardman
with Ted Simkins, b, & Tim Reyland, dr. & guest vocalist Kate Daniels
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JUNE
|
The combination of
Bill Yeomans
and
Chris Storey
was ideal, together
with our resident trio, playing a varied programme of tunes made some
interesting listening. They opened with a soulful 'In a Mellow Tone'
that was followed by a classic Duke Ellington version of 'Cottontail'
then swiftly into a Latin tempo 'Fly Me To The Moon' with Bill on
flute and Chris with a very mellow muted trumpet. Bill then introduced
Nat Adderley's blues tune 'Daddy O', which had the trio scurrying
around for their parts, before Bill soloed on flute, with the trio, on a
waltz time 'Alice in Wonderland' which a lot of the audience had
not heard before. Bill then told a little story on introducing the next
number 'Stella by Starlight', or as often referred to by
musicians as 'Drinking at Night', told to him by Dick Pearce about
Courtney Pine relating that playing Stella by Starlight at Ronnie
Scott's was like playing in a wine bar. When Ronnie heard this from Dick
he said 'that's all I ever wanted to do in a wine bar'. The second set
began with Stanley Turretines tune 'Sugar' followed by that old
favourite 'Moaning' before Hilary Cameron soloed on a little bit
of Carribean style with 'St.Thomas' and then were treated by a
Chris Storey flugelhorn solo of the beautiful ballad 'Angel Eyes'.
Coming towards the end the quintet played Dexter Gordon's 'Apple
Jump' and finally concluded the evening with a roaring 'Take the
A Train' that brought another successful evening of JAZZ to a
close.
No photographs available |
JULY
|
The evening opened with the resident trio
of Hilary,Ted and Dave playing a totally different arrangement of
'Honeysuckle Rose' than that hilarious version we heard at the three
keyboard gig last May. Dave then introduced our guest for the evening,
his first visit to our Club, Al
Nicholls,
who began with his arrangement of that old favourite 'Zing Went the
Strings of My Heart'. His rather sultry swinging tenor saxophone
sounding very reminiscent of those 40's and 50's tenor players. The
evening continued, with all arrangements by Al Nicholls, playing a tune
that was written 100 years old next year by Ray Hubble titled 'Poor
Butterfly' that silenced everyone. This was followed by that
beautiful ballad 'God Bless The Child' a hauntingly whispering
tune that preceded a blistering up tempo arrangement of 'Love for
Sale'. 'Till There Was You' was another ballad played with
extreme subtle tone, timing and feeling before finishing the first set
with 'If I Had You'. After the interval the trio opened the
second set with 'How High the Moon' before Al Nicholls returned
to the stand to treat the Cole Porter standard 'Night and Day'
with a Latin flavour highlighting the trio and Al's great
synchronisation. The next tune was the composition by Bernice Petkere,
who Irving Berlin called the 'Queen of Tin Pan Alley', titled
'Lullaby of the Leaves' a lovely standard before embracing a soulful
'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered' bringing forth the full
range of the tenor sax. Al then suggested that Hilary Cameron treated us
to one of her Latin vocals for which she chose the Antonio Carlos
Jobim's classic 'Wave', warmly received and ably accompanied by
Al's tenor. An evening without a Duke Ellington number is unheard of so
Al dutifully introduced one of Duke's favourites 'Do Nothing Till You
Hear From Me', before the evening culminated with that timeless
standard 'Tangerine' played at a riptide pace leaving everyone
breathless bringing proceedings to a close with the sizeable audience
appearing impressed with our guest's first visit giving the opinion we
will surely see him again at the Club. |
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AUGUST
|
At the height of the
summer holiday, whilst the weather was no indicator, the size of
audience certainly did but nevertheless
Carole Braithwaite
with her new keyboard
accompanist, Tony
Gooderham provided
some tunes that were certainly not run of the mill numbers played with
some being quite obscure to the general music scene. Carole indicated
she had recently found the music of Harold Arlen fascinated her and
proceeded to sing some of his numbers that included 'As Long As I
Live', 'Illwind', and a number she has chosen to end her shows with
'Hit The Road to Dreamland'. The pick of other tunes she
sang with great feeling were 'Corcavado', 'But Beautiful',
'Summertime', 'Lonesome Road' and the Sophie Tucker favourite
'One Sweet Letter From You'. Interspersing Carole's vocals,the trio
led by Tony Gooderham played some of his highly interesting arrangements
opening with 'What Now My Love', 'Lover Man', 'Moonlight in Vermont'
and an excellently executed Antonia Carlos Jobim's 'Wave'.
Laugh of the evening, watching Ted Simkins seek out a music sheet for
'Blue Moon' that ended scattered all over the floor to much laughter and
some jocular remarks from Carole and
with Ted saying 'I don't need it'. |
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.JPG) |
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SEPTEMBER
|
The trio opened with
Hilary Cameron's choice of that old jazz standard 'On Green Dolphin
Street' before
Graham Hunter
joined them with his version of 'That Old Feeling'. Graham is
very much at ease with a Club atmosphere and where he switches from one
style to another still connecting with his audience that he followed on
with a flugelhorn rendering of 'Blue Moon' and immediately into
Freddie Hubbard's, 'Little Sunflower' and into that great number
from the musical Crazy Girl, 'But Not For Me'. The first set was
completed of mixed genre numbers that included 'Mercy,Mercy,Mercy',
Zawinul's ballad, 'Invisible Light', followed by 'Spooky'
and a bluesy 'I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water' . The second set
began with Graham's valve trombone version of 'Bernies Tune'
followed swiftly with Herbie Hancock's 'Canteloupe Island', and
Milt Jackson's 'Bags Groove'. Hilary Cameron then continued
with 'Just Friends' and throughout the evening Graham vocalised
on many of his numbers with his smokey muted sound as a memory of Chet
Baker with great effect as on 'Try a Little Tenderness'. Horace
Silver's 'Sister Sadie' followed and the evening ended with
'Sway', Oliver Nelson's 'Stolen Moments' before a surprise
harmonica solo in Graham's final number 'Room With a View'. His
choice and style of playing was well received by an enthusiastic
audience. |
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Graham Hunter
creates the ideal Club atmosphere
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OCTOBER
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Dominic Ashworth
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Dominic Ashworth & Kevin Mcmahon
with resident trio of Hilary,Ted and
Dave
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Kevin
Mcmahon
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NOVEMBER
|
With it being the final gig of the year, there was a "good house"
as regulars were joined by friends and relatives to swell the
numbers, for this ticketed "party night." Setting up their
instruments on the stage in the main part of the club were regulars
Hilary Cameron - piano, Ted Simkins - bass, and Dave Grant - drums,
with guest musicians Gary Wood - trumpet and vocals, Martin Nickless
- clarinet, and Derek Crenshaw, trombone. Starting the evening the
resident trio Hilary, Ted and Dave gave a lively rendition of Way
Back Home in Indiana, followed by Ellington's Perdido.
Joining the trio on stage Gary Wood's led with Dancing Cheek to
Cheek, followed by Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey,
singing, and playing his trumpet on both numbers. A change of mood
followed with a Latin-styled S'wonderful and on to the Joe
William's favourite Everyday I Have the Blues. There had been
much discussion between the players as they considered the how and
who of each number. The first half closed the six musicians blended
well to perform the traditional number the Jazz Band Ball.
A very generous supper in the form of a finger buffet had been laid
out with sufficient food to feed the cast of “Ben Hur.” In the
selection were pork pies, sausage rolls, spicy chicken pieces,
Scotch eggs, chicken wings, simosas, plus sandwiches with a variety
of fillings and various salads.
Christmas cake, mince
pies, fruit and cheese completed the sumptuous choice and all credit
must go to our hosts Joyce and Dave
Opening the second half Hilary, Ted and Dave gave a lively
performance of the 1939 Duke Ellington standard In a Mellow Tone
which was followed by regular songstress Sharon Scott who
performed the 1935 Irving Berlin number Isn’t This a Lovely Day.
The three guest musicians returned to the stage and joining the trio
kicked off with a couple of requests from the audience - Kenny
Ball’s hit Midnight in Moscow and that great jazz favourite
On Green Dolphin Street. Hilary enthralled us with a great
performance, playing and singing Peggy Lee’s The Lady is a Tramp,
which was followed with a trumpet solo by Gary Wood, I Can’t
Get Started, and a vocal rendition by trombonist Derek Crenshaw
of I’m Going to Sit right down and Write Myself a Letter.
Clarinetist Martin Nickless was up next (after cracking a terrible
joke, which I won’t repeat), with his version played at pace, of the
Sophie Tucker hit Some of these Days. The ensemble closed the
evening with another Ellington number Don’t get
Around much Anymore, the three guest musicians exercising their vocal chords.
The informal nature of the club was much in evidence - between
numbers the musicians discussed what they would play next and joked
between themselves and the audience. The evening represented a good
finale to an interesting and very entertaining year of Jazz at the
Bardswell, with a range of brilliant practitioners of the genre
giving great performances. We look forward to 2016 and
re-establishing contact with these masters of the art of playing
jazz. We are grateful to Joyce, and Dave and the other two regular
members of the trio - Hilary and Ted, for all that they do to make
evenings, as they say, “go with a swing” - literally.
Brian Leith |
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The Christmas Crew
L-R Derek Clenshaw, Gary Wood, Martin
Nickless
with resident trio
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