2015

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JANUARY

 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.

 Paul Higgs, trumpet  

 

 

Sharon Scott with resident trio

 

Paul Higgs with trio 

FEBRUARY

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

Graham Pike, flugelhorn

Quartet Graham Pike, Hilary

Cameron, keys, Ted Simkins, bass

& Tim Reyland, drums

Graham Pike, harmonica

,

 

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.

 

Andy Linham alto, & trio

    

 

Andy Linham, Alto

Dave Grant, drums

   

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]

Johnny Withers and the trio

       

Johnny Withers on vibes

        

 Hilary Cameron vocalising

      

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! 

Ivory & Ebony Quintet

 

 

 

Three Keyboards of Bruce Boardman, Hilary Cameron & Paul Higgs

   

 

The Quintet comprised the keyboards of Paul Higgs, Hilary Cameron & Bruce Boardman with Ted Simkins, b, & Tim Reyland, dr. & guest vocalist Kate Daniels

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.

 

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'.

 

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.

Graham Hunter creates the ideal Club atmosphere

OCTOBER

A good attendance of jazz lovers gathered together for the October gig and the evening kicked off with the resident trio of Hilary, accompanied by Ted on bass and Dave on drums, giving a lively interpretation of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s, "Desifinado". Following this, Dave introduced a welcome return to the club of the hugely popular and highly talented guitarist Dominic Ashworth and a newcomer to 'Jazz at the Bardswell', tenor saxophonist Kevin McMahon. From the first few chords of the enchanting Vincent Rose’s composition, ”Whispering", Kevin Mcmahon made it clear that devotees of the genre were in for a real treat. It must be pointed out that the appearance of his saxophone looked as though it might have been found in a skip, but talking to him later he revealed that it was of 1951 vintage and regarded as the Rolls-Royce of tenor saxes. When asked, tongue in cheek, if he was saving up to buy a new one, he stepped back in mock horror at the suggestion that he might prefer a nice shiny one! Continuing with "Sometimes I'm Happy”, a 1927 tune made famous by Charles King and Louise Groody”, his stance clearly indicated how wrapped up he was in his instrument and the fantastic music he was creating. He wasn't just playing a saxophone, every number was a performance and was met with enthusiastic applause by an appreciative audience. Making up the fifth member of the group, Dominic Ashworth is a musician whose musical talent is often understated. A modest musician, at times he may be almost unnoticed, but then his skill comes to the fore and it becomes obvious that he is a master of the guitar. Dominic and Kevin have played together before and it was plain to see how beautifully they combined as a duo, executing some delightful riffs each echoing the other's notes with immaculate timing and perfect harmony. Resident trio: Hilary, Ted and Dave dovetailed with the two lead musicianship moving seamlessly in and out of solo spots with absolute precision. One might be forgiven for thinking that each month they and the guests play together all the time or at the very least practice together regularly, which of course is not the case. The evening progressed with a collection of great numbers all of which were executed with superb artistry by the ensemble, these numbers included Duke Ellington’s, ”Perdido"; Hoagy Carmichael’s "Stardust"; "Love me or Leave me”, written by Donaldson and Kahn; "Everything Happens to Me”, composed by Matt Dennis; and closing the first set with a lively rendition of "Sweet Georgia Brown” composed by Bernie and Pinkhard. The group opened the second set with "Baubles, Bangles and Beads”, by Forest and Wright, and followed with another selection of standards including “Undecided”, Sid Robins and Charlie Shavers; "Wrap your Troubles in Dreams”, Billy Moll; Cole Porter’s, ”It's Alright with Me"; “Broadway"; Ray Noble’s, ”The Very Thought of You"; Bourbon Street Parade”, by drummer Paul Barbarin; "Jazz N' Samba”, another Antonio Carlos Jobim number; and finishing with "Falling in Love with Love”, composed by Richard Rogers. Everybody agreed it was a hugely entertaining evening with performances of a very high standard executed by consummate professional musicians, and it was generally felt that the tunes, selected by Dominic and Kevin, were tailor made for the audience they played to, a sprinkling of ballads, with swing and up tempo numbers and without any doubt a return of the two guests is something that would be welcomed and indeed looked forward to. Report: Brian Leith.   Photographs courtesy of Peter H. Evans

Dominic Ashworth

        

Dominic Ashworth & Kevin Mcmahon

 with resident trio of Hilary,Ted and Dave

          

 Kevin Mcmahon

                    

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

The Christmas Crew

L-R Derek Clenshaw, Gary Wood, Martin Nickless

with resident trio

   


 

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This site was last updated

16-Jan-2019