Upspring monday?

Last night I was at the Red Lion, Isleworth, having my taste in jazz challenged again by being forced to listen to stuff I wouldn’t have chosen to hear – that’s what it’s all about.

This time, Kelvin Christian was on sax and flute, Roger Beaujolais on vibraphone, Alec Dankworth was bass, Alex Hutton on keyboards and Trevor Tomkins on drums.

They even made me listen to Chick Corea, (70’s fusion is definitely not on my list) but doing it by mixing Flute and vibes really worked. It worked on ‘Jobim’ too, composed by Roger Beaujolais – that latin sound.

I really enjoyed a fast and lively ‘Eternal triangle’ by Sonny Stitt while ‘Round Midnight’ was a showcase for a slow, throaty sax, my kind of stuff. Stitt and Monk – did they ever play together?

I wish I could say that spring was in the air outside – despite playing a sprightly ‘Upspring Friday’ by Freddie Hubbard as well as ‘Joyspring’, it wasn’t. It was freezing. Spring has been cancelled, indefinitely.

It’s been a long, cold hard week.

 

Still it was a nice night, chatting with a teacher from Brittany, and another group of East Europeans drawn in – jazz was always big there. It was a good mixture of people and backgrounds, accents and languages, which is what jazz is all about.

I’ve been feeling grim lately and last week dealt with all the bad stuff and not being able to do physical things much by laying into writing something I’d put off since the summer when I did all the research for it. I’d put it off because it was really complicated, boringly detailed numbers and routes, which means its tough trying to tell a story interestingly while keeping it accurate. Not easy and after about four days of it, late nights and all, I got it finished but it left my brain as aching and scrambled as the rest of my body.

So the music helped. And when it finished I realised I’d been standing most of the night, so still some mileage left.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop until you drop production)

contact:   neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Home:      helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Oh and by the way (don't know if I can make it) 6/4/4 is looking preety good;

'Hillbilly in the UK'
The Wessex Pistols.
All the punk hits and more - Hillbilly style.
Features Johnny Forgotten and Joe Bummer.

I guess you'd have to be of a certain age....
www.red-lion.info