SPECIAL CD OFFER
Buy 4 New Release CDs for £40.
I have been running this special offer for a few months now and it's proved very popular. Unfortunately it seems I haven't made the terms of the offer quite clear enough and it's caused a bit of confusion with one or two customers!
The special offer price of 4 CDs for £40 applies ONLY to those CDs shown on the 'New Releases' Page (and on pages 3 & 4 of the printed catalogue) under the heading NEW RELEASES FOR SPRING 2004 (i.e. PKCD-236 to PKCD-243 inclusive). It is valid until the end of April 2004.
I hope that makes the terms of the offer crystal clear!

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BUDE 2004 - ROADIE
I hope to be able to record plenty of bands at this year's Bude Festival, but so far I am without a "roadie". Our daughter Katherine, who helped so ably last year, won't be with us this year; so if any able bodied person out there is interested in giving me a helping hand at the start and end of my Bude recording sessions in return for the price of their stroller ticket, please get in touch.
I suppose the problem is largely (entirely!) of my own making. I have always pursued perfection in my recordings - it's never achievable of course but you still keep striving for it. As a result my once portable recording equipment which, long ago, I could carry in one hand and set up in about ten minutes, now completely fills the boot of my estate car and takes me a good hour to setup!
It's OK when I have plenty of time to unload the car and set up, but often, especially at Festivals, there is very little time and that's when some help is so much appreciated. So please give it some thought if you're going to Bude.

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COMPETITION
It seems most magazines and newsletters have competitions these days so I thought "why not?"
I was thinking the other day about changes in the technology of recorded sound - you know, 12" LPs, then cassettes, and now CDs. Well here's the question:-
"Considering the technology they employ to reproduce sound, which of these three (cassette, LP or CD) is the odd one out, and why"?

It's a simple little brain-teaser but there's no single right answer, in fact, with so many differences between them, any of them could legitimately be regarded as the odd one out; so the winning entries will be expected to explain why each one could be considered the odd one out.
The senders of the five most interesting answers received by the end of March will receive a CD of their choice. I'm afraid the obvious answer - that CDs are digital and the others are analogue - won't win! You will need to be more inventive and subtle than that!
Send your answers (by post please), with a note of which CD you'd like if you are a winner, to reach me by the end of March 2004.

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VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE (SO THEY SAY)
I believe it is true, certainly in music, that variety is the spice of life, and it saddens me that so many jazz fans are so conservative in their musical taste. (Here I have to hold my hand up and admit that, until about eight or ten years ago, my taste in jazz was as narrow as could be, and it was only when I started seriously recording all sorts of traditional jazz bands that I came to enjoy a much wider range of musical styles.)
It is sad but true that any band which does not have the standard traditional six or seven piece line-up can be in for a hard time trying to sell their CDs.
I joke about it with one or two bands whom I record - "You've no chance! No banjo - you've got a sax!" But it's a great shame that record buyers aren't a bit more adventurous; there are some great CDs out there (and not just on P.E.K. Sound!) by bands who don't conform to the "standard" and whose CDs, therefore, don't sell as well as they should. This means lots of fans are missing a lot of marvellous jazz.
If you think about it, it's often the bands who have something musically interesting to say who depart from the standard line-up, and they can be musically the most rewarding to listen to, at live sessions and on CD.
I can understand the fans' caution when it comes to spending their hard-earned money on CDs. For a start there are so many CDs out there waiting to be bought, and of course, few people have unlimited funds to indulge their CD buying. You have to be very selective and so, logically, you play safe and only buy a CD if you're pretty sure you are going to enjoy it. BUT, why not, once in a while, take a gamble and try something different. It might lead to a pleasant surprise and open up a whole new world of jazz enjoyment.
The same argument applies to many jazz clubs. I know club promoters have a very hard time filling their clubs and so they play safe as well; and I don't blame them at all. But it means the bands who dare to be a bit different don't get booked and fans who might enjoy their music are denied the chance to hear them.
One of the great attractions of jazz festivals like Keswick and Bude is that we all have the chance to see bands which we might normally not bother with, maybe because they have a saxophone!, or maybe because they never play in our part of the country, and if we don't like what we hear we can move on to another band; but we nearly always have one or two very pleasant surprises.
So come on some of you, live dangerously - make 2004 the year you buy a CD with a saxophone on it!

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POST & PACKING
Despite ever-increasing postage costs I do not intend to start making a separate charge for postage on my mail-order CDs. I am, from time to time, criticised for not using a more secure form of packaging for my CDs, and it is true that occasionally the Post Office manages to break a CD case or two.
Packaging, like so many other things, is always a compromise between security and economy. On the whole I think I have the balance about right. Other forms of CD packaging, whilst offering better protection, are without exception much dearer. As the number of breakages is very small I plan to leave things as they are. If your CD arrives with a broken case please let me know and I'll be happy to replace the damaged parts

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LOOKING AHEAD
The early months of 2004 have been some of my busiest ever. At a time when things usually quieten down a bit I have been busier than for a very long time. Eleanor keeps telling me I should slow down - I think she's probably right! The increased activity is, in part, due to the success of my recordings at Bude last year, with three Bude CDs already released and three, possibly four, more to come.
Phil Wall's Jazz Cardinals' new CD (recorded at Bude 2003) will be complete in the next couple of months. This excellent band will be at Keswick in May - I hope if you are there you will take the opportunity to see them.
In due course there will be new CDs from the Bude sessions by Ken Ingram's Creole Band and the Rae Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band. Ken's band has folded since Bude so this will be quite definitely their final CD. Ken is not retiring of course!
In early February I recorded Rod Chambers' Louisiana Joymakers - production of that CD will start soon.
Meanwhile, by the time you read this, I will have recorded The Sonny Monk Society Jazz Band, John Everett's Red Dragon Jazz Band, The Chicago Teddybears Society Jazz Band and a band with Judy Eames, Tony Davies, Mike Wills and Jim Fryer about which, at the time of writing this, I have no other details.
Looking slightly further ahead, a date has been fixed in April for me to record Creole Belles, the 'all-girl' band whose recording session last year had to be cancelled. Also in April I am booked to record an excellent New Orleans-style band from Suffolk Red Beans n' Rice.
So, as they say, there's no rest for the wicked!
Oh yes - then it's time for Keswick again! Surely it can't be twelve months since the last one can it?

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