NEW RELEASES
Six superb new CDs for Autumn 2005 -
PKCD-274 Silver Leaf Jazz Band “Turning Over A New Leaf”
PKCD-275 The Big Bear Stompers “The Bears Are Back!”
PKCD-276 The John Maddocks Jazzmen “Old & New”
PKCD-277 Keith Nichols Little Devils “The Charmful Little Armful”
PKCD-278 The Rae Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band “Fare Well Blues”
PKCD-279 The Phil Brown Swingtet “Swinging At The Cricks”
(Available in late September)
(Further details of these albums are given on the "New Releases" Page or in the Catalogue)
DELETIONS I have a very few copies of the following deleted CDs - PRICE £7 each:-
PKCD-186 Keswick Jazz Festival 2001
PKCD-188 Matt Palmer’s Millennium Jazz Band “Live in Bude - 2001”
PKCD-199 Smoky City Jazz “Still Smoking!”
PKCD-233 Keswick Jazz Festival 2003
(Please check availability before ordering these deleted items)
BUDE JAZZ FESTIVAL
Another year, another superb Festival. This one of course was the first one without Eleanor and was heavily tinged with memories of earlier Bude Festivals with her. I drove down on Friday morning as usual and stopped off at Gordon Hunt’s barbecue near Bideford. It’s always a nice little gathering; it makes a handy break in the journey and sets the mood for the week ahead. Then on to Bude and my one night of real luxury in the Falcon Hotel.
But first there was the matter of Friday evening. It’s become something of a tradition that Colin Kingwell and his merry band of followers (!) occupy a large part of the Brendon Arms for that evening. Good beer, good food and above all good company - the recipe for a thoroughly enjoyable evening; and with that crowd a lot of laughs as well.
My ‘roadie’ Martin Street was going to join me some time on Saturday during the first session. As he was driving down from Oswaldtwistle (near Accrington - famous mostly I think for its Stanley) I had said there was no need to arrive early. But at about 10:20 as I was unloading the car to set up in the Falcon Hotel for the John Maddocks Jazzmen at midday, Martin apppeared over the bridge!
After a typically exciting JMJM session Martin and I made a very rapid exit - another band starting just 30 minutes after John Maddocks finished.
I really hate these rapid pack-ups at the end of a session - too stressful.
Later on Saturday I moved into my flat - small (bijou used to be the term) but adequate for one.
On Sunday morning Martin and I set up again for another session with The John Maddocks Jazzmen, this one at The Hartland Hotel, and on Monday we recorded Maddocks/Huxley Reeds United at the Budehaven Leisure Centre. So by the end of Monday I could claim to be well and truly ‘Maddocksed’.
On Monday I was joined by my young friend Simon - he’s my lifelong best friend’s son (also my Godson) and is very interested in music of all sorts - he plays banjo and guitar, but not yet in public. It was very good to see him. With three of us packing up at the end of the Maddocks/Huxley session we were off the stage in about seven minutes - a record!
Later in the day Simon and I were standing at The Summerleaze Hotel listening to The Panama Jazz Kings - I love that band. We got talking about guitars and Simon explained the tuning of a twelve string guitar; something I’d never understood - fascinating.
On Tuesday morning at 10.30 Martin and I started setting up again at the Leisure Centre. This time it was to record the 3pm session with The Charleston Chasers. There would be another 30 minute change-over at 2.30pm and, by getting most of my recording equipment set up before the midday session, I felt I had a chance of having all 13 tracks recording OK at 3pm. To my considerable surprise it all worked - well nearly! (I lost a vocal early in the session). Sean Bolan, leader of the Charleston Chasers, had agreed with me that it would be worth recording both their sessions - to have the best chance of sufficient really good tracks for a CD, but the evening session was to be the important one.
The last time I saw the Chasers was about 15 years ago at Bude and Sean had said “We’ve changed a bit since then.” Wow! what an amazing band! Absolutely thrilling! I do hope very much that, in the fullness of time (as they say) Sean likes what he hears and a CD can be produced.
Wednesday was a very special day. My cousin Elizabeth, who lives near Plymouth, had shown interest in ‘my music’ and bought tickets for Wednesday for herself, for her sister Frances who lives in New Zealand and who is currently visiting England, and for my elder daughter Katherine. So on Wednesday morning, as Martin and I were setting up at The Globe Hotel to record Andy Woon’s Vintage Hot Five, the three ladies arrived - in a thunder storm! What I found slightly surreal was that, having not seen my cousin Frances since our childhood seaside holidays in the late 1950s, we should meet in The Globe Hotel, Bude to a roll of drums (well thunder anyway)! It’s a funny old world ain’t it? It was a pity in some ways that I had two sessions to record that day so I could spend only a short time with ‘the ladies’.
During the afternoon they went out to see Dave Donohoe’s band at The Bullers Arms. While they were there Dave received a request for “The Last Mile Of The Way” to be played for Eleanor. Those of you who have the recent CD by Dave’s band will understand the special significance of that. We don’t know who made the request but, if you are reading this, please accept my thanks; and thank you Dave for playing it.
On Wednesday evening I recorded Dave Moorwood’s marvellous Frisco-style band The Big Bear Stompers.
Thursday was my final day’s recording, with Yellow Dog (Brian Carrick and Derek Winters plus a superb four-piece rhythm section) at midday, and a second session by The Big Bear Stompers in the evening.
I must express my thanks to Martin Street for doing such a great job as ‘roadie’ helping me set up and pack away the recording gear. It was nice also to have his company. I hope he’ll feel up for it again next year at Keswick or maybe Bude.
In total I recorded nine sessions by six excellent bands. And of course I met many dear friends some of whom Eleanor and I had known since the very early years of the Bude Festival. Quite a number of people whose names I don’t know came up to me to express their sadness at Eleanor’s death and to ask me how I was. It really is very touching; I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate your kindness and friendship.
I left Bude on Friday to spend a couple of days with my cousins near Plymouth. After a hectic week it was nice to relax and start to catch up on over forty years of news and family with Frances and Elizabeth.
NEW ORLEANS
On Monday August 29th, while happy jazz fans were enjoying their visit to the Bude Jazz Festival, New Orleans, the birth-place of the music we love and which means so much to us, was being hit by hurricane Katrina. It wasn’t until Wednesday or Thursday that we began to appreciate the magnitude of the disaster. It’s hard to imagine an area roughly the size of the UK being affected by one of the worst ever storms - perhaps the worst ever - to hit the USA, with Biloxi, a city about the size of Bristol, being almost completely flattened, and New Orleans now virtually empty of its inhabitants. As I write this, ten days after the hurricane struck, 60% of the City is still underwater, the water is hideously polluted and highly toxic. Carrion birds are feeding from the many corpses in the City and disease is starting to spread. This is a disaster almost beyond comprehension.
Remember virtually all the musicians working in New Orleans now have nowhere to play and are out of work.
At the Bude Festival on Thursday Chris Burke, who lives near New Orleans, started a collection at the various Festival venues. He returned to America after the Festival and has taken all the money collected to hand to the local Musicians Union.
This initiative was announced at the Yellow Dog session with Derek Winters and Brian Carrick on Thursday. Brian donated the proceeds from the sales of 20 CDs (i.e. £200) to the collection. Other musicians have made similar generous donations.
As lovers of this great music I believe we all should do something to help; and we should do it very soon.
Since I returned from Bude I have been trying to contact the New Orleans Musicians Union to find how best we can send our donations, but without success. I also tried to phone Chris Burke - again no luck. I am sure many of you will want to make a contribution to help the musicians in New Orleans who are suffering so badly - so this is what I propose -
For UK readers only send your donations to me as Sterling cheques payable to P.R. Kings (NOT P.E.K.. Sound or P.E.K. Records).
For overseas readers it’s more difficult - the only way would be for you send me cash (Sterling of course).
I will contact Chris Burke in New Orleans as soon as I can and, at the end of September, I will forward all the money received to him, or to whoever he advises me is best.
I will not bank your cheques until I am ready to send your donations to Chris.
Please don’t ignore this appeal - we must do something to help.
LOOKING AHEAD
The new CDs by Pendle Jazzmen and The Bob Barton Trio will soon be in production. Just before Bude I recorded The Harlem Hot Stompers. This excellent classic jazz band have appeared at the Keswick Festival, but not recently, and I have been keen to record them for ages. I am optimistic their CD will be out by Christmas. I met Dave Brennan at Bude and he hopes to make a start soon on the new CD by his Jubilee Jazz Band. In October I am booked to record The Mike Lovell Allstars with Keith Nichols and (at last!) Dennis Armstrong’s Oliver Band. I saw them at Bude - what a sound! Great stuff! At the time of writing this I haven’t heard any of the Bude sessions but I think it’s reasonable to assume there will be some new CDs from such a successful Festival.
Once again - enjoy your jazz but please don’t forget to send something
to help the musicians
in New Orleans.
