Winchester Jazz Festival

[Ian Thumwood]

I see that the programme for Winchester Jazz Festival has been launched. Details here:-


http://http://www.winchesterjazzfestival.com/whats-on/

Fair play for the organisers getting any sort of jazz performed in Winchester - a city where it is Folk Music and Classical which feature most heavily in scheduling. There are a few local bands in the area with most of the "support" for jazz centring around the IBM social club in the nearby village of Hursley. One of t he best local bands is Red Jackson who cover John lee Hooker and Louis Jordan material and have a big local following. They don't appear to be involved. Most of the jazz in the area has traditionally been centred around Southampton , right from the 1950s onwards but Winchester's support for jazz has been patchy at best. I hope that the organisers make this work and that the venues are well supported. The Railway Inn more celebrated for supporting rock acts and is probably the biggest independent venue in the city but it is a shame that more pubs have not offered support.

Other than Claire Martin, I can't say that I have heard of any of the other acts albeit I think Simon Allen is the saxophonist who is supposed to live in my village. I will let you know what the gigs are like as I should be free that weekend. Maybe SA is familiar with some of the performers ?

I would urge anyone in the area to support the local jazz scene and attend as much as possible.

[Old Grumpy]

I see that the programme for Winchester Jazz Festival has been launched. Details here:-


http://http://www.winchesterjazzfestival.com/whats-on/

Fair play for the organisers getting any sort of jazz performed in Winchester - a city where it is Folk Music and Classical which feature most heavily in scheduling. There are a few local bands in the area with most of the "support" for jazz centring around the IBM social club in the nearby village of Hursley. One of t he best local bands is Red Jackson who cover John lee Hooker and Louis Jordan material and have a big local following. They don't appear to be involved. Most of the jazz in the area has traditionally been centred around Southampton , right from the 1950s onwards but Winchester's support for jazz has been patchy at best. I hope that the organisers make this work and that the venues are well supported. The Railway Inn more celebrated for supporting rock acts and is probably the biggest independent venue in the city but it is a shame that more pubs have not offered support.

Other than Claire Martin, I can't say that I have heard of any of the other acts albeit I think Simon Allen is the saxophonist who is supposed to live in my village. I will let you know what the gigs are like as I should be free that weekend. Maybe SA is familiar with some of the performers ?

I would urge anyone in the area to support the local jazz scene and attend as much as possible.

Bad link, Ian - "server not found". Link here - possibly too many http:// in the original.

OG

[Serial_Apologist]

Hi Ian

Your link seems to have done some sort of double-take; others will find the "detalis" such as they are, below - but I have to say it doesn't amount to much of a jazz festival does it? Very lite fare. The Simon Allen is undoubtedly the one to go to: Simon's an excitingly committed, if not especially original player, (one of Stan Tracey's last saxists along with his bro) and with Laurence Cottle and Mike Bradley, fusion players playing contemporary post-bop mainstream here, you know the sort of thing, plus Curios' pianist Tom Cawley (not that Cowley apology for a jazz pianist beloved of Jezza) a guaranteed bet, you can bet on this one, I think.

As for the rest, I'm as much in the dark as you Ian.

http://www.winchesterjazzfestival.com/whats-on/

[Ian Thumwood]

SA

I was intrigued by the promise of World Class jazz musicians as there is effectively only one venue in Winchester (The Theatre Royal) other than whatever concert halls may be available in the University. The interesting thing was that I spoke to a couple of the organisers back in January and they had high hopes. (And a good knowledge of the music .) The venues are practically all pubs and it is a bit strange that there are no venues outside of the city where there might be more of an audience. The Railway Inn in the principle "pub venue" in Winchester. Back in January, a solo jazz concert was put on in a church in the adjacent village and this drew a large audience, albeit largely elderly and for whom the Bill Evans / standards repertoire would have been favourable. There are a number of pro-musicians in the area (bassist Malcolm Crease used to live just outside of Romsey) but the surprise should be the fact that you can hear any jazz in Winchester. Back in the 1980s The Royal Oak used to have a regular slot and some of the wine bars have had the odd gig . The Plough near Sparsholt has a jazz night tbis Sunday and I believe that it is Trad albeit my boss actuallty plays in a band and has said the standard of musicianship is pretty high amngst the musicians they book for the jazz barbecue.

All in all, I am not too critical as it is something not to have to travel in to Southampton to hear jazz and hopefully it can generate a following. There are not too many jam sessions these days (they used to abound in Southampton in then1980s including the Solent Suite beneath the Guildhall) and I am tempted to sit in in the one they have organised even though I only play about 2 hours a month these days.

[Serial_Apologist]

I am tempted to sit in in the one they have organised even though I only play about 2 hours a month these days.

That could be interesting - I hadn't realised you played before the public, Ian!

The only time I ever tried it was after the audience had gone home, following a gig in a local hotel that had involved two duos - Trevor Watts and Howard Riley, and Evan Parker with John Stevens, iirc. This would have been somewhere around 1980. I was pretty sloshed at the time, otherwise wouldn't have had the nerve, especially in such illustrious company. I remember John Stevens bawling out, "Oh no, not another f*cking Bill Evans imitator!", whereupon Howard Riley came over, gently displacing me from the piano stool, and proceeded to give a passable pastiche of Bill Evans playing some standard or other. Someone whispered in my ear, "Howard will do that if you visit him at home, but I've never seen him do it elsewhere", and - I remember this vividly, it being something you wouldn't forget - John Stevens stood up and proceeded to tap dance to HR's playing!

[Ian Thumwood]

I played a few gigs with amateur bands back in the 1990s when I was learning and have sat in on jam sessions in the past. The gigs I was involved in were at Warsash and Hayling Island and all coincided with when I took lessons with Monty Worlock. At one point I did a few "off" gigs in restaurants in Vienne but these weren't at all successful although a good experience. You get assigned to different bands so you could be placed with really good and really poor musicians at the same time. The language barrier was also a problem. The last attempt failed as the bassist never turned up and the drummer couldn't keep time so that the whole gig fell to pieces. On another occasion I was out of my depth when someone called "Solar" at lightning speed. However, I did ok-ish with a professional bassist and drummer about 10 years ago which was a bit of a challenge. I usually rehearse one a month with two friends and sometimes sit in at Hursley but I fell out with a bassist locally and never felt inclined to play again for a long period.

I was more serious about playing between 1990 -2000 when I had lessons but have gradually become less interested in playing these days . Last year I almost sold my piano but was talked out of it. When I do play stuff, it is just to hear how something "different" sounds but have never sat if with pros since I did Wavendon in about 1991. Generally, I am bored with my playing and would rather listen to people who can really play. Sometimes I get the bug to sit in but less so these days as I have little interest in playing the piano as it is too much like hard work.

[Ian Thumwood]

Missed the first two evening of the festival due to work commitments (Claire Martin - no loss / Empircal - wihs I had gone) but I will try to juggle some gigs in the weekend around the football which tends to take precedence these days.

[Ian Thumwood]

S.A

The publicity for the festival seemed to arrive late and , if I had known earlier, I would have gone to the Empirical gig. Those who attended who I spoke to were reckoned it was the best gig of the festival. A problem of the organisation was that some gigs seemed to be simultaneous but, although small key and not many people seeming to be appreciative that there was a jazz festival in Winchester, the gigs turned out to be well supported. The other regret was not catching the Belgarum Big Band who, far from being an amateur outfit, appear to be made up of a number of professional musicians in the area.

The whole festival was organised by three girls from Winchester and they seemed to have some pretty good connections in what is effectively a small city more closely associated with folk music. I didn't go to Claire Martin's gig as I am not a fan but I heard Arabella Sprot's trio at the railway Tavern which featured the tenor-playing leader with a really good backing of Paul-Paul Gard on organ and drummer Matt Brown. The music was largely Real Book material and the comments made on the stand suggested an ad-hoc line - especially at she is based in Berlin. The venue was backed with circa 70-odd people. I felt that the music resembled the kind of stuff Jimmy Smith put out on Blue Note. The organist was superb and a nice bloke too. I felt that Arabella Sprot wasn't the finished product. She could play but the music belied her conservatoire training. One for the future I think especially as she seemed really young and perhaps not quite so cognisant of the music's heritage. (There was a comment about having to research about the tunes before making the announcements.)

Far better was last Sunday's jam session. I sat in but struggled with the keyboard and the lack of a bassist but the stuff selected was not really what I am used to playing. (i.e. Real Book repertoire. Not touched this for ages as I don't like the material within it.) The best element was hearing other people play. Initially it was amateurs but the small St James Tavern was then given over to some professionals. Two or the directors sang and one, Louisa Revolta, amused everyone with some really good alto playing on Cantaloupe Island which threw in a quote from "Walking in the air. She hosted the jam session in a personable and welcoming manner and was the kind of person that you immediately warm to. The whole jam session was actually really convivial but one of the local professional musicians sat in on alto midway through and gave such an incredible performance on "Chameleon" that you just wanted to only listen to him play. In my opinion, he was the best musician that I saw over the weekend but, like many of the people playing, he came from the Winchester area. The weird thing was to discover just how good the jazz was in the city and a number of other people came in later during the afternoon which only reinforced the impression.

A gypsy jazz group called "Maniere de Bohemiens" closed the festival on Sunday night but I missed this as I need to be up erly to be on site on Monday morning. This gig was sold out.

All in all, I wish I had gone to more of the gigs but I also had to juggle in a football match on Saturday afternoon. There will be a second Winchester Jazz Festival in 21-24th September 2017 but I understand that the Belgarum Big Band have a regular Monday gig at the Cart & Horses in King's Worthy on the first Monday of each month. (The name refers to the old Roman name for Winchester, Venta Belgarum, btw.)

[Serial_Apologist]

Hi Ian

Can't say I was too impresssed with the Winchester [sic] big band from the clip - poor intonation, no soloing, very sub-Quincy arrangement - but I might check some of the follow-on clips, as I see my old friend Lee Goodall, from Cardiff when I was down that way, is among them, and I haven't heard of or from him in at least 25 years!

Catching names of players from noise-drowned announcements is always a problem, isn't it? I've done articles when I've had to ask those around me who was it he said was playing? - very embarrassing when it's someone well-known who has aged beyond previous recognition!