The Swanage Jazz Festival 2024 Report                                      Part Two Now for some of my thoughts on The Music I Listened to. Friday It was a bit of a scamper to book in to my digs after travelling from home and then be at the armband collection point AND to listen to music by 4pm, but I am being a bit ungrateful. It was vastly better than waiting ‘till 8pm as we did last year. And the music I went to listen to was ..read more

                      The Swanage Jazz Festival 2024 Report Part One Overall, though this “summers” weather has been boringly wet, Swanage Jazz was by and large a mercifully dry weekend. I would like to offer many thanks to Paul Kelly and the committee for keeping the festival running for yet another year. The facility and content of the festival have also improved since Paul Kelly and the committee took over running it, and what looked likely to the termination of the 30 year plus event after Nigel Price could no lo ..read more

                                              A Sad Blog today  Because I have to tell you that Mike Wills, always “our” reed player at Hedsor for over 20 years, passed away in his sleep on Thursday. Mike, on his last visit to Hedsor in May this year Mike alongside Mark Aston, with a large collection of reed instrument's played on the night of 31 11 19   Mike was the saxophone part of the Cl ..read more

 This is Not a full blog   Because it is a post Swanage Jazz Festival Blog. Today this is just a reminder that coming to Hedsor Jazz this Thursday (July 18th) we have that fine saxophonist Mark Aston coming to play for us. He is bringing with him guitarist Alex Corlett, and this is a requested rebooking as they were enjoyed so much on there last visit in May (which was Alex’s first!!) . On drums we will have Mick Jeffries (Martin is still mending from his recent fall), and Ken McCarthy will be on keyboard. Do come and support live jazz. We are very fortunate in having ..read more

July 9th, and A Little Light Bloging As I wasn’t able to be at Hedsor last week. I was away at a family funeral in Winchester, staying within sight of the Cathedral. It was a necessarily sad, but equally nice, occasion, set in a beautiful location. Chesil House, the location for the funeral service:- Winchester Cathedral, as viewed from our hotel:- I am told that Hedsor went well, and that Duncan Lamont Jr was up to his usual (high) standard. The pictures below are provided by Peter England. I understand that the attendance was pretty reasonable, seeing it was a General Election ni ..read more

 Martin Hart I have learnt today that Martin has had a fall and has broken 2 ribs. I'm sure we all wish Martin a speedy recovery. At Hedsor Jazz tomorrow his place on drums will be taken by Mike Jeffries, whom we must thank for stepping in at short notice. Geoff ..read more

July 4th. Another Week for Hedsor Jazz But for once it’s a week that I wont be able to attend!  Funerals are something that are fundamentally unplanned, and so it is with the one I shall be attending in Winchester on Thursday. Unplanned, but inevitable since birth, and as usual expected by very few! So this Thursday evening I will be staying within site of Winchester Cathedral.   I will be voting before I go, and it seems that the election had booked most of our planned jazz musicians! However, saxophonist Duncan Lamont Jr has come to our rescue and will be bringing with him guitaris ..read more

SUMMER We are actually getting two or three days of warm yellow light, which I understand is called sunshine! It wont last, The Swanage Jazz Festival is coming up (July 12th – 14th), and thereby hangs a risk to our summer!! Last Thursday’s Hedsor Jazz was one of those events both remarkable for bad and good reasons. I had anticipated seeing both Ken McCarthy and Martin Hart, but no, pianist Nigel Fox, and a drummer I didn’t know where busy setting up. At about 7.45 Esther Ng arrived, bass and all, so we did had a trio, but where were Mike Wills and Sue Greenway our front line guests for the ev ..read more

 Geoff’s Blog, which does rather stress all about the jazz at Hedsor Jazz!! Because those of us who go think it’s all rather good! Coming this week, Thursday 13th June is that world class combination of Duncan Lamont Jr and Mike Innes That’s a sax/trombone combination, playing in front of the Hedsor Rhythm Section, with Ken McCarthy on keyboard and Martin Hart on drums. We haven’t had that paring for some months as Duncan has brought us some other great players to keep him company, but when he comes with Mike Innes, you know the arrangements are going to be superb, and the playing, as men ..read more

  Good Morning England!   So what does Hedsor Jazz have for YOU this week? Well we will be re-joined by a pairing that worked for us very well in April. Mat Hill and Martin Dunston, trumpet and saxophones respectively. Mat surprised us earlier in the year when Duncan Lamont Jr first introduced this young trumpet player to us, and we were all delighted with his mature playing. He really did look very young and I wondered if he was legally allowed to drink the pint that seemed to be nearby. But he was, and all was, well, legal! So we booked him again for April (11th), and this time he ..read more