SIGER JAZZ

OxJaMS 2012

2012-01-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

THE OXFORD JAZZ MASTERS SERIES

To launch the 2012 OxJaMS we were fortunate enough to receive a grant from PRS/Jazz Services.

The first 3 concerts were arranged at the Burton Taylor Studio. January 6 with Steve Waterman and Robin Jones, January 7 with Paul Dunmall and Tony Marsh and March 19 with Lol Coxhill. The OxJaMS trio - Steve Kershaw, Richard Leigh Harris and myself in support.

The first two gigs were completely sold out. Here are some of Irmgard's photos:

Robin Jones

Steve Waterman

George Haslam

Steve Kershaw

Richard Leigh Harris

Tony Marsh

... and with Paul Dunmall

... and me.

France

2011-12-12T14:31:00.001-08:00

9 December 2012, the same quartet we had in Gent in September played in France - at INTERFESTIVAL # 1 in a small village called ROUFFIAC D'AUDE. The quartet is called "EASY CLAN" with Stefano Pastor, Genoa, Carlo Sezzi, Sardinia and Steve Kershaw and myself from UK.

Steve and I flew out from London to Toulouse Thursday, 8 December and were taken by car to Rouffiac, about 12o km. Stefano and Carlo arrived by train later that same evening, we were all accommodated at homes of friends of the Festival.

The whole event was organised there by Etienne Lecomte, a native of those parts and an excellent flautist. The accommodation and hospitality could not have been better.

On the Friday afternoon we visited Carcassonne, about 12 km away, to see the amazing castle there.

The concert on Friday evening was in the village school, a good audience (considering the village population totaled less than 400), a relaxed performance. My baritone sax had been damaged on the flight and was unplayable, I played the gig on tarogato.

Saturday, after another great lunch, Steve and I were driven back to Toulouse - the flight was almost empty - made note to travel more on Saturday afternoons in the future

The French/Spanish border marked in the distance by the Pyrenees

Quartet inside Carcassonne Castle

Carcassonne from the Castle

The Quartet, photo by Etienne.

The Yorkshire Wolds

2011-10-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

Two days -a short break away from it all, a nice hotel in North Ferriby near Hull, very close to the Humber bridge. We had a drive to the east coast and visited a place called East Newton where the erosion of the coast was quite startling the road came to an abrupt end where the land had disappeared and the erosion was progressing along the coastline.

END OF THE ROAD

Our route brought us back through Beverley, past the minster.

From the hotel window everything looked so peaceful.

Autumn in Prague

2011-10-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

I travelled LHR – Prague, Monday 17 October – an evening flight. Stefano Pastor arrived the next day and we got the quartet together with Jozef Láska bass and Steve Hubback percussion. We had 6 gigs in the next 7 days, all in and around the city.

Wednesday, 19 Oct at K4 Klub, a student’s club, we had a guest trio ‘TEMBRYO’ playing before us.

The following night was at an attractive new venue just off Wenceslas Square, called Jazz Time and it was good to have cellist Vojtĕch Havel with us and Dutch saxist Cyrille Oswald.

Friday night was strange, first taking over 2 hours to drive the 15 km out of Prague to an old farmhouse where lived what we used to call a ‘hippie community’.

Saturday was a bigger disaster, we played in a nice little venue in the old town – Artspace Řetizek – but nobody had told anyone so not one person turned up. We went for a couple of beers in the Blues Club then to the Raven for dinner.

Sunday, 23 October was at Club Kino – a very nice venue in Černošice, a short drive out of the city – but again very small audience. Vojtĕch was with us again on cello.

Monday was gigless. Stefano and I went to Irena’s studio where Swetja was preparing a Slovakian lunch, which, with French and Moravian wines, was excellent. We then spent the afternoon in Roman’s vinoteca and I woke up in Luboš’ flat.

The final gig was at Café V Lese in the city. Not an attractive place and quite cold but we had a better audience and the special guest VRÁŤA BRABENEC, the saxist I had played with a couple of years ago. VRÁŤA is very popular there as a member of the group ‘Plastic People of the Universe’

Here I am with Vrata .....

.... and a few fans!!

Dancing at Wootton

2011-10-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 8 October,

SwingTime played for Charity Ball

at Wootton and Dry Sandford Community Centre.

Gent

2011-09-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

Not quite a 'flying visit' as we went by road/rail/Eurotunnel - but certainly a very short visit to Gent on Sunday, 18 September - and I forgot my camera! So, just a short description, worth noting for me because it was my first experience of Eurotunnel - which proved to be quite painless and very efficient.

The gig was arranged by Sardinian drummer Carlo Sezzi and Stefano Pastor. I was going with Steve Kershaw - so, an Anglo-Italian Quartet in Belgium. I'm not sure what the gig was - festival, fun in the park or .. but it went very well and we were looked after very generously by the organiser Roger.

Due to gigs in UK the night before (Saturday, 17 September), we could not travel till the morning of the concert. Steve picked me up about 8am.and drove to Folkestone. Time for coffee and relaxed drive onto the train. About 40 minutes to Calais and a couple of hours drive to Gent.The heavens opened as we reached Gent, very heavy rain.

It transpired that Sunday, 18 September 2011 was a "Car Free" day in Gent. We had been sent papers to show the police that we needed to enter the town to play the concert. Unfortunately we entered too far and were stranded in a pedestrian zone where we should not have been. Roger came to meet us on his bike and guided us to the gig. On his bike he went down pedestrian only streets and one way streets the wrong way - we had no option but to follow. The fact that is was a 'car free' day worked well for us, meaning we met no other traffic coming the other way.

So we arrived at the gig - in a small park in St-Annaplein. The rain had stopped, the stage was under a small canvas roof .. and there was beer. A French trio - flutes, brass bass and percussion - was about to play when we arrived, giving us time to relax and do what we needed to.

The gig went well, it was the first time Steve and I had met Carlo. Afterwards Roger took Steve and me to check in at an hotel - a Boatel actually. A converted barge very comfortably appointed, moored a short walk from the gig.

Roger also appeared to have a cafe bar where we ate and drank afterwards.

A very attractive town, Gent - a real pity we did not have longer there. Steve was lecturing in Oxford at 2pm the next day so it was another early start, 7.30am a good breakfast and off again. All the travelling went very smoothly and we were back in UK about 10.45 GMT.

Clusone Jazz Festival

2011-07-31T04:34:00.000-07:00

ITALY

I flew from Gatwick to Genoa, 19 July, where Stefano Pastor met me and we travelled together to Campo Ligure. There bassist Ken Filiano had prepared a great meal, SP and I went to purchase the wine and we were then joined by poetess Erika Dagnino.

21 July we played quartet - SP, KF myself and Silvia Bolognesi, also on double bass - at Europa Bar in Campo Ligure.

Next day all 5 of us travelled to Clusone where we met Steve Waterman who had flown into Bergamo that morning. We checked in at Hotel Europe. Clusone is a beautiful town in very north Italy and the Festival, in its 31st year has a great organising committee.

The festival gig was as a sextet - an uncommon line-up with 2 double basses, poet, violin, trumpet and baritone sax/tarogato.

Saturday, 23 July KF departed for New York and the rest of us, together with Francesco Marzo (Silvia's friend and agent), returned together to Campo Ligure and later on to Cogoleto where we played a quartet gig at Cafe Meo.

The heavens opened that night with thunderstorm and torrential rain.

Sunday relaxing - including walk to castle and evening entertainments in the main piazza. Compo Ligure has 3 days Festival for Santa Magdelena.

Monday recording session (ED, SW, SP and myself) and Tuesday 26 July return to UK.

Stefano, Erika & Ken

Quartet at The Europa Bar

Silivia and I at Europa.

CLUSONE open stage in piazza before the concert

Steve sitting in front row.

Sunday Lunchtime in downtown Campo Ligure

Steve with 2 empty glasses.

Stefano at Cogoleto

Me at Cogoleto

Steve and Stefano at Cogoleto

and Steve at Cogoleto

Relaxing at .....

MORE PHOTOS BY FRANCESCA ~

AT CLUSONE:

AND AT COGOLETO:

Marlborough Jazz Festival

2011-07-31T04:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 16 July.

Me with Bobby Wellins

This was my 2oth consecutive year playing at Marlborough Jazz Festival; it was the 25th year of the Festival.

I played with my mainstream sextet "NEW TRICKS", with Steve Waterman, trumpet and flugelhorn, Esmond Selwyn guitar, Clive Morton double bass, Robin Jones drums and myself on baritone sax. For the past 2 years the sextet also included Don Rendell on tenor sax and flute; Don has since retired and this year he was replaced by Bobby Wellins - a real treat.

On Sunday, 17 July I played solo alto sax at the Jazz Service in St Mary's Church.

ARGENTINA 2011

2011-05-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

ABINGDON FESTIVAL

2011-05-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

ABINGDON ARTS FESTIVAL, MARCH/APRIL 2011

With Erika Dagnino, Stefano Pastor and Steve Kershaw.

... and Group Sax

GROUP SAX

HELSINKI TO TALLINN

2011-03-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 8 March, departing Helsinki.

Cracking our way across the Baltic

a couple of hours later, Tallinn is in sight across the ice.

Vana Tallinn

Next day, rehearsal with Tõnu Naissoo and Taavo Remmel.

Pauli Hallman auditions on drums.

9 March, the gig at Kanuti Gilda Saal in the Old Town.

Thursday, 10 March was 88 birthday of a great Estonian musician - saxophonist and composer - Valter Ojakaar. He played lead alto in Estonian Radio Orchestra for 25 years.

Valter's son Jaak and wife Heljo.

Heljo was a great pianist. In 1938 she was awarded a 3 year British Council scholarship to study music at the Royal Academy, London. Due to the outbreak of war, she had to return to Estonia after only one year. She went on to work closely with the most famous Estonian composers and enjoy a career as an important and popular concert pianist.

Heljo. Pauli and Valter have been great friends for over a quarter of a century.

ARTS FESTIVAL BALL

2011-03-17T06:12:00.001-07:00

"SWINGTIME" at the Arts Festival Ball, Feb 2011.

Contemporary Sounds of Estonia

2011-01-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

Oxford Jazz Masters Series at Burton Taylor Studio,

7 January, 2011.

The trio of George Haslam on baritone saxophone and tarogato, Richard Leigh Harris piano and Steve Kershaw double bass played hosts to special guests from Tallinn - Taavi Kerikmäe on keyboards, live electronics, theremin and monochord; Mart Soo on guitars and live electronics.

Photos by Irmgard Hűppe

RUSSIA

2010-11-18T06:12:00.000-08:00

Musicians from various countries - France, Denmark, Italy, Russia, USA, UK, Ukraine etc. - were invited to play at 'JAZZ PROVINCE' in Kursk. The musicians included Steve Waterman, Stefano Pastor, Steve Kershaw and myself.

After 3 weeks of messing around getting a visa, I arrived in Moscow late on Wednesday, 27 October .. infact too late to catch the night train to Voronezh. This turned out to be a good move, I was put on a flight instead - so had 40 minutes flight and spent the night in 4* hotel whilst the other guys were on a 9 hour train journey.

The first concert, on Thursday, was in the Philharmonic Hall - 700 capacity, sold out days in advance.

Leonid Vintskevich in Phil Hall

For this first concert, in Voronezh we had a quintet with Stefano, Steve, Nikolai Klishin bass and Oleg Yudanov drums, both from Arkhangelsk.

The next day, Friday, 29 October, we travelled by coach to Kursk and checked in at The Aurora Hotel. On the Saturday we played a concert in The Pushkin Theatre in Kursk. For this the band was a sextet with Steve Kershaw replacing Nikolai on bass and the addition of Pyotr Ivshin from Moscow, on drums with Oleg on percussion.

Flower lady with Stefano and drummer Pyotr Ivshin.

Stefano, Steve W. and me.

Oleg Yudanov and me.

ABOVE: 3 shots on stage and a beer afterwards with Andrey

The next 4 days we didn't do much - a bit of sightseeing:

"Red Square", Kursk.

Pink Church

Green Church

Jam Session

With Andrey

Olya and Steve

Olya & me

and new friends Andrew, daughter Olya, our last night in Kursk.

SUMMER 2010

2010-10-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

PRAGUE, SEPTEMBER 2010

TROJSKI KUN 11 SEPTEMBER

RYBANARUBY, 10 SEPTEMBER

KAFARNA 9 SEPTEMBER

PRAGUE

HOPPALLAAA BAR, 8 SEPTEMBER

THE PENNINES, AUGUST.

HOLMFIRTH.

RIBBLEHEAD VIADUCT.

SCOTLAND. AUGUST

THE LAKE DISTRICT, AUGUST.

LAKESIDE STATION AND

LAKE WINDERMERE

ITALY, AUGUST

CAMPO LIGURE

Gig at Fabio's, Campo Ligure,

8 August

with Stefano Pastor

and Andrea Rossi Andrea.

MARLBOROUGH JAZZ FESTIVAL, 10 JULY .

"NEW TRICKS"

Don Rendell. me. Steve Waterman,

Esmond Selwyn, Robin Jones, Clive Morton.

ARGENTINA 2010

2010-03-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 2 February 2010 – I flew from London Heathrow to Ezeiza, Buenos Aires, with British Airways, via Sao Paulo – arriving in Bs As Wednesday morning about 10 am. There was a thunderstorm in progress, we circled around for about 20 minutes in zero visibility and some very bumpy moments – I was glad to get on the ground. My first visit to Bs As was 20 years ago, returning on average, twice each year, this makes about 40 visits.

Baggage was very slow coming through, I eventually cleared all the obstacles and found Miguel waiting for me with his taxi. It was still raining but not cold. We drove to Coghlan and relaxed a while, later I went out with Daniel to buy my micro (a ‘micro’ is a long distant coach) ticket for San Luis, leaving tomorrow night. We did a couple more errands then went to Café TV for lunch.

I walked round to Mono’s house to collect my baritone – it was still there in his studio exactly how I left it last August. I did little else really for the next 24 hours, tried to catch up with a little sleep. On the flight from London I had been upgraded to Business Class from Sao Paulo but not from Heathrow, I didn’t get much sleep.

Thursday evening Miguel came to take me to Retiro for my micro – departing 21.55. It was a Chevalier coach, cheapest and probably the most basic, it cost only 155 pesos, about £25. It’s not bad for bed and breakfast and 12 hours travelling.

SAN LUIS

Roi met me at the bus station about 9 am, we went to hotel – Plaza Pringles – and I checked in for 4 nights. Then coffee at Café Aranjuez and siesta .. negligible sleep again last night. At 2pm Roi came back and we went to the recording studio “Estudio DC” where the owner and recording engineer was David Cipriani. We recorded a few duo tracks.

THE STUDIO IN THE COUNTRY

WITH ROI AND DAVID

In the evening we had dinner at Roi’s – prepared by Marcela plus home made empanadas from her mother!! Federico and Feco came and a friend called Ricardo Scheffer – he lives in Rosario but spends 3 nights a week in San Luis where he is a university lecturer .. in philosophy I think. I didn’t stay late, Salvador ran me home around 11.30 pm.

The nice thing about staying at the Plaza Pringles is the restaurant is closed so they give all their guests tickets to go to the Café Aranjuez on the corner – so there is no cut off time for breakfast, it is available all day. I had a stroll around town, visited the craft fair. Marcela brought me my micro ticket for return to Bs As on Tuesday.

I watched some football on tv (English Premier league is very popular) and rugby (England 27:Wales 17!). The manager of the hotel ‘Angel’ (El Polaco) gave me a copy of today’s “El Diario” with a write-up and photo about our gigs in San Luis. He asked if I had any CDs – I gave him a copy of “WALDRON-HASLAM” and later heard it being played on the hotel sound system.

MORRISON BAR

Today was our first gig – in the Morrison Bar, a place celebrating British and US rock groups of the 70’s with posters on all walls. The quartet, called ‘PUNTANGLO’ was Roi on keyboard and saxes, Federico Farias bass, Feco González drums and myself. A fairly late start as usual, I had time to check out a couple of local bars. There was a serious thunderstorm which kept the audience within manageable proportions – anyway, a pleasant evening. I met a couple of musicians visiting there from Chile. We finished at 3.15 am. The bar was just around the corner from the hotel; Café Aranjuez was open so I popped in for a jug of tinto and a pizza. Later Ariel, Ricardo and other friends arrived – I went back to hotel at 6 am.

PUNTANGLO AT MORRISON'S

FECO AND ME

After breakfast on the Sunday I sat in the park for a while – I watched the finches chasing grasshoppers, big grasshoppers .. maybe what you call crickets. Yesterday, Saturday, when I was sitting here there were several radio vans driving round with local stations blaring from loudspeakers on their roof. What was interesting was they always switched of the music as they drove past the cathedral. In the evening the sky over the park is full of birds seeking a roost for the night – and the sky takes on some dramatic appearances.

ROI RELAXING IN PARK

THE MUSIC HOUSE

Tonight we played in a small venue called ‘The Music House’, an old building recently converted into a music venue – don’t know what it had been. It was a really good atmosphere, full of students. The programme had us down to play at 11.45 pm – we actually started to play at 2.25 am. This Argentine custom I have not yet got accustomed to but it all seems OK. It was a very good concert and I sold a lot of CDs which is a good indicator. Salvador came in his taxi and dropped me off at hotel – I was in bed before 5 am.

See Roi's videos at http://roimaciaz-soundgalerie.blogspot.com/

We (Roi and I) walked around San Luis on Monday – we met several of his friends, ate pizza .. and all that. In the evening we went back to Morrison Bar for a couple of beers and collect money from Saturday night. Later dinner at Roi’s and a few more beers in Aranjuez – in bed by 4am .. it gets earlier each night. I checked out of the hotel on Tuesday and we went to the home of a young friend, Matias, whose birthday it was and he was having an asado.

THE ASADO

ROI, ME, RICARDO, ARIEL,ELIAS AT ASADO

WITH RICARDO

WITH HAT

– then on to bus station for micro due at 19.30, arriving Bs As around 8.30 am Wednesday.

BUENOS AIRES

Back in Bs As Wednesday, just a week since I arrived from London. A lazy day, catch up with some rest and an early night. On Thursday Daniel and Gloria went to Tigre, will return Monday so I made plans to keep occupied. Tonight I went to a small tango club on Fitzroy and Santa Fe in Palermo. I was invited to take my sax but I didn’t – the bari is a bit big to carry around unnecessarily. BUT then I found that everyone there was expected to sing or dance or … I was not allowed to get out of it although I tried everything I could think of. In the end I ‘did’ Night and Day. There was a very good keyboard player accompanying all the singers, he played Night and Day and I spoke the words. They let me off with that.

I went downtown Friday afternoon, discovered that Ghandi discoteria was shut down; I left fliers at a few shops etc for our gig on Monday. I was supposed to play tomorrow night with Roi at a place called Archibrazzo in Abasto but there were problems, they were making impossible demands, in the end Roi told them we were not doing it. I was also supposed to play last night and next Thursday at Liberarte on Corrientes but the sponsor pulled out – so all 3 gigs I had in Bs As were cancelled .. it’s not unusual. Anyway, Marcelo Bousquet has fixed a gig for the sax quartet at Clasica y Moderna on Callao for next Monday – hence the fliers and posters. I found a nice little parrilla just off Lavalle, called ‘Amigos de Carlitos’. There is just the grill and half a dozen tables. No menu, no coffee – just whatever is on the grill, with bread tinto, beer and water. I had a choripan and tinto. In the evening I had a very pleasant dinner with Horacio Straijer, Cyntia and kids .. He’s hoping to arrange a gig for the trio with Mono; there’s a short excerpt from a tv programme we did with this trio some years ago, it’s on you tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj9wYhHrpJM

There had been another storm overnight but it kept dry on the Saturday. I finished reading the book I had with me – ‘Open Door’ by Ian Rankin, I hadn’t brought any more but Daniel had found an English novel and gave it to me – ‘Night of Errors’ by Desmond Bagley. I had read some of his books 30 years ago, surprising how old fashioned they feel now.

I walked round to Straijer’s house around 7pm, we went to the park – Parque Saavedra – with the boys to play football .. well, I didn’t play much football but I did get eaten by the mosquitoes there. There was a carnival on Balbin:

LA PLATA

I had a gig on Sunday in La Plata at Ciudad Vieja with Pablo Ledesma – essentially the same quintet we played last August but Mono couldn’t do it, so we had Marcelo Fridman on bass with Marcus Edwards guitar and Facundo Barreyra drums. A really nice gig, one of my favourite venues.

THE FIVE FROM LA PLATA

BACK TO Bs As.

I stayed overnight in La Plata with Pablo and we returned to Bs As together on Monday for rehearsal of the ‘Walter Thiers Memorial Saxophone Quartet’. Walter was a mainstay of the Argentine jazz scene, directing the main jazz festival ‘Mardel Jazz’ from the 60’s until his death in the 90’s. It was Walter who first invited me to play in Argentina in 1989, followed by several appearances at Mardel Jazz and later, in 1996, he arranged a tour by the British Saxophone Quartet – Elton Dean, Paul Dunmall, Simon Picard and myself. The other 2 members of WTMSQ are Sergio Paolucci on alto and Daniel Harari on tenor, with Pablo soprano and me baritone. The same evening the quartet played at Clasica y Moderna – we went there about 7.30 and at 9.00pm the heavens opened again – sheets of water, the street flooded – many of our friends and audience found it just impossible to travel, so again the audience was rather select.

CLASICA Y MODERNA

.... and MARCELO

The gig went well but we had a few problems getting home afterwards with diversions due to the flooding.

So Tuesday was a quiet day, the highlight being a dinner at night in a parilla on Alveaz Thomas called ‘El Boliche de Nico’ – where I tried matambré a la pizza. On Wednesday we took WTMSQ into the recording studio of Nestor Diaz, we had about 4 hours there, resulting in about 30 minutes of recording, mostly originals by Pablo and myself. Thursday I did downtown Bs As – Retiro, San Telmo, San Juan, Congreso, La Americana, Callao, Corrientes, La Paz and a meeting with Marcelo Bousquet, mainly talking about future possibilities with the sax quartet. Marcelo also presents a radio programme ‘Informe Jazz’ on Fridays on 680 AM.

I returned to Nestor’s studio on Friday, spent most of the day there, mastering the tracks we made on Wednesday. I was alone in the evening, went to a local parilla on Monroe for a good steak and tinto. Next day I had a walk down to the feria on Juramente. I went to a small café there for coffee, the waiter spoke excellent English, asking me what I was doing in Argentina. He asked if I wanted to read the newspaper but I explained I could not read Spanish – so he popped out to the kiosco and bought me the Buenos Aires Herald.

CENTRO CULTURAL MATIENZA

The gig Straijer was trying to arrange had been confirmed and we (the trio) were to play at Centro Cultural Matienza just of Cabildo in Colegiales. Mono picked me up about 8.15pm, we collected Straijer and went there, a lovely little place and the trio is one of my favourite combos. Mono and I later went to eat in Café TV, joined even later by Daniel, who had just returned from Tigre.

HURTADO~STRAIJER~HASLAM

We went to Nestor’s once again the following morning to collect the masters etc. and settle my account. Later Daniel and I went to Vicente Lopez, to the harbour where there is yachting club, fishing club etc. It was very windy – but no rain, I wished I had my camera with me. We then called in an ‘Irish Pub’ i.e. a bar that sells Guinness. Actually it was a nice place with a range of beers including a selection of Gambrinus beers on draft – I had a couple of ‘pintas’ and it was excellent. The pub was called ‘Downtown Mattias’ – or similar. Tomorrow is my birthday but I shall be travelling so we had planned an asado for tonight but the weather was not fit so we decided to buy a load of tinto and nibbles and order in a steady supply of empanadas. Paolucci came, Horacio and Estella, Lucia, Pablo, Manuel – together with Gloria Daniel and I we got through 5 dozen empanadas.

I had a taxi booked for 10 am for Ezeiza – another thunderstorm enveloped our take-off, no upgrade, 4 hours delay in Sao Paulo due to some technical fault with aircraft – other than that OK – not my best birthday. 22 hours after leaving Estomba I was home. 23 February, 2010.

ITALY, GENOA and COGOLETO.

2009-11-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

I flew from Heathrow to Genoa via Rome, Saturday, 31 October 2009. An uneventful but lengthy journey due to change at Rome and delays from there .. even after we landed at Genoa we taxied for 20 minutes before arriving at parking bay. Anyway, Stefano (Pastor) and Guido (De Vecchi) were waiting for me on arrival. We drove to Stefano's apartment in a small seaside town called Cogoleto about 25 miles outside Genoa - a very popular resort in the summer but quiet now. After 'checking in' we went to a small seafront restaurant 'Osteria de Ruma' run by a dutchman Hans and his wife Sandra who, in addition to being the chef is also a very good blues singer - unfortunately we did not have chance to hear her. Guido later drove back home to Genoa, Stefano took me on a tour of Cogoleto pubs... The Fig Tree, Green Garden, Cogolitus and The Fifth Element. The latter is the venue for our gig next Thursday, 5 November. Antonia, the manager, was looking forward to that.
I had a bit of a lie in on the Sunday morning. Stefano's flat is south facing directly over the Mediteranean .. or The Tireno Sea, as this area of the Mediteranean is called.
After coffee we got ready for our rehearsal which was to be in a recording studio in the old port district of Genoa. We went to the railway station (a very short walk), had a coffee and took the 14.30 train for Genoa centre. Erika also boarded the train at one of the stations en route. In the city we walked slowly down to the old port, there we met Guido and wandered on to the studio. A lot of old warehouses in Porto Antico have been converted to shops, studios, a conference centre, restaurants etc. At the studio we met the fifth member of the group, Marco Tindiglia. Marco, guitarist, is also Artistic Director of the studio "GEZMATAZ" in Porto Antico.
So, the line up for the concert on Wednesday, 4 November at 'Palazzo Rosso' will be:
Stefano violin; Guido viola; Marco guitar, Erika (Dagnino) voice and myself on baritone sax and tarogato. We had a good rehearsal till about 7.00pm; the music, by Stefano, is six pieces based on the works of 17th century Genovese composers. The concert is entitled ' Improviso Barocco'. The poems which this music accompanies will be composed and read by Erika.

Erika in the studio

After rehearsal we tried out the Genovese subway - quite impressive, back to mainline station and train to Cogoleto. A couple of negronis in the American Bar and the Fifth Element then back to flat to enjoy Stefano's home made minestone and some nice wines.

On Monday it rained all day. We visited the local vinateka where the manager, Christian, suggested we should taste all the red wines he had .. so we did. We selected 3 bottles for home, he would not accept payment .. nice guy, must go there again! A bit more shopping for the essentials, then a couple of negronis in The Fig Tree - Stefano asked them to make the second one a bit stronger .. it was! Home again for a great chicken curry by Erika and Stefano.
Back to hot and sunny on Tuesday; S & E up early, Erika teaching and Stefano going to Genoa to collect a speaker for Thursday. He called me to say he had found some fresh fish and did I fancy it for dinner .. why not? His call got me out of bed - it was almost noon anyway. I went for a long walk along the coast.

Looking east along the coast, towards Genoa.

The coast looking west into the afternoon sun.

The fish turned out to be seppia = cuttlefish, cooked Genovese style with potatoes and garlic.

THIS WAS ONE OF THE POTATOES

The concert on Wednesday was at the PALAZZO ROSSO in the ancient district of Genoa - it went well, after a fairly lengthy soundcheck etc. Audience was select - about 50/60. The music was good and well received.

The Red Palace Five; Erika, me, Stefano. Guido & Marco.

After concert supper in the old cotton warehouse in Porto Antico.

Thursday we had our last gig, at The Fifth Element. A trio of Stefano, electric bassist Andrea Rossi Andrea from Vicenza and myself.
I think it went well - I remember having some drinks and then getting out of bed on Friday - a bit fragile, staggered around drinking coffee and packing the baritone in time to take the taxi we had booked.

ANDREA

MANAGERESS ANTONIA

ANDREA'S GIRLFRIEND FRANCESCA

So, I made it for the taxi, left Stefano's apartment at noon, arrived Abingdon 11 hours later - delays at Rome and at Heathrow, waiting for my sax that never arrived.

IMPROFEST 2009

2009-09-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

CZECH REPUBLIC - PRAGUE AND BRNO.
IMPROFEST was later this year, September could be a good time; the weather was great and there was burčāk! So, I arrived Saturday evening, 19 September, flying from Luton with Wizzair - a Hungarian company; checked in at Swetja apartment which he was letting me have for the week then went to Irena's studio for pizza (that is where Swetja will stay). Irena was working an paintings for a private nursery - e.g. the Disney compilation ... quite different from her usual more energetic artwork.
Lubos met us there and we went out to visit the Republic Bar where Petr was playing.

Later we had a beer in one of the old bars of Zižkov - the name apparently translates as "The Shooted Eye".
Sunday was a "Day of No Car" in Prague - this seemed to result in a lot of streets in the old town being closed to traffic; there still appeared to be the same number of cars but completely clogging those streets that were open. Anyway, it resulted in a 50 minute journey to get to the Blues Club about 2 kilometres away.
At the club we had the FreeTime Quartet - Swetja, me, Josef and Petr plus 2 guests - a musician from South India, Ganesh Anandan on percussion and a 12 stringed instrument, the name sounded something like 'shritinstic' but probably wasn't. The second guest also played an Indian instrument - the sitar - he was Ladia, a musician of Prague who visited India every year to study the music. It was a good night, I also sold a few CDs so we went to look for something to eat afterwards but the Raven was closed .. we had pizza etc on the street and a beer in a bar somewhere.
Unfortunately I lost my SIM card at the Blues Club .. with all my photos!

WITH GANESH
SWETJA ALSO PLAYED THEREMIN

Monday was quiet - I had a good supply of eggs, cheese, salami etc in the fridge so ate a good breakfast . With Swetja I took a tram downtown, called at Unijazz about SLAM CDs, they aren't selling any it appears, so I arranged to collect the stock later in the week. Irena came and we went to Roman's Vinateka and I was able to sample a few glasses of Burčāk ~ this wine is only available in September. As I understood it Burčāk is sort of half fermented, the sugar is still changing to alcohol .. it is very nice.

Irena and Swetja
plus Roman and me.

Last night my friend Ivan told us about a saxophone quartet playing tonight in a small venue on the river, next to Charles Bridge at the castle end. Severely delayed by the Burčāk, we arrived there in time to hear the last 8 bars of their final piece. After the concert Ivan was very pleased we had come - he didn't know how late we had come. We met a few other musicians there - pianist Emil Vicklicky. a drummer called Jarda from Pilsen and others.

Tuesday evening Swetja was working in a theatre in Usti na Laben with a dramatic production for which he had composed the music. I didn't go - it was all in Czech of course. I had a couple of beers in Nad Victorkou pub with Jitka. Karol was there with other friends. I returned home to apartment.

Wednesday afternoon I popped round the corner to a local vinateka to try the Burčāk there - just as I returned to the flat Swetja arrived - so he went and got a bottle.Local vinateka, VINOTĒKA LUPĂČ0VCE, the white 'milk churn' on the left is what the Burčāk came in.

We sipped it until the rest of the musicians arrived and we left for Brno in Petr's car - 5 of us, FreeTime Quartet plus Ganesh. The journey is about 200 Km and takes about 2 hours.
The venue in Brno - "Music Club Muzejka" - was a very nice place; we had meal in the restaurant there which had recently been restored. They spoke several times about the occasion when Louis Armstrong played there in the 1950's.

The music this night was fine but the audience was very small - although it has to be said, they talked loudly and incessantly all evening, enough to give the impression of a larger (but completely disinterested) crowd.

The original plan for Thursday evening was to play on the river boat down near Charles Bridge - but this did not happen, we went to a park called 'Parukarka' over looking the city - Swetja had a gig there with the underground band whose name translates as 'Sweet Ending'. I sat in for a couple of numbers on tarogato.Swetja concentrating on tarogato - photo by Lubos

MILOS AND LUBOS CAME
WITH FANS

The premises on the ground floor, below the apartment was an "adult night club" where the signs outside boasted 'over 40 girls' .. with a red light on each side of the door. On this, my last night, Irena and Swetja also slept in the apartment where I was sleeping. In the early hours there was a fire down below - we had fire engines and lots of other things with flashing lights. Swetja watched from the windows, I couldn't be bothered to get out of bed. I asked Swetja if all the girls were outside, he said "No, only the ugly ones".
Anyway, the taxi turned up on schedule and took me to the airport.

ARGENTINA, Buenos Aires, San Luis, La Plata.

2009-08-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

11 August, 2009 - flight from Heathrow to Madrid and connection to Buenos Aires.
Arrived in Bs As about 9 am Wednesday 12 August. Miguel met me at airport, his taxi was in the workshop so he came with his cousin's - Daniel. We went straight to the home of Daniel (Harari).
Gloria had a client (Psychological) so I went with D to Zulu Bar; later at night D drove me to Retiro to by my ticket for San Luis leaving tomorrow night. I got a ticket on Chevalier, leaving at 9.55pm, cost 130 pesos, a bit over £20.
Current exchange rates were:
3.81 pesos = $1
6.18 pesos = £1

After we got my ticket we drove round centre, calling at La Americana for empenadas, pizza and tinto.
The next day Monito Viera came to visit and Marcelo Bousquet - they were trying to arrange a gig in San Isidro or Belgrano or somewhere else for next week after I return from San Luis.
I packed and took taxi to retiro then micro to San Luis. We arrived 1 hour late the following morning after a 12 hour drive. Roi and Marcela were wating for me at bus station together with Blas. They took me to my hotel - the name is Plaza Pringles, it is on the peatonal Rivadavia, just a short work from the main square - Plaza Pringles, very convenient.
I rested a few hours, didn't get a lot of sleep on the bus last night. Roi picked me up around 4 pm and we went to local TV studio for live playing and interview.

PLAYING AND CHATTING IN SAT TV STUDIO

After SAT TV we went to Roi's place and did a couple of hours recording duos - mostly tarogato and tenor sax. I was getting hungry! Carlos came, also Ariel, Federico and his novia and others. Ulises was also with us and Marcela made dinner!!

Staurday morning - the hotel was not serving breakfast but gave us tokens to have breakfast at the Aranjuez bar on the corner - this was good because it meant we could have it any time of day.
There was a nice piece in the San Luis newspaper
'El Diario' plugging the 2 gigs for tonight.
The first was billed for 10.00pm at the Mauricio Lopez Auditorium at the university:

The concert went very well, small audience, the following night was billed a very popular comedy trio with free admission .. so maybe people were waiting for that.

Although billed for 10.00pm the concert, in true Argentine fashion, started some time after 11.00pm.
Consequently, the second concert billed for 12.30am in a bar called La Terraneo, also ran late, infact starting around 2.30 am, by which time I was asleep. I awoke and went on stage but there was no PA system and it was a waste of time pitting an acoustic baritone against electric piano, electric bass and drum kit. I took a taxi to hotel.

THE QUARTET WITH ROI, CARLOS, TONY AND ME
DUO - ROI ON ALTO, ME ON TAROGATO.

Next day was Sunday - late breakfast in Cafe Aranjuez - reading my book, Garden of Beasts by James Deaver, watching San Luis take a lazy Sunday to the peal of the cathedral. I later spent a while looking for a place to access my email but everywhere was closed, quite a different scene to the 24/7 of Bs As.
In the afternoon Roi collected me - we had a drive to Potrero de los Funes. We went via Chacras where there is a memorial to the soldiers of San Luis.

I checked out of the hotel on the Monday - we tried to get a beer but Morrison's and a couple of other bars were closed - it was The Day of San Martin. Anyway, through dedication we found a bar that was open. Later we had another drive into the hills around San Luis - part of the road there also forms part of the international auto racing circuit in Portreros de los Funes where, during the past 2 years, have been held the TC-2000, Formula Renault and F1A GT events. Later we visited a very modern attractive racecourse -

Hippodrome.

There are many new developments in this area which also include 5 star hotel with lake, watersports, wintersports etc and the Puntas football Stadium, dedicated to the footballer Juan Gilberto Funes.
It was time for my micro, San Luis to Buenos Aires. 12 hours listening to the thundrous snoring of the guy sitting and sleepin just behind me. Arrived in Retiro at 07.30 and took train to Coghlan.
Later Daniel had errands to do downtown so I went with him and visited Marcelo Bousquet in his apartment on Corrientes - very close to El Atril where I also called.
Then I had time to wander slowly through the subway under 9 de Julio where there are some interesting shops and gradually down Belgrano, called in a pub on Independencia and on to San Telmo to wander around the indoor market there. Many more stalls are open now.
I met Daniel in the small pizzeria on Defensa - it's just like a little shop, not very attractive but they make one of the best pizzas in Bs As. There's nowhere to sit down, it was quiet so we could find a shelf for our beer and were able to lean against it. Ate too much pizza.
Back at Coghlan I relaxed for the rest of the day and made arrangements to visit Paolucci in Lomas de Zamora tomorrow.
The next morning I travelled - train from Coghlan to Retiro, subte to Constitucion where I met Sergio in the mainline station, then train to Lomas. There had been a rail accident just beyong Coghlan so the trains to Retiro were interrupted - I had to wait about 40 minutes for train - making me late for rendezvous with Sergio but all was OK. I heard him shouting my name across the main hall of Constitution Railway terminal as I ascended from the subte. He has a small home in Lomas, his son Pablo came round with girlfriend Brenda to visit us. they brought us some delicious empanadas.
SERGIO AND PABLO
In the evening we stayed home - listened to some of Sergio's CDs, talked, drank - Pablo, Brenda and journalist friend Alejandro came, they made a delicious dinner - sort of spaghetti Bolognese with chunks of steak instead of the minced steak. Went down well with tinto, in fact we had to make 2 extra excursion to local tinto supplier to to up. My diary notes read "fair bit of wine".
ALEJANDRO
Late to bed, it was a bit cool; Sergio was up all night - I could hear him in the next room, talking to John Coltrane.
SERGIO AND ME
The next morning we realised the keys for the gate were lost and we could not get out - Sergio called Pablo's mobile, we heard it ringing and found it where Pablo had left it the night before. I called Daniel - can't remember why .. except it was his birthday. Sergio went into the garden again - I checked his jacket he was wearing yesterday and could feel the keys in the lining. He had checked the pockets inside, they were empty; I checked the pockets from outside so could feel the keys where they had slipped though a small hole. So, we could get out - we went for a walk in downtown Lomas - Sergio showed me the hall and pizzeria we had visited on my last visit there with the saxophone quartet - Elton Dean, Paul Dunmall etc. We went for breakast in 'Cathedral Cafe', wandered around a bit - Sergio seemed to know everyone - then returned home to prepare for journey to Buenos Aires centre. Constitucion, Retiro, arriving Coghlan about 1 pm. Daniel and Gloria were in Zulu Bar, I joined them for super pancho.
I collected my laundry from Laverup where I had left it on Tuesday then went to Mono's house. Mono and Marcela invited me to stay with them on Sunday and Monday nights.
I returned to Daniel, we had some good pizza, birthday cake, a few drinks and smoked a Cuban cigar each on the roof.

Friday 21 August .. I walked round to Straijer's house this morning, I hadn't seen Horacio for a year or two - I think the last time was when we recorded 'September Spring'. The boys, Ivan and Leo, are growing up, looks like they're both going to be percussionists. Walking back in the afternoon it was getting quite cool. In the evening I went to a tango show with Mono and Marcela - it is Tango Festival time in Buenos Aires, we went to concert in Teatro 25 de Mayo, on Triumvirate. Two bands played, the first a young group from Holland, the second a Polish band with Argentine vocalist Susana Moncayo. The Polish bassist had borrowed an instrument from Mono - that is primarily why we were there. It's a very nice theatre, recently restored and I think re-opened earlier this year.
After the show we took the bass home then to a pizzeria - 'Kentucky' - which was very good.

The next day I went with Daniel to supermarket 'Coto' to buy a load of food and drink for today's asado. As usual, much too much food - but it all looks so good! 3 different beefs, chicken, pork, morcillas, chorizos, chimichuri, chinchilin etc. etc. and a good supply of tinto.
We had the asado in the afternoon, on the roof - Mono came, family and friends but no more musicians.
MONO AND DANIEL
In the evening Daniel and I talked about La Tere and agreed terms for Daniel to buy my half of the property. My cold is getting much worse, I didn't sleep much.

Sunday, 23 August, Daniel is going to Patagonia today to visit brother for a week in Bariloche. I prepared my belongings, I will go to Mono's house - but first I have spare time and listened to England/Australia Test Match on internet. I eventually packed and walked round to Mono's (2 blocks away).
WALKING TO MONO'S

We left in Mono's car for gig in La Plata, going via Quilmes to pick up percusionist Facundo. The gig was at NOTORIOUS, La Plata. A new venue, related of course to Notorious on Callao which was closed for maintenance. Actually, many places in Buenos Aires had been closed for a few weeks due to Swine Flu - Schools, Colleges, workplaces and of course clubs, theatres etc. When I arrived at the airport the immigration officers were still wearing masks but it appeared the worst was over.
At Notorious we had a quintet assembled by Pablo Ledesma on soprano and alto saxes with Mono, Facundo, myself and guitarist Marcelo Edwards who lived in La Plata, his father was English. We had a meal in Notorious then returned directly to Bs As, dropping off Facundo then straight to Mono's, where I slept in the recording studio.

Quintet at NOTORIOUS. Marcelo, Pablo. me, Mono and Facundo.

Actually I slept very well in the studio on the bed Marcela had made for me. I went downtown in the afternoon - train from Dr Drago to Carranzo then subte to Callao. I went to visit Mariano at Ghandi Discoteria - he had sold a couple of SLAM CDs, I left him 7 more.
From Corientes I walked along Callao to a bar called Los Galgos (The Greyhounds) on the corner of Callao and Lavalle. It is one of the very old traditional Bs As bars, quite small and they don't serve much food, but a good place.
After a beer and sandwich I walked to Retiro for train back to Dr Drago. In the evening Marcela, Mono and I went to a restaurant 'Enfunda La Mandolina' on Salguero. Described as typical Buenos Aires restaurant, in addition to the usual steaks and pastas the menu included 'Crocodile steak' - which was actually from the cayman, the small South American alligator. I decided on a more traditional steak - bife de chorizo.
I slept OK but my cold was worse.
My flight was not leaving till 9.35 pm on Monday so I had time to spare during the day, prepare all my gear for leaving - go to Chino's for a bottle of Gancia to take home. Marcela made a very nice lunch. Miguel came round later, he had got his taxi back, and took me to Ezeiza. The rest went pretty well as planned, without incident, arriving home about 23 hours later.

Brian Morton

2009-08-10T03:37:00.000-07:00

At the end of July I went to visit Brian Morton in Argyle - it's about 10 years since last I saw him; he was then living at Whitburn near Edinburgh.
I first met Brian in the early 1990's, he was presenting the programme 'Impressions' on BBC Radio 3; I did a couple of sessions during that time. He has always continued his work as a critic/reviewer for several Jazz magazines so we have maintained contact through SLAM CDs.
Here is a photo I took from the path above the farmhouse which is his home. A fantastic location overlooking Loch Striven with the Kyles of Bute and Arran in the distance.

Marlborough 2009

2009-08-10T03:30:00.000-07:00

Marlborough Jazz Festival was 10 - 12 July. I played the closing spot on the Saturday night - the band was same line-up as last year with Don Rendell, Henry Lowther, Esmond Sewlyn, Clive Morton, Robin Jones and myself. The band is called 'New Tricks'. Unfortunately no new photos but it was a great night.

FREETIME '09

2009-04-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

Swetja, Jozef Laska and Petr Zimak – who with me make up the FreeTime Quartet – arrived from Prague 27 March. Our guest, violinist Stefano Pastor arrived from Genoa the same day. We were here primarily to play Abingdon Arts Festival, around which I had arranged this programme:

Friday, 27 March, arrive in England.
Saturday 28 March concert at Polish Jazz Cafe in London see http://www.jazzcafeposk.co.uk/index-en.html
Sunday 29 March Royal British Legion Club in Abingdon (Abingdon Arts Festival)
Tuesday 31 March The Bullingdon in Oxford.
Thursday 2 April Recording session for BBC Radio 3.
Friday 3 April The Stocks Bar, Abingdon (Abingdon Arts Festival)
Saturday 4 April Stefano to guest with SWINGTIME Orchestra in Abingdon Guildhall.

The Polish Jazz Café at the Polish Cultural centre in Hammersmith is a lovely place with good people – it was a great start to the tour, being the first time Stefano had opportunity to play with the quartet, it all fitted together very satisfyingly.

The full line-up at POSK

Sunday we played our first gig in the Festival – at the Royal British Legion in Abingdon. A small recently refurbished venue, filled to overflowing, a good atmosphere.

Tuesday 31 March we played at The Bullingdon in Oxford – a pub with big music room, music every night, one of the main Oxford venues. Their music includes jazz on a Tuesday. Before we played I noticed a few old time jazz lovers in the audience – ‘Oh dear, they’re not going to like this’ I thought. I wasn’t mistaken, they had disappeared by the end of the first number. Anyway, the placed was packed with young people, dancing and enjoying the music – a long time since I played to such an enthusiastic crowd.

Swetja bought a guitar in Oxford
This is it

Stefano at the 'Bullie'

Thursday 2 April we had recording session at Pinewood Studios for ‘BBC Radio 3 ‘Jazz on 3’, produced by Somethin’ Else. Producer Robert Abel, recording engineer Steve Lowe and assistant Toby. We recorded 7 or 8 tracks, total time more than one hour – this will be mixed and mastered next week and about 50 minutes selected for the programme which goes out on 20 April.

The road to Pinewood - getting a bit over excited!

In the studio
Toby, Steve and Robert

Friday 3 April back to Abingdon Festival for the second gig there and the last gig for FreeTime on this tour. The concert was at the Stocks Bar of the Crown and Thistle where Swetja, Jozef and Petr had been staying 10 nights. Always busy there on Friday nights, space was a bit tight, Jamie did the sound and Milo’s girlfriend Lynda came – she took some of the photos. The Stocks Bar was also holding a Real Ale Festival over the weekend.

A NIGHT IN THE STOCKS

Saturday 4 April SWINGTIME Orchestra was playing at Abingdon Guildhall and Stefano played as special guest. Stefano left for Oxford/Gatwick/Genoa in the early hours after the gig.

BRIGHTON JAZZ CLUB

2009-04-19T10:27:00.001-07:00

GHQ played Brighton Jazz Club March 20, with Steve Waterman, Steve Kershaw and Robin Jones.

Havana International Jazz Plaza Festival

2009-02-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

1986 I first played in Havana with The Siger Band – Paul Rutherford, Pete McPhail, Tony Moore, Paul Hession and myself; two years later I returned with Paul Rutherford to play for the first time in the Havana Festival. I’ve returned quite frequently through my work with the great Cuban musician Bobby Carcassés.
Henry and I flew out via Paris on 11 February, met at Havana airport by Festival bus and checked into Hotel Riviera. We were invited to a Festival reception that evening in the hotel, it proved to be a low key affair so we comforted ourselves with a couple of mojitos at the bar. Henry was suffering with cold sores on his lower lip – so the trumpet was going to be difficult.
Thursday morning (12 Feb) I met my old friend Josef Koumbas in the hotel. Josef, British with Greek and Irish parentage has lived in Havana 6 years during which he has become very popular there as singer/musician, writing his own songs and with a couple of very successful CDs. Henry joined us and we had a couple of beers. Josef had bought a new car and moved to a new address in old Havana, he took us there. So we spent the day in a couple of bars in the old town – the details are less clear as the day progressed – apparently I fell, banged my head and we returned to hotel in taxi. Steve had arrived from the airport – his other commitments meant he could only travel on the Thursday and had to return on the Sunday. Unfortunately his bass had not arrived at the airport.
Friday 13th Our first concert was programmed for today; Steve chased up his bass and eventually we learnt it was actually at the airport but they could not send it to the hotel until the next day. Whilst we were waiting for transport to the gig we learnt that Josef had had a car accident last night and was in hospital – in fact his brand new car was still sideways on the Malekon just outside the hotel, it was a write off. It seemed he had decided, after we left him last night, to come to the hotel for some reason, we never learnt why – anyway, it seemed he was crossing the Malekon when his was hit by oncoming vehicle. Our minibus arrived and we had to persuade them to take us to the gig via the airport – we got the bass. So now we were 3, en route to the gig which was in a very nice little open air square called Patio ‘La Jungla’ –what a great feeling when we saw there was a drumkit on stage. Mandy, a great drummer whom I had met and played with on previous visits with Bobby .. also, as the concert was about to commence, a congero appeared – ‘Pacquito’. So now we were 5 – and it worked well. We played about 80 or 90 minutes of standards/blues/Latin and it worked fine. Greatly relieved we had a bit of Havana Club and returned to the hotel. A friend of Henry’s – Clive Fennell came and we had dinner in the hotel.

The "La Jungla" Group

Pacquito and Mandy

Saturday morning Henry and I checked out the local supermarket then the 3 of us walked down to the centre where we were supposed to have a radio interview at 2 o’clock; Josef had arranged it but Hueso – sound engineer – had then arranged to meet us there. However, Hueso did not show, the radio interviewer spoke no English –someone in the club offered to translate, he was an absolute pillock so we declined and went to Hotel Nacional for a mojito. I later took a taxi to Studio Lucero, Steve and Henry went to the old town. At Studio Lucero I had arranged a short recording session for Zalba to make a solo baritone sax track for the compilation CD I am producing. He turned up, a bit late, and we made the record, the end of a long and complicated saga but it means I can go ahead and complete the CD. Zalba then took me in his car to Bobby’s house for a social visit, a little rum etc. then he took me back to Hotel Riviera. Henry and Steve were there, they had eaten – I didn’t feel hungry, although I had not eaten since breakfast. I had rum and cola in my room so they joined me for a quiet evening.
Sunday 15 Feb Our concert today was in Teatro Mella – it was part of a 2 hour tv show with 5 or 6 bands so we were asked to limit it to 20 minutes.

Henry and George backstage at Mella.

We said we would go on first as Steve had to get to the airport – a car was arranged and waited outside the theatre whilst we did the show. We played only 2 pieces – a bossa nova and a jazz standard. We finished promptly, Steve packed his bass and piled into the car. Photographer William Ellis from Manchester was at the concert – we had met him earlier in the week, he had an exhibition at the Festival. He took some good photos and later emailed a few to me. We watched the show to the end, Bobby with his big band etc. then Henry and I walked back to the hotel for cocktails and dinner.

On stage at Teatro Mella and end of gig, Steve rushing off fo airport.

Monday 16th My head is a lot better. I had learnt that Josef was home from hospital so I telephoned him – he sounded very bad, suffering from whiplash and every part of his part seemed to be damaged. Henry and I walked all the way from hotel to the port in the old town then we went in the Museum of the Revolution, walking in total for well over 3 hours. We had a mojito in the museum then took a taxi back to hotel, it was a hot day! I called Josef again the next morning to see about visiting him but he said someone was going to take him to another hospital at mid-day. He sounded a bit more ‘with it’.

With Bobby and his son Aurobindo.

Bobby came to the hotel to see us before we left for the airport then our car arrived and the long journey home began .. time at Havana airport for the ‘last of the mojitos’.

Kaamos Jazz Lapland.

2008-11-29T04:20:00.000-08:00

Thursday, 20 November, I meet with Henry Lowther, Robin Jones and Steve Kershaw at Heathrow Terminal 1 for flight to Helsinki and on to Ivalo in Finnish Lapland. We arrive pretty much on time at Ivalo and are met at the airport with transport to Tankavaara, a very small goldmining settlement which, along with Saariselka, is one of the 2 centres of ‘KAAMOS JAZZ’. The festival is organized by Kauko Launonen.

At Tankavaara we are installed in a chalet and have a couple of hours to prepare for our first gig at the festival. We are to play each evening, tonight in Tankavaara, tomorrow in Huippu and Tankavaara, Saturday in Saaraselka (Tunturi Hotel) and Huippu and on Sunday in Saariselka.

Friday we had time to walk around the Goldmining Museum and some of the nature trail before leaving for Huippu – a peak outside the town of Saariselka at the top of a skilift. Then rushed back to Tankavaara for our second gig of the evening.

We left Tankavaara Saturday lunchtime for Saariselka where we checked in at a good hotel ‘Holiday Club’. Found a couple of friendly bars in the town. I remember visiting these 9 years ago when I was at the same festival with pianist Laszlo Gardony. Two more gigs tonight – first at the Tunturi Hotel in a venue called ‘Siula’, then back up the hill to Huppui.

On Sunday we had a bit more time to relax, I went walking a little with Henry, had a couple of beers in the second of the 2 bars. In the evening was a concert then final jam session in a venue called ‘Kieppe’ very close to the hotel we were staying at.

Monday we were leaving for home, Robin was feeling weak. We had to take a service bus to the airport at Ivalo, 30 km from hotel, the bus was full, we had to stand, not so comfortable. We got Robin on the bus and found a seat for him. At the airport we learned the flight was 2.5 hours late. There had been severe blizzards down south the previous day, Helsinki airport had been closed and the aircraft were mostly where they should not have been. We eventually got our flight to Helsinki where of course we had missed our connection for Heathrow – as had thousands of others it seemed. There was total chaos at the airport, hundreds of people looking to make connections and very very few transit desks. By this time we had found wheelchair for Robin, his concern was to get back to London, his family and St Thomas’ Hospital – so that was what we must do.

We eventually arrived at Heathrow 5 hours late – could have been a lot worse. No surprise that our cases and instruments did not arrive – we got them 2 days later.

June met Robin at Heathrow, took him home then to St Thomas where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He stayed there 3 nights.

An unfortunate last day but a very enjoyable festival, good music and we were well cared for by some lovely people.

November Home Gigs

2008-11-28T15:29:00.000-08:00

Between returning from Argentina on 2 November and leaving for Lapland on 20th there were a few events in UK.
Wednesday 5 November - A gig at the "20th International Guitar Festival of Great Britain" in Birkenhead Town Hall with Esmond Selwyn Band - a sextet with Esmond guitar, Robin Jones drums, myself and other great musicians I had not previously met:-

Casey Greene - Alto/tenor/soprano/flute

Jean-Paul Garde - Piano

Zoltan Dekany - Bass

A straight ahead set, good and strong. Pity there was a very small audience. I went there with Robin, he picked me up on the M1 south of Milton Keynes, we drove home after the gig and he dropped me off at the garage in Greenfield where I collected my Jaguar at 2.30 am. I drove home, getting to bed around 5.30 am.

Sunday 9 November, apart from it being Beryl's birthday, was Remembrance Sunday - the day I take my swingband 'SWINGTIME' to the Abingdon branch of the Royal British Legion to play a couple of hours of 1940's swing music - Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and all that jazz. Always a very popular event with members and guests of the RBL and the forces from Dalton Barracks.

Sunday 16 November I arranged a day for SWINGTIME - rehearsal and workshops in the afternoon with Henry Lowther, Martin Speake, Robin Jones and Steve Kershaw taking the section workshops. In the evening we played a concert at The Marlborough Club in Didcot; the concert was in 3 parts - first the band played a selection of their popular swing music, then the quintet of Henry, Martin, Steve, Robin and myself played a set of music from my new CD 'PAPERMOON' and in the third set the workshop leaders sat in with the band and played some of the music we had worked on in the afternoon. The concert went very well with a good audience.

Argentina, October 2008

2008-11-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

BACK TO ARGENTINA.

I left London on 13 October for Buenos Aires via Sao Paulo, kindly upgraded to Club Class by BA, arriving Bs As mid morning on the 14th. My planned programme was:
15 - 17 Free Jazz Festival in Bs As
18, 19 La Tere
20, Buenos Aires
21, Notorious
23, San Juan
24, San Luis
25, Mendoza
26, 27, San Luis
28, Recording Bs As -
29, Notorious -
31, Mardel Plata –
1 November Depart Buenos Aires 14.15

As is quite common, most of this was about to change – The Notorious gig in Bs As was postponed to 22 October so it was necessary to cancel San Juan. Mendoza had also been cancelled I was told, as had Mardel Plata!

I had a day to settle in before the first gig – we went to National Radio on Maipu, Bs As to give interview about the Free Jazz Festival.15,16 and 17 October I played at the Free Jazz Festival held at “SADEM” (Sociedad Argentina de Musicos) – a sort of Musicians’ Union. It was good to play again with musicians Sergio Paulucci, Roi Maciaz, Juan Carlos Martello etc. – and to make new friends such as Jorge Savelon.The festival was a real success, musically, but the audience was very small. The problem was the City of Bs As had decided, on the last minute, to put on a commercial jazz festival over the same period, with concerts at venues all over the city, all free admission and including some guests from USA etc. The SADEM gigs were much more for musicians and it was good to see so many there.

After the third night of the festival (Friday 17 Oct) I went home with Daniel (Harari), friend, saxophonist and lutier. We had planned to spend the weekend at La Tere - our house on the Tigre Delta – but I decided it was going to be too much hassle so we hung around Coghlan for a couple of days. I had chance there to visit another old friend, bassist Mono Hurtado who had just returned from a tour of Chile. Sunday evening I returned to the home of Ruben Ferrero and Edy to prepare for our first Notorious date. 20 Oct we rehearsed a bit, 21 Oct was a heavy thunderstorm keeping us indoors. I booked my bus ticket for San Luis. At night we went downtown for a beer, called in at a new jazz club on Parana, the same location where used to be “Oliverio’s”, now it is called ‘Jazz y Pop’, run by bassist Negro Rodriguez. Then to Pippo’s for dinner and La Americana for pudding – ‘Sopa Ingles’.. English soup, it is actually a very sweet cake.Our first Notorious gig was on the 22nd, originally booked for the 21st, this meant there was not enough time to get to San Juan for gig on 23rd. Notorious went OK, very small audience, but keen. With Ruben and me were Juan Carlos Martello and bassist Geronimo Carmona.

23 Oct, went downtown with Edy to check out CD sales in shops. In the evening I went for bus from Linears to San Luis – more complicated than expected, the taxi did not turn up, we eventually got another one which had a puncture on way to terminus. I arrived there with little time to spare and found the seat on my ticket did not exist on the bus. I was eventually found a seat, one which the spare crew would normally use. The company was Chevalier. Anyway, we arrived in San Luis on Schedule, 11 hours later. Pianist Roi Maciaz and wife Marcela were there to meet me and buy my ticket for return. As Mendoza was cancelled I had decided to stay in San Luis 3 nights. I was taken to a very good hotel ‘Hotel Vista’ where I met Ariel Frola from the Fundación Atrilia who were sponsoring my visit and the concerts. Federico also came and we walked out to centre, just a few blocks away, where was the cathedral, park etc. we had a couple of beers and walked back. After a short rest (I didn’t sleep much last night on the bus) I went with Ariel to give a workshop at the school where he teaches – then to meet Roi and give a radio interview (which I did mostly in castellano!).I found a newspaper with an article about my visit – they called me “El Viejo Lobo” which I was told was very complimentary!!
I was also reminded that people of San Luis are called ‘Puntanos’.
So back to hotel and at last time for a rest – they planned to pick me up at 9.30 pm. for the gig. We played at “Lalo y Cia”, the same place I played in February with Roi’s trio “Maciaz FreeOrg” with Roi, Federico and Oscar. It went very well, sold a few CDs and everyone was happy.

Afterwards we returned to Roi’s where Marcela had prepared dinner. I got back to hotel not much after 3 am. By which time it had started raining.

The rain continued till midday on the Saturday – had heard nothing from anyone so at 2pm. I went for a walk downtown – it was completely deserted. The weather was sunny and I walked around, had a pizza, hardly saw a soul.

When I returned to hotel there was a message from Ariel to say the gig tonight was cancelled due to the rain – it was to be in a patio at a venue called ‘Il Forno’ – a beer place at Portrero. Instead we did a recording session in Roi’s studio, just duets. Later we went to pub called “Morrison’s” where a rock band was playing. Carlos then went to work (as a bouncer) and later Roi and Ariel dropped me off at hotel 4am.

Sunday 26 October – checked out of hotel and we all went to home of Marcela’s parents. Her father, Salvador, made good asador then we went to Florida, a small village in the mountains beyond Portrero with a beautiful lake. Ariel and Carlos got some homemade bread and beer.

A great day out and finally to bus terminal for coach to Bs As – a good service by Andesmar, comfortable beds, supper and breakfast.

They showed a film onboard, don’t know what it was but most of the time the actor Will Smith was walking around carrying what looked like a sewing machine.

I took a taxi from Linears and woke up Edy at home at 8.00am, Monday.

On the Tuesday I made 2 recording sessions, the first in BAC, a duo with Ruben, then to studio at Sadem for quartet with Ruben, J. C. Martello and Jorge Savelon – piano, drums, percussion and me. It was an idea I had called ‘Once Upon a Time in Argentina’ – a continuous track more that 30 minutes long.

On Wednesday Edy went back downtown for me to meet the new guy in the shop at Notorious – Sergio. We played our second gig there in the evening, went well – I ‘sang’ Night and Day!

Thursday 30 October I awoke feeling a bit fragile. Took taxi to Daniels, actually to the recording studio of Nestor Diaz in Coghlan. We had a session there in quartet with Mono and guitarist Quique Sinesi – a good session. Daniel decided to buy the soprano sax I had taken for him. In the evening I went with Ruben to an asador at Sadem, many of the musicians from the festival were there. Strange things started to happen – Ruben did not speak to me all evening so I had nobody to talk English to until Edy arrived. Later Ruben went completely strange but would not tell me what was wrong. The following morning I thought maybe it was a language problem so I gave him a present but he threw it back at me. I went downtown with Edy to Notorious –they had sold 1 CD so we had a coffee with the money at a nice old café on Lavalle and Callao – Los Galgos (the greyhounds). I then went on to Ghandi to talk with Mariano and had lunch at Pippo’s before returning home.

R was still acting very strange, fortunately Paulucci came, I called Daniel and arranged to meet him later, then packed all my belongings, I’d had enough.We went to Sadem studio to record a session for Paulucci with Jorge S and bassist Geronimo Carmona.

Jorge had a recording for me from the Notorious concert, he gave it to Ruben to give to me but R refused to let me have it. Anyway, that was the end of Ruben – and I never did find out what was behind it all. I got to Daniel’s late, after 10pm., we went with Gloria to Restaurant TV then to heladeria.>Saturday 1 November, taxi to Ezeiza, upgraded again by BA, arrived Heathrow Terminal 5 Sunday morning pretty much on schedule.

September 2008, Music and Cars.

2008-09-28T02:50:00.000-07:00

14 September Turweston Airfield

18 September – Thame Show ~ with Ernie and Jag

20 September – Windsor Festival
Improvisors Zane Cronje piano, Mick O'Connor guitar, John Coverdale guitar and myself.

With John Coverdale.

25 September – Solo sax in Cotswold Motoring Museum

27 September - 31 saxes in Abingdon Market Square

August in Italy

2008-08-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

The visit to Italy was to record in Genoa with violinist

Stefano Pastor and other musicians, play a concert in Aosta and relax a few days in the Italian Alps.

I arrived in Genoa Thursday 31 July, met and accommodated by Stefano and Roberta. The same day we made our first recordings of improvised duets in ‘Villa Parodi’, an old country house converted to a school.

Friday we had another session in same studio, this time in quartet with soprano sax Claudio

Lugo and bassist Giorgio Dini – a session of improvised music, some based on ideas by Stefano.

Saturday Stefano and I returned to Villa Parodi, I was interested in recording a solo in the cavernous entrance hall of the house, I found the acoustics interesting.

Each day after recording we retired to a local bar for Negronis

Sunday 3 August we left Genoa for Aosta in the Alps. We checked in at a guesthouse ‘Le Vieux Creton’ in a small hamlet called Creton comprising 2 houses and a small chapel, altitude 1,535 metres (5,000 feet).

Creton and the chapel.

Monday, 4 August was our concert in Aosta at ‘Espace Populaire’ with quintet – pianist Beppe Barbera, Giorgio Dini on bass, Ferdinando Faraò drums, Stefano and myself. The concert was mostly standards.

The following 7 days were spent relaxing at Creton, with regular visits to various local towns and villages to keep the negronis flowing.

Aosta Valley; Roberta and I at Monte Bianco

and the negronis seemed to get bigger.

MARLBOROUGH FESTIVAL 2008

2008-07-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

GEORGE HASLAM'S

"MATURE SIX"

This was my sixteenth consecutive year playing at Marlborough Jazz Festival, every year I try to take a new band - and this year was at least as good as any I have had in the past 15 years.

Robin Jones, Esmond Selwyn and Clive Morton together make a formidable rhythm section. On top of this I was able to extend the frontline to include the master of British saxists - Don Rendell - and trumpet great Henry Lowther - so we had trumpet doubling flugel horn, tenor sax doubling flute and clarinet with myself on baritone sax.

I had previously made one tour with Henry back in 1982 with the "Brit~Magyar Sextet" - that was the last time we played together. I had a couple of gigs with Don in 2006 but unfortunately I was in Argentina on the second date - so we also had only previously met once on stage before this date. But, no problem, everything just slotted into place - great music, a great feeling in the band and it went across to a very appreciative audience.

DON, HENRY, GEORGE, ROBIN

Some photos by Dave Self:

FreeTime in Prague, May 2008

2008-05-26T04:06:00.000-07:00

We (Swetja, me etc.) have been arranging Improfest in Czech Republic for about 7 years now; the latest was from 9 - 17 May 2008. The outline is concerts in Prague, tour outside the capital then final concerts back in Prague. The music is by FreeTime Quartet - that's Swetja, Jozef Laska, Petr Zimak and myself - plus guests. Our invited guests this year were Robin Jones, London, congas, Tonu Naissoo, Tallinn, piano and Mattos Bagar, Brno, keyboards.

Robin, Tony and I arrived Prague 8 May for the following programme:

Friday 9 May concert – Praha, Bluessklep (Blues Club)
Saturday 10 May concert – Třeboň South Bohemia (Kostel sv. Jiljí)) Anifest is an animated film festival.
Sunday 11 May concert – Písek (Local Club) Pisek is a beautiful town in South Bohemia.
Monday 12, Tuesday 13 May, free in Prague
Wednesday 14 May concert – Pardubice (Divadlo 29)
Thursday 15 May Concert on board Vlatava Prague
Friday 16 May Visit to Konopiste then percussion workshop, Prague
Saturday 17 May concert – Praha (Balbínova poetická hopůdka)

Returning to London Sunday 18 May.

Photos from the Blues Club

The Terrapin and the ducks in Pardubice

The Vlatava by night

The WAGS of Balbínova

Unfortunately June and Beryl were unable to be with us but the other musicians had friends there.

The Jaguar arrives

2008-05-26T03:56:00.000-07:00

Last September I decided I would buy a 1964 Jaguar MK II 3.4 saloon. It was with a small company near Milton Keynes called R.S. Cars. The plan was they would do a total rebuild during the winter and have it ready for me in March. Well I took delivery late April, a nice car but they had insufficient time to give it the full road trials so I am finding the teething snags as I go along. Here are a couple of photos of the Jaguar BYB 809B:

Jazzin' the Blues

2008-05-26T03:38:00.000-07:00

For almost 20 years I've been leading a series of music workshops at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, titled "Jazzin' the Blues" - actually in the earlier years the title was "Learning the Blues".

Early workshops looked at blues structures, harmonies, improvising etc., now I write flexible arrangements of blues themes with riffs etc and we work out performance arrangements at the workshops. Approaching the blues from the jazz angle, a form of the music played by riffing bands such as Count Basie etc.

The whole thing has been really successful, I'm amazed it has run for so many years. In recent years we've also put on a workshop band to perform in various music functions at the Arts Centre.

The workshops run for 4 consecutive Saturdays, usually twice a year; the latest sessions took place on the four Saturdays in April 08 - here are a couple of photos from these sessions:

SNOWBIRD

2008-04-06T06:27:00.001-07:00

Sunday, 6 April 2008 - the first real snowfall we've had for years.

As the snow melted we had a rare visitor to the garden - a Golden Pheasant.

Swingtime - Springtime

2008-04-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Abingdon Arts Festival was here again in March and Swingtime came out for the Festival Ball at The Guildhall.

More Argentine Adventures

2008-03-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

Argentine tour Feb 2008

I travelled on Thursday 7 February with Iberia via Madrid; from Madrid to Buenos Aires they upgraded me to Business Class, very civilised! I arrived in Bs As about 2 a.m. on 8 Feb; no transport awaited so I took taxi to home of Ruben and Edy in Caballito, arriving at 4 a.m.. They panicked when the doorbell rang at that time, they had made a mistake and thought I was arriving 24 hours later. So, a couple of night caps – the J & B I picked up on arrival at Ezeiza – and to bed. Slept in a while on the Friday!

I had a fairly full schedule planned – and for once it all happened!
7 Feb depart LHR 12.15 IB 3175
7 Feb depart Madrid 17.00 > Bs As IB 6849
8 Feb arrive Bs As 02.15
9 Feb Concert in 'Notorius' in Bs As
10 Feb “Ciudad Vieja” with Pablo Ledesma, calle 17 y 71- La Plata
11 Feb travel La Plata to Mar del Plata.
12 Feb “Villa Victoria” concert in Mar del Plata.
13 Feb travel MdP > Bs As
14 Feb 16.00hs recording with Ruben then travel to San Luis
15 Feb Recording with Roi Maciaz, San Luis.
16 Feb Concert “Lalo y Cia”, 9 de Julio / Ituzaingó, San Luis
17 Feb travel San Luis to Bs As
18 Feb arrive Bs As
19 Feb FREE DAY!!
20 Feb Concert at Casa del Sur, Bs As with RF
21 Feb Last night
22 Feb depart Bs As 04.05 > Madrid IB 6848
22 Feb depart Madrid 20.50 IB 3168
22 Feb arrive LHR 22.10

Prorgramme arranged by Edy: etnicaar@yahoo.com.ar,

Ruben: http://www.rubenferrero.cancionero.net/

and Pablo

So I had a couple of days to check my instruments, email and
settle in ( I was sleeping at Ruben’s) before our first gig at Notorious on Saturday night – after midnight. In addition to Ruben we had Sergio Paulucci alto sax, Pedro Menendez flute, Mauro Rosal sop sax, Fito Vega bass, Leandro Fornier piano and Daniel San Jose drums. Mirta Insauralda sang a couple of songs.

With Ruben and Paulucci

Edy and Ruben’s mother died 2 or 3 years ago, their sister died many years ago as a young woman in childbirth. Every Saturday they place fresh flowers by their photos in the living room.

The next day, Sunday, I took the 129 bus from Constitucion to La Plata – the bus was full, I sat on the floor; arrived La Plata 6pm and had coffee at bus terminal where I met Pablo Ledesma. After relaxing at Pablo and Alicia’s home we went to the venue – ‘Ciudad Vieja’ – I‘ve played there many times before. Tonight, with Pablo we had Martin de Lassaletta bass and Christian Mollard drums with guest Pablo Rivas on vibes.

Monday we travelled La Plata to Mar del Plata to play concert there on Tuesday evening. This was outdoors in the grounds of Villa Victoria, Centro Cultural Victoria Ocampo - which was fine until there was a power cut, all electricity was lost for about 20 minutes. We could play on acoustically and 1 or 2 members of the audience drove their cars in the ground and directed the headlights on the stage. I sold all the CDs I had with me and we had a jolly good meal afterwards.
I returned alone to Buenos Aires the next day after meeting percussionist Sergio Mileo at the bus terminal. I travelled with the micro company ‘TonyTur’ – a good line. Back in Buenos Aires in the evening. Ruben was talking to me about the difference between a tango rhythm and a milonga – tango in 2 beat – 2/4 or 2/2 – the milonga in 4/4 has a 1, 2.5, 4 rhythm, not too fast. The next morning I went with Edy to Liniers to buy micro tickets for San Luis – we got tickets for 23.15 that night.
It transpires that the province of San Luis is on a different time than the rest of Argentina – east or west of San Luis. Apparently the Governor Rodriguez Saa is not a supporter of the Federal President Kirchner; this year for the first time Argentina changed its clocks by 2 hours for summertime instead of the usual 1 hour – to save energy etc. Saa says the country could save more energy by not selling it cheap to other South American countries, leaving Argentina without water or electricity for long periods. Ruben said in January when it was around 40 degrees C they were without water and power for 5 days. Another gripe was Argentina’s failure to secure the building of a new paper mill by Scandinavian firm Bodnia – it went to Uruguay because their level of corruption was less than Argentina’s – the government there demanded a smaller ‘bung’. Anyway, the outcome was San Luis decided they would stick with the regular 1 hour change for summertime, putting them an hour out from the rest of the country.

There are thousands of small Chinese ‘Supermercados’ across Argentina, locally known as ‘Chinos’ – today I saw one called ‘Argenchino’.
Thursday afternoon I went downtown, walked around the usual places and called in at Ghandi’s – Mariano has bought the record shop business there – what was ‘El Atrill’ is now called ‘Tritone’. We spoke about CD sales etc. – there is a slight confusion dealing with sales before and after last September when he took over the business. Anyway, Edy will deal with all that. I arranged for Edy and me to visit Mariano next week.
Later - about 7pm. I met Ruben in La Americana and we had empanadas etc. before returning home and preparing for the bus to San Luis. Everything went on schedule but the micro company, Tramat, was not the best I had travelled on – it is a subsisidiary of Andesmar which is quite good but Tramat was disappointing. Anyway we arrived in San Luis 13 hours later after passing through 2 hours of solid thunderstorm. We were met by Roi Maciaz – the pianist with whom we had concert etc. - the first thing on the agenda was a radio interview then we had a rest in Hotel Nani – to be kind it could be described as basic. Ruben and I then went for a bit of lunch. Later Roi met us at the hotel and we went downtown for a couple of beers before going to his house for dinner.

At Roi's house with Carlos, Roi and his son Ulises

A beer with Federico

Drawing by Ulises

Saturday morning – the hotel does not offer breakfast – or coffee – or juice … we have to walk 7 blocks to get a coffee. Having walked that far we decided to stay downtown, there was an interesting craft fair on, we went into the beautiful cathedral and in the main square were some busking musicians, a bizarre sight, playing sikus etc. dressed in North American Indian costumes and playing to backing tapes of ABBA! Lunch in a nice pizzeria and walked back to hotel. We discovered we should have made another radio interview that morning, anyway, Roi did it, which was fine with me as I have little to contribute to a radio interview without an interpreter.

The concert also had good press coverage.

Ruben went with Roi to prepare the venue – Lalo y Cia – I stayed in the hotel during another very heavy thunderstorm. San Luis is quite a hilly city and within minutes the streets were turned into rivers, apparently the venue was flooded and water was pouring in but it all dried out by the time of the gig – about 11.00pm. We had Federico Farias double bass and Oscar Puliafitto drums with Roi, Ruben and myself. The concert went really well and again I sold out of CDs.

With Ruben and Roi at Lalo y Cia

We got back to bed about 4 am, to be awakened by Roi at 8.30 and taken to recording studio!! Pity we had two great pianists with us but no piano – Roi played guitar and Ruben was on pianica and percussion.

We survived this and had a great lunch at Roi’s.

Last night’s concert got good press reviews –

Roi then took us together with family on excursion to a mountain lake, a really beautiful place with a name something like ‘Portreros en les Funes’.

Behind me is a ford for cars to cross and a footbridge

We eventually took our bus for Buenos Aires and arrived at Liniers 7.20 Monday morning. I spent most of the next 2 days resting – Ruben went to get a collection of tango music for me; Edy went to the garage to see about his car – some problem with the engine, it’s been in the garage 2 months, he’s beginning to think it should be ready soon.
Tuesday evening Ruben and I went downtown to San Telmo – the oldest district of Bs As, I like it but it has got quite expensive now. On Sundays there are miles of street markets, tango dancers and bands, buskers and all manner of street entertainers. At night I had been hoping to find a small tango bar but Tuesday is not the best night - we had to settle for rhythm and blues. Interesting to see young musicians playing the same Chuck Berry things I was playing in the 1960's - long ago and far away! Edy is a pharmacist by profession, his present work demands a shift from 4pm. till midnight so we met him about 12.30 and went for dinner. One o'clock Wednesday morning, the restaurants aren't too busy and the food (and wine) is good. It's a common time for having dinner out in Bs As, in the cool of the evening (or morning). A life style many people can adapt to without difficulty - where 'Happy Hour' is at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning and the Saturday night discos end Sunday lunchtime - when you think about it it makes sense to have the kids going home midday Sunday rather than 2 or 3 in the morning.

Sitting out in street cafes eating icecream in the early hours is so pleasant.

Later that morning we went downtown to the record shop, coffee etc. and at night I had a gig at Casa del Sur with Ruben, Paulucci, Mauro, Daniel the drums and Tomas Rodriguez bass. During the interval around 1 a.m. we watched a full eclipse of the moon.

So we came to our last day, went to local Chino for food and drink for tonight’s party, Edy then went downtown and collected a good sum of money for CDs sold at three record shops - Zival's, Ghandi and Notorious. Ruben made empanadas and Edy made pizzas – I slowly packed and prepared for journey home. Midnight brought in my birthday – Daniel Harari came, he had just returned from 3 weeks holiday in Brazil and Uruguay. I had a taxi booked for 2 am, flight at 4 am … no upgrade this time, but I did get talking to the lady next to me - Mari Cruz – who it turned out owns a string of sex shops in Spain.

Lisbon with Miguel

2008-02-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

I was invited to play in Lisbon by Miguel Martins whom I did not know but he had heard my music and was willing to help me. Dates were agreed for February 2008.
I flew out from Heathrow very early on Friday the first of February, Miguel met me at the airport and took me to a very comfortable hotel –‘Travel Park’ - where I was able to rest and catch up on the sleep I had lost through overnight travelling.
We met later in the day and began what was to be a very packed programme for the weekend. We went to the small bookshop/café – ‘Livraria de Artes’ where Miguel worked and where I played a short solo concert in the early evening.
Later I played a second concert that evening, this time in a larger venue – “o Século”. This time I was joined by a second saxophonist, Rui Horta Santos – we played together again on the Saturday night in the same venue – this time Rui also played ‘aquaphone’.
Both the venues, which are close together in Bairro Alto, are owned by Manuel de Melo.
On the Sunday morning I recorded a short improvised sequence for the soundtrack of a film “Azul a Cores”, directed by Filipe Homem Fonseca of ‘Screenplay & Co’.I had time for an enjoyable but short tour of the old city before returning to hotel and off to the airport. I was home late Sunday night - 3 gigs and 1 recording session in less than 48 hours! A busy but very enjoyable schedule – so much so I must return and discover more of a fascinating city.

GHQ recording, 13 Jan 2008

2008-01-20T08:21:00.000-08:00

Sunday 13 January - the second (and last?) recording date by GHQ for the new album 'By Arrangement' to be released later this year. Steve Waterman trumpet, Steve Kershaw double bass, Robin Jones drums and myself. The music is arranged specially for the quartet, on this session we recorded 'The Continental'. 'Out of the World' and a ballad medley - 'What's New' and 'For all we know'
The recording was in Bullpen Studio by Eric Smith and Alan Howell. Simon and Irmgard came along to take photos for the CD. Here are 2 of Irmgard's photos:

PRAGUE Jan. 2008

2008-01-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

I flew out to Prague 3 January - exactly the same date as last year - and stayed with friend Lubos. I played 3 night - 4, 5 and 6th - and flew home Monday 7th.
The concert on 4 January was at a very small venue - Club v Jeleni, arrabged by Milos. I played with Josef, Jan, Jan and Marian' These photos were taken by Martin and supplied by Petr:

On Sunday 6 Jan we played at u Pilotu with FreeTime Quartet plus some very good guests.

Photos by Bozena - thank you.

The Burton Taylor Studio

2008-01-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Saturday 22 December saw the latest Oxford Jazz Masters Series concert - with the host trio of George Haslam, Richard Leigh Harris and Steve Kershaw was special guest Jim Dvorak on trumpet. It was the first OxJaMS gig in the Burton Taylor Studio, Oxford - an intimate venue, and good also for photographs - here are some that Irmgard took on the night.

ARGENTINA, October 2007

2007-12-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

TWO WEEKS ~ ONE CONCERT

My second visit to Argentina this year and for the first time I took 6 other members of the family. We had 2 great weeks in Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata and Tigre, everyone said it was the best time ever.

Amongst that was a concert at Notorius in Callao, Buenos Aires, with Ruben Ferrero, Daniel Harari, Horacio Straijer and guests

WINDSOR FRINGE

2007-10-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

WINDSOR FRINGE FESTIVAL, 29 September 2007.

An amazing event - four improvising musicians invited to play individual free improvisations, each influenced by a painting by Windsor artists. The music was spontaneous, the musicians not having seen the paintings before going on stage; the collective improvisation which followed also was completely spontaneous - as it should be - the musicians playing together for the first time.

The musicians were Iwo Zaluski and Zane Cronje piano, Mick O'Connor guitar and George Haslam baritone sax and tarogato.

The event was organised by one of the leading Windsor artists Anne Trewartha.

ARGENTINA JUNE 2007

2007-05-30T14:08:00.001-07:00

CZECH REPUBLIC May 2007

2007-05-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

The 2007 FREETIME FESTIVAL programme was:

12 May Prague, Czech TV ‘Live’ NOC S ANDĔLEM
15 May Česky Krumlov, Maštal
16 May Usti Nad Labem, Ulita
17 May Prague, Hotel President.

18 May Prague, Písecká Brána

With the Freetime Quartet - George Haslam baritone sax, tarogato, Swetja guitar, fujara, saw, Jozef Láska bass, Petr Zimák drums - we had special guests Steve Waterman trumpet, EVI and Robin Jones congas.

ENGLAND April 2007

2007-05-27T15:33:00.001-07:00

My series of Blues Workshops at South Hill Park, Bracknell plus other educational work and Abingdon Festival kept me at home during April. This work included an outing for my swing band - SWINGTIME

ESTONIA March 2007

2007-05-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

The 2007 Odyssey continued in March with 5 days in Estonia - Thursday 15.03.2007 Tallinn, Estonia Opera House, Winter Garden; Friday 16.03.2007 Tartu Vanemuise; Saturday 17.03.2007 Pärnu, Concert house, Chamber Hall. The Anglo-Estonian Quintet comprised George Haslam – baritone sax, tarogato, Steve Waterman – trumpet, EVI, Tõnu Naissoo – el. piano, synthesizers, Taavo Remmel – double bass and Tanel Ruben – percussion.

HAVANA ~ February 2007

2007-03-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

BACK TO HAVANA
I first played in Havana in 1986 - over 20 years ago; on that visit I met Cuban maestro Bobby Carcassés and we have worked together in Cuba and Europe since then whenever the opportunity arises. The first time Bobby came with his band to England- around 1991 or '92 I think - we met Josef Koumbas, London-based musician and artist. Now Josef is living and working in Havana with a lot of success as a musician/singer and enjoying the life there. So - the objectives of this visit were to catch up with Josef and Bobby, to play concerts and record a couple of tracks for a new CD Bobby and I are making for SLAM.

Every time I visit Cuba the life is changing - even before I traveled I was amazed to discover I could buy Cuban visas on Internet, saving a couple of days visiting the Embassy in London. On arrival immigration was much more relaxed than in the past .. "Bienvenido a Cuba".

The other mega change was their latest currency policies - For 20 years it has always been essential to have US dollars to spend, now that's the last thing you want - the new "Convertible Cuban Peso" or "CUC" has replaced the USD for use by visitors - 1 CUC = 1.25 USD. The native Cuban peso is still in circulation for use by Cuban residents, a bit confusing at first I thought, finding myself with pesos, CUCs, USDs, British pounds and Euros in my wallet at the same time!

Another massive difference is the government's line on ownership of hard currency by Cuban nationals - I recall on early visits Cuban friends telling me they would be arrested if the police discovered USDs in their pockets - now hard currency earning is encouraged; the "casa particular", or private bed and breakfast, is a booming industry. We stayed in a lovely old Spanish colonial style house with a great family - a very economic option - very comfortable, good food and lovely people.

Travelling with George

2006-12-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

Since taking The Siger Band to Hungary in 1980 George Haslam has pursued his urge to travel with his music. Working throughout the 1980's in East Europe, other highlights in what proved to be a memorable decade included his Mexican tour of 1986, again with the Siger Band, this time expanded to quintet with Paul Rutherford trombone, Pete McPhail saxes, Tony Moore double bass and Paul Hession drums. The same year he took that band to Cuba - the first British jazz band to play in Cuba!
In 1990 he was the first English jazzman to play in Argentina, a country which has since become his second home. That same decade took him to Ukraine, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Hong Kong, USA, Canada, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The lower photo above was taken during performance at Koktebel Jazz Festival on the Black Sea coast of the Crimean peninsula, July 2004.
This blog is being created at the end of 2006 - a time, as always, to look forward rather than back. 2007 could prove to be a hectic year - if all goes to plan. A plan commencing with tours of Czech Republic in January, Cuba in February, Estonia in March, a season of workshops in UK in April, festival tour of Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany in May, Ukraine in May, Argentina in June, UK tour with Cuban Master Bobby Carcasses in July ......... The top photo above, playing bass clarinet, was taken January 2007 at Akord Jazz Club, Prague.

OxJaMS has a great programme planned for 2007 - see below - and SLAM (www.slamproductions.net) already has14 CDs in the pipeline for the year. George has not released one of his own for over 2 years but he has 2 now imminent. He will be heard also on some others due for release in 2007, these include a couple of great live sessions from OxJaMS, recorded in March 2006 with Lol Coxhill and in September with Harry Beckett and Stefano Pastor.

EDUCATIONAL WORK ~ George puts a LOT of time into tuition and workshops at The Matrix Music School http://www.matrixmusicschool.co.uk/ , Abingdon Music Centre and South Hill Park, Bracknell.

CUBAN MELTDOWN

2006-11-29T04:53:00.000-08:00

CUBAN MELTDOWN
UK Tour, July 2007.
From Havana,
Bobby Carcassés and Maria Cecilia Colon
With All Star Latin Jazz Sextet, including:
Robin Jones, Steve Waterman, George Haslam, Steve Kershaw

We are planning a short UK tour for Bobby Carcassés’ “Cuban Meltdown” during July 2007. We have toured here with Bobby in the past, most recently in 1998 and 2004.
The tour marks the UK release of new Latin jazz CD by Bobby Carcassés, an international production recorded part in UK, part in Cuba.

If you feel you may be at all interested in this project we’d be very happy to supply fuller details, photos, CD etc.

BOBBY CARCASSÉS JAZZ TIMBERO
The band name is
“CUBAN MELTDOWN”

Bobby Carcassés, vocals, flugelhorn, percussion
Maria Cecilia Colon vocals
Steve Waterman trumpet
George Haslam baritone sax
Robin Jones congas
Andrew Noble piano
Steve Kershaw double bass
Mark Cecil drums.

Cuban-jazz guru, multi-instrumentalist and scat master Bobby Carcassés will take you on an eclectic musical journey passing through India, Havana, New York and Africa. Bobby has been described as 'Cuba's best kept secret' and 'overwhelming' on stage: it's been said that he left Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente and the New York Jazz fraternity 'speechless' after his performances. Bobby grew up in the musical company of the greatest Cuban artists Chucho Valdés, Carlos Emilio Morales, Paquito D'Rivera and has played with the jazz legends Kenny Clarke and Bud Powell; he organized the first Jazz Plaza Festival in Havana, involving stars of Jazz like Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Haden, Airto Moreira, Tania María, and many others; he has performed with Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Patato Váldes and many other greats from the Latin Jazz scene; and he was, incidentally, Cuban national high jump champion in 1969!

The band has a new CD due for release to coincide with UK tour. Here are links to a couple of tracks from that CD:
www.bullpenstudios.com/slam/havanbingdon.wma
and www.bullpenstudios.com/slam/cubanmd1.wma

Contact:-
Beryl Murphy, SIGERJAZZ, 3, Thesiger Road, ABINGDON, OX14 2DX.
Email sigerjazz@aol.com Tel/fax 01235 529012

Oxford Jazz Masters Series

2006-11-22T03:07:00.000-08:00

Oxford Jazz Masters Series Wins National Award.
The OxJaMS concept was born in 2005 when George Haslam floated the proposal to present world leading exponents of free improvisation and avant garde jazz in a venue offering the prestige the art merited. The venue was to be The Holywell Music Room, Oxford – arguably the finest acoustic music room in the world, housing a grand piano of similar status. Having convinced fellow musicians Richard Leigh Harris and Steve Kershaw of the attractions the proposal offered, private sponsorship was secured to support the first season of 3 concerts where the programme would present the host musicians with selected guests.
February 2006 saw the inaugural concert, when their guest was, appropriately, an undisputed world leader, Evan Parker. During 2006 OxJaMS comprised six concerts in total, with British artists of world recognition – Lol Coxhill, Paul Rutherford, Harry Beckett, Trevor Watts with Jamie Harris - as well as some great international musicians Tõnu Naissoo, piano Estonia, Stefano Pastor, violin Italy, Ruben Ferrero piano/percussion and Pablo Ledesma sax, Argentina.
OxJaMS remains committed to the presentation of the very best exponents of the art, both British and worldwide, in a venue convivial to the creative spirit of the musicians and the comfort and enjoyment of the audience. This uncompromising stance has been recognised by the offer of a PRSF and Jazz Services Promoters Award, ensuring a continued programme into 2007.
Along with the Haslam/Harris/Kershaw Trio, the first season of 2007 concerts will present star guests:

Howard Riley (4 February),

Chalk and Cheese, being Sybil Madrigal, Kay Grant, Alex Ward and Veryan Weston (4 March),

Jon Lloyd/John Law(1 April)

Hugh Metcalfe (6 May).

Details and further information from: Siger Jazz Tel: 01235 529012. email: Sigerjazz@aol.com

TICKETS
Tickets £10 (£7 concessions) include wine, juice or mineral water.
From Tickets in Oxford 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford
Or in person from Oxford Playhouse, Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2LW
Or contact Siger Jazz as above.

Thanks to Irmgard and Simon for all photos.

Argentine Maestros

2006-11-16T13:33:00.000-08:00

Ruben Ferrero and Pablo Ledesma travel from Argentina for concerts, workshops and recordings in Abingdon, Oxford and London.

HOLA CHE!!
Como Fue ABINGDON?????

Photos taken in Abingdon, Oxford and London, November 2006.