Sandy Brown Jazz
What's New
March 2026
Dee Dee Bridgewater © William Ellis
Acclaimed jazz photographer William Ellis currently has an exhibition of his work featured in the foyer of the Capstone theatre in Liverpool from Tuesday 3rd Feb - Sun 15th April 2026, coinciding with Liverpool International Jazz Festival 2026. If you are unable to visit the exhibition, we have an article in this month's What's New (here) where William talks about his career and photographs.
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
As the film awards and festivals get underway, the Berlin Film Festival has featured this Grant Gee film about pianist Bill Evans. "Highly stylised, shot mainly in black and white, it is a bold film about a protagonist whi barely speaks while everyone talks around him," says The Observer. It "inhabits the creative and personal torment eperienced by the American pianist with a terrific supportive Bill Pullman turn" says The Guardian. There is a brief clip here. Bill Evans is played by Anders Danielsen Lie and was released in Ireland in February. Other dates to be announced. (The title has been used before for an album and documentary).
The Jazz Spirit?
Eric Mintel is a jazz musician and paranormal investigator in Pennsylvania. Apparently, according to 2822news.com (here), "while visiting the historic Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap to explore reported hauntings he captures unusual phenomena like orbs and apparitions. Alongside his team, they investigate the inn’s haunted history, uncovering spirits connected to past events and legendary jazz performances, while sharing findings on Eric Mintel Investigates. Mintel is a jazz musician who performs at the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, where jazz greats like Bob Dorough of Schoolhouse Rock and Phil Woods often played ... Back upstairs, they focus on recent reports of overnight guests hearing unexplained piano playing late at night (tracing it) to the late Johnny Coats, a legendary jazz pianist who put the Deer Head on the map......"
Jazz FM Awards 2026
The nominees for this year’s Jazz FM Awards, presented in collaboration with PPL and PRS for Music, were announced on the 26th February. Included in the nominations are Ezra Collective, British singer-songwriter Raye, soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples, US vocalist Samara Joy, producer, composer and trumpeter Emma-Jean Thackray, soul star Omar, multi-instrumentalist Shabaka Hutchings, French-Haitian vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, the collective Snarky Puppy. The Album Of The Year and UK Jazz Act Of The Year categories will once again be determined by a public vote, with nominees including Ambrose Akinmusire, Fergus McCreadie, Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell, Tyreek McDole, Emma Rawicz, Kokoroko and Tom Skinner. You can vote and read more about the Awards here. The Awards event takes place at KOKO in London on Thursday April 16th.
Laura Macdonald - New Head Of Jazz
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland has announced that: "Following a highly competitive recruitment process, multiple award-winning saxophonist and composer Laura Macdonald has been appointed Head of Jazz at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Professor Aaron Shorr, Director of Music said: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured such a wonderful artist and teacher as Laura to lead the Jazz Programme. Laura has a distinguished international performance and recording career and has also been a highly valued member of teaching faculty here at RCS since 2022. We look forward very much to the development of the Jazz programme under her leadership.” ...... In 1997 Laura was the first winner of the Scottish Young Jazz Musician of the Year award becoming lead alto player in the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra the following year. ......" More details here.
North Carolina Students For Jazz
Enloe High School in North Carolina carried an article in February in their news site encouraging students to go out and discover Jazz, saying "Your Life Has Jazz!". "Seth Sullivan, local jazz saxophonist and freshman at North Carolina Central University, is a music enthusiast currently majoring in Jazz Studies. Sullivan comments, "A lot of people associate jazz [with] the Black struggle … But I like to think of it differently. It’s not the struggle, it’s the hope and the joy that they get out of it,” said Sullivan. The best thing you can do is find local jazz groups on social media and find out when their next show is. Chances are you’ll find a lovely group of swingin’ cats to spend your evening with." Read the inspiring article here.
The 2026 Grammy Awards
On February 1st, the 68th Annual Grammy Awards were held in Los Angeles and honoured the best recordings, compositions, and artists from August 31, 2024, to August 30, 2025, as chosen by the members of the Recording Academy. The ceremony is available to stream on Paramount+. Winners in the Jazz category included Samara Joy; Sullivan Fortner; Christian McBride; and Nate Smith. You can read about the nominees and winners here.
Video Juke Box
Click on the pictures to watch the videos..... or take pot luck and click on the picture of the Juke Box and see what comes up.
The Hot Club Of Jupiter play Hot Heat from their recent album Copacallisto [See Recent Releases]
The Sant Andreu Jazz Band is always outstanding - here is a recent video (November 2025) with their Dixieland ensemble playing the Royal Garden Blues - Dixieland is alive and well in Spain!
In the Story Is Told this month we feature a 'secret session' by vibes player Red Norvo. This video, however, comes from 1958 when Red appeared in a film Kings Go Forth with Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra and Natalie Wood. Tony Curtis 'plays' trumpet with the band - in reality it is Conte Condoli playing, but check out the other band members.
American vibes player Joel Ross plays Hostile from his new album Gospel Music [see Recent Releases]
Yosef Gutman plays the lovely Kumi Lach from his new album Resisei Lyla with Omri Mor, Itamar Doari, Tal Yahalom and Yoed Nir [see Recent Releases]
In this video the Whatever Jazz Band from Madrid play I'll Be A Friend With Pleasure. The tune is mostly associated with Bix Beiderbecke and his Orchestra from 1930 ; it is not so well known that there were 3 takes for Bix's recording - here is version 1 - and here are takes 2 & 3 (see video for musicians).
Kurt Elling sings My Very Own Ride from his new album with the WDR Big Band In The Brass Palace [see Recent Releases]
Rehearsal
Angela
Bob James and Andrey Chmut
Sometimes rehearsals can contain musical gems. Mostly, we don't see or hear them, we just see a final product.
In this video, keyboard player Bob James and reeds player Andrey Chmut lead in a rehearsal of Bob James' composition, Angela. If you think you have heard the tune before, you possibly have as it became the theme tune for the 1970s American TV series Taxi. Award-winning Bob James has worked with a number of well-known jazz musicians (David Sanborn, Milt Jackson, Stanley Turrentine). He has released albums both under his own name and with others. According to the Canadian-American magazine VICE, music from his first seven albums has often been sampled and believed to have contributed to the formation of Hip Hop.
​
Andrey Chmut is a Ukrainian refugee, a saxophone player and composer now based in America where he leads his own band. Born in a small village in Ukraine and son of a Baptist pastor, Andrey was a singer in his father’s church choir, but when was 7 years old, his father invited a saxophonist to play in the church’s band – and since then he fell in love with the instrument. Andrey says: “Bob and I met via Facebook. I sent him a message asking him to record a track for my first album and he surprisingly said 'yes'. Since then, a friendship was born and I’m very grateful for all his help”.
​
Their rehearsal in many ways is a casual affair, people wander in and out, as does the camera, but thankfully someone recorded the session. The musicians in the band are named with the video.
Did You Know?
Red Norvo
The Secret Recording
Jim Eigo at Jazz Promo Services tells us:
"In late 1942, Red Norvo, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing", knew that the United States’ involvement in World War II would soon deplete his septet of key musicians and there was the small matter of the American Federation of Musicians strike which had effectively, and without exception, shuttered all the recording studios."
"Red Norvo was not a man, or indeed a musician, to follow the rules and he persuaded a studio engineer to let them in on the sly. In the dead of night, Red Norvo and the band ‘gained access’ to the equipment and began to play. A new release, Red Norvo: The Secret Session, is the result. More than 60 years after the clandestine operation, the previously unheard album is now available on CD and digital formats as part of the Dot Time label ‘Legends’ series. The band members are: Red Norvo (xylophone); Shorty Rogers (trumpet); Eddie Bert (trombone); possibly Aaron Sachs (clarinet, alto sax), Hank Kahout (piano); Clyde Lombardi (bass) and Specs Powell (drums)."
"Red Norvo’s band showcased tight attractive arrangements and presented soloists who blew like they were veterans. The septet boasted musicians who would later become stars in their own right, most of all trombonist Eddie Bert, who provided the tapes for this release. This album is a snapshot – literally a stolen moment in time! – and an important look into a band that was bridging a gap between swing and bebop."
​
The album is available to taste and buy here. Listen to the track I May Be Wrong - here.
Anagram
SOME DEER SAW THY TEA
(Jazz Standard written in 1919 and recorded by many including Jelly Roll Morton and Count Basie. Clue: 'But not now')
The answer is HERE
​
Jazz Played Here
Caveau de la Huchette
Paris
by Peter Maguire*
The Caveau de la Huchette is a famous jazz club located in Paris. Established in the 1940s, it has become an iconic venue known for its vibrant atmosphere and dedication to jazz music. The club features live performances by both well-known and up-and-coming jazz musicians, creating a lively and engaging experience for both locals and visitors.
The interior of Caveau de la Huchette is characterized by its historic and charming ambiance, often featuring a dance floor where patrons can enjoy the music. The club’s quirky medieval cellar interior and history (once a meeting place for Rosicrucians, Templars, and more) add to its mystique. "In 1789 and all during the revolutionary period, this building known as "Caveau de la Terreur" housed the "Club des Cordeliers" and "des Montagnards". In the upper room, transformed into a public-house, one drank, sang and argued about "la liberté". The principal members of the "Convention" could be found there (Danton, Marat, Saint-Just and Robespierre), and numerous trials were conducted on the spot (followed by peremptory executions). You will find there, one after another, the court room, the prison, the place of execution. In the lower room, there still exists a very deep well, used to remove all evidence of the crimes committed there. These rooms are unquestionably authentic, historically accurate, and preserved in their original state. Arms from that epoch still decorate the walls (swords, muskets, etc and jealousy guarded : a chastity belt)."
Caveau de la Huchette attracts a diverse crowd, from jazz enthusiasts to tourists looking to experience the Parisian nightlife. The club has been a featured backdrop in several important movies - most recently in the film La La Land. (here is a clip). You will find the Club at 5 rue de la Huchette, 75005 Paris, France. Telephone: +33 1 43 26 65 05. Its website is here.
​
Here is the You Rascal Jazz Band at the club playing Count Basie's Jumpin At The Woodside in November 2024:
*Trombonist Peter Maguire is based in Belgium and is the creator of the Jazz Clubs Worldwide website, a valuable database if you are looking for jazz clubs elsewhere. Peter will be telling us of other clubs in future issues.
Insight
A series in which musicians give us insight into the background of one of their recordings
American Crow
Maria Schneider
Multi award-winning American pianist, composer and bandleader Maria Schneider has relesed a new EP, American Crow. It begins with distressed Americana, but soon enough submerges and dissolves into retrospection, a place and time Schneider remembers from her Midwestern childhood, when people could listen to one another. Space existed. And generally, people would look for compromise and consensus. People who saw things differently could still speak respectfully – they could like one another, even love one another.
​
Maria says: "“It speaks to the toxicity of our present social discourse that’s devolved into an impenetrable knot of curated rage. We crow about each other incessantly, having lost almost any ability or wish to really listen and understand those with whom we disagree.”
“For decades now, every time I hear my band play, I witness the magic of listening,” she continues. “A true jazz improvisor thrives on listening: waiting, responding, considering, reconsidering, responding again, sometimes in ways that surprise even the improvisor. Jazz is at its best when everyone is vulnerable. Improvisation asks everyone to risk what they think they know, and offers them an opportunity – through listening – to discover something new in themselves. Jazz shines a light on what we are allowing to slip away in our brittle and fractured world, making our art form more relevant today than ever before.”
​
“My hope is that every aspect of this release, visual and aural, will make us all question whether we want to untangle ourselves from the knot of curated rage ravaging our society. I hope it makes one ask, ‘Can I find it in myself to listen and engage in respectful conversation to someone I disagree with? Can I be vulnerable enough to ask questions rather than preaching and yelling? Can I envision being courageous enough to taking that first step that opens the door, possibly inviting a reciprocal open ear from someone with whom I disagree? Can I embrace in my daily life the attributes that have made jazz great.’"
​
The album notes summarise how "Mike Rodriguez on trumpet begins his improvisation in a fashion of listening, never talking-over, as he encounters a pastoral theme in the ensemble and rhythm section. But in time, the intensity of language ramps up, the volume increases: spewing, sparring, impenetrable statements, a society at verbal war, screaming from their echo chambers. When the vitriol morphs into just a single churning dark din that feels impossible to untangle, Jeff Miles on guitar longingly recalls the pastoral theme. Mike's responds to Jeff’s guitar over the dark din, as if to ask, "Do we want to find our way back?" or "Can we find our way back?"
Where Am I?
You wouldn't expect telegraph cables that go down every highway and bend in the road to be romantic, but they can sing so that people who meet here can get hypnotised by the summer evening breeze - and listen, there's the warbling of a meadow lark, there are pennies in a stream and the leaves are falling from the sycamore trees. Where am I?
The answer is HERE
James Davison and Misha Mullov-Abbado
Moon Beans
by Howard Lawes*
image courtesy of James Davison and Misha Mullov-Abbado
One of the loveliest things that musician friends can do is to make music together. It could be a spur of the moment thing, or at a party or just one of those magical days when everything comes together and something artistic is created. Musicians James Davison and Misha Mullov-Abbado have been close friends for nearly 20 years and via a Zoom call Misha described how they came to create a duo album called Moon Beans. Here is an introduction:
James and Misha first met at Junior RCM, which are the Saturday classes held at the Royal College of Music for aspiring, junior musicians. At this time Misha was playing the french horn, while James had settled on the trumpet. Their paths crossed again in Cambridge, where they both played in the Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra, but with Misha now playing double bass. In 2014 Misha went on to win both the Worshipful Company of Musicians Dankworth Prize for Composition and the Royal Academy of Music Kenny Wheeler Prize. James became lead trumpet in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and won the Smith-Watkins Trumpet Award (2016) at the Royal Academy of Music, and the Worshipful Company of Musicians Young Jazz Musician of the year (2018).
​
James and Misha used to lodge together and they spent many happy hours just jamming in the basement. Since graduating with an MA in Jazz Performance at the Royal Academy of Music, James has become a regular lead trumpet in West End Shows, he has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and as guest Principal with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra. James is a member of Jonny Mansfield’s Elftet, the Sam Watts band, The London Jazz Orchestra, Joe Hill’s North Ark, and co-leads his own band, with trombonist Callum Au, called Quintet a Tete. James is also a member of the Misha Mullov-Abbado Band and occasionally performs, alongside Misha, with The Patchwork Jazz Orchestra. Misha’s other projects include a trio with Alice Zawadzki and Fred Thomas who recently released the acclaimed Za Gorami (2024) album; a duo with his mother, the renowned violinist Viktoria Mullova releasing an album called Music We Love (2020) and a band called Songs for the Earth that fuses folk, jazz and classical music.
​
Here are Misha and James with Matthew Herd (alto sax), Sam Rapley (tenor sax); Liam Dunachie (piano) and Scott Chapman (drums) with the excellent Subsonic Glow from the 2025 album Effra.
Apart from the not too subtle play on words, the album title Moon Beans has no particular significance, but it has inspired a colourful album cover by Ollie Hayward that could well have been influenced by the art of Henri Rousseau. There are nine tracks on the album, an eclectic mix of ragtime, jazz and popular music that includes a couple of originals, Subsonic Glow by Misha and Sunday’s Mudbath which is a combined effort.
The two ragtime pieces, Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin's first piano roll recording, 1916) and That’s A Plenty (Lew Pollack, 1914) are handled with aplomb, James taking the lead with muted trumpet and playing in a New Orleans Dixieland style. Both these tunes have been covered hundreds of times over many years, but these duo versions bring a simple clarity, allowing the wonderful melodies to shine through, occasionally embellished with some short, witty improvisations.
​
Here is Maple Leaf Rag:
The three jazz standards are Polka Dots and Moon Beams (Jimmy Van Heusen, 1940), Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don’t Tease Me (Duke Ellington, 1946) and A Child Is Born (Thad Jones, 1969).
​
Davison’s trumpet playing is up there with the greats of yesteryear playing Polka Dots and Moonbeams as a ballad with great tenderness. Both James and Misha play solos to create a lovely track. The original version of Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don’t Tease Me) in 1946 featured the virtuoso mult-instrumentalist and singer, Ray Nance, known for introducing the plunger trumpet mute. James features the mute but not the vocals in this lively version of a well-known tune and a section of trading phrases nicely illustrates the duo’s mutual understanding. A Child is Born is a slow waltz by trumpeter Thad Jones, and James and Misha stick fairly closely to the original, recording it in 2023, which pre-dates by some margin the birth of Misha’s first child.
*Saxophonist Howard Lawes is National Jazz advisor for U3A Jazz Groups and a freelance writer who contributes each month to Sandy Brown Jazz What's New magazine.
Take Two
Nancy With The Laughing Face
I have to thank pianist Gareth Williams for reminding us of the origins of this song. It is mostly associated with Frank Sinatra singing it about his first wife Nancy Barbato (or is it?). They met in 1934 at a summer resort in Long Branch, New Jersey, when she was 17 and Frank was 19 and they remained married until 1951. They had three children - Nancy (born in 1940), Frank Jr and Tina. Nancy Barbato passed away in 2018 at the age of 101. Here is a video of Frank singing the song in 1971.
​
If I don't see her each day, I miss her
Gee, what a thrill each time I kiss her
Believe me, I've got a case
On Nancy with the laughin' face
​
Originally recorded by Sinatra in 1944, Wikipedia says of the song: "Many, perhaps most, people - including, for a time, Sinatra himself - wrongly assume or assumed the song was composed specifically for Sinatra's wife or daughter, each named Nancy; the adjustment in name indeed was inspired by Sinatra's daughter." - but the song was actually written in1942 by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Phil Silvers and was originally called "Bessie (With The Laughing Face)", as Gareth points out, we mainly remember Phil Silvers as the actor who played 'Sergeant Bilko' in the 1950s TV series.
​
For our Take Two feature, we have tried to take two different videos of the song that you might have not come across before.
​
Our first jazz take on the song, which has now pretty much become a jazz standard, is from a 1976 television show. The picture and the sound are not perfect, but there is some fine playing here from trombonist Bill Watrous and pianist Chick Corea with Ron Carter at the double bass and Billy Cobham, drums.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Returning to the story in Wikipedia, apparently former broadcast executive and music historian Rick Busciglio tells this version: ​
"In 1979, I was working with songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen on a TV special with Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope that was never produced. Jimmy told me that one day (circa 1942), he and his lyricist Johnny Burke were working at 20th Century-Fox composing for a film. While Burke was out of their writer's bungalow, Phil Silvers, the comedian, a friend to both, entered and suggested to Jimmy that they write a song for Johnny's wife, Bessie, who was soon to celebrate a birthday. Silvers provided the lyrics, later revised by Van Heusen and Burke. At the party they sang "Bessie ... with the laughing face." It was such a hit that they used it at other female birthday events. When they sang it as "Nancy ... with the laughing face" at little Nancy Sinatra's birthday party, Frank broke down and cried, thinking it had been written especially for his daughter; the trio wisely didn't correct him. Jimmy assigned his royalties to Nancy after Frank recorded it for Columbia in 1944. "
​
Whatever the back story, Nancy With The Laughing Face remains a lovely song. Our second take introduces saxophonist Noah Preminger, here with pianist Frank Kimborough. The sound reflects that it was recorded in a church, but we share it here for Noah's playing. Noah is featured this month in our 'Lens America' series (here).
And now I have a problem. Scrolling through versions of the song I came across this video. I had intended to share it as our second take for Marcus Lee's vocal presentation, his timing and his voice, but right at the end of the video a girl staggers on to the stage clutching her stomach, presumably in labour. It comes as a shock, totally out of the blue. I can find out very little about the band (?Exdee) who are performing at a club named 'Raffles Jazz'. In links to other videos Exdee do not seem to be a jazz band. To share it, or not to share it? If you want to take a chance, the video is here, but be prepared for the ending. Perhaps someone can tell us more about the band?
In Conversation
William Ellis
Whilst we tend to write about the music and the performers, there are others who make a significant contribution to the story of jazz. One of these is the greatly respected photographer William Ellis whose exceptional pictures of jazz musicians give us a lasting atmospheric image of time, place and people.
​
William was born in Liverpool in 1957 but is now based in Manchester, although his work is international. "Although at the time I didn’t know it was jazz, the music came into my life when I was very young listening to Frank Sinatra records my mother would play," says William. "The sounds, the mixture and layers of every instrument you could imagine - made me just stop, listen and wonder how anything could sound so great. Then the Beatles happened and I didn’t actually discover jazz until later – much later when I began listening to Miles Davis."
​
William started taking photographs when he was around seventeen. "In jazz I found the music that says so much to me - a compelling subject with many facets - the people, the instruments, environment, lifestyle and being on the road. I spent around 15 years building up an archive of images of many of the most influential players in jazz performing at major festivals and clubs in the UK – people like Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin and many other great musicians."
​
"Gaining access to photograph Miles Davis was the catalyst as it enabled me to get accreditation to photograph pretty well everyone else in the jazz world after my pictures were published in the programme of his 1990 concert."
William's jazz photographs have always been inspired by the music and the powerful visual heritage of the genre exemplified by photographers like Roy Decarava, the Williams - Claxton and Gottlieb, and Herman Leonard ("who has said of my work – 'beautiful images' ") and his friend and fellow Brit, Terry Cryer whose jazz photographs from the 1950's stand alone. All the usual suspects - great photographers like Bill Brandt, HCB, Weston, Man Ray, Karsh, Penn, Avedon, Duane Michals, Ralph Gibson and Lee Friedlander are amongst his influences.
​
"In 2002 I decided to make my first foray into the international arena in Havana," says William. "This was closely followed a few months later by Toronto, New York and Cape Town. I went to Havana with a couple of Leicas and a Nikon. I still use the Leicas back stage and now shoot with Canon and for portraits I often use a Hasselblad, although I did use the Leica for some portraits of Spencer Tunick."
​
The pictures went down well in the press office. William got a 'Personal Invitation Pass' and "... the wonderful madness had begun - I was soon in a taxi heading with a singer from New York and her Cuban husband to the UNEAC (centre and gallery of Cuban writers and artists) where there was an exhibition being hung. It was here that I showed my work to a guy from Cape Town who turned out to be CEO of the city's jazz festival. He invited me on the spot to exhibit at the festival a few months later with the great Jürgen Schadeberg. At the time, Cape Town Jazz Festival was under the umbrella of North Sea Jazz – one of the world's biggest festivals. While I was in Cape Town, I met the marketing people who saw the exhibition and a year later e-mailed me inviting me to be guest visual artist with a 40 picture show there in 2004. It was there that I photographed among others, James Brown, Alicia Keys, Macy Gray and Buddy Guy."
​
William quickly developed contacts worldwide and over the next few years expanded his archive, met and photographed many more jazz greats, and worked alongside photographers from Reuters and AP who were covering major jazz festivals and conferences.
Dizzy Gillespie © William Ellis
Over the next three to four years, William's work was being shown at major festivals and galleries in Amsterdam, Birmingham, Bremen, Brecon, Brighton, Cape Town, Edinburgh, Glasgow, The Hague, Havana, Hong Kong, Kansas City MO, Las Vegas, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Los Angeles, Manchester, New York, Orlando, Penang, Scarborough, Southport, Toronto, Utrecht and Wigan.
​
"I photographed at many of the legendary clubs in New York and Los Angeles," he recalls. "The Blue Note, Village Vanguard, Birdland, Iridium, Jazz Standard, Catalina, Vitello’s and of course Ronnie Scott’s in London. One of the most significant events for me was an invitation to present the inaugural international exhibition at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City in 2005. This was an organisation charged with showing jazz as it is now at the same time as capturing the heritage of jazz imagery. The show was very successful and I was invited to return in 2008 to exhibit in a group show 'Jazz in Black and White: Bebop and Beyond."
The Story Is Told
Ronnie Scott and the Mouse
On one afternoon in 1972, 'Ronnie, Immersed in his daily practice of placing bets with a bookie across the street, ran in through the side door (of his club) to use the staff toilet, which was so miniscule it was hard to get up off the seat without banging your head on the door. George was actively engaged with the activities at the club and Donald was working in the service area at the top of the stairs above the toilet, when they heard Ronnie shout out a stream of profanities, followed by a series of stomps and kicking sounds.'
'Eventually, Ronnie ran up the stairs, still swearing profusely, this time at Donald who had come halfway down the steps to see what was happening. It appeared that while my father was sitting on the toilet a mouse ran up his trouser leg! Donald and then George were held responsible because they were supposed to keep the club clean, and Ronnie was as fastidious in the club as he was at home. He made Donald go down and clean the toilet and the whole passageway. George said: "It must have come in from the street, Ronnie, it had to have!"
'Wherever it came from, it was the first and last time a mouse was seen in the club. Donald said: "He was rampant, but the next day it was OK. Ronnie could find humour where everyone else could find none."
​
From A Fine Kind Of Madness - Ronnie Scott Remembered by Rebecca Scott with Mary Scott.
Time Out Ten
The Alan Barnes Octet
When Joanna Loved Me
For this item you need to be able to stop for ten minutes.
We are often moving on to the next job, the next meeting, scrolling down social media, taking the next call ......'Time Out Ten' asks you to stop for ten minutes and listen to a particular piece of music; to find a time when you won't be interrupted, when you can put in/on your headphones and chill out. Ten minutes isn't long.
Recorded in 1999 and released in 2000, saxophonist Alan Barnes brought together eight UK musicians for an album entitled Girl Talk. The band was called the Alan Barnes Octet Poll Winners because it featured a lineup of top British jazz musicians, often referred to as "pollwinners" due to their frequent success in jazz polls and awards
​
In this tune from the album they play Robert Wells and Jack Segal's beautiful tune When Joanna Loved Me. The event captured some fine playing from some of the UK's greatly respected musicians as well as giving us a relaxing few minutes for our time out. Who are they?
​​
Alan Barnes (alto and tenor saxophone); Tony Coe (tenor saxophone); Warren Vaché (trumpet);
Roy Williams (trombone); Brian Lemon (piano); Dave Cliff (guitar); Dave Green (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums).
Alan Barnes has won multiple awards for his music. He has twice been named as the 'BBC Jazz Musician of the Year' and in this photograph by Brian O'Connor, he received a BT Award the year before recording the above album.
Two Ears, Three Eyes
Brian O'Connor LRPS from Images of Jazz took this picture of Estelle Kokot at Hastings Jazz Club back in 2007. Sadly, Estelle passed away on the 16th February at the age of 63. The Vortex Jazz Club in London has written: "A regular at the Vortex for over 20 years, since she arrived from South Africa, she can be classed among the great jazz singer-pianists here, being possibly the best technically on piano. Most recently she had been playing annually on 29th December at the club with the likes of Gene Calderazzo and Mick Hutton. Once, when the heating in the club wasn’t working properly, all the audience bought whiskies to stay warm and not miss a note of her second set. “Larger than life” doesn’t properly express her personality or her impact. And whenever she played there was a coterie of musicians to support her in the audience, such as Christine Tobin, Cleveland Watkiss and Steve Lawson." There is a tribute to her in UK Jazz News here and from Pizza Express Jazz Club here.
​
A video of Estelle singing The Perfect Way from her album Rush Hour is here. Her latest album is MOFO (2021)
The Jazz Quiz
Jazz By Numbers
In the quiz this month we give you 15 jazz-related questions to exercise those little grey cells. How many can you answer?
The March Jazz Quiz is​
Jazz Remembered
Neil Millett
Some while ago, Rich Millett wrote saying: 'I live in Nashville, Tennessee and haven't been back to England in far too long. My uncle was Neil Millett and I know he played clarinet all around the same scene as those on your website, which I have read with interest. I believe he lived in the Bournemouth area. I have a recording that he played on by the Original Georgia Jazz Band ... but I find that I want to know more about my uncle. My uncle died some years ago, but as a fellow musician, I've always been intrigued to find out more about him and maybe even hear more recordings and see some photos of him in action.'
Here is Neil Millett with the Original Georgia Jazz Band playing High Society in 1973.
Since Rich contacted us, a number of people have been in touch and Neil's daughter, Susan Millett, has helped to tell Neil's story. If you would like to add memories to his page, please let us know.
​
Clarinettist Neil Millett was born in Harlesden on July 31st, 1929. His mother was Grace Ada Quick and father Anthony Millett. His daughter, Susan, says: "My mum, Pamela Parkes, met dad at the Bun Shop Jazz club in Berrylands, south west London. They both worked in west London aviation places, mum at Faireys, and dad was a technical illustrator (I think he went to Twickenham or Teddington art school). He worked for various aviation companies around London Airport, and also later at Ham. I have some of his technical drawings on tracing paper, amazing pre-computer stuff. He was very keen and organised with his skills in this area. He continued this work until retirement, jazz always being alongside this and at least as important. I understand he learnt to play the clarinet (his main instrument) in about 1948 whilst he was on National Service".
​
The late guitarist Mick Brocking recalled: 'I know that Neil started playing about 1950 with the Albemarle Jazz Band of Southall with Pat Halcox on trumpet.
The Albermarle Jazz Band?
Photograph © Susan Millett
Drummer Pete Lay and bass player Ron Drakeford believe this is a picture of the Albermarle Jazz Band with Neil Millett (clarinet), Pat Halcox (cornet) and Colin Kingwell (trombone). Can anyone recognise the other musicians?
Neil married young; he was twenty-four and his new wife was just nineteen.
​
"Just after I was born we lived in a caravan in Abbeyfields, Chertsey," Susan Millett continues. "My mother was the eldest of eight and her family lived in Surbiton. I think my grandparents, or we, lived in Cranford for a while after our caravan. When I was very young, about two, the earliest memory I have is of having a day out with dad and visiting a friend who had a bee hive in his garden. There was a white picket fence. I asked dad about this not long before he died but he had no memory of who this was. I recently had a look on YouTube at some of the Crane River Band footage and was amazed to see a picture of the "home" of the band, which had a white picket fence, apparently behind the White Hart in Cranford. Does anyone remember bee hives there? I suppose it could have been a wasps' nest .... It would have been about 1956/7. Dad was in the Crane River Jazz Band and he was also a good friend of Sonny Morris, I believe."
Chas McDevitt and Neil Millett with the Crane River Jazz Band 1955-56
Photograph courtesy of Chas McDevitt
Here is a video of the Crane River Jazz band playing Just A Little While To Stay Here with the white picket fence that Sue mentions.
​
"Dad also played with Ken Colyer - he played drum in the marching band album Ken produced and his feet are on the cover although he is hidden by his drum! Mum says he was in a band called the Wolverines (I know there were a few of these!). I noticed on your site that he set up his own band and was advertised as the Neil Millett band playing at Eel Pie Island in the late 50s."
​
Bass player Ron Drakeford recalls: "Prior to moving to the South Coast, Neil was very prominent on the jazz scene in Kingston and the London area. He was a regular depper on clarinet with many bands and we used him often when I was with the Canal Street band. He played fairly regularly with sousaphone (and trumpet?) player and bandleader Mole (Mo) Benn and had a club at the Thames Hotel with Mole Benn at one point. As for recordings, I only am aware of one, and on that he is not playing clarinet. He (and Mole Benn) were in the line up on the 10inch LP Marching to New Orleans on Decca LF 1013 by Ken Colyer's Omega Brass Band. On that occasion Neil was playing the bass drum and Mole Benn on sousaphone. Both Neil and Mole often made the line up for various Omega gigs as did many other musos outside of the Colyer band." [At the time of writing the album is only available online as a 'used' album and so unfortunately we are unable to include a sample here - Ed]
Lens America
Journalist/guitarist Filipe Freitas and photographer Clara Pereira run JazzTrail in New York City. They feature album and concert coverage, press releases and press kits, album covers and biographies and they are valued contacts for Sandy Brown Jazz. You can read Filipe's reviews of album releases here and see Clara's gallery of pictures here.
​
Clara took this picture of saxophonist Noah Preminger back in 2017 when his Quartet was playing at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City. Filipe wrote on that occasion "Tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger performed a couple of nights at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC. The double occasion served to celebrate the release of his musical protest album Meditations on Freedom, which deliberately aims at America’s current political situation. JazzTrail was there on Friday, April 7, for the second set, and found Preminger displaying his vibrant phrasing and uplifting timbre ...... The set started with tones of blue with “Trouble in Mind”, followed by the swinging uptempo “Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues”, two Delta blues adapted to the current times and taken from the last year’s album Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground."
​
Here is Noah with Trouble In Mind:
Born in Connecticut in 1986, the Hartford Courant later said of a young Noah: "Playing with the grace and expressiveness of a jazz veteran, the young man with a horn mixes cool restraint with emotional depth and old-fashioned poetry with contemporary bite." Jazz Review said: "Preminger seems to have arrived on the scene fully formed, with incisive musical instincts, a distinctive personal sound and an ability to write great tunes." The New York Times added: "More than just a promising starting point, this is a display of integrity; here's a musician you feel you can trust."
​
Noah started playing the saxopone in high School before going on to graduate from the New Engkand School of Music. His debut album, Dry Bridge Road, (2008) was named 'Debut of the Year' in the Village Voice critics poll. Since then many releases have followed with almost one, sometimes, two albums a year. His lalbum, Ballads, was released last year. Here is Someone To Watch Over Me from the album. 2024 was a tough year for Noah with a divorce and health challenges and so a further album, Dark Days, followed in November (see Recent Releases page)
​
His selection of music is varied - listen to Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah with guitarist Max Light (here) or Nancy With The Laughing Face with pianist Frank Kimborough in our Take Two item this month. Noah's website is here.
Forum
Chris Watford
Bass player Ron Drakeford writes having seen our report that clarinettist Chris Watford had passed away: "Sorry to read that Chris Watford has passed through the departure lounge. I first met Chris when he played with the Dolphin Band down Hastings way. I was playing with the Preacher Hood Jazz Missionaries band when we did gigs down in Hastings alongside the Dolphin band, I think it was called the 1066 club even then. Chris did a good write up in Just Jazz magazine with respect to our band and the CD that was issued a lot later by George Buck with Barry Martyn's assistance. Chris will be sadly missed, he was an excellent clarinet player and a real gentleman to boot!"
A Kind Word
Last month we included guitarist Stephen Godsall's album Tingling Skin, Buzzing Wires in our Recent Releases section. Stephen responded "Thanks Ian, I've been looking at a lot of online jazz content over recent weeks and must say that yours is the most interesting. Much appreciated and please keep up the good work!" [Thank you back, Stephen - Ed]
Departure Lounge
Information has arrived about the following musicians or people connected to jazz who have passed through the 'Departure Lounge' since our last update.
When this page first started, links to newspaper obituaries were free. Then increasingly advertisements were added and now many newspapers ask for a subscription to read a full obituary. Where possible, we initially link to a Wikipedia page which is still free of charge, but we also give links to newspaper obituaries in case you want to read them.​
Ken Peplowski
Clarinettist and tenor sax player Ken Peplowski was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1959. He played with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (under the leadership then of Buddy Morrow), with Benny Goodman, and then formed his own bands. He studied saxophone with Sonny Stitt and his playing covered many genres from Swing to Avant Garde. Ken passed through the Departure Lounge on 2nd February while playing on a jazz cruise - he had not been well having been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2021. Obituaries: Downbeat; Wikipedia; New York Times : A video of Ken Peplowski playing China Boy is here.
Estelle Kokot
South African pianist and vocalist based in London. Her stage debut in 1987 was with South African bassist and composer Victor Ntoni and tenor player Duke Makasi's jazz supergroup 'Phambili 'at Kippies Jazz Club in Johannesburg. Estelle moved to London in the mid 1990's and soon established herself on the live scene performing at Pizza Express and The Vortex Jazz Clubs, Cambridge Modern Jazz Cub and Band on the Wall in Manchester. She also performed at the Cork, London, and Soho Jazz festivals, the Dusseldorf Jazz Rally and clubs and theatres in Switzerland and Germany. Estelle passed through the Departure Lounge on 16th February. [See 'Two Ears Three Eyes' article above]
Recent Releases
A few words about recent releases / reviews:
Apart from where they are included in articles on this website, I don't have a 'Reviews' section for a number of reasons:
-
I receive so many requests to review recordings it is impossible to include them all.
-
Unlike some publications/blogs, Sandy Brown Jazz is not a funded website and it is not possible to pay reviewers.
-
Reviews tend to be personal opinions, something a reviewer likes might not suit you, or vice versa.
-
It is difficult to capture music in words, so much better to be able to listen and see whether the music interests you.
For these reasons in particular I just include a selection of recent recordings below where I share the notes issued by the musician(s) as an introduction and links to samples so you can 'taste' the music for yourselves. For those who like to read reviews, these, of course, can be checked out on other sites.
Some Recent Releases
UK
The Hot Club Of Jupiter - Copacollisto
Sarah L. King - The Light Ahead
America
Europe and Elsewhere
Airelle Besson & Lionel Suarez - Blossom
Nils Landgren & Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra - Love Of My Life