Sandy Brown Jazz
What's New
November 2025
Conga Player by Justin Bua.
"The Conga Player has no audience as he beats his drums for the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan skyline and the American Flag." Justin Bua's paintings of jazz musicians are quirky, expressive and instantly recognisable. There are more to see on his website here.
Blue Moon
In cinemas from the 28th November is the new movie Blue Moon, "the almost unbearable story of Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart just after his split from composer Richard Rodgers", says Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. It stars Ethan Hawke as Hart and Andrew Scott as Richard Rodgers. "Its a terrific performance from Hawke" continues Peter Bradshaw. A trailer for the film is here.
Swanage Jazz Festival Dilemma
An urgent appeal has been made to save the future of the Swanage Jazz Festival in Dorset after an unexpected shortfall in 2025 ticket sales. This year, the festival made a loss of around £15,000 after selling 150 fewer weekend stroller tickets than expected, which forced organisers to take short term loans of £25,000 to pay all of the performers. A thousand people on the festival’s mailing list have already raised half the total needed to prevent the festival from being cancelled for good. Swanage Jazz Festival committee is now going public with the appeal in the hopes of raising the rest of the funds by Christmas in order to assure the event can be staged in July 2026. Other details are here.
Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2025
At an event on the 14th October, The winners of this year's Parliamentary Jazz Awards were announced. The Awards, are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG), supported by the Musicians' Union and UK Music, they celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, breadth and talent of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom. Many congratulations to all the winners:
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Jazz Vocalist of the Year - Zara McFarlane
Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year - Rob Luft
Jazz Album of the Year - Words Unspoken by John Surman
Jazz Ensemble of the Year - The Banger Factory
Jazz Newcomer of the Year - Donovan Haffner
Jazz Venue of the Year - Digbeth Jazz, Birmingham
Jazz Media Award - 'Round Midnight with Soweto Kinch (BBC Radio3)
Jazz Education Award - Doncaster Youth Jazz Orchestra
The Martin Hummel Endeaver Award - Olivia Cuttill
Services To Jazz Award - Marianne Windham
Special APPJG Award - Chris Phillips​
Fan-Led Review
A fan-led review of live music has been launched by MPs. The review will be undertaken by Lord Brennan of Canton, a member of the previous committee who published reports on the future of UK music festivals and economics of music streaming. The review will bring music lovers together to discuss ideas to protect the industry and ensure it works in the best interests of fans. It will consider the music fan experience, from the provision of live and electronic music through to considerations of safety, examine the sustainability of venues, and explore the barriers to touring faced by emerging artists. It will also look at the effectiveness of existing policies and how different levels of government support live music. You can take part in the review by filling in a questionnaire here.
Could Iron Maiden Play Jazz?
According to various reports, the chef at Prince William's Eco Awards on 5th November initially refused to prepare 700 vegan canapes: "It's like asking Iron Maiden to play jazz," he said. Saulo Jennings, a top Brazilian chef, who uses sustainable ingredients from the Amazon rainforest, originally thought he had misunderstood the instructions after being informed by organisers (a report is here). Was he right? Someone has used AI to create a parody of heavy metal band Iron Maiden's song Running Free played in a jazz/swing way (here) - a video of the original version from 1980 is here - Saulo Jennings is probably right!
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.
Here is Joe Webb with Curveball from his performance at this year's Mercury Prize event on the 16th October. Although Joe did not win the prize (that went to the popular Sam Fender), Joe represented Jazz and his album Hamstrings And Hurricanes strongly at the event.
The Washboard Serenaders was one name used by a band in the 1930s that also went by a variety of other names. Here is a video with old footage of them playing Dark Eyes featuring a kazoo in a glass and of course a washboard. The band made a trip to England and recorded here in 1935. There is more about them here.
Trumpeter Laura Jurd and her band play a live version of You Again from Laura's new album Rites & Revelations [See Recent Releases]
Here is a video of Harry Brunt's song Pull Over For Carolina Peaches from his new EP, Carolina Peaches [See Recent Releases]
Trudgeon's Trad Jazz Troubadours are a multi-generational band from the South West of England led by Joseph Trudgeon who plays guitar, sings, and is the current double bassist in The Big Chris Barber band (their facebook page is here). Here they are at Bude Jazz Festival in 2024 playing My Gal Sal. That is almost 100 years since the Mound City Blue Blowers performed it in 1929 with Josh Billings on the suitcase (video here)
Pianist David Helbock and bass guitarist/cellist Julia Hofer play Dancing To Another Space from their new album Faces Of Night [See Recent Releases]
Two Ears, Three Eyes
Brian O'Connor LRPS from Images of Jazz took these pictures of Georgia Cecil's gig at at the Watermill Jazz Club in Dorking in October when she was singing a selection of songs and standards from her new album accompanied by Ferg Ireland (bass); Euan Stevenson (piano and keyboard) and Max Popp (drums). Georgia was singing songs from her new album , City Girl, released last February. There is a review of her performance in Brighton here.
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Georgia Cecil is a Scottiosh vocalist who was awarded 'UK Jazz Act Of The Year’ and ‘Vocalist of the Year’ at the 2022 Jazz FM awards. Georgia originally signed up for a law degree at Strathclyde University, but she dropped out after a year and switched to a four-year BA Hons in Popular Music at Edinburgh Napier University. She traces her love of jazz back to her childhood. Her grandfather, Gerry Smith, was a jazz pianist in Glasgow who toured in the 1950s and '60s, while her Aunt Ann was a jazz singer.
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Here is a video of Georgia singing This Is Love.
Rehearsal
Alex Hutchings
New Project Rehearsal
Guitarist Alex Hutchings is based in Bristol, England and his playing spans jazz fusion, rock and R&B. Since 2002 he has toured with a number of different ensembles and bands and he also composes music for BBC TV and radio and ITV.
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In this video from a couple of years ago Alex is rehearsing a number from a new project he was working on: "It involves me looping guitar and bass at the same time from the BOSS GR-55 and Looping different sections with the RC-300/600. This is my arrangement of the Jazz Standard Cherokee. I hope you enjoy it."
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Alex is accompanied here by Andy Roger (drums) and John Pearce (violin). There is also a breakdown list of stages in the music on the YouTube page.
Anagram
Tracks Unwrapped
Exploring the stories behind the music
Milneburg Joys
The tune, also spelt either as 'Milenburg Joys' or 'Millenburg Joys'. was written by Jelly Roll Morton, who called it ‘Milneburg’ Joys. Milneburg is a settlement on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans where Elysian Fields Avenue ends. It was named after the Scot, Alexander Milne, who developed the land in that area. In the 1700’s it had been called ‘Port Pontchartrain’ because of its location. It was local people who started calling it ‘Millenburg’, and the only reference to Port Pontchartrain that survived was the "Port Pontchartrain Lighthouse", and then that was taken out of operation in the 1920s.
Bass player Ron Drakeford says: "As a bit of interest, the shore areas of Lake Ponchartrain were socially very active at weekends when people were not working and out relaxing. To the North of Lake Ponchartrain lies the area of Mandeville and the popular venue for jazz was the "Dew Drop Inn " on Lamarque St. This building is still in existence and has been purchased and donated to the community by Jaqueline Vidrine to keep it for posterity. The likes of Buddy Petit, Bunk Johnson, Sam Morgan and Kid Ory were regular players."
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Here is a recording of Jelly Roll Morton playing the tune with the Friars Society Orchestra in 1923 for the Gennett label.
As you will see from the video, the Friars Society Orchestra was actually the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. At the time, the name "New Orleans Rhythm Kings" did not initially refer to this group, but rather to a group under the direction of vaudeville performer Bee Palmer. The group included clarinettist Leon Roppolo who went on to recruit a band to play on the riverboats. That group included trumpeter Paul Mares. Mares wanted to move on from the boats and found the group an engagement at a club called the Friars Inn in Chicago. The engagement lasted for eighteen months with the group performing under the name "The Friar's Society Orchestra". They attracted the interest not only of a regular audience, but of other musicians including Bix Beiderbecke who often played with the band.
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‘Milenberg Joys is, in part, the same tune as Golden Leaf Strut, with the omission of Jelly Roll's name as composer for the latter. The Gennett Recording Studios were located at the southern end of the Starr Piano Company factory in Richmond, Indiana, between a railroad overpass. On many occasions recording was interrupted when trains passed by the recording studio. The Friars Society Orchestra was: Paul Mares (cornet), George Brunies (trombone), Leon Roppolo (clarinet), Jack Pettis (C-melody sax), Glen Scoville (alto and tenor sax), Don Murray (tenor sax), Jelly Roll Morton (piano), Bob Gillette (banjo), Chink Martin (tuba or sousaphone) and Ben Pollack (drums).
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Here are the New Orleans Rhythm Kings with Golden Leaf Strut:
The Old New Orleans website is a valuable source for information and pictures of Milneburg:
‘In 1830, a railroad was built to connect New Orleans to the lakefront at Milneburg. The Pontchartrain Railroad was one of the first railroads in the country - only 23 miles of track had been laid in the United States when work began on the Pontchartrain line. It was constructed over miles of swampland that, until then, had been thought impassable. The work was extremely hard and the mortality rate for the workers was high, especially during outbreaks of yellow fever. By 1840, the railroad company had opened two hotels and two bathhouses in Milneburg. A trip on the train, pulled by a boisterous steam engine locals dubbed "Smoky Mary," was described by a visitor in the 1930's: "A mile from the city, we had left the city and all dwellings behind us and were flying through the fenceless, uninhabited marshes. At the lake, a quiet village of handsome hotels, cafes, dwellings, storehouses and bathing rooms burst at once upon our view. A village has grown up around the terminus, all the names of the owners, the notices and signboards being French."
‘From the 1830's to the 1930's, Milneburg was a popular place for dances and parties every weekend during New Orleans' long hot summers. Local musicians played everywhere - at private parties, clubs, cafes and saloons. Many of the musicians who played there in the early 1900s went on to become world famous as the early pioneers of jazz. Milneburg was a place where musicians of all races and cultures could gather to listen to each other and informally jam, so it was important in the development of New Orleans-style jazz.’.​
Newcomer Of The Year 2025
Donovan Haffner
by Howard Lawes
The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) is one of many informal groups of members from both of the U.K. Houses of Parliament that seek to further the interests of cultural, sporting and other activities in society. APPJG aims to increase parliamentarians' understanding of the jazz industry and promote jazz to a wider audience and its most prestigious annual event is the the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. These awards recognize and celebrate the achievements of jazz musicians, venues, personalities and organisations in the UK jazz network. Further information about the group and its work can be found here. Many of the awards recognise excellence that has been achieved over extended periods but since 2014 an award has been included for 'the best Jazz Newcomer of the year'. In 2025 this award was presented to alto saxophonist, Donovan Haffner and over a Zoom call Donovan talked about his life leading up to this major landmark in his career.
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Parents often play a very important role in the musical development of their children and for Donovan, having a mother who is a music teacher was decisive. Having decided he didn’t like the recorder, Donovan began playing the piano at age 7 and advanced by studying for classical grades. A couple of years later, at a school concert, Donovan saw someone playing a saxophone and was immediately bowled over by it. His mother bought him a saxophone, and he began studying for his jazz grades. As luck would have it, while he was being examined one day, his mother shared the waiting room with another parent who recommended an organisation called Tomorrow’s Warriors. Tomorrow’s Warriors organise weekend workshops at the Southbank in London and pride themselves on creating a supportive, family atmosphere where young musicians from all backgrounds can learn to play jazz. Donovan joined Tomorrow’s Warriors when he was 10 years old and not surprisingly found it quite scary.
An important technique that Tomorrow’s Warriors employ is to learn to play jazz by ear, not from sheet music, because playing jazz, as Donovan points out, is very much an aural skill. Mentored by Gary Crosby OBE, Binker Golding and Alex Davis, Donovan rapidly developed into an accomplished jazz saxophonist. So much so that at age 17 he had his first gig at the renowned Ronnie Scott’s jazz club; at 18 toured Italy with the multi-award-winning drummer Moses Boyd, and entered London’s Royal Academy of Music. In 2019 the Donovan Haffner Quintet performed at the EFG London Jazz Festival as part of the Jazz New Blood showcase with Donovan on alto sax, Francisco Paredes on guitar, Jay Verma on piano, Harry Pearce on bass and Harry Ling on drums.
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Here they are in a video from the following year with, This time, a line up of Donovan Haffner (saxophone); Harry Pearce (bass); Harry Ling (kit); Francisco Garcia de Paredes (guitar) and Will Hobson (piano) playing Wayne Shorter's Infant Eyes:
Then the COVID epidemic happened which had a devastating impact on so many. Despite the restrictions on association and live music events Donovan excelled at the Royal Academy of Music and graduated with a 1st class BMus. Degree. During this time, he was able to participate in a live streamed event from the Barbican in April 2021 as a member of Moses Boyd’s Exodus.
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In 2023 Donovan played at the Manchester Jazz Festival and featured in Phil Meadow’s Future Movers series of gigs at Ronnie Scott’s. In 2024 the Donovan Haffner Quintet played at the Vortex Club in London and Donovan was nominated for Jazz Newcomer at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. 2025 has seen an explosion of activity with gigs at all the major London clubs and at jazz festivals and the release of Donovan’s first album, Alleviate, which garnered a 4-star review in Jazzwise magazine.
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Here is a video of Donovan's Quintet playing the title track at Hampstead Jazz Club earlier in 2025:
Did You Know?
Louis Armstrong and Richard Nixon
There seem to be a number of versions of this story. Here is one apparently according to pianist Tommy Flanagan:
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"The group was in the VIP lounge at Orly airport in Paris when Vice President Nixon suddenly walked into the lounge with his Secret Service guards:"
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“When he saw Satchmo, the vice president immediately rushed up to him and, almost getting down on his knees, grabbed for Satchmo’s hand as if to kiss it. Slobbering all over Satchmo, Nixon began telling Satchmo what a national monument Satchmo was. ‘You’re like the Statue of Liberty! You’re a national treasure! I’m your biggest fan, Mr. Armstrong!'”
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“When the flight was announced and everybody started getting up to board the plane, Nixon kept asking, ‘Are you sure there is nothing I can do for you, Mr. Armstrong?.’ The band had a lot of luggage. Louis picked up a couple of pieces and handed them to Nixon, saying, ‘Yeah! Would you mind carrying these, Mr. President?'”
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And that, according to Flanagan, was how Armstrong’s band got its stash past Russian customs on that particular trip."
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One website (here) says: "Whether true or apocryphal, the story keeps coming back to us in so many different versions, and it’s such a wonderful story that I figure why not just smile and accept it as true? With so many variants, things like this can’t be made up!!"
Who Am I?
I was born in Norflok in 1920. I loved Jazz as a teenager so joined the National Rhythm Club when I was 17 and also set up a fan club for Nat Gonella. I became a jazz singer and went on to sing with some great bands of the time - Rod Mason, Chris Barber, Monty Sunshine, Mick Mulligan, George Melly, Mike Daniels, Digby Fairweather, so many, and of course my own Back Room Boys .... I paricularly favoured Bessie Smith's style and was really touched when Ella Fitzgerald once said I was "Britain's queen of the blues". I also played washboard and people said I was quite good; what people probably don't know is how I was keen on deep sea diving! I finally passed away in 1998 but I hope people remember my music.
The answer is HERE
Time Out Ten
Sometime Ago
Bill Evans
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.
Sometime Ago is a song written by Sergio Mihanovich, an Argentine jazz pianist, singer and composer of Croatian and Serbian descent. Apparently the song found its way to the US by way of Jim Hall, who discovered it when playing with Gato Barbieri in Argentina in 1960. Jim fell in love with the song and brought it to Art Farmer, who popularized it. It has since become something of a standard, though few know the story of the man who wrote it. It was first recorded by Art Farmer and Jim Hall in 1963 on the album The Art Farmer Quartet featuring Jim Hall . There is a video of them playing it here.
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Played by pianist Bill Evans' Trio on the album You Must Believe In Spring it is an ideal way to relax for a while in the busy hubbub of the day. The album was recorded in 1977 with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Eliot Zigmund although it was not actually released until February 1981. There are some beautiful lines from Eddie Gomez's bass on this recording, and of course Bill Evans' playing is wonderful. Someone on another Bill Evans recording says "Bill teaches me that when playing the piano, it is ok to breathe deeply and suspend the notes just a little longer, letting them ring out. Such divine simplicity!" - I think that writer sums it up well.
Take Two
Where we take two different jazz interpretations of a song
Too Darn Hot
It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I'd like to sup with my baby tonight
Refill the cup with my baby tonight
I'd like to sup with my baby tonight
Refill the cup with my baby tonight
But I ain't up to my baby tonight
'Cause it's too darn hot
Cole Porter wrote the song Too Darn Hot for the musical show Kiss Me Kate in 1948 and a film version was made in 1953 by MGM.. The story line was based on the Shakespeare play The Taming Of The Shrew. The song is staged as a production number where the song represents the company of the show taking a break offstage during the intermission of their play - there is a video here.
The original lyrics are interesting in that they are 'of their time' in referring to The Kinsey Report, although they were changed for the film to "According to the latest report".​
According to the Kinsey report
Every average man you know
Much prefers to play his favorite sport
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes way up
And the weather is sizzling hot
Mister Adam for his madam is not
‘Cause it’s too too too too darn hot
Alfred Kinsey was a Zoologist at Indiana University and he published two reports, one on Sexual Behaviour In The Human Male (1948) and another on Sexual Behaviour In The Human Female (1953). The research was based on data, analysis and conclusions collected from approximately 5,300 men over a fifteen-year period and then personal interviews with approximately 6,000 women.
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The books were contraversial. This was the end of the 1940s and beginning of the 1950s and sex was not as openly discussed publically as it would become in the 1960s. The reports "challenged conventional beliefs about sexuality and discussed subjects that had previously been taboo". It was interesting that Cole Porter saw fit to include the reference into his lyrics.
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Our first jazz take on the song is a big band version by the Ljublijana Academy of Music from Slovenia:
Our second take comes from last year (2024) when singer Caity Gyorgy called in to pianist Emmet Cohen's place. Caity is a Canadian singer from Calgary, Alberta, her parents having come from Hungary in the 1930s. She received the Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album Of The Year in 2022 (Now Pronouncing: Caity Gyorgy) and her latest album, Hello! How Are You?, is available to sample and buy here. Caity and Emmet clearly have a ball with the number:
It's too darn hot
It's too darn hot
I’d like to fool with my baby tonight
Break every rule with my baby tonight
I’d like to fool with my baby tonight
Break every rule with my baby tonight
But pillow, you’ll be my baby tonight
‘Cause it’s too darn hot
Anmol Mohara
Across The Sea
by Howard Lawes
Anmol Mohara is a recent graduate, and associate, of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Across the Sea is his first album that was released on Proper Records in October. Here is a video for the track Sakhaye Ho from the album:
During a Zoom call Anmol chatted about his life in Nepal and the U.K. and his plans for the future.
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Anmol was born in Dharan, a city in eastern Nepal that is also the location of a Brigade of Gurkhas depot making it a significant administrative and support hub for Gurkha troops serving the British crown. Anmol had an opportunity to demonstrate his drumming skills at the age of 5 when, with his uncle, he took part in the local Dashain festival, playing the congas. Nepali percussion instruments include the two-headed madal, the nagara, a pair of kettle drums played with sticks and tabla, smaller than nagara, that are played with the hands. Anmol’s parents were so impressed with his drumming that they applied for him to enrol at the Nepali Music Centre in Katmandhu. Anmol won a scholarship to attend the school and boarded there from age 9.
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Katmandhu is 400km and a 15-hour bus ride from Dharan so understandably Anmol often felt homesick and on one occasion ran away from school, managing to make it all the way home. Education at the school was demanding with academic studies during the day and music studies in the evening but Anmol persevered, playing drumkit as well as the traditional percussion instruments. At college Anmol was the drummer in a band called Blue in Silence that visited local schools and won a prize at the AFK Music Contest in Katmandhu. He also followed the Rock School syllabus, passing all the exams and achieved the highest grade.
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In 2016, Anmol moved with his family to the U.K. and lived in Aldershot and although they joined an existing Nepali community in the area the emotional upheaval was considerable. Anmol threw himself into hs drumming and was fortunate to start lessons with the renowned drum tutor, Danny Mullowney at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford. His skill and enthusiasm were soon recognised when, at age 16, Anmol won the 2017 Young Drummer of the Year Event quoting Dave Weckl and Anika Miles as influences. There is a video of his performance here. This was followed by the Yamaha #Futurebeat 2018 competition, where Anmol walked away with his first drum kit which was the winner’s prize:
In the same year Anmol was one of only three UK musicians to be offered a place at the prestigious Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony in California, financing his travel with a crowdfunding exercise. Anmol also participated in the Junior Jazzensemble course at the Royal Academy of Music led by Gareth Lockrane before successfully auditioning for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2019.
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The four-year course at Guildhall further cemented a love of jazz, which is perhaps unsurprising given that he was blessed with having James Maddren, Ralph Salmins, Will Glazer and Winston Clifford as tutors. However, he was also impressed by the way students at Guildhall, from many different countries and cultures, incorporated traditional music into their jazz compositions and performance, and resolved to do the same with Nepali music. He also has fond memories of seeing legendary Indian tabla players such as Zakir Hussain at London’s Southbank and Trilok Gurtu at Ronnie Scott’s Club. After graduating from Guildhall in 2023 he was offered an associateship whereby he received further one to one tuition, but in return took part in performances showcasing the Guildhall School of Music and accompanying younger students during their performances. This period also provided the opportunity to continue composing for his album, Across the Sea, which was released on 10th October 2025.
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While Anmol’s home is now in the U.K. his heart remains to a large extent in Nepal, and he is very keen to bring the diverse music and culture of Nepal to a wider audience. Percussionists, Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu are both well known for blending jazz and Indian music, and other musicians admired by Anmol include the Algerian drummer, Karim Ziad, the Malian singer, Oumou Sangare and the Indian British musician Nitin Sawhney known for blending electronic and world music. Across The Sea is a heartfelt blend of traditional Nepali sounds and Anmol's diverse global influences - bridging past and present, home and abroad. Here is a video for Mo : Mo In My Mind from the album.
The band is Anmol Mohara (drum kit, Madal, Tabla, Nagara, vocals, percussion); Tereza Catarov (vocals); Simeon May (flutes and tenor saxophone); Daniel Fawcett-Tuke (electric and acoustic guitar); Rory Hudson (electric and double bass); Cody Moss (piano, synths, Rhodes and keys); Nicole Petrus Barracks (vocals on track 6,); James Knight (soprano saxophone on Track 4 and additional tenor saxophone on Track 14); Jansen Santana (percussion on Tracks 4 and 14), and Prince Nepali (Sarangi on Tracks 11 and 16). The instruments are a mixture of traditional Nepali and western jazz ensemble. The sarangi is a stringed instrument played with a bow that makes sounds that resemble the human voice.
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Tracks on the album adapted from traditional music include Sakhiye Ho (which we heard above). It is normally performed at the Maghe Sankranti festival that welcomes the lengthening of short winter days and the prospect of spring, it has an infectious rhythm and a melody clearly intended to dispel those winter blues. Sorathi is a traditional tune from the Magar community and begins with a folk tale describing the misfortune of a king and his baby princess, happily the tale has a happy ending. It is a long track with complex musical arrangements that testifies to the Anmol’s ability to compose songs as well as rhythm. Silu comes from the Newar people and is a folk song, beautifully sung by Tereza Catarov. The track includes some equally lovely solos on guitar and saxophone.
The Story Is Told
An Oscar Peterson Prank
Apparently, according to bassist Bill Crow, one of Oscar Peterson’s favourite pranks was to fool around with his trio members’ bass and guitar strings before a performance. He would then keep Herb Ellis or Ray Brown busy with conversation right up to the second before they started to play. Of course, Peterson would start the tune and Ellis or Brown would flounder with their strings, trying to figure out what was going on.
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Peterson became so good at it after a while that all he had to do was to pretend to touch the bass or guitar and not do a thing to the strings. Brown and Ellis would be watching and just assume Peterson detuned the instruments. As soon as they got to the bass and guitar, they would tune them higher by themselves. Or for a variation, Peterson would start a song in a higher key and they’d think they were out of tune.
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Listen here to the Trio playing Tea For Two.
Insight
A series in which musicians give us insight into the background of one of their recordings
Despedida La Bodega
by the Jack Ruby 5
From the title, people would be forgiven for not relating it to Glasgow, Scotland! "Like Stan Getz, whose melodic fluency carried jazz into dialogue with Brazilian music, the album leans gently on Latin rhythms. Its phrasing and harmonic choices at times nod towards the understated, rhythmic style of João Gilberto – his intimate guitar comping providing a parallel to Despedida La Bodega’s Spanish twist. This affinity with Latin jazz mirrors the album’s cultural resonance, deepening its Glaswegian storytelling."
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Listen to the atmospheric Rainy Night In Shettleston:
The title Despedida La Bodega (Despedida means a farewell celebration) pays homage to a now-lost venue in Glasgow’s shipping quarter, central to the band’s formation and artistic identity. Drummer and label founder Bob Anderson explains:
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“The album is an ode to the disappearing liminal spaces in Glasgow’s cityscape. Specifically, the album’s title refers to a Spanish café/bar/venue (La Bodega) that was situated in the old shipping area of the city. In the early days of the band, we would play there quite regularly, and it was where we developed the ensemble sound and styles that have resulted in the original compositions featured on the album. La Bodega was an unusual space, not just in its location (away from the hustle and bustle of the main streets), but also in its décor/ambience, as well as the authentic Spanish tapas it served. The venue also had a salsa dance studio upstairs. Though it could not be described as ‘high end’, it was much more ‘down and dusty’. It encapsulated the notion of a ‘liminal space’ where you never knew who you would meet or what could happen. Sadly, Glasgow is losing more and more of these spaces, spaces which allow for experimentation and developing non-mainstream art and culture.”
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Listen to the Latin flavoured Kelvingrove Street here. This video gives us a picture of the stories behind the album:
Guitarist and chief composer Ian Macmillan positions the album as something singular within Scotland’s jazz community:
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“It has a different twist to contemporary Celtic or academic fusion-influenced styles. It could be interpreted as a 1990s acid jazz-influenced. Two key musicians who inspired me and influenced my approach to playing are Grant Green and Bill Frisell. Learning to play in a jazz style can be intimidating and difficult to know where to start. Grant Green was the first guitarist I ‘got’ in that I had a grasp of his vibe and approach to playing. I loved his sound and phrasing. Bill Frisell has a unique style – there’s a deceptive simplicity blended with avant-garde developments often involving the use of effects. That gave me inspiration when recording the LP.”
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While the guitar guides the narrative, the compositions are deeply connected to Glasgow’s people and places.
Jazz Remembered
George Dawson
Reeds player George Harry Dawson was born in 19th May 1940 in Barnes, London. In his late teens, he won a scholarship to an art school. Here he honed his drawing and painting skills and years later, he painted a number of pictures of jazz greats including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Bunk Johnson, Charlie Parker and others, some of which he sold, some of which are still with his family. It was at art school that he also became seriously into jazz, and playing jazz.
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At 18, he played in Bix-inspired trumpeter Derek Budd’s Maryland Jazz Band, coming second in a jazz band competition. He also frequented central London jazz clubs run by Ken Colyer and Cy Laurie, and would sit in whenever possible. He said that they would play all night - taking care to “step over the dead bodies” (i.e., drunken and exhausted dancers who were kipping on the floor), for the price of a “greasy breakfast” the next morning. Initially George worked in factories, shops, garages, and as a painter and decorator before taking a job as a school caretaker in Harrow, but his first big music break came in 1960 when he was asked to join Steve Lane’s Famous Southern Stompers.
George Dawson with Steve Lane's Southern Stompers in the late 1960s including Nick Singer (banjo), Terry Vincent (drums), Ray Smith (piano), Bob Dwyer (trombone) and Dave Hill (sousaphone).
George’s son Paul says: “Perhaps he was recommended by a fellow musician when clarinettist Alex Revell was stepping down from the band. “Steve 'auditioned’ Dad, and told him to go away, learn arpeggios on all of the chords in five vital jazz keys – Ab, Bb, C, Eb and F, I imagine – and come back next week. Dad learnt several arpeggios on all of the chords in all twelve keys, played them fluently for Steve, and was invited to join the band. He was clearly very keen and, despite their musical differences, was always proud of his association with the band, and grateful for the opportunities it gave him to record and tour all over Europe. He was also, I think, very grateful to Steve personally, for teaching him to read music, music theory and so on. While Dad’s clarinet playing initially reflected the style of those New Orleans players who had played with the 1920s bands that Steve Lane admired - people like Johnny Dodds and Omer Simeon, whose line Dad emulated, and then transforms and transcends on Steve’s recording of ‘The Chant’”
“By, by the middle of the decade he had developed a style entirely his own – fast-flowing, a babbling brook, passionate but not romantic, a hard-edged, pitiless suffusion of blues feeling and rapid precision, zeal controlled by a prodigious technique and instantly recognisable by those in the know.”
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Paul continues: “Dad had very definite musical ideas. At least two musicians who were in the band at the time have told my brother and me that they were frustrated at spending Wednesday night rehearsals “listening to Steve and your Dad argue”. Dad wanted more freedom. He was tired of playing “by the book”, the book in question being of Steve’s meticulous arrangements. He wanted to play more soprano sax – indeed, this became his main instrument from about 1970 onwards.”
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“The influence of Sidney Bechet was unmistakable in his soprano playing, but he was no mere Bechet copyist, for the influence of other favourite musicians, Charlie Parker in particular, also made itself felt. Dad had such power, fluency and emotional heft on the soprano that one fellow musician acclaimed him as, in the classic tradition, “the best player in Europe”. He also played alto sax, and very occasionally baritone and tenor.”
George (right) with Keith Nichols (trombone) and Digby Fairweather (cornet) in the mid-1970s
The Jazz Quiz
Long Live The King
In the quiz this month we give you 15 questions about King Oliver. How many can you answer?
The November Jazz Quiz is​
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.
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Clara took this picture of vocalist Clair Dickson when she was singing with pianist Lex Korten's band at Lower East Side’s Close Up, in celebration of Lex's debut album Canopy. The other band members were alto saxophonist David Leon, guitarist Tal Yahalom and drummer Stephen Boegehold. Based in Brooklyn, Clair has released albums under her own name - The Beholder (2024) and Starland (2022). Her new album Through is due for release on 21st November.
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Clair's approach to her music considers song to be "an artistically flexible modality and a research orientation. Her work utilizes microphones, pedals, synthesizers, field recordings, acoustic instruments, and draws from lineages of improvisation, extended vocal technique, sampling, and deep listening." Here is a video of her performing a solo set in Berlin last October. We can hear Clair singing on Air Below Sky from Lex Korten's album here.
Forum
Jazz In Jail
Last month we featured how inmates at Tacumbú prison in Paraguay were treated to a rare and unexpected concert by a jazz band (video here). We asked if anyone knew of a UK prison where a jazz band had played? Trevor Vincent wrote: "You ask if a jazz band has played a British prison. I don't know if you could count it as a jazz band, but when I was with the Ken Macintosh band in the early '70s we did a memorable gig at Wandsworth prison."
[Ken Mackintosh was an English saxophonist, composer and bandleader. His orchestra was featured on BBC Radio almost every week in the 1950s and early 1960s. Among his fans was the Queen Mother, for whom he played twice at Windsor Castle - Ed]
Ernie Felice
Gaston Hinostroza writes: "I read your post about Ernie Felice. I Immediately was excited to hear more and just as immediately disappointed to find I could not find any recordings of him. Can you point me to some Benny Goodman records he was on or other groups he recorded with ? "
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[Our page on accordion player Ernie Felice is here and I plan to update it in the near future. I replied to Gaston that there are a number of recordings of him with Benny Goodman available through the Discogs site - an example is here - 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.
Jack DeJohnette
American drummer, pianist and composer born in Chicago in 1942. He moved to New York in 1966 to become a member of Charles Lloyd's band and there first met pianist Keith Jarrett, who would work with him throughout his career. He joined Miles Davis in 1969, and over the following years led his own band, composed and recorded. The list of those with whom he collaborated is long. He passed through the Departure Lounge on 26th October 2025. Obituaries : Wikipedia : The Guardian : The New York Times : A video of Jack with Keith Jarrett and Gary Peacock playing God Bless The Child is here.
Jim McNeely
American pianist, composer and arranger born in Chicago in 1949. He played with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band, the Stan Getz Quartet, the Phil Woods Quintet and became the chief conductor of the DR Big Band in Copenhagen, Denmark. Jim McNeely passed through the Departure Lounge on the 6th September 2025. Obituaries: Wikipedia : The New York Times : Downbeat : A video of Jim with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band playing In This Moment is here.
Anthony Jackson
American electric bass player born in New York City in 1952. He is credited with the development of the 6 string bass. He played many times as a session musician across a wide variety of genres, including jazz, recording with those such as Michael Petrucciani, Lee Ritenour, Buddy Rich, Gerry Mulligan and others. Anthony passed through the Departure Lounge on the 19th October 2025. Obituaries: Wikipedia : New York Times : Some footage of Anthony with Dizzy Gillespie is here.
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:
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I receive so many requests to review recordings it is impossible to include them all.
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Unlike some publications/blogs, Sandy Brown Jazz is not a funded website and it is not possible to pay reviewers.
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Reviews tend to be personal opinions, something a reviewer likes might not suit you, or vice versa.
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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
America
Donny McCaslin - Lullaby For The Lost
Henry Threadgill - Listen Ship
Europe and Elsewhere
David Helbock & Julia Hofer - Faces Of Night
Matti Klein Soul Trio -Bouncin' In Bubbleverse