Isomatic UK Weblog

On Thursday evening we went to the Berrylands Hotel in Surbiton, to see and hear The Magna jazz band. The two excellent deputies were Dave Hewett on trombone (pictured from a previous visit) and Tony Pyke on alto sax and clarinet. In the absence of Brian White, the band was led by Pete Towndrow who not only plays great cornet and trumpet but has a good jazz voice. His vocal on 'I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter' brought shouts of MORE from the audience. Other highlights were 'Dark Eyes' from Dave Hewett and my request for 'Carnaval' featuring Alan Dandy (keyboard) with Rex Bennet providing the Bossa Nova beat on drums. This is a very modern piece for the band and for me but it is still one of my favourites. My Charlie Byrd record that includes it is now 40 years old so modern is a relative term.
I sat in the famous lucky seat and won a Judy Eames CD in the raffle followed by a win from Selina that we asked to be drawn again in the interests of fair play. The new winner was Peter Winn, sitting the other side of me ! The lucky seat has become the lucky corner.

Labels: Jazz