Isomatic UK Weblog

This evening, as usual for a Thursday, we went to the Berrylands Hotel in Surbiton, to see Brian White's Magna jazz band. Chez Chesterman (pictured) replaced Pete Towndrow on Cornet, the remainder of the band being standard. Chez was, once again, accompanied by the delightful Carol, who again sat next to me.
Our favourite numbers were as follows:
1. At a Georgia Camp Meeting, written by Kerry Mills in 1899. He also wrote 'Whistling Rufus' and 'Redwing'. The link is to a version by the Dutch Swing College, a band much maligned by Brian.
2. Alan Dandy's fine combination of stride and boogie-woogie, Alligator Crawl, composed by Fats Waller, who is featured on this link.
4. Chez's great vocal John Henry, (traditional). John Henry is an American folk hero, famous for having raced against a steam powered hammer and won, only to die in victory with his hammer in his hand. He has been the subject of numerous songs, stories, plays, and novels. The link is to the Woody Guthrie version. This number evoked a wave of nostaliga for the skiffle era

Selina and I having won the raffle between us for the last three jazz nights at the Berrylands, we donated last week's win, the Ma Rainey CD, to Chez. Tonight he was a winner and gave us the prize of a bottle of sparkling rosé.

Labels: Jazz