Jazz West Midlands

    A site for Jazz Fans in and around the West Midlands









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Ironbridge

 

The Worlds First Iron Bridge which spans the River Severn
at Ironbridge in the County of Shropshire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a difficult year it has been for Jazz and Jazz Musicians with quite a number of well known clubs having to close. However the beat goes on and there are still some great gigs to attend this month and for the coming year.

In the Midlands we are fortunate to have some of the best musicians and bands in the country and promoters such as Birmingham Jazz, Bolehall Manor,The Harp Albrighton, Bridgnorth Jazz etc to name a few.

I try my best to inform you all what and where they are, and I am always pleased to receive details.

There is no charge so please keep me up to date.

Here is a treat for Jazz Fans

http://ahsjazz.googlepages.com/youtubevideolinks

 

This music is from Paul Sawtells new CD
JUST DAMN GOOD TUNES

Paul, piano/vibes. Bill Coleman, bass. Nick Milward, drums.

What great jazz. What fine talent.
Pauls web site.

http://www.jazzwestmidlands.co.uk/paul.html


  A Tribute to Archie Cotterell

ARCHIE COTTERELL (1930 - 2011)
It is with great sadness that we say farewell to yet another great and unique musician. Archie passed away at home last December at the age of 81. He was playing up until just two weeks before! Having turned professional in 1967 his career took him all over the world, from cruise ships to broadcasting on BBC, and as a studio musician for Central TV. He worked with American stars such as Sonny Stitt and Johnny Grifffin as well as many British Jazz stars. Archie developed a huge following throughout the Midlands and beyond and made regular appearances at The Trumpet in Bilston. A truly explosive and spontaneous player, you would never hear the same tune twice!
God Bless Archie you will be greatly missed by all.
Carole Westwood

 

Jazz Extra

Concert at The Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge.
Wollaston Road,
Amblecote,
Stourbridge.
DY8 4HF

Sunday 29th January 7:30 pm.

The Simon Deeley Trio with Chris Gumbley on alto and baritone sax

Tel 01384 399419

CBSO Centre

Saturday 28th January 8pm

Mike Gibbs with Hans Koller Ensemble: Gil Evans

£14.00 (£12.00)


Box Office: 0121 780 333

This will be a fine gig I am sure.

Town Hall Birmingham
Friday 3rd February, 7:30pm

Two Trad Jazz Legends Together

Mr Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz

The Big Chris Barber Band

tickets £22-00

 Radio Jazz
Wednesdays 7pm
two hours of jazz presented
by
John Hellings.

Depending where you live tune to

BBC Hereford & Worcester 94.7 to 104fm

BBC Radio Stoke 94.6 fm
also on
Radio Shropshire 96fm
To Listen Again

Log in to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004g9qc

Tim Lord Presents
Bridgnorth Jazz
28th of January 12-30pm
at

Gabrielle’s Wine Bar
Lower Town
Bridgnorth
( by the River bridge)

Digby Fairweather.
Craig Milverton piano
Paul Sawtell vibes

All three are old friends of Bridgnorth jazz and this session promises to be just that little bit special.

Tickets will be £7 at the door.

The Four Oaks Big Band
9th February
at
TheT
 oby Inn
Sutton Park
Birmingham
Town Gate entrance


All gigs start 8-00pm

£5-00 on the door

 



 UK Jazz Radio

http://www.ukjazzradio.com 

Great News

We have a new Jazz Programme available to all Web users.
Listen on Line click the above url

Please give it all the support you can and lets's help make it a big success.


K Jazz Radio, the internet-based jazz music radio station with a global following of well over a million listeners, has unveiled the launch of a television channel dedicated purely to jazz.

To be launched in March, UK Jazz Television TM will initially be available on-line but will, within a few months, be viewable on television.

 

 This is to advise that the jazz magazine
Jazz West Mids has now been aquired from Linda & Barry by
Stella Draper who is now the new editor . She can be contacted on 01788 553884 for advertising. Her web site will remain.
http://www.jazzwestmids.co.uk/
I wish her well with the new project and trust many of you will advertise in the magazine.

Please note my web is independent of the above
www.jazzwestmidlands.co.uk

Geoff Inwood

 

 If you like to see Jazz musicians playing your favorite music, then I am sure you will enjoy a visit to the following URLs

http://www.dailymotion.com/boberwig

http://www.webofjazz.net/

I was advised by my friend Frank Meeson of these details.

Bob Erwig, is a retired cornet player from The Climax Jazzband and I understand now lives in Canada. Some of you may know him ?

I must advise you that they are addictive and you may may spend a lot of time on your computer !

 

  Menorca The Jewel in the Med

Click on my Menorca button for more details.

Jazz Fans and Jazzmen there is a great jazz club which meets once each week in the season

The Casino San Clemente
 

 

 

Lots of info on the UKs biggest Jazz Site    http://www.jazzservices.org.uk/

I have been a Jazz fan nearly all my life from the early days of Geoffrey Everitt and Radio Luxemburg and the wonderful A.F.N. ( American Forces Network) in Germany. I even built a one valve radio so I could listen to this station late at night. At this time the disc jockey was Moff Moffat and his programme was Midnight in Munich. He played the greatest jazz of that time on V Disc. Woody Herman. Stan Kenton. Benny Goodman and of course Louis Armstrong. If there is anybody who remembers these times and programmes I would be interested to hear from them.
I recall going to a meeting in Sutton Coldfield some years ago and we had a lecture from a collector of V Discs.
If you know of this gentleman I would be pleased to hear from you
In those days we only had 78rpm records 10 or 12inch. My dad had a spring wound record player with needles that you had to change after a couple of plays. In time I bought an arm with a stylus which played through the radio. (wonderful).
It was a Guy called John Tims who started my interest in Jazz, he is a drummer and lives in Ellesmere and became a good friend. He had his own room with his kit in and a radiogram to play his records on! He invited us there on a Sunday afternoon's and we played his and our records. What a great time it was.
John was the drummer with The George Riley Band a local dance band located in Oswestry and resident at The Victoria Rooms but quite often they came to play at the Garrision Theatre. Park Hall Training Camp.

My earnings at that time were about £2-00 per week and after giving my mother twenty five shillings for my keep this left me with fifteen shillings of spending money! Records as I recall were around two shillings & sixpence so much care was needed before buying. As time progressesd LPs came onto the market and 3minutes of playng time became a thing of the past, of course it was not quite that simple as I had to aquire a record player to play at 33 RPM.

Most of the Jazz I went to live was with the Big Bands Ted Heath,Geraldo, Joe Loss and if very lucky Vic Lewis.
One great treat was the Dance Band Championships held at The Winter Gardens in Blackpool and if I remember correctly a band called Ken Mackintosh won in that year and went from strength to strength. The resident band for the show was Geraldo.
Over the years I have been fortunate to see and listen to many fine bands. Woody Herman. Buddy Rich and of course the great Ted Heath Band never to be forgotton. Then along came George Shearing, The MJQ, Stan Kenton etc
But the great change came with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Miles Davies and of course our own Johnny Dankworth Seven who were leading lights in this change of style. It is good to see that for all these changes that the Trad /New Orleans jazz is still played throughout this country, and bands like Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk and Phil Mason must take much credit for this.
As any Jazz fan knows the local musicians who form the many bands throughout the country and play for peanuts must also be given great credit for keeping this music alive. But dont forget it is our support that can keep them playing.

Geoff Inwood

 

 

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