Next up (2nd August): Ainge, Manwaring

We look forward to the welcome return of Pete Ainge on trumpet, and Roger Manwaring on reeds. Ken Jones will join us again and Graham Smith will be our drummer.

Swinging for England!

While the Aussies were swinging their bats at Lords, and Tom Watson wasn't quite swinging it well enough to beat Cink at Turnbury, there was certainly a winning performance at Malvern last night, as we hosted Bobby Johnson, Terry Roberts and Ken Jones of the Martinique, and Martin Emeny of many guises.

Last time these visitors came together, we had one of the best nights of 2008. Its hard to pin down why, but I guess it's the style and drive of the two frontliners that gets its own response from the rhythm section. It's certainly a pleasure to back them. There are sure to be some tracks from last night on the next compilation CD, as a quick check this morning revealed that the recording 'came out' well.

Thanks to Ken, who drove all the way from Maidstone to entertain us last night. Thanks too, to Jane's stand-in behind the bar, who drove from North Wales. Of course, we all send best wishes to Jane for a good recovery from her knee op.

And many thanks to you all for supporting the club in such numbers last night. The music is alive and well in Malvern, ain't it!

19th July - Johnson and Roberts Return

Last Autumn, we had Bobby Johnson and Terry Roberts (plus Ken Jones) for a session which turned out to be one of 2008's very best. (Some of the evidence is to be found on the first Abbey 'best of' CD).

They're back, on 19th July, with Ken J on piano, and Martin Emeny on drums.

This, I promise you, will swing!

Slide Show!

With three captivating trombone players, led by the marvellous Roy Williams accompanied by Ron Hills and Martin Veasey, we had a night to remember. Even with the very best musicians, it's a gamble putting three of the same instrumental voices together, but if you were there, you'll already know it paid off.

I'll be honest, I didn't really know how well it had actually gone until I reviewed the recording the next morning.

The reason? Well Len and I were concentrating so hard on our chord charts that we probably had about 5% of our brains left to appreciate the overall effect! And the reason for that was the selection of lovely but infrequently-played music that the front line gave us. It was technically challenging for the guys in the engine room but musically grrrreat.

Here's something else that I discovered on hearing the recording: when you give gifted soloists a lovely melody to work on, its very striking how different their imaginations are. Roy, of course, gave us all the fluidity and melodic inventiveness we've come to admire so much over the years. And both Ron and Martin responded in kind.

I must also say that I have never heard Roger Heeley play better. We were so glad to see him back behind the keyboard, and what he gave us was simply the performance of a man inspired (I almost said possessed!!).

I promise you, we've captured some great stuff for the next compilation, and our thanks go to all the boys, and especially Roy, for letting us do that.