Friday 24 September 2010

Hey - missed a few & then ... Jez Platt & co at Shepley CC

Jez Platt - guitar & vocals
Rod Mason - Keyboard, Sax & flute
Chris Sykes - drums
Chris Hargreaves - bass
Ed Collins - trumpet, percussion
First set just seemed to be going thru the motions but the second really warmed up with 'Let me see you shake it on the dance floor baby', 'I shot the sheriff', 'Isn't she lovely', etc; the band got into the groove and the audience called out for more.

Wednesday 2 June 2010

CW Stoneking dates

Excited to see CW Stoneking is playing some dates in the UK ... apparently I've missed a couple already! See cwstoneking.com but here are the UK dates:

June 7th
The Musician - Clyde Street, Leicester LE1 2DE, UK

June 8th
The Lexington - 96-98 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9JB

August 1st
Cambridge Folk Festival - UK

August 7th
Tall Ships Festival - Hartlepool, UK


And apparently in Wakefield sometime at the beginning of August, not listed on his website, but Rich has got me a ticket! Yeah!

Tuesday 1 June 2010

Jazz Dawgs and Friends at The Sportsman

On Saturday we went to Adrian Ingram's 60th birthday bash at The Sportsman in Huddersfield. He plays jazz guitar and used to be a lecturer at Leeds College of Music until, as he puts it, they started talking about 'learning units' instead of students. The 'prof' you could call him.

Terry Kenyon used to play with him for many years, even touring the USA as a duo with Adrian, playing jazz and blues. He played with some of the musicians on Saturday for a few numbers -

Terry is second from left and Adrian 3rd from left.

We missed the Jazz Dawgs first set - I'm so disorganised that this is a common occurrence, unfortunately. The second set was more of a mixture with guests 'sitting in' on various instruments. I haven't got all the names, I'm afraid. As well as Terry on guitar and vocals, the sax and trumpet players were very good, as was Robin on chromatic harp. A guitarist and bass player, introduced as the Jazz Pups, as they were a bit younger than the rest, also played some fine stuff.

Malcolm Rose (current band Rose'n'berg) did a few blues numbers which I enjoyed, backed by Robin on harp & Chris Strachan (current band Manhattan Sound - http://www.manhattan-sound.com/) on double bass, also Ian Wroe from the Jazz Dawgs I think.

See more about the Jazz Dawgs on their website http://www.jazzdawgs.co.uk

The Sportsman is at http://www.undertheviaduct.com

A good time was had by all!

Saturday 13 March 2010

Futile Photos

a February freezing fog
the dawn hasn't done its job
the streets still grey and sleepy

up the Greenfield Road
the grey is whiter
and we walk hopefully onto the moor

losing sight of the road in the mist
we climb and surely it is getting warmer, brighter?
near the summit we are in bright sunshine,
turn and see the tops of clouds spread below our feet

filling the valley below, bright sunshine,
billowing clouds stretched sky
and there standing proud - the top of the mast

alone in that rolling sea of white
that tower of babble on Emley Moor
and we on Black Hill stood elated too.

I took a few pictures before we walked back into the mist
but when I view them later on screen
the tower isn't there and the rolling sea
has gone - just a white haze
stretching to the empty blue.