‘BARRY PALSER’S SUPER SIX’ once again came to Farnborough Jazz Club, Kent, on Friday, 29^th August 2014.

Barry Palser

Trombonist BARRY’s band of musicians were PETE RUDEFORTH (trumpet), JOHN CROCKER (reeds/vocals), TONY PITT (banjo), HARVEY WESTON (double bass) and JOHN TYSON (drums). Before you all turned up, Keith and I enjoyed John (C) warming up and boy oh boy, he was better than most during those practice moments (don’t be offended all you clarinettists – it’s just true, ha). Well if that was any indication of what was to come, we were not wrong. They had to follow on from the previous two fantastic Fridays (especially as one of them was Tony’s own band). However, they did just that. Once again, I will give you the picture of what you missed if you were not there. With numbers such as ‘All of Me’, which was sung by John (C), who has a wonderful voice. I love the next number being ‘Running Wild’. Pete sang it and John (T) gave a marvellous drum solo with Harvey and Tony doing their bit too. Then Barry said their next number ‘I’m Crazy ‘bout My Baby’ is dedicate to Dave Wasket (trumpet player of ‘Vintage Jazz’ fame), “because Davy loved it”. I have found some old info on ‘Vintage Jazz’ (lost off website when it went ‘down’, so have loaded it again). It was our turn to do our line-dance to ‘My Blue Heaven’, which Barry sang. Once again, John (C) commented about us being the ‘Roly Polys’. Thanks John, quite a compliment, I know we are all amazing dancers. However, it’s alright girls, I think he was referring to my size only (cheeky – John I mean, not my derrière, hmmm). Anyway, my next choice of song was played beautifully by them all, that being ‘Creole Love Call’, a great number. John followed on to be featured on tenor sax with ‘Honeysuckle Rose’, such a talent, so superb. Then it was Pete’s turn to be featured on trumpet. He played fabulously ‘Davenport Blues’. I wrote the word ‘Brilliant’ against ‘Oh Lady Be Good’. George Gershwin songs always bring on the dancers and I remember everyone excelled, need I say more? I finish up though with ‘Just a Little While to Stay Here’. It was sung by Barry and what I particularly loved, was halfway through, the three front liners singing in harmony. Yes another excellent evening.

See you this coming Friday, 5^th September 2014 (doors open to you at 8.00pm, time to relax for music at 8:30pm). Don’t forget we have ‘The Martyn Brothers’ and another wonderful evening expected!

Keep supporting us, so we can keep giving you this great entertainment every week.

Cheers,

Diane and Keith

‘All of Me’ – Gerald Marks & Seymour Simons (1931) (Ruth Etting Song)

‘Creole Love Call’ – © Duke Ellington (1928) (lost court case by Joe ‘King’ Oliver (1923)

‘Davenport Blues’ – Bix Beiderbecke (1925) – named after his hometown.

‘I’m Crazy ‘bout My Baby’ – Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller & Alex Hill (1931)

‘Honeysuckle Rose’ – (m) Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller, (l) Andy Razaf (1928)

‘Just a Little While to Stay Here’ – Eugene Monroe Bartlett (1884-1941)

‘My Blue Heaven’ – (m) Walter Donaldson, (l) George A. Whiting (1924)

‘Oh Lady Be Good’ – (m) George Gershwin, (l) Ira Gershwin (1924)

‘Running Wild’ – (m) A. Harrington Gibbs, (l) Joe Grey & Leo Woods (1922)

‘BARRY PALSER’S SUPER SIX’ were back to give us their own special entertainment on Friday, 23^rd May 2014 here at our Farnborough Jazz Club. Band leader BARRY (trombonist/vocals) (who ran Savoy Jazz Band for more than 55years) had booked ALAN GRESTY on trumpet/vocals (28years with Monty Sunshine Band), JOHN CROCKER on reeds/vocals (34years with The Chris Barber Band), JIM DOUGLAS* on banjo/guitar, HARVEY WESTON on double bass (both with The Alex Welsh Band – Jim 18years & Harvey 6years) and GRAHAM COLLICOTT (drums). They certainly were a contending jazz band to match last week’s and did we enjoy another brilliant evening, we certainly did! As I remarked last week, obviously, all the bands (that appear, or have appeared here) have their own brilliance, bringing their own interpretation of jazz we love, with absolutely fabulous traditional jazz, producing a great club ambiance. So what did they play? Well, they started the evening off with ‘Bourbon Street Parade’, a great favourite (I have no concrete evidence of when Paul Barbarin wrote it, hence circa 1953). The next number, ‘Riverboat Shuffle’ was chosen by everyone to do our line-dance. Barry called us “The Farnborough Jazz Formation Team”, caw Barry, we could end up next year on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, ha. He then introduced John who sang ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter’. He continued to say John is a fantastic musician, very funny with the jokes and a super singer – a good all-rounder, just like Ian Botham is to cricket. John also carried on to feature the next number, that beautiful song ‘Tangerine’. John showed his wonderful talent playing tenor sax. A hard act to follow, but Alan did so, making a smashing job with singing ‘Baby Won’t You Please Come Home’. What happened next was Barry telling everyone how when I phoned to confirm who would be in the band, he jokingly answered “What, are we with you soon”? With one personal problem after another, I really thought ‘Oh no, I’ve got everything wrong’! So to make up for the shock, Barry dedicated the next number as ‘Christopher Columbus’. Bless him for remembering it was one of my favourites. The next number was ‘Fidgety Street’ great to dance to.   Barry has an excellent jazz voice, shown when he sang ‘Louisiana’, another favourite jazz ‘standard’. They finished up with ‘Back Home Again in Indiana’, completing yet another fabulous evening. Their next date here is 29^th August 2014.

Diane & Keith

* Jim has written a book called ‘Tunes, Tours and Travel-it is’. It’s about eighteen years of facts, faces and fun with the Alex Welsh Band, available through Amazon for $13.50, or email us for Jim’s contact details, if you live in England.

N.B. At one point during the evening, Barry mentioned someone had argued the point of who composed a particular number (Barry proving to be correct). Not sure who that was, but I hope if I ever get something wrong, someone will please let me know. I usually try to find original song manuscripts, but not always possible, so please correct me as and when. Thanks.

‘Baby Won’t You Please Come Home’ – (m) Charles Warfield, (l) Clarence Williams (1919)

‘Back Home Again in Indiana’ – Ballard MacDonald & James F. Hanley (1917)

‘Bourbon Street Parade’ – Paul Barbarin (c. 1953)

‘Christopher Columbus’ – Glen Miller, Joe Garland & Andy Razaf (1959)

‘Fidgety Feet’ – Nick LaRocca & Larry Shields (1919)

‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter’ – (M) Fred E. Ahlert, (l) Joe Young (1935)

‘Louisiana’ – (m) James Johnson, (l) Andy Razaf & Bob Schaefer (1928)

‘Riverboat Shuffle’ – (m) Hoagy Carmichael, (l) Irving Mills, Mitchell Parish & Dick Voynow (1924)

‘Tangerine’ – (m) Victor Schertzinger, (l) Johnny Mercer (1941)

‘BARRY PALSER’S SUPER SIX’ gave us such a lovely evening on Friday, 14^th February 2014 (celebrating ♥Happy St. Valentine’s Day♥’) here at Farnborough Jazz Club.  The weather was atrocious and many of you couldn’t make it (once again I welcomed those who came with ‘Good evening my little ducklings).  Anyhow, the band travelled from far and wide through it all.  Not only that, we had a chap (called Alan) who had travelled from Devon to Weymouth (both places which have been hit badly by the storms and floods).  He then came from Weymouth to visit us (for the first time), danced brilliantly, staying till the end and then returned to Weymouth that night!  Another (new) couple travelled from Milton Keynes too.   However, those who refrained from coming, I must tell you a tree was blown over in the High Street, so don’t feel so bad.  But sorry, now to make you drool at what you missed?  Band leader ♥BARRY (trombonist/vocals) booked by ♥ALLAN (Lord Arsenal) BRADLEY (trumpet/vocals), ♥JOHN CROCKER (reeds/vocals), ♥TONY PITT (banjo), ♥HARVEY WESTON (double bass) and ♥JOHN TYSON (drums).  The evening was wonderful, with the tunes and great jokes all based most aptly for the day.  They began the evening’s overtones of romance with ‘All of Me’ (hmmm).  Then some lovely solos by all were played with ‘Sugar, That Sugar Baby o’ Mine’.  Barry sang the next number called ‘Gee, Baby, Aint I Been Good to You’.  Then Barry announced “We were asked for a rap number, so here it is!” and began playing (with Allan singing) ‘Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams’.  Our audience were in absolute rapturous fits of laughter.  ‘Sweet Sue’ was next and brought a few more dancers on to the floor.   Now the next number wasn’t really for Valentine’s night, but it was requested (I wonder why – hmm).  It was called ‘Love, Careless Love’!  Tony began the number with a bass solo that was brilliant and Barry also sang.  Then I feel ‘Move Your Body Over’ needs a mention, with Allan infiltrating the song with a bit of ‘Wakey, Wakey’ theme song for Colin Dobson.  Colin was trumpeter for many years in ‘The Billie Cotton Band Show’.  He was in the audience with his family (his grandson [Luke] and partner are both doctors, so Colin said he will have no worries now).  Barry then sang to ‘Girl of My Dreams’.  He was wearing a pair of Y-fronts on his head.  The band had awarded them to Peter Marr, one of our regulars.  Pete is a wonderful supporter of many clubs and is known by so many bands and has incredible jazz knowledge.  Pete donated his ‘award’ to our raffle, but I awarded it back to him at the end of the ‘draw’ for being such a great ‘supporter’ (I don’t know why it wasn’t chosen a’head’ of the other prizes!).  Behave yourself Diane and back to the repertoire.  The next number was to feature the great John Crocker on clarinet.  He chose to play that song reminiscent of Rudolph ♥Valentino♥ called ‘The Sheik of Araby’.  John was superb.  Barry then announced the next number as ‘There will Never Be Another Ewe’ by Shepherd Neame!!! (I wrote “great trumpet, great muted trombone”).  The last thing I jotted down was John playing tenor sax, backed by Barry and Allan with the song ‘S’ Wonderful’ and it was wonderful.  What an incredibly enjoyable evening.  Their next date with us 23^rd May 2014, put it in your diaries.

Keep jazz ‘live’.

Diane and Keith

‘All of Me’ – Gerald Marks & Seymour Simons (1931)

‘Gee, Baby, Aint I Good to You’ – (m) Don Redman, (l) Andy Razaf (1929)

‘Girl of My Dreams’ – Sunny Clapp (1927)

‘Love, Careless Love’ – traditional (recorded in 1925 by Louis Armstrong & Bessie Smith)

‘Move your Body Over’ – (possible ‘Fats’ Waller or George Lewis?)

‘Sugar, That Sugar Baby o’ Mine’ – Maceo Pinkard, his wife Edna Alexander & Sidney D. Mitchell

‘Sweet Sue, Just You’ – (m) Victor Young, (l) Will J. Harris (1928)

’S Wonderful’ – (m) George Gershwin, (l) Ira Gershwin (1927)

‘There Will Never Be Another You’ – (m) Harry Warren, (l) Mack Gordon (1942)

‘The Sheik of Araby’ – (m) Ted Snyder, (l) Harry B. Smith & Francis Wheeler (1921)

‘Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams’ – (m) Harry Barris, (l) Ted L. Koehler & Billy Moll (1931)

BARRY PALSER’S SUPER SIX on 8^th NOVEMBER 2013 certainly was (as I predicted last week) an exciting evening’s entertainment here at Farnborough Jazz Club.  BARRY (trombonist) had booked ALAN GRESTY (trumpet), JOHN CROCKER (reeds), TONY PITT (banjo), HARVEY WESTON (double bass) and JOHN TYSON (drums).  What a plethora of stars aye?  Certainly not too much for me!  I was so enjoying it, I forgot to do some filming.  I suppose I’m not so perfect as I think I am, ha!  Anyway, here’s how the evening went.  They started their programme with Barry singing ‘When You’re Smiling’.  This used to be a signature tune when Harvey played in the band years ago.  Nice sentiment in the lyrics to kick off with.  Next came a Bix Beiderbecke number called ‘Jass Me Blues’, which again brought on the dancers straight away and we certainly didn’t go away with the next number, ‘Nagasaki’ either, I think it was our line-dance number.  John (C) was featured on tenor sax with ‘Honeysuckle Rose’, brilliant.  Then Alan sang ‘Everybody Loves My Baby’ and  I read somewhere that John (C) can, on occasions, be tempted to sing and he did just that, singing ‘All of Me’.  John, you have a lovely jazz voice, so please be tempted to sing more often. They also played ‘Riverboat Shuffle’, a number written by Hoagy for Bix Beiderbecke.  A slow happy little number called ‘Mama’s Gone, Goodbye’ came next, enticing dancers on to the floor.  Now Barry often plays the last number, dedicating it to our Len, who started the song being called ‘Please Don’t Talk About Me, One Eye’s Gone’, a nice bit of humour against himself.  There you go, we enjoyed the evening with friends and so sets us up for the rest of the week (good or bad).  Thanks guys.

Diane and Keith

P.S.  I had another weird thing happen to me as I was writing this!  The film ‘The Alamo’ was on TV and whilst looking up ‘Jass Me Blues’ song (on Wikipedia), I found it was recorded by The Original Dixieland Band.  Jimmy Durante heard them playing and asked them if they would play with him at The Alamo Club in Harlem (coincidence aye!)

‘All of Me’ – Gerald Marks & Seymour Simons (1931)

‘Everybody Loves My Baby’ – (m) Spencer Williams, (l) Jack Palmer (1924)

‘Honeysuckle Rose’ – (m) Fats Waller, (l) Andy Razaf (1928)

‘Jass Me Blues’ – Tom Delaney (1921)

‘Mama’s Gone, Goodbye’ – A J Piron & Peter Bocage (1923)

‘Nagasaki’ – (m) Harry Warren, (l) Mort Dixon (1928)

‘Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone’ – (m) Sam H Sept & Bee Palmer, (l) Sidney Clare (1930)

‘Riverboat Shuffle’ – (m) Hoagy Carmichael, (l) Irving Mills, Mitchell Parish & Dick Voynow (1924)

When You’re Smiling’ – Larry Shay, Mark Fisher & Joe Goodwin (1929)