Jazz musician Chris Ingham and folk musician Chris Wilbraham cast their expert eyes over the local music scene
JAZZ with Chris Ingham: cjr.ingham@outlook.com/chrisingham.co.uk
Friday-Sunday, June 14-16
BIG BAND BASH (The Maltings, Ely, various times and prices, jazzyfaction.com, 07974 016763) A three-day big band festival featuring The Umbrella Band, The Upbeat Big Band, The Blue Skies Big Band, Harmony in Harlem, Linton Jazz Orchestra and 4 Villages Orchestra.
Saturday, June 15
PAUL HIGGS – PAVANE (Hadleigh Town Hall, 3pm, £20, ticketsource/whats-on/ipswich/hadleigh-town-hall) Special matinée performance (evening is sold out) of a unique six-piece jazz-classical crossover group led by trumpeter/composer Paul Higgs. Featuring Natalie Rozario (cello), Andy Watson (guitar), Chris Ingham (piano), Jerome Davies (bass) and George Double.
Tuesday, June 18
PHIL ROBSON TRIO (Maddermarket Theatre Bar, Norwich, 8pm, £16/£8 u25, norwichjazzclub.co.uk) Award-winning, versatile and creative guitarist/composer Phil Robson joins forces with Hammond virtuoso Ross Stanley and the powerful and inspiring drummer Gene Calderazzo to bring their own refreshing touch to the organ trio tradition.
Friday, June 21
CROOKS/FOWLER QUINTET: AL & ZOOT - A SALUTE (Hunter Club, Bury, 7.30pm, £19, headhunterslive. org, 07799 650009) Witty, tuneful and unfailingly swinging, the legendary 28-year Al Cohn/Zoot Sims tenor sax partnership specialised in good-natured, cultured, straight-ahead jazz. Mark Crooks (John Wilson Orchestra, Jazz at the Movies) and Robert Fowler (Pasadena Roof Orchestra, Humphrey Lyttelton) revisit Al and Zoot’s uniquely appealing music with consummate artistry.
JOANNA EDEN/ENRICO TOMASSO QUINTET (Sheringham Little Theatre, 7.30pm, £15, sheringhamlittle theatre.com, 01263 822347) A salute to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong with singer Joanna Eden, trumpeter Enrico Tomasso and Simon Brown (piano), José Canha (bass) and Paul Smith (drums).
FOR THE DIARY
Sunday, June 23
SI CRANSTOUN (Apex, 7.30pm, £28, theapex.co.uk, 01284 758000) Popular singer and entertainer Cranstoun is a fabulous throwback to the old swing blues shouters of the 1940s and 1950s.
FLETCH’S BREW (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £18, 01787 211865, fleecejazz.org.uk) Virtuoso-heavy quintet blending the idioms of fusion, funk, bebop, reggae and rock. Led from the drums by Mark Fletcher and featuring Freddie Gavita (trumpet), Paul Stacey (guitar), Jim Watson (piano) and Steve Pearce (bass).
Thursday, June 27
MARK LOCKHEART’S DREAMERS (Hidden Rooms, Cambridge, 7.30pm, £20, cambridgejazz.org) Stylistically free and slightly psychedelic new project from saxophonist and composer Mark Lockheart featuring keyboardist Elliot Galvin (Dinosaur, Elliot Galvin Trio), bassist Tom Herbert (Polar Bear, The Invisible) and drummer Dave Smith (Robert Plant).
Friday, June 28
JAZZ AT THE GUILDHALL (Guildhall, Bury, 7pm, £55 incl canapés and two-course supper, email: fundraising@swcab.org.uk) Regular fundraising event for the Citizens Advice Bureau featuring singer Joanna Eden and Chris Ingham (piano), Owen Morgan (bass) and George Double (drums).
Sunday, June 30
RESOLUTION 88 (Yalm Food Court, Norwich, 7.30pm, £16.50, norwichjazzclub.co.uk) Leading exponents of authentic, 1970s-style jazz funk with keyboardist Tom O’Grady leading from the Fender Rhodes, plus Tom Smith (sax), Tiago Coimbra (elec bass), Oli Blake (percussion), Ric Elsworth (drums).
FOLK with Chris Wilbraham: chris.wilbraham@tinyonline.co.uk
This week has been filled with coverage of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, much of it from The British Normandy Memorial, overlooking the sea at Ver sur Mer. My mind drifted back five years to when I first heard a song entitled The Shores of Normandy on Radio 2. The song, sung by its composer Jim Radford, moved me to tears. He was only 15 when he joined the Merchant Navy and shortly after witnessed the landings from the deck of his ship, The Empire Larch. Hearing him singing his song, I realised it was a modern folk song telling a story of enormous historical importance to future generations.
Unusually for a folk song, this recording, released in the run-up to the 75th anniversary of D-Day, outsold artists like Justin Bieber to reach the top of the charts. Money raised went to create the Memorial at Ver sur Mer.
Sadly, Jim succumbed to Covid in November 2020 at the age of 92.
I include his song lyrics below:
In the cold grey light of the sixth of June
In the year of 44
The Empire Larch sailed out from Poole
To join with thousands more
The largest fleet the world had seen
We sailed in close array
And we set our course for Normandy
At the dawning of the day
There was not one man in all our crew
But knew what lay in store
For we had waited for that day
Through five long years of war
We knew that many would not return
But all our hearts were true
For we were bound for Normandy
Where we had a job to do
Now the Empire Larch was a deep-sea tug
With a crew of 33
And I was just the galley-boy on my first trip to sea
I little thought when I left home of the dreadful sights I’d see
But I came to manhood on the day that I first saw Normandy
At Arromanches, off the Beach of Gold
‘Neath the rockets’ deadly glare
We towed our blockships into place
And we built a harbour there
'Mid shot and shell we built it well
As history does agree
While brave men died in the swirling tide
On the shores of Normandy
For every hero’s name that’s known
A thousand died as well
On stakes and wires their bodies hung
Rocked in the ocean swell
And many a mother wept that day
For the sons they loved so well
Men who cracked a joke and cadged a smoke
As they stormed the gates of hell
As the years pass by
I can still recall the men I saw that day
Who died upon that blood-soaked sand
Where now sweet children play
And those of you who were unborn
Who've lived in liberty
Remember those who made it so
On the shores of Normandy
Here are next week’s gigs:
Friday, June 14
Golden Hind, Cambridge, 8pm, Cambridge Folk Club: The John Ward Trio. £9.
Saturday, June 15
Sudbury Arts Centre, 8pm, Carter Sampson. £12.
Sunday, June 16
John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, 5-8pm, Folk Session.
Monday, June 17
The Dove, Bury St Edmunds, 7.30pm, Round the Room session.
Tuesday, June 18
Rose and Crown, Bury St Edmunds, 4-7pm, daytime session.
Wednesday, June 19
Arkenstall Village Centre, Haddenham, 7.30pm, Ely Folk Club, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, support from Vic Lennard. £13.
Banham Barrel, 8pm, Later with James Veira.
Friday, June 21
Milkmaid Folk Club, Risbygate Sports Club, Bury St Edmunds, 8pm, Rich Grainger and Chris Parkinson.
Golden Hind, Cambridge, 8pm,Cambridge Folk Club: Showcase with After the Flood, Chris Free & TSOPA, 2Steps4Words. £10.
