And All That

JAZZ!!!!!!!

Back in 1996, I was living with my partner David Elsdon and his two grown up children. David plays the trumpet (and cornet), his daughter plays the violin and his son plays trumpet, guitar, drums and composes music. Goodness knows why, but I decided to become a beginner in this house of compleat musicians. I sold my motorbike and bought a clarinet (yes, I had some change left over). I took lessons to learn how to play the instrument and then followed David into a Jazz Improvisation class run by Andy Dickens in Basingstoke. This was great fun and even led to a few gigs in some of the local pubs.

When I left England in 1998, my clarinet playing and practising became very much less regular and my performing dropped to zero. Now I've decided to start playing again and also I've started singing. Sometimes I sing with The Sirens, an all-women a cappella chorus, and I'm also in the (slow) process of putting a band together with David. So if you're (part of) a rhythm section and fancy being in our band, CONTACT ME. There is one limitation which is that you need to be in Budapest since I haven't yet got the internet technology together to enable e-playing!

I also listen to quite a lot of jazz, building on my childhood liking for the Temperance Seven and for Acker Bilk's Stranger On The Shore. Since those early days, my CD collection has taken a definite change in direction. I started with a few compilations and have gradually expandedfrom there. Some favourites of mine are Diana Krall, Jessica Williams, Stan Getz, Jan Gabarek, Pat Metheny, and more locally, Egri Janos, Mihály Dresch Quartet....

I've also been getting into the local Budapest jazz scene. My favourite location is the Jazz Garden, where I've seen Márta Téli, Trio Midnight, JazzTream with Irén Vadon, Bruce Lewis, to name but a few.

Another great local artist is Carol Cass, who performs at the Zsolt Udvár Restaurant. Carol is not Hungarian but American, and has been on the jazz scene in the US and in Europe for a long time. She does all the standards of course, but also sometimes does a really exciting funky set.