October Features
Great River Jazzfest | Final Notes
2008 British Fests Offer
Hot, Sassy & Mellow Music
Text by Andy and Kathy Wittenborn
Photos by Andy Wittenborn
This year we attended two British traditional jazz festivals, both in northern England -- the 17th Keswick festival (the Lake District) in May, and the Whitley Bay festival (actually in Wallsend, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne) in July. Each festival is special in a different way. Keswick tends to book many bands which play regularly together, so you get musicians who are really comfortable with one another. Whitley Bay also books bands which regularly play together, but it adds other bands special to the festival and features many bands from the Continent in addition to the British bands. It was our seventh time attending both of these festivals.
The Keswick festival opened with the Red Hot Reedwarmers from France. This was their first time at Keswick, although we had heard them before at Whitley Bay. As always, the two reed players, Aurelie Tropez and Stephane Gillott, were superb, and the audience responded enthusiastically. At Whitley Bay, the two played in a variety of bands.
There was a tribute to Tommy Burton led by Jeff Barnhart and joined by Spats Langham and Gordon Whitworth among others. They played songs associated with Burton and told anecdotes of their associations with him. The music was recorded by us but unfortunately the comments weren't.
Caroline Irwin is one of our favorite singers. She sang in Keswick with Keith Stephen's Hot Club Trio with guest Frank Brooker on reeds. She showed versatility, singing one number in French and accompanying herself on the ukulele on another. At both festivals she played cornet and sang with The New Century Ragtime Orchestra. When she attended other bands' sessions, she was often asked to sing a number.
October 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag
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