Jams, Jammers, Festivals: the gossip

The Post Hotel is no more.

Manager Mike posted a sad little notice to Facebook two weeks ago. The Post has not survived the lock down and is permanently closed. It was, at its best, as one of the most enjoyable venues for Jam Sessions that any of us can remember.

The Jess Dams is no more

Chanteuse Jess Dams is returning to the UK and won’t be able to make it for a jam session before she plunges variously into:

• Permanent quarantine, probably
  
• Brexit
  
• Deep winter (it is both cold and dark over there)
  
• The UK lock down, which isn’t, as yet, as severe as the Melbourne lockdown, which means quite probably that it will be even more severe soon.
  

Her most memorable singing, for me anyway, was at the one and only Narrawong gig, which raised over $2,000 for the local community Hall. She also sang at the Port Fairy Jazz Festival, and at the last gig the jammers played at the Post Hotel.

The Castlemaine Jazz Jam is still on hold

Spoke to budding impresario John Hannah last week – he is deeply engaged in running the Three Chord Club, a once a month affair at the Guilford Hotel. Jam Session sponsor and Maurocco Bar owner Mauro is, like the manager at the Tower Hotel, holding out until he can have enough punters in the joint to be able to lose money at the usual rate. January 2021 probably.

The Newport Jazz Festival is still on?

That is the Australian version – we are still proposing to make a decision mid December, but I would have to say it looks increasingly likely that we will go ahead om May 1^st/2^nd 2021, but in a post pandemic format.. We will be putting up an amended (e.g. Covid safe) structure with reduced audiences and bands, and are still struggling with the cost plan.

The Castlemaine Jazz Festival

Received notice of the next AGM this week. Turns out the entire previous committee resigned, leaving the President as the only elected member. He then co-opted a number of people to fill the vacancies, all of whom are now standing for election. Can’t be bothered with that rubbish any more, but it is a sad decline from the original Community festival.

Port Fairy Jazz Festival

John Huf has had to cancel for February 2021, but will be back next year, hopefully bigger and better than ever, but if it as good as last year’s it will be a great Festival anyway!

Australian Jazz Convention, Albury

The lads cancelled some time ago, although it now looks as though the border will be reopened before the Festival was originally due to happen.. December 2020 would have been their 75^th anniversary, and we should all look at supporting their return in 2021

Merimbula Jazz Festival

The June 2020 Festival was cancelled, and they are proposing to return in June 2021. This Festival seemed to have taken on a new lease on life, and hopefully the pandemic has not put much of a dent in that.

Inverloch Jazz Festival

Invy probably had the best timing of all – just squeezed in their March 2020 Festival before the lock down, and had already decided to move to an August 2021 date for the next one.

The Refinery Terrace Lockup Debacle

Well, the recording was a debacle. One would have expected no less. The lockup garage door had been firmly closed, with Madge Hortense, Rotten Ronnie Junior, Trixie La Belle and a few desultory musicians inside, and the Altona Constabulary outside . The Vicar, his wife, the French onion seller and the others had, mercifully, gone home to watch daytime TV. You can even watch it at night these days..

So… Trixie, having started by noting that there were no words, or chord charts available, suggested that Was He Handsome Was I Drunk and Did Momma Give Me Hell should be sung in French, to put the others off the scent. Turns out Trixie was the daughter of a Narre Warren gasfitter, and the french accent was a fake – so that was an idea that was never going to fly.

They all opened another cask of chardonnay, and Madge cracked a catering pack of Winnie Blues to take, as she put it, the edge off.

Rotten Ronnie Junior, already three sheets to the wind, offered to sing alto, as well as play with his saxophone. His Alto was a result of the nasty blow in the Ballarat region, of which, the less said the better. Hortense, wistful as ever, misheard the bit about playing with his saxophone, offered to help. Madge, not to be outdone, sat lugubrious with another bottle of chardy and a confused merchant seaman until she could stand no more, though whether it was of the seaman or the chardonnay no-one can really say. She waded into the melee fists and all before collapsing in a heap across the mixing desk. At which point, the dials lit up and the ancient reels started to turn…

They all wondered, (me included) at this point, how the confused merchant seaman got in. Except the confused merchant seaman, who was wondering how he was going to get out.

The dog, sick of being stood upon, lit up a mournful howl. Trixie told the dog to shut up. Ronnie told Trixie to shut up. They were all so busy shouting at each other that no-one noticed the Akai slowly turning. So the whole shebang got caught on quarter inch tape. Which is what one uses when recording in a lockup at the arse end of refinery Terrace. The result? A recording that was variously described as unusual, unique, aurally challenging, and as creating a newfound respect for the original “Was I Drunk, Was He Handsome, and Did Momma give me Hell”.
TW

 

Georgia White’s 1936 recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keUyHdXnOjk

 

Madeleine Peyroux’s 1996 recording of the same song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdDjX_ZbPuo