Ealing Jazz Festival 2005

Aside from the lovely Braunwin visiting me for the last few weeks, one of July's highlights for me was the Ealing Jazz Festival. It all kicked off with a day by the F-ire Collective, including the obviously-talented-but-not-my-style Norma Winstone, a quartet with a french guitarist who were very impressive and Polar Bear, who I am very keen to see again. They were slightly quirky modern jazz with funny computer noises over the top, though I'm sure afficionados have a better description. Synergy topped the day off, with a brief appearance by Rhythms of the City, a samba band. By this time, I had sadly descended into gin, so I don't recall much of it.

Tuesday saw a nice septet play some excellent tunes, followed by Ray Gelato, who was as crowd pleasing as ever.

Thursday also saw a smaller ensemble playing a few tunes, and then a Jazz Orchestra playing some specially commissioned tunes. It made me realise just how far from the mark we were at UCL when the big band played. (Not to say we weren't any good, we were, we just weren't professionals...)

Sadly, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday were missed, but all looked like they had excellent lineups and would have been worth a journey. Saturday was a great finish to my week, anyway, with Butchers Brew, Tenor Each Way and the Alan Elsdon All Stars (sadly minus Alan Elsdon himself) giving an excellent demonstration of why Ealing is fast becoming my favourite festival (yes, I know, and I mean it too. You don't have to pay £125 to get in and you don't have to worry about the weather!)

It was a bit of a shame that more of you couldn't make it. Thanks to those who came, I hope you all found it worth your while. Everyone else, please don't miss the opportunity next year, you just won't see jazz like this for free anywhere else, and even when you've given your £20 to Ronnie Scott's estate, the atmosphere in Ealing is so much more laid back - it's got to be worth one ticket to Zone 3, just to see. And worth one slightly moderate Friday/Saturday evening so you can get out of bed in time to get there...