Joined Harborough Jazz Club: January 5 2022
I ran over to Market Harborough yesterday in a dash to join the Harborough Jazz Club. I could have sent a cheque, but I don't have a cheque book and the Club doesn't accept bank transfers. It was cash or nothing.
It was a bright, sunny day, cold but dry. The car needed petrol and there was a parcel to go to the Post Office, a trip to Market Harborough to drop my cash and member's application felt auspicious.
It was nearly two by the time I set off, the light starting to fall at a sharp angle blinding you to everything coming from the right, but one way and another we made it on to the A6 south bound and out of the city.
It was indeed a beautiful afternoon, clear with perfect vision, wispy clouds hung in the air over the flat plains to the south, the sky a lucid blue, faintly sparkling in the sun. It's about thirteen miles to Harborough, the little town was bustling but it was no trouble to find a parking place off at Mary's Road.
The car park was just at the bottom of where I needed to go: Mill Hill Road. A steep walk up the hill, meeting the Secretary of the Club on his way back from the town, appearing from a short cut through Quaker's Yard, a meandering alley between Victorian buildings full of workshops and studios.
Business done, money counted, email address checked and a short excursion to 1947, a hard winter when snow fell and was still on the ground in May, and the new houses in Braunstone had to have concrete floors laid because the timber kept getting stolen for fires to keep people warm, and I was done. The post office was at the other end of Quaker's Yard, then I was free to explore the town.
I didn't go too far - Waterstone's to buy a history of jazz and then a coffee shop to read it. I got through the first chapter before the fading light meant it was time to go. I thought about trying The Red Cow, as I remembered, it was the pub where you didn't go, but there were any number to choose from including the ubiquitous Wetherspoon's, The Sugar Loaf, with its factory food to the illustrious Three Swans, a coaching Inn of some age and also where the Jazz club is held.
Countesthorpe, a large Leicestershire village near Market Harborough, has a jazz appreciation club as part of its U3A programme. Held once a month on a Monday afternoon that looks like another promising avenue of exploration.
I went home for my tea.
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
Hi @shanibeer,
Thank you for participating in the #teamuk curated tag. We have upvoted your quality content.
For more information visit our discord https://discord.gg/8CVx2Am
I thought at first that you literally ran there, but then I saw you say it was 13 miles.
Sending a cheque seems a bit quaint these days. Maybe one day they will take crypto, but that could be a way off :)
I could do with expanding my jazz knowledge even though I do play some. It's a very broad genre. My band will be playing for swing dancers again soon. We play a lot of old jazz tunes.
Have fun.
!PIZZA
They have an event on Sunday and if I wanted to book and take advantage of members' ticket prices I had to get my payment there in advance! It was sunny and dry yesterday, unlike the rest of this week, so a nice trip.
It looks like they have a big membership - eighty are booked for one event. I've found myself more and more drawn to jazz over the past few years and decided it's time to learn a bit more about it. It seems quite sociable, too - time before the set and a break in the middle for lunch.
The cheque thing made me laugh. I could have sent a postal order, or cash by special delivery service, I suppose, but I enjoyed going over and meeting the chap, it was a nice afternoon out.
You're right about the width of the genre - the club rules say jazz from 1945 onwards. I like the old tunes. When I first came to Leicester, there was quite a big jazz scene, with bands playing in different pubs each night of the week. I often went to a local one on Tuesday evenings where my friend played bass, but my favourite was the band that played at the Town Arms on a Friday night. Of course, it was the same crowd at every band, but everyone enjoyed themselves. It was the days when pubs were pubs and not franchises.
Some of our tunes are over 100 years old, but there has been good music for a long time. I don't like to set limits.
I need to learn more about the theory side if I'm to play jazz better. That could be a lifetime's worth :)
Rock on!
!BEER
View or trade
BEER.Hey @shanibeer, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @steevc for you. Enjoy it!Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your
BEER.Interesting that they would only look at the post war era when at least here in the States, I would have considered the "Roaring Twenties" as foundational to the Jazz Age.
Maybe easier to organise for a Sunday lunchtime, perhaps?
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@steevc(3/5) tipped @shanibeer (x1)
Join us in Discord!
This reads like an actual novel. Great writing skills.
Too bad the Jazz club doesn't except cryptocurrency, yet.
Hello @rarej, thank you 🙂.
Yes, it would be great if the club accepted cryptocurrency, but it looks like they are struggling with digital transfers 😂. It's the first time for ages that I've been asked for a cheque (I'm not sure my account even has that facility), increasingly you see the opposite: cheques not accepted.
Not surprising at all. The world is advancing, and business that don't advance with it, are eventually doomed to fail. Here in Suriname I always try to support local business, but I tend to go more towards those that are trying to accommodate digital payment.