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 BROADSIDE

sound samples available soon !

	TRACKS	MUSICIANS
1	Lady of Spain	Roger Marks (tbn/ldr)
2	1919 March	John Shillito (tpt/vocs)
3	Buddy Bolden's Blues	Ken Rennison (alto/sop)
4	Sweet Sue	'Eddie' Edwards (bjo)
5	Sally	Terry Turland (bs guitar)
6	Strike Up The Band	Terry Lidiard (dms)
7	Beautiful Dreamer
8	Winin' Boy
9	Dream
10	Saint Thomas
11	It Had To Be You
12	Begin the Beguine
13	I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now

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The band's weekly Thursday night residency at The Odd Wheel, near Plymouth, has just completed its twelfth year and, whilst it is not a grand or exotic establishment, it does have that reassuring familiarity of a favourite armchair. The layout of the bar in which we play is not particularly recording engineer friendly either, with the band's faithful supporters adjacent to, as well as in front of the band, a situation that can give rise to unwanted asides spilling into the microphone pick-ups.
Even so I felt that it is the one place in the world where the band are truly relaxed - and relaxation, as any musician will tell you, is a very important ingredient of good jazz.
I'd like to think that the results we have here justify this decision. In the event there are no intrusive unwanted sounds on the recordings, which are really 'clean', and the guys in the band demonstrate their bouyancy and confidence by playing at or near their best, which I might say is a lot easier said than done.

The tunes are our usual eclectic mix - whilst it is challenging to find something absolutely nouvelle, we can and do nevertheless try to do the unexpected, or at least bring some measure of innovation into play - albeit whilst staying firmly within the idiom.
So it is that 'Lady of Spain' interjects a latin rhythm, 'Sally' is set to a shuffle and 'Saint Thomas' is played in unison.
'Sweet Sue', which I dedicate to my late wife is a banjo / trombone duet and 'Begin the Beguine' is not a beguine!
Also John Shillito, whose vocals have to be taken as seriously as his trumpet playing, is given the chance to feature on standards as well as new Orleans originals.

As I write work is under way to add Volume 2 to our Odd Wheel Series in the very near future, in the meantime I sincerely hope you enjoy this selection time and again, we will struggle to better it!

Roger Marks February 2006

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Roger Marks' Armada Jazz Band - BROADSIDE
Odd Wheel Series, Vol 1 - Leap Frog Records - LF9677CD

All tracks recorded live at The Odd Wheel, Wembury, Plymouth courtesy of Alan and Nada Gordon ("....best landlord and landlady in the West").
Tracks 2, 3, 7, 11, 12, 13 on 26th January 2006
Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 on 2nd February 2006
Recording Engineer - David Baker
Mixed & produced by Roger Marks & David Baker
Cover sketch by Rosie Leach
Graphic design by Anthony Smith

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