Matt Palmer’s Millennium Eagle Jazz Band
Matt Palmer’s Millennium Eagle Jazz Band is always one of the most sought after and highly appreciated here at Roade, but today was going to be something different altogether. This was no ordinary Sunday, but one of the most significant anniversaries in the history of jazz. Hoagy Carmichael, the great jazz composer responsible for such classics as “Stardust”, “Georgia” and “Lazy River” would have been 110 years old today, had he lived to see it. The great man’s music remains as popular as ever, and is often featured at Roade during these Sunday lunchtime sessions.
This is a band which sets out to please even on an ordinary occasion, so they were never going to miss out on today. Right at the end of the first half, Mr. Palmer himself treated us to a wonderful rendition of “Georgia”, complete with improvisations and a vocal, which lasted around seven minutes. Not a bad embellishment of a very simple Eb Major melody which has stood the test of time for nearly seventy years. Following that, we were in for another treat, thanks to an unexpected special guest. Dave Morwood, of “Boiled Owl” fame, was guesting on banjo and guitar, and he couldn’t have chosen a better day to come to the party.
Mr. Morwood provided the vocal on Hoagy’s first ever composition, “Riverboat Shuffle”. There can scarcely have been a finer tribute to one of the genre’s greatest contributors. This was a wonderful effort from Matt Palmer’s Millennium Eagle Jazz Band, and no-one who was here today will ever forget it. Of course, there was plenty of fine music throughout the rest of the event, but there could never be any doubt as to what would stick in the memory. On a dull, dreary, wet and miserable day in an English November, we were transported to the sunshine and high spirits of the American South, and on the finest occasion possible. Those of us who were here today certainly owe much gratitude to Matt Palmer’s Millennium Eagle Jazz Band.
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