From the vaults
 

These albums feature some vintage performances from extinct bands I used to play with.  The core of Chester Chesney was Fred Potter (piano), Andy Parry (guitar) and Sid Thomas (clarinet) and it survived for more than 25 years almost until the millennium.  In all that time there were literally hundreds of recordings made (most of which Andy hoards somewhere), but only one studio session.  The driving force behind the making of West of Plynlimon was our drummer, James Matthews.  Barry Wise was the bassist on the CD, and there was a guest appearance by Lee Adams (vibes and percussion).  For all kinds of reasons, the album has special meaning for James and the other band members.

Plankton was a hard-blowing group led by Pete Canter, who has subsequently gone on to increasing fame (though presumably not yet fortune - this is jazz, after all).  It was also a privilege to count the great drummer Andy Hay amongst the members of the band.  As well as one studio album, there's a compilation including some memorably energetic live performances, complete with nicotine, alcohol and chemically-fuelled audience noises.

The Cenfyn Evans Quintet came together to perform Stan Tracey's Under Milk Wood suite with narration in Welsh, and was the first jazz group to appear at the famous National Eisteddfod (it's a long story).  The band was led by Cenfyn Evans (trumpet) with Pete Stacey, Ajijo, Sid Thomas, and Derek Morgan on drums.  Subsequently we performed the show several times around Wales, culminating in 2003 in the 50th anniversary Dylan Thomas Festival in Laugharne.  Here we also premiered Pete Stacey's Mrs Furgeson Suite, based on Dylan Thomas short stories, extracts from which were read by Dylan's daughter, Aeronwy.

The number in (brackets) is the track's download size (MB).

We're happy to share our music with whoever is kind enough to listen, but please be reasonable about what you do with these downloads.  Respect copyright and do not use for any creative, commercial or other exploitative purpose without first contacting me.
 

The lost cause (6.20)
Typically atypical composition by Andy.
I went to the Hotel Broog (2.52)
...thank God the simple elephant.