1

The Photography Group meets at last! Photo by Group member

Further details within.

2

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Hello Everyone

After the oppressive heat of the last few weeks it is a relief to get back to normal conditions

(well, in respect of the weather at least), and I hope you have all come through unscathed.

The heavy cloudbursts have revived the flagging plants in our gardens and may have

postponed the threat of a hosepipe ban for at least a while.

With no certainty regarding the progress of the virus and with changing decisions from the

Government, there still seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel regarding resumption

of the Monthly meetings. However, as you are probably aware, some groups are operating

by using outside venues or via the internet by utilising the internet or Zoom. The owners of

this particular app must have made an absolute fortune during the lockdowns! Our

gardening group, for example, this month has met in two separate groups of 6 on different

days in our garden. Unfortunately these both fell on the hottest days of the year so the

overriding concern was to keep cool!

Some of you may be aware of the regular updates and news in the newsletter from the U3A

executive. This has lots of interesting content and articles and is available to all of our

members. If you are interested in receiving this, please sign up here:

https//www.u3a.org.uk/newsletter.

Very important - don’t forget to keep sending in articles for this newsletter and help keep

Janis usefully employed.

3

JAZZ APPRECIATION GROUP

Ferdinand ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton (1890-1941)

In the world of jazz, where the eccentric is commonplace and individuality a sine qua non, Ferdinand ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton stands out. Hustler, poolshark, gambler, pimp, nightclub manager, entrepreneur, and high-liver. He would be worth writing about if he had never played a note of music. He was proud, vain, arrogant, sensitive, superstitious and a braggart, but nevertheless the genuine article. As pianist, composer, and arranger, one of the greatest jazz musicians ever. His business card modestly claimed: - ‘Jelly Roll Morton, originator of jazz and stomps, world’s greatest hot tune writer’

He was born Ferdinand Joseph La Mothe in 1890 (he later claimed he was born in 1885 to give greater credence to his claim of being the inventor of jazz). His family were part of the creole community, a mixed race group who claimed to have descended from the original French and Spanish settlers of the region, and like many creoles had aspirations of gentility. By the age of 14 he started working as a pianist in the brothels of the Storyville district of New Orleans and began using the nickname ‘Jelly Roll’, (a Negro slang term with sexual connotations). He also changed his surname to Morton.

After being thrown out by his family when they discovered he was a ‘whorehouse professor,’ he travelled the length and breadth of the US making a living by playing piano, gambling and hustling in local pool rooms. He eventually fetched up in Chicago in 1923 where he participated is some of the most important recordings in jazz. During the period 1926-1930 he embarked on a series of recordings with his own studio group The Red Hot Peppers. These recordings are primarily those on which his reputation rests and they are considered to be the greatest flowering of the classic New Orleans style, unsurpassed in their artistry.

After these magnificent landmark recordings his career took a downturn. He was increasingly seen as old fashioned, and passe. Elsewhere others such as Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington etc. were setting jazz on a path which would lead to the Swing Era and beyond.

4

One lasting important achievement remained, in 1938 he was invited to make an historic series of recordings for the Library of Congress. On them he plays piano, sings, and reminisces about his life and times, and in the process creates a spellbinding account of the birth pangs and origin of jazz in New Orleans. He died in 1941, unsung and forgotten, although now his importance in the history of jazz is recognised and unquestioned. Suggested listening: - the 1926 masterpieces with the Red Hot Peppers, “The Pearls”… “The Chant”….”Original Jelly Roll Blues” On Youtube from the Library of Congress recordings….Winin’ Boy Blues…. I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say

PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP

Well, finally, the photo group was able to meet up for a long awaited outing. On the 5th August we went to Marsh Farm Country Park and parked up by the River Crouch. It was a beautifully warm sunny day, and we had a lovely view across the river. The tide was out when we arrived, but some of us braved the slipway to get a closer view of the swans. We did take a few photos, but to be honest it’s so long since we’ve seen each other in person we spent most of the time just chatting, and catching up with what everyone’s been doing during lockdown. Later on, we arranged our fold-up chairs in a socially distanced circle so that we could eat the picnic lunches we’d taken.

For a photo group, we rarely take pictures of each other but on this occasion we did manage to get a few pictures, although some members are rather camera shy and prefer to be behind the camera rather than in front of it!

By the time we left, around mid-afternoon, the tide was well and truly in and right up to the walkway along the river, so it was easy to see the swans and other birds flocking to the bank, fighting over food and squabbling with each other.

While we may not have got many amazing pictures, everyone agreed that it was a great day out!

5

Swans bobbing for food River Crouch

6

THEATRE STUDIES GROUP u3atheatre1@gmail.com

The Theatre Group are still keeping in touch and have been watching some excellent performances at home during the evenings, which are now getting noticeably shorter. Cineworld in Basildon has now reopened and some tickets are £5 - £7 each. There are classics plus modern and children’s films on offer.

Sleeping Beauty The Sleeping Beauty holds a special place in The Royal Ballet’s unique repertory. It was the ballet with which the Company reopened the Royal Opera House in 1946 after World War II, its first production at its new home in Covent Garden. Margot Fonteyn danced the role of the beautiful Princess Aurora in the first performance, with Robert Helpmann as Prince Florimund. Sixty years later, in 2006, the original 1946 staging was revived by then Director of The Royal Ballet, Monica Mason, and Christopher Newton, returning Oliver Messel’s wonderful designs and glittering costumes to the stage. The masterful 19th-century choreography of Marius Petipa is combined with sections created for The Royal Ballet by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon. Together they create an enchanting sequence of ballet gems, the most famous of which is the stunning Rose Adagio, when Aurora meets her four royal suitors. The many other highlights include the lilting Garland Waltz, the Vision Pas de Deux as Florimund sees Aurora for the first time, and the celebratory divertissements and final pas de deux that bring the ballet to its glorious close. Throughout, Tchaikovsky’s masterful score takes ballet music to a height of passion, sophistication and intensity that arguably has never been surpassed.

Faust Gounod’s masterpiece is given the grandest of Royal Opera stagings in David McVicar’s richly layered production. It is set in Second Empire Paris and draws parallels between the conflicted natures of Faust and Gounod, both of them torn between religious faith and a keen eye for the ladies. Disillusioned with life, the aged philosopher Faust calls upon Satan to help him. The devil Méphistophélès appears and strikes a bargain with the philosopher: Faust can have youth and the love of the beautiful Marguerite, but only in exchange for his soul. Faust agrees, and Méphistophélès arranges matters so that Marguerite loses interest in her suitor Siébel and becomes infatuated with Faust.

Faust’s initial love for Marguerite quickly wanes, and he abandons her. Her brother Valentin

returns from the war and is furious to find his sister pregnant. As events further spiral

downwards, will Faust repent his destructive actions, and can his soul, and Marguerite’s, be

saved?

7

PHOTOS FROM OUR MEMBER’S WALKS

Hylands Park The Crouch Estuary

Lake Meadows, Billericay The Burstead Circle

8

EDITOR’S NOTE Unlike many waistlines, the Newsletter seems to be shrinking, so please continue to send your contributions or we may not have a September issue. Items do not have to be Group reports; individual experiences or reflections on the past few months would be very welcome.

Newsletter Contributions If you have any items please send them by

12.00 Noon on Wednesday, September 16th

I am always happy to receive your report or comments at any time before the cut-off date. Please send all items in editable format to bbu3anewsletter@gmail.com If you are sending photos please send them separately in JPG format. Only send photos that you have taken yourself. We cannot use photos or pictures that have been downloaded from the internet, unless copyright free. All contributions will be acknowledged. Current and past newsletters can be viewed on our website https://u3asites.org.uk/bb Please note that, in the interests of security, all details of individuals (name, address, phone number) have been redacted from the on-line versions.

Editor