As Autumn Leaves start to fall, Peter Moss catches the Girl from Ipanema! Medley

Peter Moss really is a great player. I told you back in May how he has returned to his first love, the wooden uke... and all about his lovely new Pete Howlett custom tenor. His new medley of great old songs, Autumn Leaves and Girl from Ipanema really does hit the spot.... it's all there..... and watch for the interesting chord progression to link the two songs!



I love the change of tempo in Autumn Leaves, and with those jazz chords and Latin rhythms it really lifts the mood. As a result of watching this, I've been playing Autumn Leaves all evening! Fantastic song - but I haven't been playing this version of course! A rather simpler one....

Written in 1947, music by Joseph Kosma, words by Jacques Prevert....

Thanks for dropping in, folks - I'll be back....

Peter Moss ukulele solo - medley on Pete Howlett tenor

I've posted before about Peter Moss and his return to the wooden uke, and about the beautiful custom tenor uke that Pete Howlett built for him - well, here it is, played to perfection.... tuned to Bb.

Peter writes "I've had fun with this Pete Howlett Tenor Ukulele in the last 2 months or so. One night I dropped on "Feelings" and on consecutive nights, the other classic tunes fell into place. I hope who ever listens to this recognizes what a wonderful instrument this is and for me, an absolute joy to play. Thank you Mr H."

How can we not, Peter; how can we not - simply sublime.

Peter Moss, GFS Convention 1993 instrumental medley on wooden uke - amazing.

I make no apologies for posting Peter Moss again. Peter Pollard of the George Formby Society has just posted this video on YouTube of Peter playing an instrumental medley of well-loved classics on wooden uke at a 1993 GFS convention - and he writes,

"This was a brilliant performance from Peter, probably the best example of playing the wooden uke that I personally have seen on the GFS stage."



How wonderful was that! Twenty years ago this year - thank goodness Peter Pollard has long been recording these wonderful performances for posterity....and I wonder how long we shall have to wait before Peter Moss graces the stage at a GFS convention again. The next one is this weekend, 8th-9th June at the Imperial Hotel, North Shore, Blackpool... Matthew J Richards will be there, Mike Warren will be there, Andy Eastwood will be there! The friends I mentioned yesterday will be there, and many more stalwarts and newbies... and happily, I will be there to watch and listen to it all, but unfortunately for us, Peter Moss will not be there... if my memory serves me right, he'll be playing to packed houses in Nova Scotia. Apologies to all if my memory has let me down on that!

The medley Peter is playing - I can't nail the name of the first tune, which is definitely Spanish... but the second is Liebestraume by Liszt, and the third is popularly known as the Can-Can, from the light operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, by Offenbach.

Welcome back to the world of the wooden uke, Peter.... you've been away for far too long!

It's the November Convention of the GFS - and here come the Judge!

Last weekend we braved the busy motorway all the way to Blackpool once more- for the November Convention of the George Formby Society. "What is the attraction?" you may ask! Well - watch this video, (thanks to Caroline) and you'll get an idea! Judge Henry and friends - yes, I do believe he really IS a judge - they were well into their piece on the last evening, after the band had gone home and the wonderful stand-ins had picked up the traces. Actually, you'll notice that this little combo were using their backing track to this medley. If you'd like to see the whole twelve minutes of madness, see Peter Pollard's video of Judge Henry and his gang, Alan Kershaw, Mac McGee and Tom Fletcher here!

Judge Henry mentions struggling with his split-stroke... the fast, syncopated, rhythmic strumming that characterizes a Formby-style solo in the instrumental break in the middle of a song. I know how he feels. It's one thing being able to do the strum - however slowly - but playing it in time with a song, to be able to "solo" with it is something else again. BUT - after reaching the height of frustration with it at the weekend, I can at last report a little progress! The GFS members are so kind and helpful... and I have Jonathan Richards to thank for the help he gave me on Sunday to start to get it together - so kind, what a lovely family... I'm concentrating now on the "window cleaner" solo - it's actually one of the easier songs to play - I think the way ahead is to practise getting the split-stroke into the right places in the solo, as fast as is manageable, then work at putting "frills" on it.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Meanwhile - my uke-mate Caroline goes down a storm when she goes on stage in Blackpool. This time she gave us a bit of Tom Jones, (with Kala pocket-uke) and Kirsty MacColl... (with Ohana tenor-necked soprano) a cracking number that and really well done! See here....

And - see here for more pics and news on the November GFS Convention.

(Psst - that woman with Caroline - is Yours Truly... what did I do to get my mug-shot in there?)

And if you're tempted to get a taste of the warmth and fun of a GFS Convention, all the information you need for the 2013 meetings is here.

Coming up - after a few days enforced blog-silence - a couple of the youngest GFS members, Lewis Clifton and Tommy Bland, two of the nicest (and very talented) young lads you could wish to meet - if you can't wait, look them up on Youtube!

Thanks for looking in!