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Birmingham Jazz Alive & Well

I juat listened to Willard White and Cynthia Hamon, Bess You is My Woman Now, tingles up the spine. I would say that combines Jazz and Operetta. Best Version of that song for me.
Jass? All that Jyayazz!
 
Re-the definition of 'jazz' which, as you say, was jass originally, in my Louis Armstrong book, written by an America professor of music, he writes thousands of words on the subject and the nearest he gets to explaining where the word came from is this. When commercial interests in New Orleans and Chicago began to see that there was money to be made by presenting the black musicians' 'Blues' to mixed audiences, and needed a description of it to promote and advertise, Jazz was the word that fitted the bill.

Me, I like Eddie's best...'if you have to ask what it is you haven't got it'.

And, well, does it matter...?
 
Of course you have, Nico. All this is just a light-hearted exchange of views...jazz is what you make it and often just down to opinion...and yours is as valid as anyone's. The lucky ones (and I put myself down in that category) are those with a wide taste in music, and to heck with the labels.
One of my sons reckons he has got more than 300,000 tunes, either stored digitally in his computer or in CDs in racks around the walls. He'll go from Led Zeppelin, to Irish folk music, to Easy Listening soppy ballads, and on to Black Sabbath, R.E.M or Blue Grass music from Kentucky or somewhere.
When I'm visiting he'll come up with Duke Ellington, Diana Krall, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Dionne Warwick, the Eagles, Band on the Run, Rod Stewart, David Gates and Bread...all diverse stuff that he knows I like. When anyone says 'I only like Trad Jazz,' I think 'bad luck, mate. You're missing out.
I started this Thread because I like to think that Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club is helping to keep the particular music that began in the deep South of USA around the 1920s and before - and was the foundation of all subsequent popular music - stays alive and well.

Blimey, that was some lecturer wasn't it.....
 
Almost as bad as me when I get going. You haven't heard me perform either!I like all those people you said. A chap used to give me a lift to work sometimes and he had this this Ipod /pad blackberry blackcurrant, thing with 4 million and 78 or so tracks on it and he asked me to name something to play , and I asked for Beautifull South, he hadn't got it!. I also got lost in Sutton Coldfield it looked nice though.
 
Not sure what a flugel horn is. The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band had a big horn like a tuba but it looked like it went around the player's waist? Is that it?
Watched bits of 2 good programmes last night, one was exploring Blue Grass music/Minstrels etc and one was of Great Female Singers, I caught Judy Garland, Maria Callas and a rock singer. There are several good music programmes on around the free channels for all tastes. We watched The Dave Clarke Five the other night.
 
Maurice:

Thanks for that. A fine jazz musician was Clark Terry.

Nico:

A flugelhorn was a type of slightly larger trumpet. Like the trumpet, I think it was pitched in Bb, but Maurice can confirm.

Eddie
 
Nico said:
Not sure what a flugel horn is. The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band had a big horn like a tuba but it looked like it went around the player's waist? Is that it?
Watched bits of 2 good programmes last night, one was exploring Blue Grass music/Minstrels etc and one was of Great Female Singers, I caught Judy Garland, Maria Callas and a rock singer. There are several good music programmes on around the free channels for all tastes. We watched The Dave Clarke Five the other night.
Click to expand...

Nico:

We watched both the Dave Clarke Five & the Great Female Jazz Singers TV programmes.

What I found strange is that the Dave Clarke Five remained together the whole time, and sold millions of records. You would expect that each of the five musicians could have retired, having made quite a few 'bob'.

However, the bass player, Rik Huxley, after the breakup, was on the road, working as a salesman, for a music company. Up and out, each day, at 9.00 am. I met him quite a few times, and he never appeared to have much money. I know that Dave Clarke himself, made a tidy packet.

Eddie
 
It sounds positively leiderhosen but it's not then. I am confusing suzaphone maybe. They didn't teach us those 2 at school. I bet a lot of kids wouldn't know any now. I know there is a clarinet and a bass clarinet, a sax a tenor sax etc etc. Ufonium. French horn, english horn. Made the class laugh at school but not the teacher, old sourpuss when she asked the class what instruments we knew and I said oompafone. (Tinga and Tucker annual)
 
norfolk brummie said:
Nico:

We watched both the Dave Clarke Five & the Great Female Jazz Singers TV programmes.

What I found strange is that the Dave Clarke Five remained together the whole time, and sold millions of records. You would expect that each of the five musicians could have retired, having made quite a few 'bob'.

However, the bass player, Rik Huxley, after the breakup, was on the road, working as a salesman, for a music company. Up and out, each day, at 9.00 am. I met him quite a few times, and he never appeared to have much money. I know that Dave Clarke himself, made a tidy packet.

Eddie
Click to expand...
The big time isn't for everybody I guess. Some stay in the business and some don't I suppose or dabble in between. My mum worked for THF Coventry and her counterpart was Mary Hopkin in Cardiff. I was in awe. I wonder is it is more cut throat these days. The ladies I have come across that are or have been married to musicians say never marry or hook up with a musician? I worked with a lady who was married to a Moody Blue but I don't know which one escept he was a guitarist. Another lived with a fiddler both ironically on canal barges.
 
Nico said:
The big time isn't for everybody I guess. Some stay in the business and some don't I suppose or dabble in between. My mum worked for THF Coventry and her counterpart was Mary Hopkin in Cardiff. I was in awe. I wonder is it is more cut throat these days. The ladies I have come across that are or have been married to musicians say never marry or hook up with a musician? I worked with a lady who was married to a Moody Blue but I don't know which one escept he was a guitarist. Another lived with a fiddler both ironically on canal barges.
Click to expand...

Mary Hopkin had a beautiful voice, but i think showbusiness wasn`t the life she wanted. I too watched the Dave Clarke 5 the other night & how they all didn`t end millionaires i don`t know. They were almost as big as the Beatles in USA. I think quite a few `pop stars` ended up broke, David Cassidy being the latest. Is it a case of stupidity or maybe the agents ripping off more than their 10%. I watched the Quo the other night & they`re still knocking out a great sound.
 
Just read Bernards rebuke: re In the Garden today.

He is right, of course. We all tend to go off at angles, me included. Can we keep this thread on track?
We do not wish to lose it.

Eddie
 
Nico:

Yes, a flugelhorn in rather like a deep trumpet and has a much fuller sound &, as Eddie says, is pitched in Bb. Clark Terry has played with absolutely everybody, but I like him best in small groups, particularly playing with Oscar Peterson.

To save me the bother of posting a picture, there's one here on its Wiki site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flugelhorn Another great exponent was the Canadian player, who also recently passed away, Kenny Wheeler.

And just to show you the difference, a You Tube video: [video=youtube;9vGLpPFc0Q0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vGLpPFc0Q0[/video]

Maurice
 
Pheonix Jazzman.jpg


Phoenix Jazzmen entertained an attendance of more than a hundred of us at Walmley Social Club last night (Feb 25) simply doing what comes naturally.
The band of talented, experienced, mostly local musicians, struck the happy medium between the Sutton Trad Jazz Club purists and those many regulars who also enjoy a turn around the dance floor.
It's not the simplest of equations. Sometimes the 'strict tempo' dancers find that a swing or big band sound is more suitable. Sometimes not so with the 'trad jazz' devotees. They like the more upbeat strains of New Orleans Dixieland eminating from the band stand. Well, what better way to help along their pint of real ale, glass of wine, cup of coffee or simple drink-free foot-tapping?
No problem at all to Phoenix as they, as always, rose to the occasion. They can, and do, switch from such New Orleans classic as Chimes Blues, Beale Street Blues and Basin Street to the more Duke Ellington-style Creole Love Call many jazzy numbers in between.
Phoenix's well-tested and preserved mix of laid-back humour, jazz titles for all tastes and individual musicians who seamlessly switch from their instrument to deliver an old-fashioned vocal in an old-fashioned way, sent us home happy after yet another thoroughly enjoyable three hours.
Is there a better-value fiver on offer in the entertainment world?



 
Shawcross said:



Pheonix Jazzmen entertained an attendance of more than a hundred of us at Walmley Social Club last night (Feb 25) simply doing what comes naturally.
The band of talented, experienced, mostly local musicians, struck the happy medium between the Sutton Trad Jazz Club purists and those many regulars who also enjoy a turn around the dance floor.
It's not the simplest of equations. Sometimes the 'strict tempo' dancers find that a swing or big band sound is more suitable. Sometimes not with the 'trad jazz' devotees. They like the more upbeat strains of New Orleans Dixieland eminating from the band stand. Well, what better way to help along their pint of real ale, glass of wine, cup of coffee or simple drink-free foot-tapping?
No problem at all to Pheonix as they, as always, rose to the occasion. They can, and do, switch from such New Orleans classic as Chimes Blues, Beale Street Blues and Basin Street to the more Duke Ellington-style Creole Love Call many jazzy numbers in between.
Pheonix's well-tested and preserved mix of laid-back humour, jazz titles for all tastes and individual musicians who seamlessly switch from their instrument to deliver an old-fashioned vocal in an old-fashioned way, sent us home happy after yet another thoroughly enjoyable three hours.
Is there a better-value fiver on offer in the entertainment world?



Click to expand...
Sounds as if another successful night was enjoyed at the Sutton Coldfield Jazz Club. I agree that, for a fiver, it must be one of the most enjoyable, and less expensive, Wednesday nights around the Birmingham area.

Eddie
 

The sheer enduring qualities of jazz and its musicians never ceases to amaze.


Take the latest gig at Jazz-a-Mattazz in Coventry. The Frog Island band has been together since it was formed by cornet player John Whitehead in 1962 and, remarkably, is still going strong under the same leadership. By my reckoning that is some 53 years of playing music with its roots going down even deeper, up to a century and more.
A perfect example of this dual lengevity came when Frog Island played one of the older New Orleans-style classics Chimes Blues. Composed by Joe King Oliver, it was one of their earliest recordings, in 1923, when he was still more or less mentoring a young Louis Armstrong.
This gramaphone record production was achieved with the most basic of recording equipment when the band sat around a large, bell-like aperture and soloists had to lean in as close as possible to ensure being heard and recorded for posterity.
How can we begin to imagine the reaction of those unsophisticated jazz pioneers, whose work still survives, had they been able to see into the future? They would have been wide-eyed in wonderment and disbelief simply at the thought of their music surviving more then 90 years, never mind the high-tech digital, micro-chip kit of the 21st century that now re-produces it.
Happily there are many bands of similar vintage to Frog Island still doing the rounds of jazz clubs, week-end breaks and festivals in the UK and abroad... and well done to them all.
They deserve all the support they can get from we jazz lovers as the keep our favourite music alive and well.
 
Indeed Shawcross, music has got into a much more concise age where, if we desire, we can tune our instruments more accurately than the human ear can hear for the cost of a little battery-powered device costing a few pounds. Where on recordings we can alter p[itch without altering tempo, and stretch bars a little if we need. Gone are the days when we were splicing bits of recording tape and sticking them back together, but the music stays the same. What we can't account for is the music's appeal to the public, nor account for why seemingly inane sounds appeal to many of the youngsters! But I won't go down that route. Let's just enjoy what we each enjoy!

Maurice
 
Shawcross and Maurice.

Reminds me that on the very first recording session I ever did, around 1950, at Taylors Recording Studios, in Birmingham.

It was with a young Dixieland band, consisting of piano, bass, drums, alto sax, trumpet, clarinet and trombone. We all sat around the one mike, and recorded direct onto the disc. Any mistakes, and they would show up. The numbers that we played were "Deed I Do" And "Darktown Strutters Ball".
I wish I still had that 78 rpm record, complete with mistakes!

Those early jazz pioneers certainly led the way to future, and better recording techniques, but without those old recordings, and records, we would have no knowledge of how they used to play, or sound.

LONG LIVE JAZZ!!

Eddie
 
Couldn't agree with you more Eddie. I remember Taylors and my brother-in-law, Rex, still has one of their discs at his home in Bournemouth, though I doubt if it is that one. He used to play tenor trombone with Norman Dovey's Band along with Brian Newton who now has the Big Band up at the Triplex works that I mentioned on here.

Maurice
 
Thanks for your responses, lads...I never expected to get proper musicians joining in the jazz chat...honoured, indeed...can't even play the paper and comb in tune myself...
Those comments made in a previous post about Frog Island jazzmen having been together for over 50 years, playing music twice as old as their band, makes us wonder whether today's stars and their sounds will survive that long. We don't know, of course, but in this old fogie's view some of them ought not to last beyond tomorrow afternoon, if that long.
I watched a blond girl (Rita Ora I think) and a dark-haired pal recently gyrating to a boom, boom, boom repetitive beat and singing, again and again something like :"I'm gonna do it all night...I'm gonna do it all night..." Well, good on you girls," I thought. " I just hope you can get a lie in in the morning."
But the line about 'doing it' seemed to me to compare badly with the more subtle approach of Cole Porter to a similar thought process which was: "Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it," or "Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it." or better still "The chimpanzees in zoos, do it. Even Courageous Kangaroos do it...let's do it...let's fall in love."
So has musicality and lyric writing advanced, or retreated? Your call.
Me, I'm looking forward to Savannah jazz band, one of the most popular on the UK circuit at Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club, Walmley Social club tomorrow night. I'm pretty sure it's their trumpeter, Bill Smith, who plays that great Humphrey Lyttleton early post-war hit, Bad Penny Blues. This version is rather different, though.
Instead of nicking Humph's trumpet solo he plays it on his harmonica (mouth organ?), pressed close up to the microphone. Goose pimples, hairs standing up on the back of the net. Hope he plays it.
 
SAVANNAH.jpgSavannah's 'Jazz to stir the blood...'
If there's any such thing as a 'jazz gene' then Savannah's versatile front man, Bill Smith (pictured), must have several of them in his musical make-up.
As the evergreen, ever-entertaining band gave us a gig that kept us enthralled in the glittering concert room at the Walmley club, this guy (with extraordinary talents to contradict a rather ordinary name) displayed, as always, his rare versatility.
Of course, it's a team game with Savannah, a band of instrumentalists who have 'been-there-dunnit at too many venues to remember in the UK and abroad. They are, however, fortunate to have Bill Smith as a humorous man-on-the-microphone not only linking it all up but switching from off-the-cuff chat, to tuneful trumpet playing, on to gruff, growling vocals (Darktown Strutters' Ball) and then to a harmonica sound to stir the blood (well, mine, anyway)
Since it's one of my personal best sounds on the jazz circuit, I was waiting and hoping that he would produce the mouth organ to give us his wonderful rendition of the Humphrey Lyttleton hit, Bad Penny Blues. As it happened, he didn't. But he did perform his harmonica-at-the-microphone act, with a different number, backed by a matching vocal, namely Doin' Nothing.
While Savannah adhere mostly to the New Orleans 'trad' template, they can easily switch to swing, big band or more mainstream as illustrated by their version of the Duke Ellington classic, with its peculiar title, Shout'em Aunt Tillie.
For this Bill Smith takes on the mooted trumpet solo from that number and for me, close your eyes, and it could have been Cootie Williams himself supplying the mwah, mwah-type sound. Terrific. Well done to all of those Savannah jazzmen. Last night at the Walmley club they excelled themselves...the dance floor was well populated, too.
 
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