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Birmingham Jazz Alive & Well

Shawcross said:
JAZZ ON MOTHER'S DAY

One bright and guiding light
That taught me wrong from right
I found in my mother's eyes

Who can't relate to those words? I found them quite moving when attending the Jazz-a-matazz session in Coventry on Mother's day, .
So you see, given the chance, jazz is the music for young people of all ages...
Click to expand...

SHAWCROSS:

A great song, and yes, it always reminds me of my own lovely mum, whom I lost in 1983.

I have a fabulous recording of My Mothers Eyes on an LP "Hi Fi In Brass" by the Pete Rugolo Band, and it features Maynard Ferguson, or as we called him, 'Strainhard Ferguson' . I have to say that this recording is really great trumpet playing.

Eddie
 
How about "O Mein Papa" (Eddie Calvert) for fathers day? Or "O My Beloved father", though i don`t think that would be i a jazz bands repertoire.
 
The last two posts have revived some musical memories---as you say, Smudger, not jazz but who cares? Eddie Calvert and Maynard Ferguson, two incredible trumpet players. I liked Eddie's nickname of 'Strainhard' Ferguson, as well... he could hit the high notes couldn't he? I remember Oh! Mein Papa and O My Beloved Father very well. If I recall correctly they were always on Two-way Family Favourites on Sunday lunch-time...when you could smell the mint sauce for the roast lamb. I remember shelling the peas, too. You don't really see them now, do you?
 
Shawcross:

You have got me feeling all nostalgic & weepy.

I loved my Sundays, with Mum's roast lamb, REAL peas, and mint sauce, and then, Forces Favourites, until it changed to Family Favourites. with Cliff Michelmore in Germany, and his wife, Jean Metcalfe, in England. After that, a local football match, and in the evening, if not playing myself, a visit to a local Birmingham venue to hear a jazz band, or a big band.

Those were the days, my friend!!

We used to get lots of good music, with both traditional instrumental jazz, and the more modern music, always given a good airing, on the old BBC Light Programme.

Eddie
 
Lovely to hear about Ray and Les. We had all at one time worked for a Printing House in a Livery Street - myself, Ray and Hazel his girlfriend. When Ray got the job with Spike Jones Ray and Hazel decided to get married before he left for America so with great speed they married at The Registry Office. We all went to a City Centre pub for a quick celebration drink and Ray flew out the next day with Hazel following a few months later and then I think Les and his girlfriend Doris joined them too.
 
Pat,

I used to visit their home in Handsworth. The front room was filled with a grand piano and a drum kit. No room for anything else!

Eddie
 
Eddie

Do you still have any contact with Ray? I kept in contact with Hazel when they lived in Santa Barbara and with her Mom in Oxford Street Stirchley then we lost touch sadly.

Pat
 
Sorry Pat,

When the Johnny Beck Six group broke up, Les went to the USA, and I went off on my career. I have had no contact with either Ray or
Les since the mid fifties. I was hoping that I might meet up with Ray, during my time in the States, when I worked in the drum business, but sadly we never met up.

Eddie
 
A lovely Sunday lunchtime at Jazz-a-matazz in the Westwood Reading Rooms, Coventry. Pleasant country drive with Spring colours now blossoming, two one-hour sessions with Apex Jazz and Swing Band, and a sandwich washed down by a pint of hand-pump ale.
Apex are regulars at Sutton's Jazz Club's Wednesday nights at the Walmley Club, where they play faithfully to a mixed programme reflecting their 'jazz and swing' title. Today they concentrated almost entirely on the second part of that suffix and, for this onlooker anyway, were none the worse for that.
As they meandered through their tuneful two hours warmed by welcome sunshine beaming in, the numbers introduced by the informative leader, reeds man Robin Mason, had original associations with names such as Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Benny Goodman, Dizzie Gillespie, Sonny Stitt and Earl Bostic.
In a similar mood the tunes presented included such dance band favourites as The Sunny Side of the Street, Perdido,The Lady is a Tramp,Three Little Words, It Don't Mean a Thing if you ain't got that Swing and Good Queen Bess(with Robin Mason performing the 'Johnny Hodges' solo.) Robin also did a fair imitation of the Bostic sax sound with his rendition of Flamingo and later what he described as a Monty Sunshine special in Petite Fleur on clarinet.
All good stuff and an appetising taster for when the Apex Jazz and Swing Band return the Walmley Club in a couple of months time. Then there will be an added attraction to his programme...but, of that, more later.
 
Sounds like a good Sunday out, Shawcross: Did it make you miss church?!

Love the songs that were played, reminds me of my own early jazz days. Earl Bostic & 'Flamingo' eh?

A big hit at the time, made in 1956, on Vogue records. Still have a copy, with 'Sleep' on the B side. It was early Rhythm & Blues with a nice swinging sound. Sorry to have to correct you, but it was played on alto sax, not tenor. With Earl Bostic's very raucous alto sax tone, it would be easy to think it was tenor sax.

Eddie
 
...thanks for that Eddie. Don't apologise for correcting errors....I've removed the offending word...that's one of the hazards of constantly pontificating in print!!!....I loved the Bostic sound, though.....
 
Earl Bostic - the man who we used to say used razor blades for reeds! But he was very popular in his day.

Maurice
 
How lucky you are to have so many weekly nights of jazz in Birmingham. Make the most of them, and appreciate the music.

Here in Norwich we get ONE night per week, and, if we are lucky, we may get an extra concert somewhere.

Eddie
 
Eddie:

You still do a darned sight better than we do here in Crete. We were lucky to catch Spyro Gyra on tour in Luxembourg in November, but nothing here on the island. There is an Athens Jazz Festival for a few days each July which occasionally includes a name band, but that's about it. Still, the sun shines, though this has been the coldest winter for 27 years!

Maurice
 
In Denver Colorado USA we have a 24/7 Radio,Jazz station, play just about all you could ask for. Also we have several Jazz clubs. Just about every night you can catch something worth listening to. Ron Miles trumpet is from Denver. Of course listening is not cheap. So all my cars have the radio set to ONLY one station THE JAZZ ONE! John Crump Parker. Co USA
 
SUSSEX JAZZ KINGS.jpgA Jazz 1.jpg
It's Brolly Parade night at the Walmley Club this Wednesday, the last gig of the month when the girls produce their cheerfully bedecked brollies to parade to the music and provide a colourful interlude (see picture)
On stage will be the Sussex Jazz Kings (pictured), one of the most reliable bands on the UK circuit for their constant ability to provide an enjoyable musical experience for trad jaz lovers who like the occasion to be light-hearted, tuneful and true to the genre's Dixieland roots.
Leader Dave Stradwick is a well-known and admired figure both in the band's native county and around the M25 stop-off points and into the Midlands, where they visit regularly. Their horizons are, however, far wider than this with many overseas tours under their belts.
Stradwick is always up there leading from the front on trumpet interspersed with his slightly rustic brand of tongue-in-the-cheek announcements. Good jazz on a springtime night out. Only a fiver, no memberships required, pay at the door. Can't wait...
 
By comparison, Northampton is a jazz desert. Noble, Sanders, Banner trio looks interesting, See you at the Symphony Hall Friday
 
Listening to jazz on the radio is great. Like John, I do listen a lot to any programme that I can. Even have jazz CD's in the car.

At the end of WW2, we would listen in to American Forces network (AFN), from Frankfurt, in Germany. All the great jazz musicians were featured on a regular basis. But, you know what? There is nothing better than seeing, and hearing, jazz in person.

That is my point. It seems that Norwich is not the only city where live jazz is in the wilderness. We can LISTEN to jazz, but it is a struggle to SEE jazz. Birmingham is so lucky to have so many venues, and jazz nights.

Many thanks Shawcross, for the latest jazz club posting. I read them with great interest.

Eddie
 
On a cold damp winters night. American Armed Forces Network. Dad would stoke up the fire, roast some spuds and chesnuts. Turn up the radio, (wireless), what more could you ask for? Happy days, happy family. I go over to my daughters, her two daughters are on the cell phone, 5 yrs old son playing video games. TV on full blast (No one watching) Times have sure changed. John Crump Parker. Co USA
 

SuffJazzKings.jpgDave Stradwick.jpgDave Harmer.jpgSuffJazzKings.jpgBrian Mellors.jpg
TRADITIONAL, SPIRITUAL...& NEW SOUND
Sussex Jazz Kings presented a typical programme in their latest visit to Walmley from the south-east, one that meandered from the traditional and the spiritual via impressive 'bigger band' impressions and varied vocals to the frankly potty...all garnished with a spicy new sound.
Traditional? Well, from 1929, Black and Blue, a jazz standard composed by Fats Waller with lyrics by Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf and variously described as 'comedy' and a racist 'protest' (the latter of which is surely the accurate description?). The words "I'm white... inside...", when sung by Louis Armstrong, especially, must be one of the most poignant lines in jazz.
Interestingly, the Aston Villa fan maestro of the violin, Nigel Kennedy, has described Black and Blue by Satchmo, as the greatest piece of music, of any genre, that he's ever heard and that, remember, while having performed in the concert halls of the world.
Spritual? The Jazz King always include numbers with a religious theme and among last night's selection was His Eye is on the Sparrow, a gospel hymn that has been recorded by many leading artists through the years, including Whitney Houston.
Bigger bands? Just like Louis Armstrong, work associated with Duke Ellington will always emerge and Jazz Kings dipped into the great man's remarkable repertoire to come out with Saratoga Swing and Creole Love Call, complete with growling, muted brass solos that typify The Duke's music.
As for vocals, this band is well-blessed with personnel prepared to sing a few words and here leader and trumpeter Dave Stradwick (pictured on trumpet) seemed to be in a fruity mood with In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree and Apple Blossom Time.
Frankly potty? How else do you describe titles such as The Cat's had Kittens and the Dog's got Fleas and Black Cat on the Fence as the mood switched from fruity to feline? Yes 'potty'...but entertaining.
Spicy new sound? This was provided by guest trombonist Dave Harmer (pictured on trombone), a band leader himself, who has a similar rather restless, staccato, rough-edged style to Russell Bennett, (if less extrovert and a couple of decibels quieter!). His solos in Black and Blue and the Ellington numbers were a memorable addition to Jazz King's overall offering.
Pictured (top right) Brian Mellors
 
Hi Shawcross, The Sussex Jazz Kings are from my present area, Always popular around Brighton. They are fortnightly in Reigate. Always too Trad for my tastes but friend Peter tells me that the leaders wife is the "rock" that keeps the band going. Re Fats Waller, He and "Muggsy" were my first Jazz favourites back in the 1940s.Black & Blue could never be comic a fine Blues protest tune. Also from around 1929 was both Creole Love Call and Saratoga Swing by the then Cotton Club Orchestra about a ten piece Band with all of the old Greats, Johnny Hodges , Harry Carney, Barney Bigard, Cootie Williams, Tricky Sam Nanton and the first smooth toned Trombonist in Jazz, Lawrence Brown. I saw all of them a few times over the years when Duke toured here all those years later.
 
Another great jazz club review, Shawcross:

I have many memories of Duke Ellington, met him, and his drummer, Sam Woodyard, at Coventry Cathedral, around the early 1970's when he performed his Religious Suite. I have forgotten what it was called!!!.....Old age.

I had to dash over from Leicester to ensure that Sam's Premier drum kit was OK. My meeting with Duke Ellington was brief, a handshake, and an hello. He was too busy. However, I did have time to spend with Sam. A very modest, and graceful man.

Your reviews are wonderful, and must be of great interest to all lovers of good jazz music. How lucky the folk of Birmingham have such good jazz clubs, and great reviews.

Eddie
 
Our Kid said:
Hi Shawcross,

Also from around 1929 was both Creole Love Call and Saratoga Swing by the then Cotton Club Orchestra about a ten piece Band with all of the old Greats, Johnny Hodges , Harry Carney, Barney Bigard, Cootie Williams, Tricky Sam Nanton and the first smooth toned Trombonist in Jazz, Lawrence Brown. I saw all of them a few times over the years when Duke toured here all those years later.
Click to expand...

Our Kid:

Lets also not forget the great trombonist, Juan Tizol, who wrote the very wonderful CARAVAN. Often attributed to Ellington, but written by Juan.

Eddie
 
Sometime in the mid 1950's, just before I left Brum, The Johnny Beck Six were playing at the old Aston Cross club. Packed night,....as usual, when three of Ellingtons 'sidemen' walked in. They had played a concert in Birmingham that evening. Paul Gonzales, Harry Carney, and a trumpet player......cannot remember who.

I was on drums that evening. Most excited. Carney and the trumpet player did not play. Seemed to enjoy the bar more!
However Paul Gonzales DID join us onstage, for three or four numbers, mainly 'blues' type stuff, but great jazz.

In those days, being the resident band at Aston Cross, we played with many of the great British jazz musicians:

Tubby Hayes; Vic Ash; Danny Moss; Don Rendell; Tommy Whittle; Bert Courtley & Kathie Stobart; Ronnie Scott, Kenny Graham.

Our manager, who came from Sutton Coldfield, was one of the club organizers, and always insisted that we, The Johnny Beck Six, always appeared smart on stage. We played jazz clubs about 4 nights a week, and would rehearse every evening when we were not playing. We were also lucky, in that we all read music, which was very useful if a jazz guest brought along some charts for us to play.

We also recorded a couple of records at the Birmingham recording studio of Hollick & Taylor. Still have them. Not bad playing really.

Eddie
 
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