Personnel:Al Fairweather - trumpet
John Picard - trombone
Dick Heckstall-Smith - soprano
Vic Ash - clarinet
Tony Coe - clarinet
Sandy Brown - clarinet
Archie Semple - clarinet
Bruce Turner - clarinet
Maurice Biella - vibes
Ian Armit - piano
Fred Hunt - piano
Stan Jones - piano
Harry Smith - piano
Bill Bramwell - guitar
Brian Brocklehurst - bass
Arthur Watts- - bass
Chris Staunton - bass
Eddie Taylor - drums
Johnny Richardson - drums
Allan Ganley - drums
Tracks:
01 Bali Ha'i
02 Portrait of Mies
03 Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
04 Lover Man
05 Tipsy
06 Blue n' Boogie
07 The Needle
08 High Priest
09 Sans Humph
10 I Cover the Waterfront
11 Sugar
12 5/8ths
Recorded November 1957 and March 1958
Simon Spillett mentioned this album on August 24 last year (see Vic Ash [Session for Four]); `Why not try and dig out his rare tracks Blue 'n Boogie and High Priest from the Nixa "Blackstick" album. Even Vic hasn't got them!`
So here is the album - Pye issue. A good balance of styles and variety to portray comprehensively one of the archetypal instruments of jazz. Strong playing from all participants and some very big names in there. All the clarinetists acquit themselves well, including Vic of course. I particularly noticed the tunes by the Tony Coe group but that may have been due to a style preference rather than the performances. I can't say I'd ever heard of Maurice Biella before and when I Googled the name just now I got five hits, all about bikes! Nothing in Tom Lord's "The Jazz Discography" either.
Ripped from the LP. An attempt has been made to clean it up but I will leave you to judge the results as I would not want to be seen as blowing my own blackstick! BJ
Contributed by BritJazz and delmonico.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThanks BJ & Delmonico ... not seen this before ... Baron ... excellent post.
ReplyDeleteGreat LP. I'm a clarinetist, and this is a great treat...thanks!
ReplyDeleteExcellent album, with great varied playing. Some unexpected stuff, too! Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteTHANKS.........
ReplyDeleteThanks BritJazz for this elusive lp.
ReplyDeleteNow need time to listen after spending the best part of a day trying to transfer something from VHS to DVD. Got there in the end though.
Many thanks for this. Great you came through on Simon's challenge also!
ReplyDeleteThank you for that, very enjoyable - and probably the only chance we'll ever have to hear some of those tracks. Just for the record (and being picky) the second track is correctly labelled on the LP sleeve as "Portrait of Mies", it was a tribute by Sandy Brown (an architect himself) to the German architect Mies van der Rohe.
ReplyDeleteThanks again.
@John - I did notice that but thought it a misprint. An interesting snippett - correction made on the blog although the download cannot be corrected without uploading it all again. A note on the item will have to suffice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info.
If anyone spots any errors anywhere do please let us know.
Rare indeed - thx, bj and delmonico
ReplyDeleteGreatly appreciated, britjazz and delmonico - thanks a lot. Must be very rare.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great LP. There is a Maurice Bielle listed in Tom Lord - no other information though.
ReplyDeleteI've just ignored the discography for a while and played this through blind. There's some lovely music here and it's a great sounding quality rip.
ReplyDeleteNow I can go back and find out what I've been listening to!
Thanks BritJazz.
Thanks a lot
ReplyDeleteGreat post & excellent transfer. Many thanks
ReplyDeleteI have just found "britjazz blogspot" as I was googling my uncle's name - Maurice Biella - trying to find info on his life as a jazz musician.
ReplyDeleteI too found references to cyclists at first!
I have many happy memories of him playing the piano and vibes in our house (my mum was his sister). Sadly he died in 1995 at the age of 64yrs. I hope I can find a copy of this album.
Welcome, Allie. So your uncle's name is right here but wrong in the Tom Lord Discography (my old copy at least), which only lists the two tunes on this album. (Thanks for the pointer, JRG.)
ReplyDeleteDo you know if he made any other jazz recordings, Allie? Anything else you can tell us about his jazz career would be of interest here. Sorry to hear about his quite early demise. Was he primarily a pianist doubling on vibes do you know? Or perhaps the other way round?
The album is hard to come by as we found out to our cost (well worth it though). We wish you luck in your search but in the meantime you can at least listen to the music if you can download okay.
Many thanks for your interest. Yes you do have my uncle's name correct - Maurice Biella -
ReplyDeleteHis father was Italian. Unfortunately the family members of his generation are no longer with us, so it's difficult to find information, but I will do my best and if I do find anything I will let you know. Unfortunately, his career as a professional jazz musician was cut short by ill health. I'm very excited to find this album and will download it -with the help of my children if necessary!
That's good of you, Allie - many thanks. Not that there is much we can do with any information but it will at least be on record here and available for any using a search engine, as you did. And we are just plain curious to find out whatever we can about your uncle.
ReplyDeleteAny problems downloading, let us know but it should be straightforward.
Link dead .... :(
ReplyDelete@Peter. Thanks for all the comments and for telling us of dead links. Look out on those two for new ones -0140 and 1048
ReplyDeletepassword bandicoot
ReplyDeletehttps://rapidshare.com/files/2550293721/0140.rar
New link as requested. Now also pdf file included.
A1 Tony Coe - Bali Ha'i
ReplyDeleteA2 Sandy Brown - Portrait of Mies
A3 Archie Semple - Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
A4 Dick Heckstall-Smith feat. Bruce Turner - Lover Man
A5 Sandy Brown - Tipsy
A6 Vic Ash - Blue 'n Boogie
B1 Archie Semple - The Needle
B2 Vic Ash - High Priest
B3 Tony Coe - Sans Humph
B4 Archie Semple - I Cover the Waterfront
B5 Sandy Brown - Sugar
B6 Tony Coe - 5/8ths
From http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/various_artists_f2/blackstick__the_clarinet_artistry_of_vic_ash__sandy_brown__tony_coe__archie_semple__bruce_turner/
Many Thanks !
Niall
Blackstick - Many thanks . Nice to have this one again.
ReplyDeleteOh how good to hear these guys once again! I always loved Vic Ash but have not heard his playing for 40 years! Isn't this a good reason for your blog? Many thanks
ReplyDelete