DEDICATED TO THE PRESERVATION AND APPRECIATION OF BRITISH JAZZ
FROM ANY ERA AND STYLE BUT WITH THE EMPHASIS ON MODERN JAZZ

Friday, February 12, 2010

0020 Alan Clare [Jazz Around The Clock and Trio With Bob Burns] FLAC 17(1.15.27)

















Contributed by delmonico, who writes:-
Alan Clare (1931-1993)  was one of those pianists who never sought the limelight, rarely recorded under his own name but made a steady living playing as resident pianist in small drinking clubs and musicians hangouts such as the Studio Club and the Swallow Club in London. He did, however, spend some years playing with Stephane Grappelli between 1970 and 1975 and recordings do exist. His last recording was in 1993 just before he died which was a beautiful duo date with bassist Lennie Bush called 'Holland Park'. It is worth seeking out.
Alan knew all the tunes and could play anything but on one occasion he was caught out by a slightly inebriated customer who asked him to play 'You Are The One'.  Alan, not having heard of this, suggested  alternatives - 'You Are My Heart's Desire', 'You Do something to Me', ' You And Me',  'You Are' , all without success.  He then said, 'Sing it and I'll follow', whereupon our man sang ... 'Night and Day, You Are the One....'.  Alan put his head on the keys and lowered the lid.
Anyway, here is Alan Clare, firstly on a trio date with guest musicians such as Don Rendell, Ray Premu, Bob Efford and Bob Burns on some tracks and recorded live at the Star Club, where he was then resident, on 4-5 February 1958.
A further quartet date previously issued on an ep on 17 January 1957 is next. Here, Bob Burns (Canadian born) plays bass-clarinet.
Finally, there are  three bonus tracks from 1956/57.

(01)
Don Rendell - tenor
Alan Clare - piano
Kenny Napper - bass
Eddie Taylor - drums
(02)
Ray Premru - bass trumpet
Alan Clare - piano
Kenny Napper - bass
Eddie Taylor - drums
(03)
Bob Efford - tenor
Alan Clare - piano
Kenny Napper - bass
Eddie Taylor - drums
(04 15 16)
Bob Burns - alto
Alan Clare - piano
Kenny Napper - bass
Bobby Kevin - drums
(05-10)
Alan Clare - piano
Kenny Napper - bass
Bobby Kevin - drums
(11-14)
Bob Burns - bass clarinet
Alan Clare - piano
Lennie Bush - bass
Tony Kinsey - drums
(17)
Alan Clare - piano
Ike Isaacs - guitar
Lennie Bush - bass
Allan Ganley - drums

01 I'm Old Fashioned (Kern, Mercer) (5:11)
02 Everything Happens To Me (Dennis, Adiar) (7:26)
03 Morning Fun (Sims) (4:36)
04 Yesterdays (Kern, Harbach) (4:59)
05 Drop Me Off At Harlem (Ellington, Kenny) (3:54)
06 Luxury Flat (Clare) (4:51)
07 Just You Just Me (Klages, Greer) (4:30)
08 Moonlight In Vermont (Suessdorf, Blackburn) (4:00)
09 There's A Lull In My Life (Gordon, Revel) (2:43)
10 Hayfoot Strawfoot (McGrane, Leak, Drake) (4:31)
11 It's Easy To Remember (Rodgers, Hart) (4:52)
12 Sometimes I'm Happy (Caesar, Youmans) (2:56)
13 Easy Living (Robin, Rainger) (4:30)
14 How Long Has This Been Going On (Gershwin, Gershwin) (2:54)
15 Luxury Flat (Clare) (4:07)
16 Manhattan (Rodgers, Hart) (3:25)
17 Lullaby In Rhythm (Young, Peters) (6:02)

Label: Decca LK 4260 DFE 6391 + 3 bonus tracks
Recorded: January 14 1957 (11-14) February 04 05 1958 (01-10) November 10 1956 (17) ? (15 16)
Lineage: CD>FLAC
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9 comments:

  1. Anonymous12 February 2010 at 17:37

    Thanks very much for Alan Clare. I have recordings of him with Grappelli but this should be a treat. Love that story about Night and Day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bhowani13 February 2010 at 15:04

    alan clare

    Thank you delmonico and britjazz !

    ReplyDelete
  3. mel19 February 2010 at 08:32

    If I'm not mistaken, it was Alan Clare who provided the deliberately wrong piano notes for "I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas" by The Goons. Excruciatingly funny. He must have been a wonderful guy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BritJazz19 February 2010 at 12:35

    Did he really? That's fame indeed! Thanks for sharing, mel. I still listen to the goons sometimes on Radio 7. Fabulous stuff. I saw Harry Secombe when I was in the Suez Canal Zone in Egypt, in the forces, and everybody was laughing even before he came on stage because we could hear that high giggle of his. Getting away from the subject here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1 August 2010 at 23:51

    Alan Clare was born a long time before 1931. He did recall for the BBC one time the occasion on which he and Fats Waller got fed up waiting for a train on the London tube, and so climbed down to walk along the track to the next station...
    The date was 1938 or 1939.

    ReplyDelete
  6. BritJazz2 August 2010 at 17:47

    Thank you for the correction, Anonymous. That would have made him about seventeen or eighteen. Wonder who the leader was, climbing down onto the track.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jazziger9 February 2012 at 13:50

    guten tag
    leider funktionieren die obigen Links nicht.
    Tolle Sache hier, danke und gruss

    ReplyDelete
  8. BritJazz9 February 2012 at 14:18

    Jazziger says

    Good day
    unfortunately do not work the links above.
    Why did here, thank you and greeting

    @Jazziger. Please see notice about current progress on replacing links at the top of the blog "All Hands"

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rodney4 June 2015 at 15:56

    https://cjoint.net/?01y0am3vlm

    ReplyDelete

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