Side 1 consists of Phil talking about his early days in music, the bands he played in and the musicians he played with. Now and again he beats the skins for some light relief. His stories are hilarious, not for the prudish though.
Side 2 consists of Phil in a couple of different small groups but the first track with Jimmy Witherspoon and the Dick Morrissey Quartet from the Bull's Head has been issued before. The other tracks have a group which includes Tony Coe, a musician with a slippery, wavery sound I just don't like. His clarinet playing is just dreadful on the one track where it is played too.
Enjoy Phil though. Further sessions with Phil had been planned to complete his story and the next one was to have been on 15 October 1972.
For some reason, this did not take place and sadly, Phil died on 21 October 1972 with the rest of his story untold.
(01)
Phil Seamen - drums, narrative
(02)
Dick Morrissey - tenor
Harry South - piano
Phil Bates - bass
Phil Seamen - drums
Jimmy Witherspoon - vocal
(03-05)
Tony Coe - tenor (04 05), clarinet (03)
Brian Lemon - piano
Kenny Baldock - bass
Phil Seamen - drums
01 Phil Talks And Plays (25:27)
02 I Gotta Girl (Davis) (5:39)
03 Perdido (Tizol, Lenk, Drake) (6:17)
04 Blue 'N' Boogie (Gillespie, Paparelli) (7:12)
05 Chinatown (Schwartz, Jerome) (8:03)
Label: Decibel Records BSN 103
Recorded: Bulls' Head Barnes London 1966 (02) Hope & Anchor Islington London 1972 (03-05)
Lineage: LP>FLAC
Fantastic! I've lost count of how many times I picked this up in jazz record shops back in the day but didn't actually buy it. Possibly I was put off by the talking side then but now I will be fascinated by it. Ah, the callowness of youth. Many thanks, delmonico and Rodney for sharing this gem.
ReplyDeleteThanks from me also certainly was a character as his ramblings give testament, A friend of mine who was a drummer around Manchester in the 50s told me that himself and a couple of friends picked up Phil from a house in Manchester on their way to a gig and were going to take him to the station to catch a train back to London.Phil who shuffled down the drive of the house in an old overcoat insisted on going to the gig before he caught the Train just so he could help my friend carry his Drum kit into the venue. He still managed to catch the train....Maybe that's the mark of the man!
ReplyDelete"Tony Coe is one of the most remarkable and brilliant musicians in the world. The sheer range of his musical activity… …is staggering and testifies to an awe-inspiring instrumental mastery." Humphrey Lyttelton
ReplyDelete"Coe is a player of astonishing versatility and brilliance." Ian Carr
On tenor, Coe is a remarkable musician, on clarinet, he is true original who sounds like nobody else on earth. How many original jazz musicians has Britain produced ? ( a good subject for discussion ) To describe the clarinet playing of a man who has played clarinet in every conceivable context, including alongside Alan Hacker in 'Matrix', as 'dreadful' is earless and presumptuous.
thanks for the post
Agree with Zoot - also with a certain William Basie who was keen enouigh to offer Coe a place in his - not inestimable - orchestra. Still and all... thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post. many thanks.Phil was a great musician and a very amiable man.....my wife and I often spoke to him in the interval at the Watermans, the little pub that was surrounded by the Bull's Head, Barnes. He always remembered our names and made a point of including my wife in any conversation. He also played great drums !!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zoot about Tony Coe....so there ...Rodney....but you are forgiven because of all the great posts.It is just as well everybody dosen't agree about everything..how boring that would be.
No anecdotes about Phil I'm afraid, just a big thanks for the post. I'm also a member of the Tony Coe appreciation society!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for this. To compensate for Tony Coe's dreadful clarinet playing, may we look forward to some posts by real masters of the instrument like Terry Lightfoot and Cy Laurie?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't look like it so far. We are as ever reliant upon somebody sending something by them in.
DeleteGreat post. Many thanks :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rodney, I'm not very familiar with Seaman, but looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this.
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