0631 BRITJAZZ CHRISTMAS 2015 – SOME FESTIVE THOUGHTS

Contributed by bluebird, who writes:-
For our final Christmas contribution I thought I would look back to those old 45s which revolutionised the music industry back in the 1950s. They were cheap and cheerful, easily portable to carry to parties and the like and much loved by those newly invented teenagers. The sound was generally pretty good too

We probably all had some and some of you might still do.  I certainly have but delving into those it was quite difficult to find enough material to fill one lp.  Modern jazz was not popular enough to be allocated very many 45s in the UK although the USA with a greater tradition of music outlets such as jukeboxes issued considerably more.  But modern British jazz on 45s is quite hard to find and most of the ones that do exist tend to veer towards the more popular end of jazz like Dankworth’s ‘African Waltz’. But I haven’t selected that one.

Just a word about the cover picture.  A certain member of the backroom staff at BritJazz has a penchant for pictures of pretty girls in hot pants so I thought I would let him have an early Christmas present, but to spare his embarrassment I will not name him.

Now to the music. There are label scans for all the sides used and it’s not Christmassy at all unless somebody lets George in.

1.    Northwest Ten by the boastingly named ‘The Greatest Swing Band In The World.’ It’s very Basie-like and as smooth as cream. The soloists are not identified. Don Lusher on trombone maybe?
2.    Love For Sale by Alan Clare.  There are two very different musical lines going here. The strings play the tune we know in the background whilst Alan weaves a completely different melody line against this background. Intriguing.
3.    Banco by Vic Ash and The Men Of Action. No idea who they are but the tune sounds a bit like a theme tune for something.
4.    Abandonado by The Johnny Dankworth Orchestra. Only ever issued as a single. A cool Bossa Nova.
5.    Body And Soul by Cynthia Lanagan accompanied by the Harry Klein Quintet. I never did find out what happened to Cynthia.
6.    Flying Hickory by Tony Crombie und sein Orchester which is played by his Orchestra at the same time as well. You didn’t know he was ambidextrous did you? The hickory is a reference to his drum solo but it’s not all drums. There’s even an aeroplane solo.
7.    Sally by The Tubby Hayes Quintet. Look out Gracie Fields you have competition. I wonder who thought this was a good idea?
8.    Cabin In The Sky by The Tommy Whittle Quartet. This is a bit soporific so go and put the kettle on whilst it’s playing. You’ve got just 2 minutes and 55 seconds.
9.    Clark Kent Blues by The Chevalier Brothers. Clark Kent is the bass player in the group who stays out late at night. Ray Ice Cream sings and plays tenor. Roger Red Wine takes the vibes solo.
10.    Birth Of The Budd by Roy Budd. A raunchy piano solo against a raunchy rock background.
11.    Theme From Charlie by The Harry South Sextet. It was the theme music from a 1980s TV thriller ‘Charlie’. Dick Morrissey and Chris Pyne solo. Do you remember the TV series?  I don’t.
12.    And I’ll Find You by Joy Marshall. Not really a jazz 45 but it has a strong jazz connection. Joy was a black American singer who came to the UK in the early 60s to further her career. To get residence status and a work permit she married Peter King the alto player in 1962 and then left him after a year or so to become the live-in girlfriend of Tubby Hayes. Her career never took off and went into decline although she wasn’t really a bad singer. Too much competition at the time and she was a fiery individual to deal with. This was her last recording for the small and obscure label ‘Toast’ and she died by ‘misadventure’ on 21 November 1968 from ‘barbiturate poisoning combined with alcohol’ according to the Coroner. She was only 32. What a waste of a life.
13.    Stop-Look-Listen by The Steve Race Group. Tubby Hayes double tracks on tenor sax. Two for the price of one. It’s the theme from the TV series says the label. I thought it was something to do with Road Safety.
14.    Ballad–(Extract) by The National Youth Jazz Orchestra. This is just a part of a section from Paul Hart’s ‘Concierto For Guitar And Jazz Orchestra’, which he wrote for NYJO and guitarist John Williams. It really deserves to be heard in full so go and buy the cd
15.    Song For Hilary by The London Jazz Four. It was thought for a long time that the vibes player heard was Tubby Hayes be cause he did record with a similarly named group. But it isn’t. The four concerned are not very well known at all and in addition to this 45, they made two rather strange lps. One was ‘Take A New Look At The Beatles’ and the other was ‘An Elizabethan Song Book’. Both are on cd and worth investigating.
16.    Bouncing At Midnight by The Wally Stott Orchestra. Solos are by Eddie Blair and Bob Burns. We bounce out in style but who let George in?


So, there we are at the end of the road. The long and winding road of British Modern Jazz, which we have travelled for the last 5 years. In that time we have covered almost all styles of Modern Jazz, some mainstream and a small amount of traditional jazz. Some good, some bad, some familiar and some you might never have heard about.

Remember, all the music came from the collections of the various contributors and BritJazz has tried to post music that is either out of copyright or out of print/deleted so that we can be seen to be fair to the musicians involved. Earning a living from playing jazz is hard work and musicians deserve every penny they can get from their music be it recorded or otherwise. So remember that when you download the latest cd from some blog. Go and buy it instead.

And, finally, did you like the hot pants picture, Rodney?

I did and do, thank you. My immediate thought was some strings to be plucked. Rodney

**MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL THE LOYAL SUPPORTERS OF BRITJAZZ**