Any Jazz fans left in Sheffield?

[Highnote]

Yes I remember the Vic Lewis Band, a real powerhouse unit, as you say styled in the Stan Kenton idiom,and among the line-up were such stalwarts as Jimmy Skidmore t/sax,Kathy Stobart t/sax,Bert Courtley tpt,Johnny Shakespeare tpt,Ronnie Chamberlain a/sax(lured away by Ted Heath), and a talented arranger Ken Thorne,when I was doing my National Service 1948 time we saw the Oscar Rabin band at a concert in Bath, and he had a woncerful trumpet player called Bobby Benstead, and I think he played in a Vic Lewis band at some time, I remember that concert very well as there were no trains back to camp so me and a mate had to walk,about four miles!.

The Vic Lewis band suffered from the problem of all big bands,finance.

Another great band which came and went was the wonderful Tommy Sampson band from Scotland, with Henry Mackenzie,Duncan Campbell,I only saw them once,I think Ron Simmonds was in the trumpet section for a time.

[sweetdexter]

Thanks for all the memories which brought back many of mine of the wonderful jazz musicians we were privileged to to see, and of course hear.

A little story about the Basie Band,(the greatest big band I ever saw,and I saw a few)when they played their first UK tour the band parts did not arrive in this country so they played the whole"book" throughout the tour from memory!

Another everlasting memory was of a concert given by the wonderful Carmen Macrae, and during the programme announcing the next number she said"now I'd like to"--and as quick as a flash a male voice from the audience shouted"Yes I'd like to an'all!!"the audience erupted in laughter, and Carmen Macrae just stood there helpless with laughter, and applauded her anonymous admirer,and for those of you who did not know Carman Macrae, she was a very beautiful and curvacious negress.

Can anyone remember Ella Fitzgerald having trouble with the spotlight on her?and ad-libbing words asking to to turn it off to the tune she was singing.

The great Ted Heath and all the wonderful sidemen he had over the years, and another great favourite of mine,and still is, Stephan Grappelli,could that man swing?blew your mind.Some years ago he played a concert at the Crucible, and my fellow jazz mate could not go, so my Wife, who is not the least bit interested in jazz said she would go and keep me company, and sat there absolutely enthralled the whole concert.

So please,please keep those memories coming, I am sure there are many more, I have thousands.

 

I wish I could have gotten to see Carmen live.

I have a VHS tape of her at the Montreal Jazz Festival, doing a lot of Monk tunes.

Still my favourite female vocalist

[Texas]

Tommy Sampson, a legend among aficianados (or a leg end, depending on your sense of humor). Half of Tommy Sampson's band was nicked by Ted Heath, or so I've been led to believe.

How about the Ray Ellington group? It seemed that every concert at the City, featuring the more traditional sort of jazz, the support band was Ray Ellington, keeping up the end for bebop.

I'm no purist at all, I love all kinds of the music, and I loved his act. For sheer entertainment he was hard to beat. The musicians in his band, Dick Katz, Coleridge Goode, I forget the guitarist's name, all top class. I believe that Coleridge Goode pioneered the amplification of the bass back in the 40's and I think he's still around.

I remember one time, me and a mate got talking to Ray Ellington in the corridor backstage, he was very approachable. Could've been though because he was interested in my mates sister.

I didn't like the tension on his bass drum though. Actually, I nearly told him that, but he was a hell of a lot bigger than I was.

[PopT]

Do you remember Jimmy Rushing appearing at the City Hall, he was in good form.

 

Over here in NZ I was fortunate to buy a cd of him singing with the Dave Brubeck outfit and it is a great listen.

 

Can you remember the Dave Brubeck outfit with the incredible Paul Desmond on Alto.

 

Please keep this post going,it's so nostalgic of a time when you could really hear some innovative music played by such talented musicians.

 

Happy Days!

[Highnote]

Would the guitarist with Ray Ellinton be Judd Proctor?

Another band which knocked me over was Buddy Rich,a wonderful drummer but they tell me horrible man,his version of "Love For Sale"is among my all time top ten.

I remember one time we saw him he would lay down the tempo, and play his drums for about sixteen bars, the call out the chart number giving the sidemen about thirty seconds to find it, the count them in 2-3-4,and every number the band had to furiously delve through the book to find their respective parts.

One of the Ted Heath "Greats" was lead trumpeter Bobby Pratt, remember those beautiful duets with Bert Ezzard? Bobby's widow Tina now lives in Australia with her family,and was over in the UK a few weeks ago, and stayed with my Wife and I for a few days, and we had a wonderful time talking about Bobby's life,and tragic death, and she presented us with a wonderful collection of photographs of Bobby from his early days as a professional musician in his teens, with the Squadronaires,Ken Mackintosh to the great days with Ted Heath.

[buck]

I went to a dance in Bognor Regis dancing to the Ray Ellington quartet. He was famous from being on the goon show. The band singer was a very young Cleo Laine. You could get right close up to them, and Cleo was very friendly and easy to get on with. Not bad on the eyes either. There is some good jazz still around NYC from small pubs and cafes. New Yorker magazine has a good list of who's who and where. So does the times.

[sweetdexter]

I went to a dance in Bognor Regis dancing to the Ray Ellington quartet. He was famous from being on the goon show. The band singer was a very young Cleo Laine. You could get right close up to them, and Cleo was very friendly and easy to get on with. Not bad on the eyes either. There is some good jazz still around NYC from small pubs and cafes. New Yorker magazine has a good list of who's who and where. So does the times.

 

Talking about Cleo close up.

I saw her hubby in a coffee bar somewhere around West Bar, seems to me downstairs .No booze ,paid admission (I think).

Dankworth had a Quintet. It was like a concert in your average living room.

They must have been playing for peanuts

[sweetdexter]

I have a B&W poster above my computer 36" x26" 'Art Kane Jazz Portrait' Harlem 1958.

57 Jazz musicians who where in NY on that day..

Wish I had a time machine

[PopT]

Sweetdexter

 

An old pal gave me a copy of that poster and it is fascinating how many all time greats are on it.

 

It's a real treasure.

 

Happy Days!

[Texas]

That would be 'A Great Day in Harlem' wouldn't it Dex? The photographer was Art Kane.

I remembered the guitar player's name with Ray Ellington, it was Laurie Deniz. He remained with the group longest, but there was another guy before that. Didn't the knock out Marion Ryan sing with Ray Ellington for a while too?