Sorry to hear that Keith has passed on and although I knew him for many years, I couldn't call him a close friend but he did make his mark as a strange figure on the fringe of the jazz scene in my early career and latterly at the Jazz Cafe where I worked three nights a week for about a year or so. The place was the pits and the pay abysmal and there seemed to be a running battle with the authorities and problems with the "drinks" licence, which had to be in someone else's name. However it did attract a host of visiting musicians for after hours sessions including Harry Connick Jr. with several members of his orchestra.
Harry's appearance was somewhat dramatic!!!! He approached me at the piano and wore dark glasses and said "Hi! I'm Harry -- BUT NO PHOTOGRAPHS PLEASE !! I thought 'how pretentious' until he explained to me that he had to cancel his show that night because he had a sore throat and didn't feel that his fans would be pleased to see him "jamming" when he should have been in bed. His guys all played superbly, including guitarist Russell Malone who joined Diana Krall shortly after. Nigel Kennedy made an appearance although I wasn't there that night and it attracted some excellent players from visiting orchestras at the Theatre Royal.
It also attracted some good young players from the Music College, notably the fine young trombonist Martin Gladdish who went on to join NYJO and also appeared on albums with Jamie Cullum. But we also had visiting actors, notably Robson Green and an actress (who shall remain nameless to save her embarrassment) who featured in an important role in a police series on TV. She arrived, as they say, "well served" and my greatest abiding memory of Keith is of him saying to me "I think I'm in with a chance here, she thinks I look like Leo McKern, him that plays Rumpole".That was typical of Keith, a "chancer to the last" but in the rich tapestry of jazz in Newcastle he played his part in no small way.
Harry's appearance was somewhat dramatic!!!! He approached me at the piano and wore dark glasses and said "Hi! I'm Harry -- BUT NO PHOTOGRAPHS PLEASE !! I thought 'how pretentious' until he explained to me that he had to cancel his show that night because he had a sore throat and didn't feel that his fans would be pleased to see him "jamming" when he should have been in bed. His guys all played superbly, including guitarist Russell Malone who joined Diana Krall shortly after. Nigel Kennedy made an appearance although I wasn't there that night and it attracted some excellent players from visiting orchestras at the Theatre Royal.
It also attracted some good young players from the Music College, notably the fine young trombonist Martin Gladdish who went on to join NYJO and also appeared on albums with Jamie Cullum. But we also had visiting actors, notably Robson Green and an actress (who shall remain nameless to save her embarrassment) who featured in an important role in a police series on TV. She arrived, as they say, "well served" and my greatest abiding memory of Keith is of him saying to me "I think I'm in with a chance here, she thinks I look like Leo McKern, him that plays Rumpole".That was typical of Keith, a "chancer to the last" but in the rich tapestry of jazz in Newcastle he played his part in no small way.
Bill Harper.
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