Q: Ned Kelly’s, it
sounds a fun place. Is it purely jazz or do you have to do a bit of everything?
A: Ned Kelly’s is 80%
Dixieland, the rest, 10% Swing & Latin Jazz with a little Be-Bop
and the other 10% are my cabaret spots,
or as I call it, a little audience participation. There are times when we add a
touch of Spike Jones.
Now when I say 80% Dixieland, I would not say it is "pure
Dixieland". To give an example we play everything from Jelly Roll Morton’s
“Black Bottom Stomp" to a little Latin jazz "Triste" to
"Take Five". The cabaret stuff
- well, that is me fooling around
playing "Amazing Grace" on the tea-pot in 2 octaves, to doing a Louis taake on “What A Wonderful World" with the
Neds Glee Club (audience). "New York , New York " has been renamed "Mong Kok, Mong
Kok" which is a notorious area here in Hong Kong .
Some other fun routines are the rubber chicken on 12th
Street Rag! The audience love it!
Post 1997 saw a dramatic change in the audience mix. Gone are
the forces expats - we have a wonderful young Chinese following, who come to enjoy
the fun and entertainment. It is a great and fun venue for office and birthday
parties and celebrations of all sorts. We still host regulars from the numerous
trade shows held here and of course, over the years we have had visiting musicians and passengers from cruise
ships, US fleet personnel and US 7th
fleet band
I would say our audience is a mix of locals, expats and business people, with an age group from 18
year olds to 70+ year olds. Neds has hosted some greats like Charlie
Barnet, Rosemary Clooney, Matt Monroe, Sergio Mendes, Kenny Ball, Bob Wilber (pictured with Colin),
Fred Wesley and in March this year we will have US trombonist Dan Barrett.
Q: You return to the
A: As time goes by – cue for a song. Every year on a return I do feel more at
home. They always say that you
eventually come back to your roots, and if I was to return it would be to
Tyneside. I would of course not be back to play full time. It would be just
nice to play and enjoy playing when I want to. I am always deeply touched by
the warm welcome that both Jeannie and I receive when we meet up with friends
and musicians who have known me since I was a little boy and dad was around.
I have a couple of years to fulfil contracts in Hong Kong , To
think that when I turned professional in
1976, and in all that time I’ve only been out of work for around one month,. I
had to travel and I had to take chances and the gamble has paid off. It will be a difficult decision to leave Asia . but yes... UK
is still on the cards and if I did return, it would be to Geordie Land
Q: Unlike some musicians, you have a deep interest in the history of the music typified by
your vast collection of vintage Melody Makers ?
A: What a great music paper that was, and one of my first jobs
came from it. So definitely a strong
attachment. Their reports and coverage
of jazz and big bands from the 20's to the 70's
it's all there. I'm at present in the process of posting my collection
on line on Flickr. It's a time consuming
task and I often find myself side tracked by wanting to read the many
interesting articles that I come across.
Colin.
(To be continued)
2 comments :
When you come back you can make a start with scanning my collection of M . M and RHYTHM !
Meanwhile we look forward to July
John, would love to do that, but it is a big job, and you get so side tracked, but what great musical magazines and papers they were, and most of my jobs as a professional musician came from the MM in those days, yes looking forward to July, and some relaxed blows here and there.
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