Key Moments 2

Following on from David Brownlow's Key Moments, here are a few of mine...
At the Jazz Band Ball by Muggsy Spanier and Intermission Riff by Stan Kenton hit me simultaneously which was all wrong.  Back then it had to be either one or the other. If you liked Dixieland then you turned your nose up at Progressive Jazz and vice versa. Likewise, if you went for the Bunk Johnson/George Lewis brand of New Orleans it was heresy to even mention Bird or Diz in the same breath. Today there are still pragmatists in both camps who maintain this tunnelled vison approach.

Birth of the Blues by Frank Sinatra. One of his last recordings for Columbia before moving over to Capital and those classic long-players: Wee Small Hours, Swingin’ Lovers, Swingin’ Affair etc. Birth of the Blues was important inasmuch as it removed Guy Mitchell, Eddie Fisher, Johnny Ray from my record shelves. The B (flip) side, Why Try to Change me Now?, remains the benchmark for ballad singing.

Hearing the Emcee Five at The Downbeat in Newcastle; Jimmy Miller playing great piano at a pub in Blaydon; Sunday mornings at The Bluebell in Felling, The University Theatre, in Newcastle, The City Vaults down the Bigg Market; The Tally Ho in Kentish Town.

Playing with the Newcastle Big Band at the San Sebastian Jazz Festival.

The characters: Jurich who ran the New Orleans Club, Andy Hudson, who ran the aforementioned big band, Brian Fisher who fell asleep at the piano whilst playing a Glenn Miller number with the band, and Keith Crombie – a Newcastle legend. I’d known of Crombie for years, even before he took over the original Jazz Café but had steered clear of him due to the picture of him painted by The Establishment. The Establishment and Crombie were natural enemies. However, when I did get to know him I found that beneath that gruff exterior there was an even gruffer interior – until he got to know you and decided you weren’t going to stab him in the back. Knowledgeable and opinionated on just about everything he’d listen to your argument, nod as if in agreement then dismiss it with words you wouldn’t find in The War Cry. The procession through the streets of Newcastle on the day of his funeral was akin to the passing of the wearer of a NUFC number 9 shirt.

Listening to Roland Kirk in concert at a Durham college; Guy Lafitte, Bob Wilber & Warren Vaché at Breda Jazz Festival; Art Pepper at the University Theatre; Carol Kidd at a pub in Edinburgh; Meeting Daryl Sherman at North Shields; meeting Eric Delaney at South Shields – the list is endless.

Let’s have your lists…

Lance.

PS: Not forgetting working with Ronnie McLean and Hughie Aitchison at J.G.Windows Music Store.