The
piano player with the Butler Fox band (see No. 1) was a delightful and very
gentle man named Tony Drennan. He was totally dedicated to jazz, and piano in
particular, sometimes to the detriment of the more practical things in life it
must be said. While his favourite piano player was Teddy Wilson, he was an
excellent exponent of both boogie woogie and stride piano and was a big fan of
Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Fats Waller. At any Butler Fox
band session he would always be given the opportunity to play a couple of
boogie solos, Honky Tonk Train Blues being one of my favourites.
During his career Tony Drennan played many regular gigs and concerts in Dublin and throughout Ireland and was often called upon to support visiting artists from the UK and US. Along with other Irish jazz musicians he played with Bud Freeman on a now very rare album recorded in 1976 Bud Freeman - The Man; Live in Dublin.
His love for music was passed on to his children and one son, Myles, is now one of Ireland’s most acclaimed jazz piano players (and he also plays drums to a high standard) and another, Anto Drennan, is a much sought after guitarist who has played with Genesis, Mike + the Mechanics, Clannad, Moving Hearts, the Corrs and many other groups.
Inspired by his playing and the fact that a good friend of mine was taking piano lessons from him, I signed up as well. However the difference was that my friend had quite a lot of musical ability whereas I had…….After a few sessions, Tony Drennan realised my lack of potential and rather than try and teach me to play he decided to try and educate me about jazz piano - a sensible decision.
Therefore lessons consisted of us listening to his record collection and then him demonstrating what the pianists were doing on his piano. It was at one of these lessons I first heard Art Tatum on record and was completely stunned by his playing. Tony didn’t try to replicate his playing on the piano so it was not until I came to Newcastle that, much to my surprise and delight, I heard a local pianist play a sensational version of Art Tatum’s Tea for Two live. My equivalent of that madeleine cake moment in Proust.
JC
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