Any Jazz fans left in Sheffield?

[PopT 10]

One of Ted Heath's alto Sax players was from Sheffield, I went to school with his so Carl Davis.

 

Wasn't the trombone player Donald Langhorne who formed his own group playing rock and roll under the name of Don Lang?

 

 

Happy Days indeed!

[mozo 10]

Hi texas i never saw the Barry Whitworth's band but i do know my dad was the drummer, Peter Jackson. They aslo played in the Brecon Hotel in rotherham and my dad backed artists like Roy Castle, Will Gaines and Sandy Powell. He also played with the Black Damonds and the Savoy Quintet. a guy called Nev Reaney also played with Barry Whitworth.

[Texas 10]

Hey mozo, remember your Dad very well. He was a good musician, probably brilliant, I dont know the technicalities of drums but he could swing. If you've heard of Phil Seaman, well he held Pete in high regard. Phil reckoned the only thing wrong with Pete was that he worried too much, what the significance of that is, I'm not sure, but anything coming from Phil Seaman has got to be profound. I know that Pete was with Barry from day one, and so was Nev come to that. Pete and Barry were in the Pitsmoor Scouts at the same time, guess what instruments they played! Him and me used to have some ridiculous discussions about music sometimes. I heard he'd passed on a few years ago, a very sad loss.

[Highnote 10]

Hi PopT, the man you are thinking of was Gordon Langhorne who was lead trombonist with the Vic Lewis powerhouse band which played the way out Stan Kenton stuff,I have no record of him ever playing with Ted Heath,but you are are quite right he did form a group under the name of Don Lang.The alto sax player was probably Leslie Gilbert who did come from Sheffield.

Earlier there were comments about Humphrey Lyttleton and Ted Heath, there is a connection there because Keith Christie who played trombone with Humph left to join, and become a stalwart of the Heath section for some years, obviously the money was better.Keiths brother Ian played clarinet with Humph too.

Talking of Ted Heath sidemen does anyone remember the late and great trumpeter Bobby Pratt?

[mozo 10]

Hi texas, nice to hear from some one who knew pete. Something tells me my dad had a high regard for phil too, I was named after him!! And talking of great drummers check out Dave Weckl, he's nearly as good as pete!!

[sweetdexter 10]

Yes Texas you did see Eddie Condon.

I always remember his cure for a cold"You take the juice from a quart of whisky..........".

I think in the same band it was Billie Butterfield on cornet.

It is so long ago and very hazy.

Was that the Jack Teagarden concert that had ,Condon Kaminsky/Butterfield.Maybe someone has a program for that and could look it up

[PopT 10]

Thanks Harlan for putting me straight about Langhorne and Les Gilbert, I did get both names wrong.

 

It does seem such a long, long time ago.

 

I remember Phil Seaman playing a piece of his own called 'Able Seaman Phil' and it was brilliant although he was on drugs at the time which didn't seem to affect his skill on the drums.

 

He later went on to teach Ginger Baker the renowned Flim Flam expert and horse breeder as well as playing in the Cream group.

 

Happy Days indeed

[Texas 10]

Hey mozo, did you ever know of Alec, Alec Wyatt, the piano player with the Barry Whitworth Quintet/Savoy Quintet? He was a character. He used to have this little notebook with all the chord changes propped up on the front of the piano, it annoyed the crap out of Barry, very uncool. Last time I saw him he was trying to wangle some way to see Tubby Hayes without paying, the gig was in a pub near Bournmouth, and he was contemplating climbing through the toilet window!

And sweetdexter, please dont tell me I've seen Billy Butterfield and dont remember it, Al Zeimer must be knocking on my door.

 

popT, did you ever see Ginger Baker with the Graham Bond Organisation, brilliant! He had a Chinese Cymbal on his kit hanging vertical, the sound was terrific.

[sweetdexter 10]

Hi Texas,Like i say it is all hazy.I know at one of the concerts 'I Can't Get Started'. was played, I remember this was one of Billie Butterfields masterpieces,.Maybe I am just imagining it. the grey matter is diminishing at a rapid rate.

[buck 11]

Do any of you remeber a time when American big bands couldn't play in UK cos the Musicians union didn't like it. A bunch of us got on a boat to Dublin to see Stan Kenton. Sheffield had a very big trad club in those days but we were all modern jazz fans.

One night downstairs at the City Hall we were enjoying Kathy Stobart's group. She was a brilliant tenor sax, which was unusual for a girl in those days, when an official came down from the concert hall to complain that the jazz was interfering with the symphony going on upstairs. How he escaped with his life I'll never know. I went to Ronnie Scotts in London, which I believe is still going. By the way I think Diana Krall is great. Wish I could get tickets but they're always sold out.

[mozo 10]

ooh yes i know alec meet him a couple of time tried to get freebies from me at work, is he still around?. another guy i remember is bob cant remember his second name, used to run mr kites in town for a while, also had a second hand shop on the corner of crooksmoor rd, he had stacks of old jazz recordings taken from american radio stations in the fifties!!!

[Texas 10]

I could't say if Alec is still around mozo, the 'toilet window' incident was nearly 40 years ago, and I was long gone from Sheffield before that. I hope he is though, still counting his money. I did hear that Nev Reaney was still playing, not much different from the late 50's, but playing none the less. Probably the same reed!

I thought of an incident involving Pete that made me smile. He used to have this beat up old van, and it hadn't any windshield washers, so he kept a plastic squigee bottle full of water so he could lean out the window and squirt water on the windshield and then operate the wipers. Quite a complicated process doing about 40mph down Barber Road. I was in the passenger seat when he decided he couldn't see clearly. I thought he was leaving.