This evening we went to the
Berrylands Hotel in Surbiton, for
the Magna jazz band, the line-up being Pete Towndrow (cornet, trumpet, vocal), John Elmer (clarinet, alto sax, vocal, pictured), Mike Pointon (trombone, vocals, pictured), Alan Dandy (keyboard), Richard Lyons (string bass) and Rex Bennett (drums). The evening passed very quickly because we were enjoying ourselves so much. Favourite numbers were:
'Lonesome Road', about which I know nothing;
John's vocal 'New Orleans', composed by Hoagy Carmichael;
Mike's vocal 'Tishomingo Blues', composed by Spencer Williams, who eventually moved to England, marrying Pat Castleton and settling in Sunbury-on-Thames (our thanks to Mike for pointing us in the right direction for this snippet;
John's feature 'Elmer's Tune' Words & Music by Elmer Albrecht, Sammy Gallop & Dick Jurgens Recorded by Glenn Miller, 1939;
'At The Jazz Band Ball', written by the original Dixielanders Nick La Rocca and Larry Shields;
Mike's feature 'God Bless The Child', written by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. in 1939, first recorded on May 9, 1941;
and best of all, Alan Dandy's wonderful keyboard solo 'Heliotrope Bouquet' (bunch of pale blue flowers) written by Scott Joplin & Louis Chauvin in 1907 but with additions by Dandy as usual. We noted that Alan, in true jazz fashion, never plays anything the same way twice.
Frances amused us by saying that she had arrived before 'the boys' to which I replied "you mean your boys". Peter, David and Peter are big boys now !
Labels: Jazz
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