|
 
I grew up in Southport, Lancashire, in a home in which the bizarre but
all too accepted working class barriers of culture operated. We had a few
"pop" classics - Puccini arias, the Grieg piano concerto, and the like
- masses of Gilbert and Sullivan, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra,
and, wonder of wonders, a lot of jazz. The jazz wasn't so much Louis Armstrong
as "dixieland", with Muggsy Spanier's Ragtimers, the Venuti-Lang bands,
plus the British derivatives, such as Freddy Gardner, Harry  Parry
and Joe Daniels rather than the classic jazz of King Oliver or the revivalism
of Bunk Johnson. My father had spent much of the war in the RAMC in Belfast
and, legend - his legend - had it that he had sat in on trumpet with Ken
Smiley's band there. He did have one souvenir of that time: a private recording
of a group led by a clarinettist, Sammy Kaminetsky, and in the centre of
this disc someone had painstakingly drawn in ink an Esquire label! By the
time I got interested in jazz he played some piano but basically only two
tunes, "Whispering" and "Georgia on my mind"!
The late 1950's were the time of remarkable jazz popularity with records
such as "Petite Fleur" in the hit parade. To a large extent jazz was the
popular music of the day and a group of boys at the local grammar school
became addicts, travelling to all night sessions, riverboat cruises, celebrity
concerts and providing the mainstay of local jazz clubs. Eventually some
of this group got fed up with just listening and decided to learn instruments
and to form a band - as if the decision itself would create the actuality.
So it was in 1958, at the age of 16, having just left school, that I bought
a secondhand Boosey and Hawkes Regent clarinet, for, I think £16,
through an advert in the Melody Maker newspaper.
I managed to afford ten lessons, which provided the rudiments of the
fingering system, and we started a band, the  Bienville
Jazz Band - a name picked off a street map of New Orleans. One of the band's
family were shortly due to move into a flat which was temporarily unoccupied
and we rehearsed in an empty room there. Heaven knows what it must sounded
like to the neighbours. We started without a trumpet player but soon one
was introduced to us. Alas, I cannot remember his name but he was very
posh and had an extremely expensive instrument. The problem was that he
could only play one tune. Rather curiously this was "The Old Grey Mare
She Ain't What She Used To Be". The poor nag was certainly in even poorer
shape after regularly being done to death by us.
After a couple of weeks of the old grey mare, this trumpeter player
announced that we had a booking. His father was holding a masonic function
at their house in Hightown, between Southport and Liverpool, and we were
booked to provide the music! It was painstakingly pointed out to him that
even filial loyalty would wear thin after the first hour of the old grey
mare, but, he said brightly, "it's six weeks off, and we can learn some
new tunes by then." Not wishing to risk a complete debacle we dragged
in another more senior ex-school colleague on alto sax to provide emergency
assistance. We bought tartan shirts as a band uniform and to my amazement
all went well. From this initial experience came my awareness that, despite
horrendous pre-gig nerves, all will go well. As a later bandleader said
to me, "Just remember that no-one out there can get a note out of your
instrument."
 This first band survived until a number of its members left Southport to go to university. The colourful but limited chevaline trumpeter left
rather sooner and a photograph from the period shows Barry Dixson on trumpet,
Roy Watkins on piano, Dave Hood on guitar, Tich Partington on the tea chest
bass - an instrumental phenomenon of the late ‘50s skiffle era - John Sheville
on drums, and a particularly close friend of the period, Neil Freeman on
trombone. Incidentally, Neil is now the world's leading authority on the
original Shakespeare texts, and is a professor at the University of British
Columbia.
The remnants of the band then joined with an older band, the Riverside
Jazzmen, led by an ageing trombonist, Bill Bent, which was looking for
new members to stay in business. This band played all around Merseyside
and I enjoyed the regularly gigs until politics caused me to leave the
north for London in January 1962 to work at Liberal Party headquarters.
During my time with the Riverside band its trumpet player, being perennially
hard up, offered to sell me a soprano saxophone for six pounds! I
agreed to pay him £1.50 a month and I don't think I ever paid the
last instalment! If you're out there, I'll happily pay you that last 75p!
I still play the same splendid Italian wide bore instrument.
 |
With Dortmund's Revival Jazz Band during
Leeds-Dortmund Twin City events 1978
|
For a long time after that to keep going it was a question of sitting
in, or depping with whatever bands I could find in London and Leeds, until
in the 1980s the Liberator satirical revue began its perfomances at the
annual Liberal Party Assembly. They needed a band to play before the perfomance
started and also in the interval. Later on the band accompanied some of
the numbers and the whole evening became much more integrated. This was
the beginning of the Liberal Party's Granny Lee All Stars - a name I have
often regretted and which came about simply because at the time, across
the road from Big Ben, was Grandma Lee's café, on the first floor
of which was - fatally - a piano. The owner readily acceded to a request
from us to perform there regularly and we in effect became the house band.
Many foreign tourists enjoyed the sessions there wholly unaware that the
band was made up of MPs and sundry other assorted Liberals and fellow travellers.
 |
|
The Granny Lee All Stars at a
Liberal Assembly Revue |
Grandma Lee's Restaurant,
Westminster, 1985 |
The gimmick of a politicians' band was quite intriguing, and probably
covered up its shortcomings. It also led to it being booked for a number
of PR promotions and charity occasions, including occasional, and short,
radio and TV appearances. Memorably it played at the wedding of Peter Kellner
and Cathy Ashton in St James' Church, Piccadilly. Inevitably its personnel
was somewhat variable but, in addition to myself on clarinet and soprano
sax, its core members were, and still sometimes are, Andrew Meadowcroft
(trumpet), Tom Rippeth or Simon Merritt (trombone), Rob Gregg (piano),
David Snashall (banjo), Michael Cole (bass) and Chris Serle (drums). Another
parliamentary colleague, Archy Kirkwood played guitar in the band in the
early days.
Thanks to the efforts of the late and much lamented Chris Winchilsea,
and the generosity of Trevor Horn and Jill Sinclair in offering us their
ZTT studios, the Granny Lee band recorded an album in 1985. After a full
day in the recording studio, a weary band went on to play a somewhat anachronistic
gig at Stringfellows club the same evening. The record failed to reach
the top 20 - or even the bottom 20 - and copies are still available from
me - free! Rather embarrassingly, for a time I was often greeted at Liberal
dinners at which I was the booked speaker by the said record playing in
the background.
Other appearances at the time produced unexpected responses. One Easter
weekend I was back in Leeds from Westminster and found two friends, Al
Potts and John Pashley, busking in the Leeds city centre precinct. I stopped
for a brief chat and Al asked whether I had my clarinet with me. It happened
to be in the car and I was instructed to go and get it. We were happily
playing away, with occasional passers by looking puzzled at the apparent
appearance of a local MP busking, but then a young man approached Al and
asked if he could give him a leaflet about animal rights. Al graciously
accepted the leaflet, which was headed in bold letters "Ask your MP these
questions". Al told the man that he would ask him immediately, and turned
to me. The man got very cross, saying that this was about animal rights
and was not a joke. Al insisted that he would "ask his MP these questions"
there and then, and the man got very belligerent. I had to produce my parliamentary
pass to convince him that he was not being made fun of.
On another occasion my son, Andrew, asked me to join him on a gig at
the Spring Street Theatre in Hull, When I arrived he announced to me that
it was a two-piece and that I was 50% of it! We were playing away very
happily and eventually an older man in the audience came over between numbers
and confided to me that "there's a bloke in Leeds in politics who's the
spitting image of you"!
 |
|
 |
|
A Granny Lee band gig, at the Leeds Club. The lineup was Andrew
Meadowcroft trumpet, myself clarinet and soprano sax, Dave Windle on piano,
Jim Wright on banjo, Annie Hawkins on bass and Clare Weaver on vocals.
|
The advantages of playing clarinet, as opposed to every other band instrument,
is that it can be taken apart, wrapped carefully in a towel and packed
in a suitcase. Consequently I've played with local bands on every major
electoral mission over the past ten years, as well as at numerous venues
on a trip across the USA in 1986. The electoral support mission to Malawi
in 1994 was particularly enjoyable due to the existence of a great band
of expats there. 24 hours after my arrival in Lilongwe I had a ‘phone call
from a Danish EC consultant who asked whether it was true that I played
jazz clarinet. I thought that it was far enough from the UK to compromise
with the strict truth, so I said "yes". He then said "you've just been
auditioned and you're playing tonight!" There was a palpable shortage of
entertainment and this band was in great demand. We played three or four
nights a week - and long sessions at that - at diplomatic functions, the
little local jazz club, and on countries' national occasions. We had the
German ambassador on trombone and no less than four singers, including
Janet from the East End of London who sang the Bessie Smith repertoire
excellently.
The Multichord Democracy Jazz Band
of Malawi 1994
|
With the Conservatoire Jazz Band, St Petersburg, 1995
|
In 1999, in Jakarta, I played every Sunday with the local Indonesian
dixieland band, thus demonstrating the universality of this great music.
Sitting in with the resident
band in Jakarta 1999 |
New Orleans style jazz is easily accessible and is enjoyed by most people,
most of whom find it happy music you have to dance to. Its practitioners
are amongst the most generous and welcoming people in the world to visiting
musicians. The tunes are added to all the time, but the basic style is
timeless. I've played the same music for some 45 years and I hope soon
to get it right! Long may classic jazz continue!
Michael Meadowcroft
More jazz photos
top |
