British Jazz on YouTube Bert Ambrose (1896 – 1971)
Limehouse Blues
This video of Bert Ambrose and his Orchestra is from 1936 and features American clarinetist Danny Polo. The great arrangement of ‘Limehouse Blues’ is by baritone player Sid Phillips with some virtuoso section work near the end.
Kenny Baker (1921 – 1999)
The Shepherd
An early hero of Humphrey Lyttelton, Gonella can be seen in the Lew Stone video above. This Dutch video from c. 1978 shows him as a guest of Ted Easton's band performing another novelty number. 'Oh, Monah' went on to become a big hit in Holland.
Denys Baptiste (born 1969)
Let Freedom Ring
Baptiste's 1999 debut album had already won him a Mercury Prize nomination and a Mobo award, so perhaps it should have surprised nobody when his 2003 suite 'Let Freedom Ring!' went that bit further earning him BBC, Mobo and Parliamentary Jazz Award nominations. This performance derives from the 2008 British Jazz Showcase at the IAJE in Toronto and features great solo spots from pianist Andrew McCormack (born 1978) and trombonist Trevor Mires. Also in the band is Baptiste's mentor and Dune Label-mate Gary Crosby (born 1955) on bass.
Kit Downes (1986 – )
Skip James
Kit Downes first attracted attention in the band Empirical which won the 2007 EBU Jazz Competition and went on to perform at the British Jazz showcase at the IAJE 2008 in Toronto and at Newport, Montreal and New York jazz festivals to great acclaim. Downes has gone on to great things - featured in Stan Sulzmann's Neon and Troyka as well as with his own trio (featured here on the track Skip James recorded at the South Bank Centre). Scottish bass player Calum Gourlay and drummer Dave Smith make up the trio, whose debut album 'Golden' was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2010.
Wally Fawkes (1924 – )
Trog's Blues
'Trog' was Fawkes nom de plume as a cartoonist.
Nat Gonella (1908 – 1998)
Oh, Monah
An early hero of Humphrey Lyttelton, Gonella can be seen in the Lew Stone video above. This Dutch video from c. 1978 shows him as a guest of Ted Easton's band performing another novelty number. 'Oh, Monah' went on to become a big hit in Holland.
Coleridge Goode (1914 – )
Jam Session
The sound quality is not wonderful, but the video is well worth viewing for a glimpse of the nonagenarian Goode (Django Reinhardt, Joe Harriott, Michael Garrick) with a Slam Stewart-style bowed solo and former John Dankworth and Ronnie Scott drummer, Laurie Morgan (born 1926), at whose Crouch End jam session this clip was filmed in 2008.
Andy Hamilton (1918 – )
Oracabessa
Jamacian saxophonist Andy Hamilton came to the UK in 1949 (after a period as Musical Director on Errol Flynn's yacht, Zaca. Hamilton is heard here in a video from 2007, playing his own latin-tinged composition at his weekly residency in Birmingham.
Ted Heath (1902 – 1969)
Bond Street
Here’s the Ted Heath Orchestra playing an usual Fats Waller composition ‘Bond Street’. Filmed in 1961, Don Lusher leads the trombone section and you can also see and hear Bobby Pratt (trumpet) and Ronnie Verrell (drums).
Jasper Hø iby (1977 – )
Introducing Phronesis
Born in Copenhagen, Høiby has lived and performed in London since graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 and became a prominent figure in that city's Loop Collective. Høiby's band Phronesis, while built around his compositions and compelling bass figures always gives his band mates drummer Anton Eger and pianist Ivo Neame (born 1981) plenty of room to express themselves. Another RAC graduate, Neame is also a fine saxophonist as featured in Jim Hart's Gemini.
Dill Jones (1923 – 1984)
S' Wonderful
Welshman Dill Jones followed Shearing and McPartland to USA and though he never became as recognisable a figure as either of them, he certainly found himself gainfully employed throughout the 1970s and 80s often with the by now out-of-fashion swing musicians. Johnny Mince (cl), Vic Dickenson (tb), Billy Butterfield (tp) are all featured in this version of a Gershwin standard. Jones plays a solo from 5 minutes in which demonstrates his unique and elliptical approach to mainstream piano playing. Recorded at a 1983 festival, both Jones and Dickenson passed away the following year.
Don Lusher (1923 – 2006)
Everything Happens To Me
Trombonist Don Lusher can also be seen in the video of the Ted Heath Orchestra where he first made his name. This film recorded at a charity concert in 1998 reunites him in the 'Best of British Jazz' with three other ex-Heath bandmates - Kenny Baker, Jack Parnell and saxophonist Roy Willox (born 1929). This version of the Matt Dennis ballad showcases Lusher's honeyed tone and also features a lovely solo from pianist Brian Lemon (born 1937).
Humphrey Lyttelton (1921 – 2008)
Hop Frog
One of Britain's great jazz heroes as a trumpeter, clarinettist and broadcaster, Humph is heard here with one of his most impressive line-ups - John Barnes, Bruce Turner, Mick Pyne (here on cornet) and Roy Williams are the other musicians. The arrangement omits any rhythm instruments, which only strengthens the powerful impression made by the front-line.
Marian McPartland (1918 – )
In A Mist
Slough-born Marian McPartland has been an influential figure on the American jazz scene for decades. Her long-running NPR radio show, Piano Jazz, has featured interviews and specially recorded music from hundreds of top jazz musicians. This video from 1974 demonstrates what a fine pianist McPartland is as she reconstructs Bix Beiderbecke’ celebrated piano piece ‘In A Mist’.
Ray Noble (1903 – 1978)
Good Night Sweetheart One of the great singers of the 1930s, Al Bowlly, is featured here with Ray Noble’s band before Noble went on to lead a top American dance band featuring Glen Miller, Bowlly and others. The song ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ was penned by Noble, who also gave us ‘The Very Thought Of You’, ‘The Touch Of Your Lips’ and ‘Cherokee’. The instrumental number before that (introduced by a distinctly awkward Noble) is ‘What A Perfect Combination’.
Jack Parnell (1923 – 2010)
Drum Feature
Jack Parnell can be heard with the 'Best of British Jazz' band above, but this video from the 1960s is a real drum feature.
Freddy Randall (1921 – 1999)
Movietone News
Videos of Freddy Randall's popular dixieland groups of the 1950s and 60s seem thin on the ground. This Movietone news story features a full number by his band at Wood Green Jazz Club in 1964 - but it's all a story about an eight year old clarinettist, Brian Ling, who takes the only solo here. Still, it's amusing and the ensemble work is great.
George Shearing (1919 – )
Conception
George Shearing, like Marian McPartland, made his name in USA, but had already attracted attention in his native London during the 1930s and 1940s. This 1950 rendering of his own tune ‘Conception’ demonstrates his fluid right hand as well as his trademark virtuosic block chords. There is also a fine solo from guitarist Chuck Wayne.
Gwilym Simcock (1981 – )
Improvisation
Recorded in Geneva in 2010, this video features pianist Simcock's current trio of James Maddren on drums and Russian bass player Yuri Golubev. Simcock was the first jazz musician to be named as a BBC New Generation artist and has been a featured artist in some key UK bands of the last few years including Acoustic Triangle and Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio.
Lew Stone (1898 – 1969)
It Ain't No Fault Of Mine (with Nat Gonella)
Rare film of Lew Stone in this novelty number ‘It Ain’t No Fault Of Mine’ with the Roy Fox band, formerly the Ray Noble band, before that the Lew Stone Band … Sadly we don’t get to hear Gonella on trumpet, Stone is on piano, somewhere in there is Al Bowlly on guitar. The band don’t start to let loose until the last 20 seconds or so.
Albert Torrance (1898 – 1969)
Albert Torrance Documentary
Albert Torrance, saxophonist and clarinettist with Nat Gonella, Ambrose and Sidney Lipton, turned 102 in 2011. In this exclusive interview he tells the story of some of the bands and venues of the 1930s. This video is the copyright of Frazzlefish/Haunted Ballroom.
Bruce Turner (1922 – 1993)
from 'Living Jazz'
Bruce Turner (heard on clarinet in the Humph video above) is here found with his own band in 1961. Like Humph, Bruce Turner was as comfortable in a swing/bebop setting as on traditional fare (much to the disgust of their less open-minded fans) and this is well demonstrated in this film. Johns Chilton and Mumford are heard on trumpet and trombone respectively.
Tribute Video
George Webb’s Dixielanders the renowned traditional jazz band, whose regular sessions at the Red Barn pub in Barnehurst helped to kick-start the post-war trad boom. This 2010 video was made at the funeral and wake of Webb himself and includes a brief clip of him playing in 2006 with the last incarnation of his Dixielanders. Original band members Eddie Harvey, Owen Bryce (born 1920) and Wally Fawkes all attended the funeral and trumpeter Bryce can be heard soloing at the wake, from about five minutes into the film.
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