Out here ‘in the sticks’ the musical year ended as it began with the Village Band. Back in February the five guys and one gal trekked from Teignbridge to the South Hams and the Seven Stars in Totnes, taking that first step into the public arena from which there is no turning back. They came, they saw, they blew everyone away. The WAXEYWORK SHOW was on the road.
In December the band gave a Christmas concert at St Greg’s the Great, Dawlish. An audience of some hundred souls sang carols, joined in the chorus on Jolly Dogs and listened to jazz classics (and a somewhat experimental In the Cool Midwinter). A good time was had by all. The vicar, dishing out mince pies and tots of mulled wine, immediately booked the band for next Christmas.
In the meantime the band had clocked up a number of gigs in Devon and Cornwall, including festivals at Barnstaple, Dawlish and Teignmouth, and made the trip to London for the Jazz Festival. By all accounts they brought a breath of fresh, country air to the big city. They came back with heads held high.
There can’t be many bands could find themselves at one moment encouraging the locals to join in with the chorus of Brigitte Bardot Bardot at a hog roast on a Devon farm, and the next in a trendy Soho basement belting out WAXEYWORK SHOW to the jazz In Crowd live on BBC Radio 3. But it’s all in a day’s work for the Village Band.
Now the band has made an album, courtesy of Airshaft Trust, recorded on location by Jon Hiseman in the Dawlish church where it rehearses most weeks. A great natural acoustic!
The Village Band has made remarkable progress in just twelve months. We never know where the village brassers will crop up next. But whether it’s the back room of some obscure pub, a glitzy ‘venue’ or a hut in middle of Dartmoor, they can rest assured that we who know them of old, their staunchest fans and harshest critics, will find them. And will expect nothing but the best!
Flipster
(The Dean is out to lunch.)
Werner Uehlinger of HatART tells us that he is about to re-issue the ON DUKE’S BIRTHDAY CD. Release date still to be announced, but we did drop a hint that April 29th would be good, (that is Duke Ellington's birthday, in case you didn't know).
By coincidence Mike Westbrook will be performing ON DUKE’S BIRTHDAY with a Tentet drawn from the five Swiss Jazz Schools (two students from each) in October. There will be concerts in Basel, Bern, Laussanne, Luzern and Zurich.
The re-issue of MAMA CHICAGO on Jazzprint proceeds apace, with release date to be announced shortly. The CD mastering from the original stereo tapes, with engineer Dallas Simpson in Nottingham, working closely with our own Chris Topley, has brought a new richness and detail to the classic album. There are a few new touches of which we hope fans of the original vinyl will approve.
Roger Deakin 11 Feb 1943—19 Aug 2006
John Drummond 25 Nov 1934—6 Sep 2006
Roland Levinsky 16 Oct 1943—1 Jan 2007
The passing years continue to take their toll of colleagues and associates. Among those lost in the last twelve months were some of the Academy’s most distinguished friends.
The death in August of Roger Deakin in his early sixties came as a great shock. Roger—writer, film maker, broadcaster and environmentalist, was an enthusiast for all good things. He was a tireless supporter of good causes. We’re grateful that our music was one of them. Readers will remember his generous comments in the BBC Radio 3 Jazz File programmes. Roger possessed great energy, curiosity and wit. It was never dull when he was around. We remember his brilliant double act with a very drunk waiter in a Prague restaurant with the Rossini band, enlivening the interminable wait for a very indifferent meal. Hilarious.
Roger stayed with us in Devon while working on Waterlog, his account of swimming in Britain. I had the honour of carrying his clothes as he swam in with the incoming tide at the mouth of the Erme estuary. We rendezvoused upstream and walked home listening to blackcaps singing in the woods.
Kate and I first met John Drummond, who died in September, when he was about to take over as director of the Edinburgh Festival. Presenting us with the trophy for the best show on the Fringe (MAMA CHICAGO he remarked that there ought to be jazz in the official Festival. He was as good as his word, and the following summer we gave two performances of the brand new CORTEGE at the Moray House Gymnasium—the first time jazz had been included in the main programme.
Our paths next crossed in Adelaide where, after leaving Edinburgh, he was reviewing the Festival for The Times and we were appearing with the Brass Band. Back in London, after a performance of PIER RIDES he confided over supper that he was about to take over Radio 3 and the Proms. He hoped that in some way we could be involved. He didn’t forget and in 1992 we played BIG BAND ROSSINI in the Albert Hall, the first time that a jazz group had ever taken part in the main programme of the Proms.
John Drummond cared passionately about the arts, and was prepared to challenge and, if necessary, affront the arts establishment. His parting shot to the BBC, with Harrison Birtwistle’s PANIC on the Last Night of the Proms was a not untypical gesture. He was taking a chance with BIG BAND ROSSINI (indeed we received hate mail after that concert) but he had the courage of his convictions and was not afraid to risk his reputation. It was a characteristic moment when Laurence Aston and I sat in his office to talk about BIG BAND ROSSINI, possibly a split programme with Felicity Lott, when John leapt to his feet and said ‘Let’s do it! The whole evening!’
Roland Levinsky died in a tragic accident on a stormy New Years Day, electrocuted by a falling power cable. He was a giant of a man both in his physical stature and an intellectual range that spanned the sciences and the arts. Having been an important figure in the field of paediatric medicine he had recently taken on the Vice Chancellorship of the rapidly expanding University of Plymouth.
Roland helped to initiate a cultural programme in the region, Peninsula Arts, with the locally-based Ten Tors Orchestra directed by Simon Ible, and exhibitions, concert series and festivals taking place in the University. Kate and I met Roland when we began to be drawn into these activities, first with the ART WOLF quartet, then the Duo, and now with the opera CAPE GLOSS. He will be greatly missed at the premiere on February 25th.
Roland Levinsky’s vision will no doubt continue to inspire those who worked with him. We had hoped to know him better. He was a man of few words but had a great sense of humour. At the degree ceremony in Exeter Cathedral, as he handed me the Honorary Doctorate and we both stood in ridiculous Tudor robes and bonnets, there was a definite twinkle in his eye. As they say, he was one of a kind.
Mike Westbrook
Keay Theatre, St Austell, Cornwall.
25th October 2006
The Keay Theatre is a new building located at the local college (the ex ECC China Clay main administrative offices) on the edge of St Austell. The hall this evening arranged with seductive candlelit tables and comfy-ish seating scattered around. The musicians assembled on stage just after 8.00pm and after a short introduction by Mike started their set with a great Jelly Roll Morton tune Dead Man Blues. The audience numbering around sixty were I believe mostly unsure as what to expect from this sextet of wind instruments and a calm but enthusiastic applause followed the first number.
During the next tune, John Lewis’ Django, Mike Brewer played an absolutely storming trumpet solo that woke up the audience somewhat. Having now injected life into the assembled gathering the band then played a couple of very familiar tunes Goodbye Pork Pie Hat followed by Jelly Roll, both by Charles Mingus. Appropriately another Morton tune followed—Sidewalk Blues—the musicians really enjoying themselves playing wonderfully as one . A change of tack followed next with Kate singing If You Could See Me Now. Mike then introduced London Song by William Blake, beautifully sung by Kate with lovely backing instrumentation by the band which I particularly enjoyed. This song was swiftly bolted onto On Duke’s Birthday written by Mike. Again splendid playing by all. Next up was Monk’s Mood and the final song in the first set, a new one I believe in the Westbrook repertoire, the Bessie Smith classic Shipwreck Blues, Kate and the band on top form.
Mike always delivers the killer blow in the second half and boy oh boy it was a truly ‘wow’ moment I can tell you. What we got was the newly written Waxeywork Show a lengthy piece exuding all the brilliant Westbrook hallmarks that we adore. Musically challenging yet completely accessible Set in five parts titles being Gizzards All Gory, Juxtapositions, Scattered and Cold, Propositions, and A Miasma of Ghosts. It is such a 21st century piece. Kate’s themed lyrics covering the computer age and all its new language complexities. The musicians thriving in the background, so many great solos that I broke my pencil in enjoyment. I can’t wait until it’s recorded and released. The audience loved it. A mini crescendo of applause from the lucky sixty who witnessed another great piece by Mike and Kate and the lads. There was more, Mike then informed the audience the final tune was in fact a world premiere for the Village band, You’ve Been A Good Old Wagon by Bessie Smith. A great song to end the second set.
I conclude to say the Village band are a complete aural joy. It’s good to see they do have more concerts lined up. This could indeed be the big break in Mike and Kate’s career.
John Pegg
