BIG BAND BRITTANIA - THE MIUSIC OF TUBBY HAYES & STAN TRACEY
Herts Jazz Festival - Sunday 20th September 2015
Loose Tubes to open the Festival! Big Band Britannia to close! Quite a coup! Bookends do not come better than this!
The compere of the last evening of the Festival, with a relaxed, almost sardonic, style was Simon Spillett who plays the Tubby Hayes archive as well as a tenor. Spillett’s admiration of Tubby Hayes extends well beyond writing the biography; he even plays like Tubby.
The first half of the concert was dedicated to some of the big band pieces that Tubby wrote and arranged. Opening ‘Dear Johnny B’ from ‘Mexican Green’ featured Spillett’s ebullient tenor taking the Tubby role. Tubby was renowned for fast aggressive playing and writing although Spillett argued that was not all that he could do.
'Sonnymoon For Two' is the Sonny Rollins piece that Tubby arranged. Tubby described it as ‘a tear up’. Originally on the album ‘100% Proof’ it remained a tear up with tenorists Art Themen and Dave O’Higgins doing the speeding.
The second piece from ‘Mexican Green’ was ‘Off The Wagon’ written, said Simon Spillett, when Tubby’s addictive tendencies put him into hospital and deprived him of his regular supply of Worthingtons.
‘Tubb’s Tours’ album gave the world ‘Pedro’s Walk’ composed by Ian Hamer. Steve Melling played the introduction here before the band punched out the attractive tune. Mark Armstrong’s trumpet and Clark Tracey’s drums brought it to a brassy conclusion.
Trumpeter Jimmie Deuchar was a friend of Tubby and his composition, ‘The Killers of W.1.’, Simon Spillett explained, with a knowing smile, that the piece was dedicated to a guy who made life comfortable for the musicians when they were on tour. Britannia’s trumpets were particularly effective on this. They sounded comfortable.
The Stan Tracey part of the evening featured ‘Alice in Jazzland’ Tracey’s follow up suite to the very successful ‘Under Milk Wood’ album. At the concert we heard most of the suite. Clark Tracey told the audience he was five when it came out.
Probably the best known piece in the suite is the punchy ‘Afro Charlie Meets the White Rabbit’. Art Themen played the main solo. Probably the oldest man on the stage, his solo was the youngest; quirky, thoughtful and reminiscent of the one that he played on ‘Captain Adventure’.
Steve Melling is now used to replicating Stan Tracey. Not an enviable task! ‘Fantasies in Bloom’ the most relaxed piece on the album enabled Steve to explore against some beautiful writing for saxophones. Simon Allen played perky, peppy alto on ‘Summer Hallucinations’.
‘Teatime Gavotte’ was neither teatime nor a gavotte. It brought back Art Themen with his angular tenor sounds to embellish this most Traceyish piece.
‘Murdering the Time’ is one of those pieces that roars off and was an opportunity for most of the musicians to solo. In the procession it was good to hear the big sound of Mark Nightingale on trombone.
Some argue that going back into the past is anti the spirit of Jazz. That doesn’t deter Wynton Marsalis as he pays tribute to Duke Ellington, Mingus and Coltrane. Jazz in Britain has a great past too that should be celebrated, as it was here. There are people who will not have heard some of these pieces played live.
The evening was a tribute to the writing of Hayes and Tracey but it was also a tribute to Big Band Britannia. While writing this review I listened to the original tracks from Stan and Tubby. The musicians of Big Band Britannia can stand the comparison. There was a lot of joking around about struggling to rehearse and there were a few moments of uncertainty but the sound was big and brassy, at times thoughtful, and always rhythmic due to the dynasty duo Clark Tracey and Alec Dankworth.
The difficulties of creating a concert like this are considerable. Clark Tracey and his team have built another splendid weekend.
Big Band Britannia
Simon Spillett, Art Themen, Karen Sharp, Sam Mayne, Simon Allen, Dave O’Higgins saxes;
Pat White, Mark Armstrong, Martin Shaw, Steve Fishwick trumpet;
Mark Nightingale, Alistair White, Pete North trombone;
Steve Melling piano, Alec Dankworth bass, Clark Tracey drums.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
The compere of the last evening of the Festival, with a relaxed, almost sardonic, style was Simon Spillett who plays the Tubby Hayes archive as well as a tenor. Spillett’s admiration of Tubby Hayes extends well beyond writing the biography; he even plays like Tubby.
The first half of the concert was dedicated to some of the big band pieces that Tubby wrote and arranged. Opening ‘Dear Johnny B’ from ‘Mexican Green’ featured Spillett’s ebullient tenor taking the Tubby role. Tubby was renowned for fast aggressive playing and writing although Spillett argued that was not all that he could do.
'Sonnymoon For Two' is the Sonny Rollins piece that Tubby arranged. Tubby described it as ‘a tear up’. Originally on the album ‘100% Proof’ it remained a tear up with tenorists Art Themen and Dave O’Higgins doing the speeding.
The second piece from ‘Mexican Green’ was ‘Off The Wagon’ written, said Simon Spillett, when Tubby’s addictive tendencies put him into hospital and deprived him of his regular supply of Worthingtons.
‘Tubb’s Tours’ album gave the world ‘Pedro’s Walk’ composed by Ian Hamer. Steve Melling played the introduction here before the band punched out the attractive tune. Mark Armstrong’s trumpet and Clark Tracey’s drums brought it to a brassy conclusion.
Trumpeter Jimmie Deuchar was a friend of Tubby and his composition, ‘The Killers of W.1.’, Simon Spillett explained, with a knowing smile, that the piece was dedicated to a guy who made life comfortable for the musicians when they were on tour. Britannia’s trumpets were particularly effective on this. They sounded comfortable.
The Stan Tracey part of the evening featured ‘Alice in Jazzland’ Tracey’s follow up suite to the very successful ‘Under Milk Wood’ album. At the concert we heard most of the suite. Clark Tracey told the audience he was five when it came out.
Probably the best known piece in the suite is the punchy ‘Afro Charlie Meets the White Rabbit’. Art Themen played the main solo. Probably the oldest man on the stage, his solo was the youngest; quirky, thoughtful and reminiscent of the one that he played on ‘Captain Adventure’.
Steve Melling is now used to replicating Stan Tracey. Not an enviable task! ‘Fantasies in Bloom’ the most relaxed piece on the album enabled Steve to explore against some beautiful writing for saxophones. Simon Allen played perky, peppy alto on ‘Summer Hallucinations’.
‘Teatime Gavotte’ was neither teatime nor a gavotte. It brought back Art Themen with his angular tenor sounds to embellish this most Traceyish piece.
‘Murdering the Time’ is one of those pieces that roars off and was an opportunity for most of the musicians to solo. In the procession it was good to hear the big sound of Mark Nightingale on trombone.
Some argue that going back into the past is anti the spirit of Jazz. That doesn’t deter Wynton Marsalis as he pays tribute to Duke Ellington, Mingus and Coltrane. Jazz in Britain has a great past too that should be celebrated, as it was here. There are people who will not have heard some of these pieces played live.
The evening was a tribute to the writing of Hayes and Tracey but it was also a tribute to Big Band Britannia. While writing this review I listened to the original tracks from Stan and Tubby. The musicians of Big Band Britannia can stand the comparison. There was a lot of joking around about struggling to rehearse and there were a few moments of uncertainty but the sound was big and brassy, at times thoughtful, and always rhythmic due to the dynasty duo Clark Tracey and Alec Dankworth.
The difficulties of creating a concert like this are considerable. Clark Tracey and his team have built another splendid weekend.
Big Band Britannia
Simon Spillett, Art Themen, Karen Sharp, Sam Mayne, Simon Allen, Dave O’Higgins saxes;
Pat White, Mark Armstrong, Martin Shaw, Steve Fishwick trumpet;
Mark Nightingale, Alistair White, Pete North trombone;
Steve Melling piano, Alec Dankworth bass, Clark Tracey drums.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
