Having read that Ornette Coleman took on the British bass player Daryl Runswick for some, I think, unspecified collaboration on a UK visit in 1971, I am delighted to have received the following email from Daryl in the past few days, which he is happy with me reproducing here:
"High excitement, a few snatches of me playing with Ornette have turned up on YouTube!!
Ornette, Dewey Redman, Ed Blackwell
Jeff Clyne and I shared the gig: whenever either of us could make it we turned up, and if we were both available we both played. The recordings were for film music, the film Run, directed by Stefan Sharff. The bass(es) are mixed very low. There are four excerpts, obviously copied from the film soundtrack because dialogue sometimes obtrudes.
0'00" Excerpt 1. One bowed bass audible, impossible to tell who.
2'40" Excerpt 2. Incomplete, two segments. Two basses audible, one bowed. I'm guessing the bowed bass is me.
3'35" Excerpt 3. Incomplete. Could be two basses present. The bowed bass towards the end I guess to be Jeff.
6'05" Excerpt 4. One bass present and it's definitely me.
Wow! Some evidence at last!"
Then yesterday Daryl re-contacted me with the following email:
"After I posted my comment on the YouTube page listing the personnel for the recordings I was contacted by Billy Sharff, who did the posting: son of the director of Run. I asked him if he had the original master tapes - the answer was no. I then suggested contacting AIR Studios asking whether they had safety copies in their archives - the answer was again no. So the bad news is that the original audio recordings are in all probability lost. Billy Sharff says that what he posted on YouTube - from an old cassette - is all he has. I didn't ask whether a copy of the film exists but I suspect the answer to that is also no because if he had he'd post it. But - grateful for small mercies".
"High excitement, a few snatches of me playing with Ornette have turned up on YouTube!!
Ornette, Dewey Redman, Ed Blackwell
Jeff Clyne and I shared the gig: whenever either of us could make it we turned up, and if we were both available we both played. The recordings were for film music, the film Run, directed by Stefan Sharff. The bass(es) are mixed very low. There are four excerpts, obviously copied from the film soundtrack because dialogue sometimes obtrudes.
0'00" Excerpt 1. One bowed bass audible, impossible to tell who.
2'40" Excerpt 2. Incomplete, two segments. Two basses audible, one bowed. I'm guessing the bowed bass is me.
3'35" Excerpt 3. Incomplete. Could be two basses present. The bowed bass towards the end I guess to be Jeff.
6'05" Excerpt 4. One bass present and it's definitely me.
Wow! Some evidence at last!"
Then yesterday Daryl re-contacted me with the following email:
"After I posted my comment on the YouTube page listing the personnel for the recordings I was contacted by Billy Sharff, who did the posting: son of the director of Run. I asked him if he had the original master tapes - the answer was no. I then suggested contacting AIR Studios asking whether they had safety copies in their archives - the answer was again no. So the bad news is that the original audio recordings are in all probability lost. Billy Sharff says that what he posted on YouTube - from an old cassette - is all he has. I didn't ask whether a copy of the film exists but I suspect the answer to that is also no because if he had he'd post it. But - grateful for small mercies".