Terry Lightfoot RIP...

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Terry Lightfoot has passed, aged 77. Obit in the Telegraph. Ginger Baker's first name gig... I see also that Mel Rhyne, the organist on some of Wes Montgomery's v.fine early Riverside dates' has also recently passed over.

BN.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

respect is due but how i loathed trad .....

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Its Trad Jazz"...now there was a film to rival "Jazz on a Summer Day"...Who needs Anita O'Day in her big hats and hip time when you can have Shane Fenton and the Fentones...

BN.

In fairness wasn't Lightfoot one of the better ones? No, I dont remember either. Thankfully.

BN.

If you really want to ckout how totally fkd (some) Brit Trad was in the 50s, see Ken Colyer's skiffle group on Utube...Ban the bomb, no, bring it on.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

In fairness wasn't Lightfoot one of the better ones?

interesting question ... yes but only in contrast to Ball and Bilk etc .... still pretty dire overall i find ... but respect for the way they ploughed their field and kept at it ... but none of them got close to the genuine passion of the originals, brit trad was weak imitation and formulaic

just check George Lewis here

[grippie]

Mr Cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKL-RJDPH3w:cool:

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I recently bought a box set of Bechet and there is some wonderful stuff, some dross, but mostly fascinating. Also Jimmy Noone who I discoved late.

The Brits really missd the point. What I remember of art/architecture college trad nights in the early 60s was that God awful "thump". And stale beer. Death by banjo.

BN.

[Padraig]

interesting question ... yes but only in contrast to Ball and Bilk etc .... still pretty dire overall i find ... but respect for the way they ploughed their field and kept at it ... but none of them got close to the genuine passion of the originals, brit trad was weak imitation and formulaic

just check George Lewis here

Fair comment, CDJ? Well, to the extent that you don't like Brit trad I suppose it is. At least, when you say Brit Trad, people know what you mean. And, when I went to see Chris Barber just a year or two ago, with Pat Halcox featured, and recalled that the last time they played locally was when Lonnie Donegan had just left the band (God! When was that?) it all came back to me how much that band, and Colyer, and Humph, and indeed Terry Lightfoot meant to me at the time. And at that time to play trombone like Chris Barber was ... no I won't go there.
Yes, George Lewis was something else. But how do you think we got to know about him, and New Orleans, and Louis, and Bechet, and Leadbelly and the Blues and the whole expanding vista of American jazz? Wasn't Otillie Patterson described as 'the little white girl with the big brown voice' on a record sleeve which mentioned Bessie Smith?
I'm still loyal to the time, CDJ, and to those pioneers. They deserve more than 'respect'. They were my introduction to Jazz and British Trad is a part of my education that I value.

PS Few bum notes from old George there? Always liked Sunshine's pop version.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Fair enough and I'm sure all were sincere but I DO remember the violent arguments between the local duffle coats mafia and us (few) who thought maybe Miles and Trane had a tad more merit...and far better shirts!

BN.

In Wales the trad band was Mike Harries who could, and did, thump away tunelessly all night. But, they had a fine guitarist who played Broonzy songs in between with steel finger picks...that made a big impression. But no wonder he had the blues.

BN.

[gurnemanz]

it all came back to me how much that band, and Colyer, and Humph, and indeed Terry Lightfoot meant to me at the time. And at that time to play trombone like Chris Barber was ... no I won't go there.

I was in short trousers late 50s when that lot were in their prime but I had a sister seven years older and got to know all those names through the LPs she and her friends played. Pre-Beatles/Stones/Dylan etc, trad, rock 'n roll and skiffle was their pop music. (Conway Twitty!!) I remember she was a regular at the 100 Club in London. She has passed on so I can't ask her but I think she regarded Ken Colyer as the best trad man of the Brit ilk.

[Serial_Apologist]

Seventy-seven - can that be right? That must mean he was 26 when we started going over from "trad" to "modern"... and we thought all the traddies were old men (sic). Mind, anyone over 23 would have been judged old - nothing much changed on that front then.

Yes Padraig, the trads took us to the source, and we owe it to them.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Shouldn't that be "sauce"? I remember local trad bands barely able to stand up by the end of the night...and they just got louder! Clank,clank,clank...

BN.

Just viewed Lightfoots "Trad Dad" film clip on Utube! Pure Hell. "A boot constantly stamping...", as Orwell almost said about Brit trad. Shame it wasn't on the banjo.