Phil writes: Pat, who died earlier in the month, was a fine trumpet player and an integral part of the great Chris Barber Band whose role in developing British blues and blues-related music is hard to exaggerate - so many great blues and gospel artists performed with them. He retired from the band few years back but he and Barber had by then set a record as the longest partnership in jazz history - 54 years. Here he is with a majestic performance of a wonderful song written by Hoagy Carmichael:
Showing posts with label Chris Barber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Barber. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Friday, 7 March 2008
Chris Barber
Joe writes: My dad tells me that Chris Barber is 80 this year [correction - he's not - see comment below] and just appeared on Later with Jools Holland.
The Chris Barber variety of trad or mainstream jazz is the kind of jazz that's closest to my heart. Generally, the band start by playing the melody, led by the trumpet. Then each player takes a solo in turn. Then they all come back in and play the melody again. The end. Magic.
There's a scene in a film that perfectly captures how exciting this music can be (or seemed to do so twelve years ago when I saw it). It's the 1959 film of John Osborne's iconic play Look Back In Anger. Richard Burton plays Jimmy, the archetypal angry young man. At the start of the film he walks down into a basement where a jazz band are playing (Chris Barber's). He picks up the trumpet and plays with them. It's dangerous, exciting, poetic - rock 'n' roll, you might say.
Climax Rag is the opening track from a legendary concert album, Barber In Berlin. Joe Meek was one of the recording engineers.
Duke Ellington's Creole Love Call is one of my favourite downtempo jazz standards. This version was recorded at the London Palladium. The best moment is at 6.49 when the band comes in with the melody again after a wonderful muted trumpet solo.
Both tracks available on an excellent double CD.
Neither are on iTunes but plenty of other Chris Barber tracks are.
Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Climax Rag (Live at Deutschland Halle, Berlin, 23rd May 1959)
Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Creole Love Call (Live at the London Palladium, 31st March 1961)
The Chris Barber variety of trad or mainstream jazz is the kind of jazz that's closest to my heart. Generally, the band start by playing the melody, led by the trumpet. Then each player takes a solo in turn. Then they all come back in and play the melody again. The end. Magic.
There's a scene in a film that perfectly captures how exciting this music can be (or seemed to do so twelve years ago when I saw it). It's the 1959 film of John Osborne's iconic play Look Back In Anger. Richard Burton plays Jimmy, the archetypal angry young man. At the start of the film he walks down into a basement where a jazz band are playing (Chris Barber's). He picks up the trumpet and plays with them. It's dangerous, exciting, poetic - rock 'n' roll, you might say.
Climax Rag is the opening track from a legendary concert album, Barber In Berlin. Joe Meek was one of the recording engineers.
Duke Ellington's Creole Love Call is one of my favourite downtempo jazz standards. This version was recorded at the London Palladium. The best moment is at 6.49 when the band comes in with the melody again after a wonderful muted trumpet solo.
Both tracks available on an excellent double CD.
Neither are on iTunes but plenty of other Chris Barber tracks are.
Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Climax Rag (Live at Deutschland Halle, Berlin, 23rd May 1959)
Chris Barber's Jazz Band - Creole Love Call (Live at the London Palladium, 31st March 1961)
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