Forgotten Esquires - 4...
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Forgotten Esquire recordings - 4..........Jimmy Deuchar...
During the first half of the 1950s there was one trumpet player who stood head and shoulders above others in terms of his understanding of the modern jazz idiom and the technical skill to play the music well. That man was Jimmy Deuchar.
Much of his early work from 1951 to 1953, recorded for a variety of labels, has subsequently become available on CD, and this includes much of his work with the Johnny Dankworth Seven. Like most other prominent jazz musicians at this time Deuchar began to record for the Esquire label. They recorded groups and players that nobody else did and they have provided the historical record of the music from this period.
From 1954 Deuchar recorded a series of important records for Esquire that have never been re-issued on CD.
In May 1954 came The Melody Maker Modern Group (20-030). This included Kenny Baker, Tommy Whittle and Victor Feldman and the most striking thing about the LP is the contrast between Deuchar and Baker - one bright and modern, the other very much from the past.
Then came a number of Jimmy Deuchar Quartet recordings firstly with Victor Feldman on piano, then Alan Clare and finally in 1955 a 10" LP with Terry Shannon Jimmy Deuchar Quartet (20-059). Mainly ballads and initially issued as 78rpm records these are minor masterpieces of modern trumpet playing.
At the same time Jimmy was recording for Esquire with the Ronnie Scott Orchestra / Quintet.
All of these recordings are currently un-available on CD although In the 1970s a 12" compilation LP of Deuchar's Esquire Quartet recordings was issued.
In 1955 Jimmy Deuchar began to record for the Tempo label and happily all of these dates are currently available on CD and most of the recordings he made afterwards with Tubby Hayes and others, through the 1960s, are on CD but the 1954/5 Esquire's remain in limbo...
Jimmy Deuchar discography...

These 1954 recordings are coming up for sixty years old now and are surely due a re-issue especially as they contain rare jazz recordings by pianist Alan Clare...
Some of us have transferred our own, worn LPs and EPs to CD, and while these are OK it would be marvellous to have them professionally restored...


This page was last updated during January, 2014
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