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| My baby likes to bebop... and I like to bebop too! - 2 |
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In 1950/51 a number of clubs sprang up in London's Soho, included among them were: Blue Note (Little Newport Street), Bird's Nest (where the Fallardo had been), Studio '51, Florida Club, Sunset Club (Carnaby Street), Gunnell's Blue Room (Garrick Street), Club Basie (Charing Cross Road). Records 1950 to 1951 After the end of World War II British jazz recording history was all about the British musicians getting to grips with bebop. Many of the local musicians, including Ronnie Scott and Tony Crombie worked on the Trans - Atlantic liners to get to New York to hear the likes of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie playing on 52nd. Street, New York. They returned home with lots of records and then people like Denis Rose and Dave Goldberg set about unlocking the harmonic secrets of the new jazz. A snapshot of 1950 from the Melody Maker |
Not everybody went the bebop route, Vic Lewis by-passed bebop entirely, getting involved with Stan Kenton's 'Progressive' music. In 1970 Jim Burns wrote an article for Jazz Monthly magazine titled after a 'hip' novelty vocal, (popular at the time), My baby likes to be-bop. In this article he listed, in date order, the first recordings by British bands that could be classed as genuine bebop records. Besides the records mentioned in My baby likes to be-bop a number of other interesting recording sessions, having a bebop connection, took place in the years 1950 and 1951. I have therefore added them to Jim Burns list below prefaced by  .Much of this music is now available on CD, details are available on the individual musicians discography pages. The pre 1950 period is covered on a separate web page... |
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After bebop (1950/51)... (A link is given to the full recording session data where necessary...) Ralph Sharon Sextet - March 27th, 1950 (Melodisc) Full session details... Jimmy Skidmore (ts), Ralph Sharon (p), Victor Feldman (vib), Pete Chilver (g), Jack Fallon (b), Martin Ashton (d). Boptical Illusion. Tito Burns Septet - May 23rd, 1950 (Decca) Full session details... Al Hall (tp), Jimmy Chester (cl,as), Rex Morris (ts), Tito Burns (acc), Ronnie Price (p), Johnny Hawksworth (b), Derek Price (d), Terry Devon (vocal). Lullaby In Rhythm/Sloppy Joe. Johnny Dankworth left Club Eleven in 1950 to form a new group. With the Johnny Dankworth Seven there was a concious attempt to incorporate a new ensemble sound. It was more organised and built up a framework for the soloists to operate in rather than expecting them to produce endless strings of solos. In this the Dankworth Seven were following events in America where the Miles Davis Capitol recordings had so markedly influenced developments. The first recording session of the Seven was on May 18th. Two other recording sessions took place in 1950, on July 29th and October 14th... Johnny Dankworth Seven - May 18th, 1950 (Jazz Parade) Full session details... Johnny Dankworth (as), Don Rendell (ts), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Eddie Harvey (tb), Bill Le Sage (p), Joe Muddel (b), Tony Kinsey (d). Marmaduke/Little Benny. Tito Burns Septet - May 23rd, 1950 (Decca) Full session details... Al Hall (tp), Jimmy Chester (cl,as), Rex Morris (ts), Tito Burns (acc), Ronnie Price (p), Johnny Hawksworth (b), Derek Price (d), Terry Devon (vocal). Lullaby In Rhythm/Sloppy Joe. Ralph Sharon Sextet - August 29th, September 14th, 1950 (Melodisc) Full session details... Jimmy Skidmore (ts), Ralph Sharon (p), Victor Feldman (vib), Dave Goldberg (g), Jack Fallon (b), Martin Ashton (d). Sloppy Joe. One of the most interesting groups that appeared in the late days of the bop movement was Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists. Besides Graham this group had Jo Hunter, Dicky Devere, a talented drummer, and other assorted rhythm men necessary to make the music live up to it's name. Graham's interest in Afro-Cuban music went far beyond asking jazz soloists to blow over a rolling beat, and he tried to invest his groups with a character of their own. Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists - February 10th, 1951 (Esquire) Full session details... Jo Hunter (tp), Kenny Graham (ts), Jack Honeybourne (p), Roy Plummer (g), Cliff Ball (b), Dickie Devere (d) + maracas, conga and bongo. Pina Colada. Vic Lewis, a Kenton admirer whose devotion to Stan the Man's cause is legendary, paralleled the boppers rather than worked along with them. His many bands gave employment to many young musicians. His one reference to bop Lemon Drop was a noisy outing based on the famous Woody Herman arrangement. Vic Lewis and his Orchestra - February 27th, 1951 (Esquire LP 20-011) Big band including Ronnie Scott (ts) and Marion Williams (vcl)... Lemon Drop. Ronnie Scott's first quartet recording session under his own name. Since his previous recording date a remarkable change in his approach was very evident. He had been deeply affected by the cool melodic playing of Stan Getz and these quartet tracks are very different to what had gone before. His playing is light of tone, cooler in phrase with much use of the upper register and an overall lyrical approach. Tommy Pollard is the ideal accompanist and together with Bush and Kinsey form a superb backing trio. Classic tracks...Ronnie Scott Quartet - February 28th, 1951 (Esquire) Ronnie Scott (ts), Tommy Pollard (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Kinsey (d). Too Marvellous For Words/Have You Met Miss Jones?/ Flamingo/September Song. These were among the best British discs of the year with fluent solos from Pollard, Robinson and Feldman. Pollard a talented but personally erratic musician had much to offer, but the post bop years saw him drifting further and further into a way of life that is a depressingly familiar element in so many bop musicians stories. This was the only recording session under Pollard's own name... Tommy Pollard's Downbeat Five - April 18th, 1951 (Esquire) Full session details... Spike Robinson (as), Tommy Pollard (p), Victor Feldman (vib), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). East Of The Sun/Lover Come Back To Me. Ronnie Scott was still active with his Boptet, playing crisp versions of bop classics, although he had not recorded in 1950. There was a new assurance being displayed by the musicians on these recordings which points to the increased confidence being shown by the British jazzmen. A slightly younger generation had been helped along by the pioneering work of Scott, Dankworth and Denis Rose... Ronnie Scott Boptet - April 21st, 1951 (Esquire) Full session details... Ronnie Scott (ts), Spike Robinson (as), Jimmy Deuchar (tp), Victor Feldman (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d). Chasin' The Bird/Little Willie Leaps/El Sino. Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists - June 4th, 1951 (Esquire) Full session details... Jo Hunter (tp), Kenny Graham (ts), Ralph Dollimore (p), Roy Plummer (g), Cliff Ball (b), Dickie Devere (d), maracas and conga. Over The Rainbow. Apart from the Dankworth Seven sides there wasn't a lot of activity in the recording studios during 1950 but a resurgence of popular interest in bop triggered off a number of semi-commercial recordings in 1951. Tito Burns sides with bop vocalising by himself and Terry Devon and although these discs had a commercial slant it is possible to hear interesting, but brief, solos from Calvert, Hall and Chester... Tito Burns and his Sextet - March 6th, 1951 (Esquire) Full session details... Leon Calvert (tp), Jimmy Chester (as,bs), Rex Morris (ts), Tito Burns (acc), Ronnie Price (p), Johnny Hawksworth (b), Derek Price (d), Terry Devon (vocal). Everloving Blues. July 12th, 1951 (Esquire) Full session details... Personnel as March 6th except Albert Hall (tp) and Coleridge Goode replaces Calvert and Hawksworth. A Lesson In Bop. August 10th, 1951 (Melodisc) Full session details... Personnel as July 12th, except that Don Savage (as,ts) replaces Chester. Euphoria. At the end of the year Tommy Whittle was playing a cooler flowing style as bebop began to branch out in other directions. Tommy Whittle was with Ted Heath when these titles were recorded and is supported by what was in effect, the Ronnie Ball Trio... Tommy Whittle Quartet - September 13th, 1951 (Melodisc) Tommy Whittle (ts), Ronnie Ball (p), Frank Donnison (b), Tony Kinsey (d). All The Things You Are/Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps/Dearly Beloved (unissued)/Untitled Original (unissued). This is a contingent from the Ted Heath band and sounds like a regular working unit. Pianist Frank Horrox penned some highly individual arrangements with opening and closing themes, backing choruses, harmonies and such like. The group sounds more akin to the Johnny Dankworth Seven although the trombone in the Seven had been replaced with baritone sax man George Hunter...Tommy Whittle Septet - October 23rd, 1951 (Melodisc) Bobby Pratt (tp), Roy Willox (as), Tommy Whittle (ts), George Hunter (bs), Frank Horrox (p), Johnny Hawksworth (b), Ronnie Verrell (d). Wit's End/Portland Place/Sam's Say/Night And Day. This somewhat odd collaboration featured tenor players Scott and Graham plus their combined rhythm sections. Victor Feldman was also added but one can't help feeling it might have been more successful if the Afro- Cubist's trumpeter Jo Hunter had not been left out...Ronnie Scott & Kenny Graham - December 3rd, 1951 (Esquire) Ronnie Scott (ts), Kenny Graham (ts), Victor Feldman (vib), Ralph Sharon (p), Lennie Bush (b), Tony Crombie (d), plus other rhythm. Not So Fast/Battle Royal/Fast/Twin Beds. |
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