Tony Crombie - 2...

Tony Crombie was in at the birth of British modern jazz and was a founder member of the legendary Club Eleven in the late 1940s. It must have become obvious to him that he would not earn the kind of living he wanted by remaining a jazz drummer and he branched out into band leading, followed by rock and roll (that earned him his Rolls Royce), TV music and film sound track writing. He then became a sucessful antiques dealer. As Peter Vacher said in Jazz Journal: in 1999: "Tony Crombie was a key member of the jazz generation which brought bebop to the fore in Britain, and one whose many contributions may have been underplayed but should not be forgotten". Tony Crombie - 1

Extract from The Scotsman obituary, 1999 Tony Crombie was not only one of the finest jazz drummers and bandleaders....to emerge on the British jazz scene, but also a composer of international standing. Miles Davis and Stephane Grappelli were among those who recorded his material, while his working associations as a drummer included playing with a host of visiting American stars, including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Coleman Hawkins. He led his own bands throughout his career, and wrote music for stage shows and television, sometimes as co-composer with another of his regular collaborators, pianist and bandleader Alan Clare. He was born Anthony John Crombie in London, where his father was a furrier. His mother played piano accompaniments for silent films in a local cinema, and encouraged his interest in music, but he began his working life in the fur trade in his mid-teens before taking up drums. He played locally with saxophonist Harry Robbins, then began to work regularly in London venues like the Mazurka Club (1941) and the Number One Rhythm Club (1942). He joined vibes player Carlo Krahmer's band in 1943, and worked for a number of established bandleaders, including trumpeter Johnny Claes and accordionist Tito Burns, and formed his own band for an Irish tour in 1947. In 1948, Crombie was part of the trio led by bassist Jack Fallon which accompanied Duke Ellington and violinist Ray Nance on the first official post-war tour of Britain by an American jazz artist. Krahmer, and later Dennis Rose, steered a number of young musicians toward the emerging bebop style, including Ronnie Scott, guitarist Pete Chilver, and Crombie, a development which was to have far-reaching consequences. In December of 1948, the drummer joined with a number of other players to found the short-lived but legendary Club Eleven, initially in a dingy basement in Great Windmill Street and later in Carnaby Street. The club became a crucial focal point for the emerging bebop scene in the capital, and regularly featured the drummer in a band with Ronnie Scott. A second 'house band' was led by Johnny Dankworth, and a considerable amount of interchanging of personnel as well as musical ideas went on. Crombie also formed his own Septet at the club. Crombie was equally at home with both swing and bop styles, and put his multi-faceted talents to good use in the ensuing decade. He was sympathetically attuned to the particular requirements of accompanying singers, and toured with visiting artists like Annie Ross, Lena Horne and Carmen McRae. Miles Davis recorded his composition 'So Near, So Far' in 1963, as did saxophonist Joe Henderson in his 1993 tribute album to Miles which also took its name from that tune. Davis praised Crombie's use of space in the composition, and several more of his tunes were taken up by major jazz artists, including versions of 'Deb's Delight' by saxophonist Paul Gonsalves, and 'That Tune' and 'Restless Girl' by Stephane Grappelli. Crombie continued to lead his own bands throughout the 1960s and 1970s, while also working with artists like Ronnie Scott (in several settings, including trio, sextet and big band), organists Alan Haven (1964-7) and Mike Carr (in a duo 1968 and again in 1970-1), singer and organist Georgie Fame (he was a member of the Blue Flames for several years from the early 70s), and pianist Stan Tracey. Trumpeter and writer Ian Carr has observed that "Crombie's protean abilites have always been rather overlooked in his own country", but he was never short of admirers within the jazz community, and will be remembered as an important contributor to the evolution of British jazz. Extracts from A Profile by Flash Winstone On entering the home of a well known jazzman, one expects to find evidence of affinity to his music. Tony Crombie’s palatial residence puts paid to these expectations. His eyrie in St. John’s Wood has all the trappings associated with that unconscious enemy of progressive music, the affluent middle class. Chippendale and Sheraton styles dominate the scene, disputing pride of place with reproductions of early Italian and Dutch Masters. In a windowed alcove, the bust of a Roman senator broods on its marble plinth. Fine vases, precious jade, and a Lambartine clock contribute to the antiquated sophistication. Giving the mausoleum its kiss of life stands an unrepentant Tony Crombie. His well fed, six foot frame, resplendent in Cashmere dressing gown and ivory cigarette holder, has the unmistakable bloom of la dolce vita. The powerhouse drummer stimulating the great Ben Webster to even greater heights seems difficult to reconcile with the sedentary antiquarian lording it over the fragile elegance of yesteryear. What motivates this Jekyll and Hyde existence? Is it an opportunism (a charge once levelled at him for his excursion into Rock ’n’ Roll), a desire to emulate the nouveau riche? Is it an unconscious attempt to obliterate memories of an adolescence spent in an almost cultureless East End tenement? Recalling his work over the last decade with such diverse talents as Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, Wee Willie Harris, Tony Bennett, Coleman Hawkins, and Ben Webster - all performed with immaculate competence, I felt my own purism wavering. But as a swinging drummer, Tony Crombie rates in my book as high as anyone in the world.

Extracts from Tony Crombie remembered by Ron Simmonds Tony died in October, 1999, aged 74. Known as The Baron by his colleagues, he will be remembered by most people as an outstanding drummer, mainly through his long association with Ronnie Scott, but there was much more to the man than that. He took up drums at the age of 16....within a couple of years he was playing regularly with Carlo Krahmer’s band at Feldman’s Club. Carlo, no mean drummer himself, must have been pretty impressed by Tony’s playing, for he gave over the drum chair to him at once and started playing vibes in the band. In 1948 he toured the UK with Duke Ellington and Ray Nance as part of bassist Jack Fallon's Trio. When he returned he became a founder-member of Club Eleven. There Tony was in right at the start of bebop in Britain, along with Dennis Rose, Ronnie Scott, Lennie Bush, Jackie Fisher, Tommy Pollard, John Dankworth, Laurie Morgan, Freddy Syer, Henry Shaw and many others. Their introduction was, reputedly, by way of a suddenly obtained copy of the Parker/Gillespie 78 Groovin’ High, probably recorded about February, 1945. They are reported to have played the record continually in the band room, presumably all crammed in on top of one another, and, by all reports, the effect was astounding. They had never heard Parker, or Gillespie, or bebop before, but that was the turning point in their playing. Here were finally the sounds, and the harmonic structures they had been searching for. For a short while Tony even led his own band, called the Rockets, but had little financial success with it. In 1960 he took a group to the Metropole Hotel in Monte Carlo, with Gordon Beck on piano. At that time Tony had a contract with the Danziger Brothers, the film producers, making a series called The Man From Interpol. Tony wanted a holiday, so they made him work for it by playing three hours every evening to the diners of Monaco. The job was for two months, with the season going at full pace. This was exhilarating enough - then Don Byas came down from Copenhagen to play at a club just below the Metropole and the job took a new, exciting, turn with the musicians running back and forward between the two hotels, sitting in with each other on a regular basis. When he returned from Monaco Tony began working as house drummer at Ronnie Scott's Club, accompanying many visiting American musicians. In 1963 he took his own group to Israel for eight months, then returned to play for three years with organist Alan Haven, visiting Las Vegas with Alan during that period. He toured Britain with Coleman Hawkins and later worked a lot with Stan Tracey and Georgie Fame. He began writing for films and television; one critic said he was “a composer and writer to stand alongside Stan Tracey and Kenny Graham.” He wrote the incidental music and led his quartet for the London show Why the Chicken? in 1961. He became Alan Clare’s favourite drummer and worked for a while with bassist Lennie Bush in Alan’s trio, playing many engagements with Stephane Grappelli. Tony enjoyed enormous success as a composer. Miles Davis, Stephane Grappelli, Paul Gonsalves, Tubby Hayes, Joe Henderson, Victor Feldman, Ronnie Scott, Blossom Dearie, Annie Ross and many others recorded his work. He played piano on the Annie Ross album Skylark. As a drummer Tony was totally relaxed. Of his playing one critic wrote: “Tony Crombie…was so cool he often appeared to be totally detached from the music, even in up-tempo numbers. In this respect he greatly resembled Mel Lewis. He even hit the cymbals from underneath sometimes, probably to save energy.” Extracts from Jazz Journal obituary November 1999 Tony Crombie's languid stance at the drums seemed to suggest disinterest but appearances were deceptive. He knew the lexicon of modern jazz drumming inside out and always enhanced any ensembles which employed him. Crombie was also something of a jester as Len Skeat remembered: "He'd jump up, lean over the kit and do this incredible rumble on the front of the bass drum quite out of the blue. So outrageous yet he'd always get away with it. He was a real character". Crombie was from the same East London Jewish community as Ronnie Scott and he got his first work as a jazz drummer in the bottle clubs that proliferated in London during the war-time years. Post war he went on to play with with some of the best known leaders then active on the nascent British jazz scene... In the mid 1950s Crombie put together a rock and roll group, mostly consisting of cynical jazzers, and achieved a useful degree of financial success. From his earliest days, Crombie had played "composer's" piano and was increasingly drawn to composition. Many fine jazz artists performed his pieces, most notably Miles Davis who recorded his song So Near, So Far, and he went on to write incidental music for TV and soundtracks for films. after he broke his arm in the 1990s, Crombie played less and occupied himself with antique dealing.