[Dixielandjazz] Bio'

[Bryan Livett]

Interesting...verrry interesting!  Nice bio, Brian.  I am moved to add my
two cents:

I, too, started on bass trombone - a Boosey & Hawkes straight horn pitched
in G (with handle) with which I learned to count rests with my school
symphony orchestra.  I had been playing the cello but the kid who played the
trombone left and I was the biggest lad in the orchestra so the conductor
said "Livett, you are playing the bass trombone!"  My big moment occurred
when the orchestra played "In a Persian Market Place";  the arrangement
called for a trombone solo!!!

Soon after this triumph, I went up to Manchester University, discovered jazz
and girls and wasted my grant money on beer and slow cars, led the
University Jazz Band, the Savoy Stompers to Trad Jazz heaven, opening for
Mick Mulligan (with George Melly), Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk at successive
Rag Balls and a second place in the Universities Jazz Contest in London.  We
played allnight coffee houses for ten shillings apiece and gave all our
earnings the our American bass player who had transport and took us all to
the gigs.  Needless to say, graduation was out of the question!  So I gave
up the glamorous life of a jazz musician, attended Teacher's College,
graduated (finally) and emigrated to Canada.

As a teacher, vice-principal and eventually principal, having at last
graduated from the University of Western Ontario, I finally achieved some
measure of success in my life.  For music, I learned a few chords on the
guitar and sang with a small impromptu folk/rock group (James Taylor,
Beatles, Crosby/Stills/Nash, Eagles, etc.), mostly in each others's
basements.

I re-discovered jazz a couple of years before retirement;  bought an old
King 3B, woodshedded like crazy and eventually "sat in" with the likes of
Charlie Gall's Dr. McJazz, Kid Bastien's Happy Pals, Brian Towers' Hot Five
Jazzmakers and the Climax Jazz Band.  I was invited to play with the Hot
Peppers Jazz Band and did so till the band broke up about ten years ago.

I formed the Tishomingo Jazz Band and went through lineup changes for about
three years finishing with Mick Collins, cornet, John Deehan, reeds, Norm
Stewart, gtr/bjo, Ron Johnston, bass and Cam Jobson, drums.  We recorded "We
Got Rhythm" in June of 1995.

I retired from teaching in 1999 and shortly afterwards had to undergo double
leg amputation after surviving a burst abdominal aneurysm.  Needless to say
(again!) my gallivanting on the local jazz circuit was severely curtailed.
Occasionally I get into Toronto to sit in with the great jazz bands resident
in the city;  the Climax J B, Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards, and The Hot Five
(or six or seven) - Brian and the boys bravely carry me down the 14 steps
into the C'est What!  I have my own jazz group again;  Swing Machine,
playing standards and latin jazz from the '30's, '40's and '50's mostly in
Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa.  I play trombone and sing with a rhythm section of
guitar, bass and drums.  I also buy (and occasionally sell) fine
trombones....anybody out there need a nice axe?

Well that's my boring little life... and you can blame Brian Towers for
inspiring me to write this drivel!

Bryan Livett

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Towers" <briantowers at msn.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2003 11:26 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Bio'


A bit late in the day but thought I should add my little bit, as an original
DJML hand from way, way back.  I'll try and keep it brief but no promises!


I was born in Burbage, England at a very early age.  My parents were into
Bing Crosby, Vera Lynn and "forties" dance music but my first record
purchase as a teen ager, with Mum's money, was a 12 inch 78 - Tchaikovsky's
1st piano concerto, 1st movement.  My idea of rebellion, I guess.     Later
I bought, with my own money,  78's by George Shearing, Dave Brubeck, Gerry
Mulligan, Stan Kenton etc.    My first EP disk purchase was the Modern Jazz
Quartet -  "Django"  and my first LP was "Ellington 55".   Those of you
under thirty (if any) wondering what on earth expressions like "78",  "EP"
and "LP" mean, write me under separate cover for explanation.  No other
strong musical influences were in the family though Mum loved to sing and
play piano and grandmother taught violin.

At the age of 18 I was lucky enough to be conscripted for two years National
Service in the British Army.  This changed my musical tastes quite
drastically.   One day a friend, Bombardier Vigers (bless him!)  introduced
me to the vitality of traditional jazz by playing me a "78" by Graham Bell
(the Oz pianist/bandleader) I immediately succumbed to the musical message
and I was firmly hooked forever.

After demob I joined up with some friends from the Hastings Grammar school
who were trying to form a jazz band - they still needed a trombone and
string bass, before they could launch themselves on the path to fame and
glory.   I saw a newspaper ad' for a trombone going for just five quid and
thought "here is my chance"  and I bought it.  When it arrived, it turned
out to be a bass trombone, with a handle to help extend the slide!    I was
at a clear disadvantage with the two other trombone candidates, but it did
help develop my lung power.  When I bought a regular tenor trombone (an
elderly Reynolds) I was "in like Flynn" and the Dolphin Jazz Band could
finally set off on  its quest for immortality and stardom.  We established
the Hastings Traditional Jazz Club, which had its first session at the
Glenroyde hotel in Hastings on Friday January 13th 1956 and had some great
times.
We made our TV debut on March 9th 1957 on the BBC's "Six-Five Special" and
shared the billing with such luminaries as "Big Bill Broonzy";  "Freddie
Mills" (world cruiser-weight boxing champ) "Tommy Steele" (Britain's first
rock matinee idol) "The Vipers Skiffle Group" and many others.   Fame was
here, could fortune be far behind?  Well, as it happened, there were a
multitude of enthusiastic groups doing the same as we were, many of them
better than us too and some of them turned pro' (short-lived in many cases)
while we hung on to our day jobs.  We recorded a few EP's for the Vintage
Jazz Music label but failed to set the world of jazz on fire.

In 1969 I left England to seek fame and fortune with a Canadian Company -
The Bank of Nova Scotia, who had bravely hired me in London.   My work took
me to the Caribbean for several years but I returned to Canada in 1974.
Took me a while to find the jazz scene but eventually I found Grossman's
tavern on Spadina Avenue, where an band called the "Louisiana Joymakers"
were playing Saturday matinees.   Ex-pat Englishmen like Bruce Bakewell
(clarinet) were in the group and the late Cliff "Kid" Bastien (later to
switch back to trumpet and lead the "Happy Pals" at the same venue) was on
drums.  The group was led by trombonist Pete Savory, another Brit'.  I
started sitting in and playing again at that time, they were a great bunch
of guys and very encouraging to me .  Eventually, when Pete left to play in
New Orleans, I inherited the Louisiana Joymakers, which had moved to a
weekly Friday/Saturday residency at "Jakes Boathouse" in Brampton, Ontario.
After a while I changed the name to "Louisiana Jazzmakers" as I thought
"Joymakers" suggested religious affinities.  Then , when we started visiting
and playing in the jazz  in New Orleans, Louisiana, at jazz fest times, I
changed the name again to the "Toronto Jazzmakers" for fairly obvious
reasons.  Finally I changed it to the "Hot Five Jazzmakers" when personnel
changes saw a reduction to a five piece.  We are now in our fifteenth year,
usually a six or seven piece again (summers excepted) of a Saturday matinee
residency at a superb but tiny club called "C'est What?" at 67 Front St
East, in downtown Toronto.  My Canadian wife Janet Shaw plays the reeds,
occasional piano and sings.  We have issued half a dozen limited edition
CD's.   Favourite colours blue and red.  Dog - a yellow lab called Max

Still love jazz, as long as it:
provokes movement in my foot or hand;
has some sort of melodic and rhythmic content;
has some fun it and is not too pretentious,
reminds me of the jazz played by those I consider the masters.

Well, did you make it to "here"?  I commend you for your patience!

Brian Towers,
Hot Five Jazzmakers,
Toronto
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