[Dixielandjazz] Corollary to Top Ten Facts of Life for Playing in Clubs and Restaurants

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Marek et al,

John was close friend and frequent musical collaborator of mine over a 
20-year period and was immensely proud of the fact that he had worked a lot 
with Goodman in both big and small bands. He told me once of the audition 
for the trumpet section of the British big band that was put together for a 
Goodman tour of northern Europe. A contractor called the leading 20 or so 
trumpeters in London, Johnny among them, to attend at a rehearsal studio at 
a given time. Johnny described as being like a brass-players' convention: 
everyone who was anyone was there. When Benny eventually turned up with a 
piano-player, he lined up the trumpeters and told them to play one chorus 
each of "Bye Bye Blackbird." After they had all played their chorus, Benny 
picked 4 guys, including Johnny, and the others were thanked and paid for 
their time.

Much later, when Benny and John had got to know each other, John asked him 
how he had whittled 20 or so guys down to 4 in such a short space of time. 
Benny's reply was short and to the point: The guys who didn't swing were 
eliminated right away and of the rest, the guys with a strong personal sound 
and an individual way of phrasing, but who stuck close to the melody, were 
in. The guys who played fantastic technical stuff, but got well away from 
the tune weren't considered. Benny also told John that he (John) didn't have 
the chops to play above fourth chair, but he had the sound and imagination 
to take the bulk of the jazz solos as well as the musical and visual humour 
to keep the audience interested. John was rightly immensely proud of this 
compliment and loved to remind audiences that he had played with the great 
Benny Goodman.

He and his great pal, the wonderful accordeonist Jack Emblow (still to the 
fore in his late 70s), were regular guests at the Black Bull Jazz Club near 
Glasgow, where I was part of the resident house trio for 15 years. One time, 
knowing that Johnny was bound to say at some point "..did I ever tell you 
that I worked Benny Goodman?", I set the audience up before the gig to 
respond by feigning sleep and snoring loudly. When the time inevitably came, 
we got an Oscar-winning crowd scene, including the barmaid draped across the 
beer taps. Jack was in stitches and Johnny was initially taken aback, but he 
had a great sense of humour and was soon telling the story against himself 
to all on the scene.

The tales of John and Jack on the road became so legendary on the UK jazz 
scene that ace guitarist Martin Taylor started doing an occasional strip 
cartoon of some of them, which I guess are probably collectors' items by 
now. John never got over the early death of his wife and, once he had 
successfully raised his 2 daughters to adult independence (no mean feat for 
an itinerant freelance pro musician), he stopped looking after himself a 
bit. He had always enjoyed a "wee refreshment", to use a Glasgow euphemism, 
which couldn't have helped an incipient blood pressure problem, hence the 
florid face. But even later on, when he was clearly not well, he completely 
knocked out Ella Fitzgerald with the quality of his solo work on a concert 
she did with the BBC Scottish Radio Big Band.

He's been gone about 10 years now, but not forgotten. Indeed, I've recently 
started making CD copies of piles of reel-to-reel tapes recorded at the 
Black Bull (everyone from Bud Freeman to Sonny Stitt) between 1974 and 1986. 
There are a few of the sessions with Jack Emblow among them and for 
quick-witted, intelligent, humourous and accomplished playing, they are hard 
to beat.

Regards,

Ken Mathieson

www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marek Boym" <marekboym at gmail.com>
To: "Ken Mathieson" <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk>; 
<Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2008 8:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Corollary to Top Ten Facts of Life for Playing 
in Clubs and Restaurants


> Ace?  A wizard!  His solos with Goodman were great, and listening to
> him live was exhilarating!  I've never seen a trumpeter who got as red
> in the face as John McLevy, but the sound!  Oh, that sound!  He was
> outstanding despite the competition: Pee Wee Erwin ,Doc Cheatham,
> Wallace Davenport, Clark Terry, Cootie Williams, etc. etc. etc.
> Wow!
>
> On 05/10/2008, Ken Mathieson <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk> wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> My old mate John McLevy, ace Scottish trumpeter, who played with Benny 
>> Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald and all sorts of amazing people, had some useful 
>> hints for musicians entering the profession:
>>  1.. Don't be a mug at the bar.
>>  2.. Don't hang around with chorus girls and, most important of all,
>>  3.. Never trust a drum break!
>> He also defined the 3 most pointless things on the planet as:
>>  1.. the Pope's b*lls
>>  2.. a nun's t*ts and
>>  3.. a vote of thanks for the band!
>> RIP Johnny
>>
>> Ken Mathieson
>> www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk
>> _______________________________________________
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>>


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