[Dixielandjazz] George Chisholm

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi All,

Chis was a remarkable player and *character* and was assuredly one of the finest UK jazz players of his time, but there were others at that here who could swing like the clappers too. Notable amongst them was trumpeter Tommy McQuater, one of Chis's closest pals, whose career followed a similar path, with recordings with Benny Carter, Danny Polo etc and a long career in the top UK big bands before becoming submerged in the TV studios as lead trumpet in Jack Parnell's ATV studio orchestra. Tommy was an energetic and hard-swinging trumpeter and in the late 1930s was probably the nearest thing in the UK to the great American players of that era. I played with Tommy a few times later in his life and, while there was plenty of Louis in his playing, I thought Bunny Berigan was probably his greater influence.

There were lesser-known and largely unsung people who could swing their a**es off: like pianist Eddie McAulay, who was already playing in a style similar to that of Teddy Wilson before Wilson's first recordings were available in the UK. Clarinettist Andy McDevitt was also an excellent player, but much less well-known than Sid Phillips and Carl Barriteau on the same instrument. A fine tenor-player, Mickey Deans, is all but forgotten outside of his native Glasgow, but he was a hard swinging soloist and rhapsodic ballad-player in the Hawkins mould.

To make a living, all these guys played in dance bands, but jammed whenever possible to keep their jazz chops in shape. A surprisingly large percentage of the best British jazz players of that time were Scots, and ace jazz accordeonist Jack Emblow puts this down to them having to play Scottish Country Dance Music during their formative years. This is music which has to be played with great energy and syncopation, and, while its rhythmic feel is different from jazz, it only needs minor adjustment to make it swing, so these Scottish players had a huge advantage when it came to playing jazz in the UK at a time when the only way to learn was by listening to Ameican recordings. 

But let's not forget the West Indian musicians of that era in London, guys like saxophonist Bertie King, who was a natural jazzer, a genuine swinger who recorded with Benny Carter, Una Mae Carlisle, and many others. There were also English players of that era who could hold their own with anyone, like George Shearing, so it was a fruitful period in the development of jazz in the UK: a period when there were enough good, swinging, inventive players around who could take the music onwards and lay the foundations for the jazz scene which blossomed across the UK after WW2 finished.

Cheers,

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk