[Dixielandjazz] Herb Ellis

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Robert et al.

Your timely post and Herb's untimely passing reminded me of that night in Edinburgh (23 Nov 1984 -  gosh!), and of the "inter-connectedness of everything" (a theory proposed by the fictional holistic detective Dirk Gently in a series of comic novels by Douglas Adams, who is perhaps better-known as the author of "The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy"). I had just transferred a copy of the BBC recording of that gig on to CD when news of Herb's death appeared on DJML, then your post arrived and everything joined up.

I hadn't listened to the original cassette in years and was knocked out by the quality of the music. As Robert says Herb was on fantastic form, and so too was Benny. The rhythm section wasn't too shabby either, although the BBC's balancing of the recording leaves a lot to be desired. The Queen's Hall in Edinburgh has fantastic accoustics provided they aren't overloaded, but they can be a bit fickle on-stage if the musicians aren't close to each other. Since it was a public concert, we had to set up as normal for the audience, but to get some separation for recording, the BBC engineers spaced us out more than we would have liked, so hearing each other became difficult. This was especially so with Herb, who sat out front with his amp, so the rhythm section positioned behind him found it hard to hear what he was doing. I remember the gig as enjoyable but difficult, so I was delighted to hear that it had all aged so well in the interim! 

I'm sorry to hear of Herb's passing. He was a slim, energetic man whose animated conversation showed that his mind worked as dizzyingly fast as his fingers. He was the man in charge behind the scenes, discussing tunes, keys and fixing the set lists with pianist David Newton and bassist Francis Cowan. As the mere drummer, I wasn't included in these discussions, nor was Benny, who was presumed to know anything the others might come up with, so he and I had a pleasant conversation until the show was fixed. Benny was, as ever, immaculately dressed, urbane, polite and amiable, and one of the easiest people to talk to that I've ever met. On the gig, Benny played mainly alto, with only a couple of ballads on trumpet. His alto chops were fantastic, but his trumpet chops were a little shakier, which isn't surprising since they were on a whistlestop tour of one-nighters, with lots of travelling and little time for practice. 

David Newton was at the start of his career and was already the genuine article, although he was still building repertoire at that stage, and this worried Herb a lot before the gig. He'd call a tune and David would say he didn't know it, but when Herb sang a bit of it, he'd recognise it and OK it. As a result we played only standards throughout, but they were all top-drawer material. The bassist on the gig, Francis Cowan, was, as Robert states, a wonderful musician. His father was a well-known organist and choir-master, his mother an internationally-renowned cellist and teacher, so Francis and his 2 sisters were brought up to be professional musicians. Francis excelled on all the violin family, especially cello and bass, as well as guitar. He eventually stopped playing bass altogether, saying that he'd done everything he felt he could on the instrument, and thenceforth played cello for classical gigs and guitar for jazz. As Robert's post alluded, he was sadly wiped out on his way home after an afternoon string quartet gig, not by a tired businessman in his car, but by a truck driver who fell asleep at the wheel. He was a hugely talented musician, a good friend and such a great character that I still think of him in the present tense.

I've also just heard of the passing of another great player and gentleman, pianist John Bunch. The Reaper is getting closer all the time.

Regards,

Ken Mathieson
www.classicjazzorchestra.org.uk