[Dixielandjazz] Brian Rust-- article from Journal of IAJRC by Horace Harris

[Norman Vickers]

To: DJML & Musicians & Jazzfans

From:  Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola

Horace M. Harris, our British correspondence on both lists, published this
article about Brian Rust in the IAJRC ( International Assocation of Jazz
Record Collectors) Journal in June 2010.

In case you missed it, I posted obituary yesterday from NY Times, although
he died in early January, NYT just got around to doing the obituary piece
about him.

Horace  has kindly granted permission to reproduce here.  Thanks, Horace.
Keep those e-mails coming.

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THE  YOUNG  “LIFE  OF  BRIAN”

 

By  Horace Meunier  Harris

 

The London-based  Melody Maker, founded in 1926 as a monthly and before long
becoming a weekly,  was the organ of the British dance band profession.  Its
wartime editor, Ray Sonin, was sympathetic to jazz and in 1941 commenced
publishing a regular column called “Collectors’ Corner”, which was initially
controlled by Bill Elliott  and Jeff Aldam, prominent members of the No. 1
Rhythm Club in London.  Jeff was replaced by Rex Harris, a London optician
and no relation to myself, while later Max Jones took the place of Bill.

 

One of the early regular contributors to the column was Brian Rust, as
indeed I myself was to become in due course.  From the beginning his
involvement showed great erudition and before long he became humorously
known to collectors generally as “The Sage of Edgware” (a town in the County
of Middlesex where he lived).  Another early and knowledgeable contributor
was Ralph Venables (call me “Rafe”), who was referred to as “The Oracle of
Tilford” (after his domicile in the County of Surrey).  The authors of one
of their joint early discographies were shown in print as "The Oracle and
The Sage" !

 

Brian is four years my senior and worked in a bank, then transferred his
employment to the extensive Gramophone Library of the British Broadcasting
Corporation in London.  A lengthy and illuminating jazz correspondence
ensued between us for a number of years.  His letters were immaculately
typed and he used a numerical system for filing their copies, which looked
not unlike English Brunswick catalog numbers.  For example, you might
receive one with the reference 03712, while its successor a week or two
later  could bear number  03801  To reply using the appropriate reference
was de rigueur !

 

As the war progressed  a flurry of “little” jazz magazines came into being.
The first of these in 1943 was Jazz Music - The Bulletin of the Jazz
Sociological Society, edited by Albert McCarthy and Max Jones, closely
followed by Discography (For the Jazz Student), edited by Max’s brother,
Cliff Jones, and Jazz Record (no connection with the Chicago magazine of the
same name produced by Art Hodes) edited by James Asman and Bill Kinnell, of
Nottinghamshire.

 

Yet another was Jazz Tempo (Official Bulletin of The North London &
Southgate Jazz Society), edited by John Rowe.  Brian Rust was a major
contributor to this and  the editorial for  No. 8, dated June 21st, 1943,
stated, “With this issue we commence the first of a series of discographical
articles by Brian.  An acknowledged expert on matters relating to record
matrix numbers, dates, etc., he is in the throes of compiling complete Okeh
and American Columbia catalogues dating from way back.”   These were duly
serialised in Jazz Tempo, including complete listings for the O.D.J.B.,
Bessie Smith, The Goofus Five and others.  You will note that even in those
early days Brian thought big and immersed himself in many a challenging
project.

 

His introduction in that same issue stated: “For some 2 ½ years I have been
engaged on the seemingly overwhelming task of tracing all, or as many as are
humanly possible, of the 30,000 sides recorded by the combined firms of Okeh
and Columbia in the U.S.A.”

 

Another regular column in Jazz Tempo was called “Platter Patter”, conducted
by the Jazz Tempo Brains Trust.  ("The Brains Trust" was the title of a long
running and very popular weekly series broadcast on The Home Service
wireless program of the BBC in wartime.)  The column in Jazz Tempo answered
questions each month submitted by subscribers and was modulated by R. G. V.
Venables,  C. W. Langston White, Charles Fox and, of course, B. A. L. Rust.

 

Example:    "Do Goodson (flexible) records tie up with American Vocalions?
Are the Memphis Jazzmen a Ben Pollack bunch?  Do the Dixie Ragpickers
feature Red Nichols?  - (Elliott Goldman, Hendon)."  Answer:  "No, the only
tie-up which I can trace is with Van Dyke.  As regards the Pollack and
Nichols query, the answer is "no" to both.  -  B.A.L.R."
.
Brian also contributed feature articles to sundry publications, for example,
“On Gennetts”, “Mrs Louis”, “Muggsy Spanier’s Ragtime Band” and similar
subjects.   However, publication of the epic Okeh-Columbia discography was
never completed at the time, as all these “little” jazz magazines were
closed down by officialdom.  Wartime paper was strictly rationed and only
allocated, sparingly, for the use of publications that existed prior to the
outbreak of war.  

 

It would have been early 1944, before  my call-up for military service, that
Brian and I first met.  I was not disappointed nor surprised to find that he
looked like, acted like and spoke like the archetypal academic.  He gazed at
one somewhat owlishly through his glasses, but his thoughts were crystal
clear.       .
.
Fellow collector Derrick Stewart-Baxter and I invited him to Brighton for
the day.  There was no petrol for private motoring so he travelled the 50
miles from London by train and we took him to lunch in the upstairs
restaurant of The Cricketers pub in Black Lion Street, Brighton.  As I
recall, we spent the entire day discussing personnel queries!  I remember it
clearly because I was so delighted to meet with him that I insisted on
paying for the lunch, a total of ten shillings and sixpence for the three of
us and half my weekly salary as a junior clerk in an insurance company’s
office!

 

Twenty years after the above, to be precise on September 30, 1963, Brian
visited New York City and attended The Collectors' Conclave, organised by
Robert Mantler and others.  Duncan Scheidt was present and wrote about the
occasion in the Fall 2000 issue of the IAJRC Journal.   I quote:   "Every
inch the Englishman, Brian looked like a casting director's cryptologist or
atomic scientist, and surely, had he chosen, his dedication and mastery of
detail could have suited him for either field."

 

I could not have put it better myself!

 

(14 December, 2009)

 

 

N.B.   There are three useful images of Brian in Nick Dellow's article about
him on the VJM website.