[Dixielandjazz] Tony Scott

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

The friend of mine whose Edinburgh student days coincided with Sandy Brown's, and who remembers the music at Nick's during the war as  never noisy, missed the set Tony Scott played in Edinburgh about 25 years ago -- he just dropped in on the city during the Jazz Festival, of which he was not a part, and the last I saw of him he was off to the pub with Oliver Jackson after the concert. 
I mentioned that one of our mutual acquaintances had left the bar where Scott was sitting in with the regular trio, unhappy with the volume of Scott's playing. I also reminisced about the radio interview with Sandy, about whom Scott waxed extremely enthusiastic in the very long wake of the time they gigged together in Italy. 

Sandy made clear that he was saying one thing and one thing only, and making no comment whatever about Tony Scott as a musician, but Scott played the LOUDEST repeat LOUDEST of any clarinetist he had ever encountered.
My friend's eyebrows went up  -- as he recalled, Sandy himself could play very very loud. 

The reference to his teeth among the postings which let me find Scott and Pizarelli was well received. 


In Edinburgh Mr. Brown's beard was white and knotted, his scalp hairless, and his wardrobe entirely black, including the broad-brimmed hat. The trousers were of a leg-hugging lycra and of a kind with those commonly sported by ballet-dancers warming up. 

I don't think he danced, but I do remember Oliver Jackson had just been dancing, as a remarkable visual complement to the drumming of Jack Parnell. 

Not to be confused with the dancing Al Grey used to do by way of instructing or coaching a drummer.

Thanks and thanks again for Scott and Pizarelli!

Robert R. Calder