[Dixielandjazz] Charlie Ventura

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

Once I had heard Charlie Ventura's BOP FOR THE PEOPLE the name of the ensemble seemed to me -- very much unlike the music -- a bad joke of high quality. It was never a description of the music, just a fashionable billing which might equally have applied to ......  No, I don't want to think about a raspy tenor saxophone and some Parkeresque phrases adapted for easy playing as cliches.
A bit of fun too in that name.  I seem to remember reading that the man Ralph Sutton referred to as Dick Wellstride worked with Mr. Ventura in that group, but probably didn't record with it. 

I'm not a fan of the sort of thing Jackie and Roy did, but Charlie Ventura was a substantial musician -- there was only one Coleman Hawkins, and there have been a lot of decently listenable tenor saxophonists with a biggish sound,  and an indeterminate number of tenor players have a high place between the unique and the numerous.  At one time Ventura was one of maybe a larger (but finite) number than some folks might have guessed could solo that well, there was a high plateau of them. Happily one can still listen to a decent number of recordings by some, by no means least Ventura.
Ah, that recording of HIGH ON AN OPEN MIKE with Bill Harris, which Humphrey Lyttelton dutifully but enthusiastically played on the air at regular intervals! 


Robert R. Calder