[Dixielandjazz] The Guardian --- Tommy Whittle

[Marek Boym]

I agree with the "arguably one of Britain's finest jazz musicians."
Judging by the company he kept, he must have been "modern" at some time.
Still, I wish I could get a recording from the Marquee Club session
mentioned in the obit.  What a line-up!
Cheers


On 24 October 2013 21:49, ROBERT R. CALDER <serapion at btinternet.com> wrote:

>
>
> Tommy Whittle obituary
> Tenor saxophonist equally at home in jazz combos, dance bands and session
> music
>     *
>     * Peter Vacher
>     * theguardian.com, Wednesday 23 October 2013 15.01 BST
>
> Tommy Whittle, right,
> playing tenor sax in his quintet at the Marquee club, Wardour Street,
> London, in 1958, alongside Eddie Thompson on piano  and Harry Klein on
> baritone sax. Photograph: Eric Jelly/Peter Vacher
> The tenor saxophonist Tommy Whittle, who has died aged
> 87, was as relaxed in the demanding session world as he was on the jazz
> bandstand. Having earned his spurs in dance-hall bands as a youngster,
> he became a member of the Ted Heath orchestra in the late 1940s. In
> parallel, he kept the jazz flame alive, always finding time to play club
> dates and running a series of successful jazz clubs involving the best
> local musicians. A "polished stylist", in the words of the cornettist
> Digby Fairweather, Whittle at his best was arguably one of Britain's
> finest jazz musicians.
> Once his commercial assignments
> had diminished, Whittle returned to full-time jazz performance with his
> second wife, the singer Barbara Jay, whom he married in 1967. His desire
> to play and willingness to travel continued until failing health
> intervened late last year.
> Whittle was born in
> Grangemouth, Scotland, and, after some family prompting, tried the
> harmonica and the banjo before alighting on the clarinet. Introduced by
> the painter Alan Davie, then a student, to the local rhythm club, he
> began to attend jam sessions and listen to recordings by Lester Young
> and Coleman Hawkins.
> When Davie went into the army,
> Whittle borrowed his saxophone. Evidently a quick learner, he played
> briefly with a local band before his parents sent him to stay with his
> grandparents in Chatham, Kent, hoping to wean their 16-year-old son away
> from professional music by finding him a serious job. But a chance
> encounter with the drummer Ronnie Verrell led to a booking with the Claude
> Giddins band in Gillingham, which
> often featured guest stars from London, including the expatriate Belgian
> trumpeter Johnny Claes.
>
>
> After playing with Claes for a few weeks, Whittle joined the veteran
> bandleader Lew Stone. On the London freelance scene, he performed with
> the reedman Carl Barriteau and then with Harry Hayes at Churchill's
> Club, a combo that included the pianist George Shearing.
> Already making a name for himself as a soloist in classy circles, Whittle
> joined the Heath band in 1947, replacing Ronnie Scott, and stayed with
> this high-profile, well-paid outfit for the next five years. They did
> road trips, frequent recording dates, London Palladium concerts and an
> appearance in the 1950 movie Dance Hall. It was when Heath insisted that
> he repeat the same solos every night that Whittle made his bid for
> freedom by playing in the drummer Tony Kinsey's trio at Studio 51 in
> Soho.
> He was seduced away from full-time jazz when Cyril
> Stapleton approached him in 1952 to join the newly formed BBC Show Band,
> thus putting him in a position to win both the Melody Maker and New
> Musical Express jazz polls. "I ended up doing three broadcasts a week
> and still maintaining my jazz club work," he said. After three years,
> keen to follow up on this success, Whittle formed his own 10-piece band, a
> starry ensemble that included the trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and the
> baritone saxist Joe Temperley, touring continuously for the next year or
> so. Various Whittle groups, quartets or sextets also toured the US,
> including one package with Chuck Berry and the Platters. Whittle guested
> with the Stan Kenton band on their 1956 UK tour, replacing an errant
> sideman who had been dispatched back to the US.
> Thereafter, Whittle was immersed in commercial music – first leading his
> own group
> at the Dorchester hotel, with the tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins
> alongside – interspersed with session calls and followed by a
> substantial period with the Jack Parnell TV orchestra, based at Elstree
> Studios.
> Committed to constant practice, Whittle became proficient on an arsenal of
> woodwind instruments, ready for whatever session calls came his way. Yet
> he also managed to keep a highly creditable jazz career going,
> operating his own club at the Hop Bine pub in Wembley, often jousting
> with visiting star soloists, including fellow saxophonists Tubby Hayes
> and Tony Coe.
> Eventually, the Hop Bine changed hands and
> Barbara devised the Ella Fitzgerald Songbook show for a trio of singers
> including Barbara, supported by Tommy's quartet. It was extremely
> successful. In parallel, the quietly spoken Whittle led the Pizza
> Express All-Stars, played guest spots with the Ray McVay orchestra and
> was always on hand for any Heath band revivals, while recording
> regularly with his own groups, his playing as distinctive and
> hard-swinging as it had always been.
> He is survived by Barbara and his sons, Sean, a pianist and composer, and
> Martin, from his first marriage.
> • Thomas Whittle, jazz saxophonist, born 13 October 1926; died 13 October
> 2013
>
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