[Dixielandjazz] Strathclyde Stompers

[Marek Boym]

Thanks, Ken.
I have just written Bill that, so far, you had not said anyting.
My friend, Harver "Zeke" Benson, wrote that the Strythclyde Stompers played
as a warm-up band before Alex Welsh took the stage.
So far, he has not replied to my query.
Cheers


On 15 May 2014 19:54, Ken Mathieson <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk> wrote:

>  Hi Folks,
>
> Sorry about my lurking of late, but I'm chained to my piano writing big
> band arrangements of some Jelly Roll Morton rarities for a concert in the
> Edinburgh Jazz Festival in July. I'll post info on it once I've finished
> the writing and know the exact contents of the programme.
>
> Anyway, to business: There was no band called the Strathclyde Stompers to
> my knowledge, although it is conceivable that someone put together a
> one-off scratch band for a gig and called it that. The Clyde Valley
> Stompers were working locally in the Glasgow area as a semi-pro band in the
> early 1950s, but went pro later in the decade and transfered their base to
> London, although they seemed to be endlessly on the road on crazy schedules
> handed out by the agents, very possibly because they were gigs the big name
> trad bands couldn't or wouldn't do. A lot of great musicians passed through
> the band, but it succumbed to the collapse of the market for trad in the
> mid-60s.
>
> From time to time, former members and a few draftees were re-assembled for
> short tours, usually around Scotland, where they were still remembered. A
> few of them are still around: Forrie Cairns is still playing wonderfully
> well and I believe Pete Kerr is still to the fore outside of Scotland,
> while Jim Douglas, Ron Mathewson and Tucker Finlayson live in England. Lake
> Records have produced a couple of CDs by various Stompers incarnations
> (LACD 303 and 329) and, if you have them, their liner notes give a more
> detailed history. Their commercial recordings were very commercial indeed,
> but their live recordings (LACD 329 has a gig at Nottingham's Dancing
> Slipper) show them at their best playing for dancers and concert audiences.
>
> I knew most of the musicians who played with the Stompers at different
> times, so what's your friend's name, Marek? I never played with them
> myself, but I wish I had a pound for every time a punter at a gig I'm
> playing has told me he used to play with the CVS (usually on drums,
> although strangely they always turn down the offer of a sit-in). It must
> have been one of the biggest big bands of all time!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ken Mathieson (currently transcribing Gil Evans's amazing arrangement of
> King Porter Stomp - very slowly!)
>