[Dixielandjazz] Strathclyde Stompers

[Marek Boym]

Hi Ken,


> A lot of very fine musicians played for George Penman over the years. In
> the 1960s his front line included the fiery Lennie Herd on trumpet and the
> versatile George Kidd on trombone (his influences were Teagearden and Ory -
> Teagarden in his solos and Ory for ensemble tailgate). Both are in their
> 70s now and still playing wonderfully well. In the 1980s, Penman had Gordon
> Dillon on trumpet (Billy Butterfield was his big inspiration), Dick Stroak
> (a wonderfully versatile clarinettist/saxist influenced by Omer Simeon,
> Artie Shaw and Johnny Hodges) with either George Kidd or Jackie Murray on
> trombone and vocals (Jackie is an excellent mainstream trombonist and one
> of the finest singers around: great blues shouter styled on Spoon and Joe
> Williams and a wonderful ballad singer along the lines of Tony Bennett but
> jazzier). Jackie is still around and playing, but sadly both Gordon and
> Dick were taken from us much too early.
>

I cannot now recall who was with him, nor who is on the cassette and the CD
aI have.

>
> I agree that Jim Petrie is a wonderful trumpeter (although I think he was
> playing cornet last time I worked with him).
>

I've never seen him playing anything but cornet.



> He's still around, as is Bev, but the jazz scene in Edinburgh has shrunk
> alarmingly of late so I'm not sure the Diplomats are working much. They are
> on the bill for the Edinburgh Jazz Festival, which has just launched its
> 2014 programme: see
> http://www.edinburghjazzfestival.com/programme/artists/diplomats-of-jazz.html
>

I am afraid I cannot come.  For one thing,  July is a very expensive month
to travel, and second - there seems to be too little jazz there.  On the
second day, for example, I have not found even one band which  plays what I
believe to be jazz.  The first day is better, but still not enough to hear
and too much to avoid.

Moreover, I went to Kecskemet in March, and am leaving on the 28th for
Breda.  Unless I win the lotto, I don't think I can go to another
festival.  True, my wife will join me after the jazz festival, but if I can
afford travellin again, it should be with her, to wherever she wants to go.

>
> It doesn't surprise me that an English correspondent had never heard of
> Jim. When you read jazz publications from London, you'd be excused for
> thinking nothing happens north of Watford and there's an assumption that,
> unless you play on the London scene, you probably can't play at all.
>

I wonder - he lives in the sticks himself, somewhere not far from
Manchester.



> That's just plain ignorant as there are excellent players all over the UK.
> Scotland has a critical mass of outstanding players just now; the tragedy
> is that there isn't a critical mass of available gigs paying decent money.
>

But you are right - my first time in Bude I was amazed by the quality of
bands I had never heard of before, such as George Huxley's, Bob Oliver's,
et al.  And soloists who could probably outplay most of the big stars,
European or American.
Cheers

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