[Dixielandjazz] grooved blank cup

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

It was Humphrey Lyttelton who revealed that his close and longtime friend Buck Clayton was every year in receipt of a donation of two or three mouthpieces from a manufacturer of high reputation.  As delivered they were engraved with the name of a leading American dixieland player who did not, as the saying goes, enjoy the respect of Maestro Clayton. 

Buck did preparatory work before using any of these items, which he had to abandon as he himself said (Steve would know this, I presume) because eventually lip trouble made playing just too painful -- I have memories of an event broadcast on UK TV, and a cassette too poor in quality for it to be worth trying to listen, on which Humph took over because of Buck's lip trouble, in an ensemble with Jay McShann from some continental festival I think (the tv was disobliging too, not just the early cassette deck). 

He took the mouthpieces to a local workshop and had a groove dug in each mouthpiece removing completely the name of ...  

Well, I'm not going to say.  Humph also reported that Buck, who had some strange notices at the time related to past much earlier performances not on trumpet (a succession of duets, one might say), which irked Humph,  said that if Warren Vache saw him Warren would lose control of his horn. I gathered he thought well of Warren, but liked a little mischief, and Humph reported that when Buck showed Warren lost it. 

I don't mean the full head of hair, which he lost only later, and continued to sport for some time after that episode, made possible by Humph and some generous friends who gave Buck a trip to Edinburgh.  That was the year Rufus Harley came along with his bagpipes, and to Humph's disappointment wasn't heard nearly enough on soprano. I heard only the final gig, which had a considerable restorative effect, speeding up the exit of the 'flu' which kept me away from earlier gigs.
Could have been rather fun to mention the name of the firm which annually expunged the name of Mr. Clayton's mouthpiece supplier's advertiser and major patron 

ciao!Robert R. Calder
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