[Dixielandjazz] Harry James

[Andrew Homzy]

And don’t forget all the employment he provided for so many of his bandsmen, vocalists and arrangers. 

Cheers - Andrew 

> On May 10, 2020, at 11:09 AM, Ken Mathieson <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Following on from the debate about whether Harry James was a *real* jazz trumpeter or not, my view is that he most emphatically could be when the occasion demanded. He was a consummate trumpet player and a fine, flexible musician who could play sensitively or brassily in a wide variety of idioms, but, non-players should never forget the reality of having to make a living in a notoriously fickle and changing music business.
> 
> I certainly don't grudge him his highly commercial moments as he had to eat and pay the rent like everyone else (there was also the small matter of large alimony payents to a sizeable number of former wives and the attendant legal fees). However when he was in the right musical company he could demonstrate serious jazz chops.
> 
> Here's a question for Robert Calder: did you hear the Harry James Band in the Motherwell Civic Centre in the mid 1970s? At that time, he had Neal Hefti writing for the band, Sonny Payne on drums, so it was a band very much in the style of the great Basie bands of the 1960s. Unfortunately, the rest of the band is now a blank, but I remember it as a cracking night of top quality big band jazz.
> 
> Sonny was on a riser at the back of the stage and, during his solo feature he was doing his show-biz schtick of bouncing a stick off the floor and catching it above his head etc while still thundering away with the other hand. One of the sticks flew backwards and disappeared off the back of the stage, but in trying to catch it as it flew past him he amost fell off the back of the stage. He fished another stick out of his stick bag and carried on after a few stuttery moments, but meanwhile the rest of the band (Harry included) were having a right good laugh at Sonny's antics. At the end of the number, Sonny took his bow before jumping down backstage to recover the errant stick. He was quite a short man and it was quite a long way down, so he fell when he hit the deck, then had a heck of a struggle to get back up on stage. Obviously the band couldn't miss another opportunity for taking the p*ss, but Sonny was raging (I suspect he was angry at himself for screwing up his act, rather than at the band, as I know he was held in great regard by the other musicians, in particular by Harry).
> 
> Regards to all and stay safe and well,
> 
> Ken
> 
> 
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