[Dixielandjazz] Bobby Hackett in Glasgow

[Marek Boym]

Lucky you!
Bobby Hackett was wonderful, in particular on ballads.  This is not to say
he couldn't play hot - he probably could have blown most trumpeters
off-stage, but there were very few who could meet his ballad playing.
You have mentioned the Dick Sudhalter band - could you provide the
personnel?  When the Sudhalter and Son LPs were originally issued I could
not afford them, and have been looking for them ever since.  When the GHB
group acquired the 77 catalogue I was hoping for a reissue, but it turned
out that those were not included in the deal.
Cheers,
Marek

On Mon, 11 May 2020 at 14:17, Ken Mathieson <ken at kenmath.free-online.co.uk>
wrote:

> Hi Robert et al,
>
> Robert mentions not seeing Bobby Hackett with Peter Ind in Glasgow's
> MacLellan Galleries. I was luckier: I got to play with him there, but
> not with the excellent bassist Peter Ind. Bobby had been booked to
> appear with Dick Sudhalter's excellent band (and Peter Ind may well have
> been the bassist in it) as well as Kenny Stewart's Trio, of which I was
> one-third in numbers but possibly two-thirds of its volume, had also
> been booked to open the show. Dick's band had travelled by train from
> London on same-day return-tickets, but someone had screwed up with the
> train times and they had to leave at the first interval to catch the
> return train to London. Eight to ten hours on a train to play for about
> 45 minutes then get home about 2:00 in the morning - there's no business
> like show business indeed!
>
> And so it came to pass that Kenny's trio was asked if we'd mind backing
> Bobby for the second set (Bobby , as the undoubted star of the show, had
> flown up from London and was staying overnight with friends near
> Glasgow). We of course said something along the lines of "well OK, just
> this once" and sorted out a programme with him at the interval. He was
> utterly charming and supportive, but he was also very ill with severe
> diabetes, so the set consisted mainly of ballads. Needless to say his
> playing was gorgeous and tasteful and I played mainly brushes while
> marvelling at the quality of Bobby's tone and the subtlety of his
> phrasing. A few days later I bumped into a well-known Glasgow drummer
> noted for his loudness, technical prolixity and general bombast, who
> said it must have been hell playing a 50-minute set of ballads on
> brushes. However, I remember it as an honour and privilege to play a
> part in such wonderful music, and I really got the "less is more"
> message thanks to Bobby.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ken
>
>
>
>
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