[Dixielandjazz] Bobby Hackett in Glasgow

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Marek,

I've got hazy recall of the Sudhalter band that night, but I know 
Susanah McCorkle was the singer and obviously Dick was on cornet or tpt 
and I've a suspicion that the drummer was "Fat" John Cox. The others 
have receded into the mists of time and may well have included Peter Ind 
on bass (they were only in the hall for just over an hour before 
vanishing into the night). Sorry I can't be of more help, beyond saying 
it was a very important night in my alleged career: playing very slow 
ballads is an art for everyone in the band and keeping the time together 
at extremes of tempo is crucial and much harder the slower they are. 
Also, because Bobby wasn't well and couldn't blow hard, I played brushes 
on the few up-tempo pieces too and thoroughly enjoyed myself: there's a 
knack in swinging hard on brushes as it's a very different technique and 
feel from playing with sticks, but it can swing just as hard in its own 
different way.

Tìoraidh! (Scots Gaelic for 'cheerio' and pronounced 'cheery')

Ken

On 11/05/2020 13:32, Marek Boym wrote:
> 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 <mailto: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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