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<p>Hi Robert,</p>
<p>On the topic of bop pianists who were great stride exponents, the
late lamented Eddie Thompson was given to inserting very fierce
stride passages into his solos, as indeed does Brian Kellock and
as Kenny Stewart did in his heyday at Milngavie's Black Bull Jazz
Club. Mention of Eddie reminds me that he was very disappointed
not to get the chance to work with Benny when Benny toured the UK
with Herb Ellis in 1983, nor indeed when Eddie lived for many
years in NYC in the 1960s and 70s. When I played with Benny and
Herb in Edinburgh in 1983 I asked Benny if he had run into Eddie
on the tour. He answered no, but remembered hearing Eddie in NYC
in the Hickory House. It turned that when Benny was working in NYC
he used to go the Hickory House for supper and specifically to
listen to Eddie. I told Eddie about this when we next worked
together and Eddie, who was blind from birth, was very touched as
had no idea Benny had been there frequently to hear him.</p>
<p>Mention of Lennie Felix brings to mind the problem that bassists
and drummers had when accompanying him: his sense of metre was a
bit dodgy, so he'd occasionally, but unwittingly, miss a bar or
two, or insert an extra bar or two, or play a bar with 5,6 or 7,
or 9 beats in it without warning. It used to drive other musos
nuts, but generally the punters were none the wiser.</p>
<p>Re actors blacking up to play Othello, why not employ a black
actor instead?</p>
<p>Regards,<br>
Ken <br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 20/11/2019 21:48, ROBERT R. CALDER
wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">I couldn't remember whether
the name was Stephens or Stephenson, not to be confused with
Robert Stephens the actor, whom oddly enough I saw much around
the same time as the Benny gig, in the same venue, the Theatre
Royal, and in Blackface, though that is still and quite
properly not frowned on, when on the face of an actor in the
role of Othello. <br>
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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Pepper was really enchanted
by the burst of stride piano, fairly rare then other than from
Jaki Byard, or Roger Kellaway, around now celebrating his
eightieth birthday. I saw him again a few years later, before
he went to Sweden and had the bad news when a local colleague
had taken him to see a medic. I'd been astonished to see
Pepper standing at the back of us people at the Queen's Hall
bar during the intermission of his later, Edinburgh, gig, so I
sort of shovelled some of the queue out of the way and
directed a barmaid's attention to the little man on whose
account we were all there. And I was repaid with reminiscences
of Art Tatum and his pal Wendell Hawkins, not far behind Tatum
as a sheer virtuoso, said Pepper, though the other guy who has
like me heard a track and a half of that Hawkins's one LP
mentions Tommy Flanagan as having played similar... <br>
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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Oddly enough I've been
sending things to a pianist friend in the Detroit region
(Pepper. Flanagan, Roland hanna etc.) whom I met years ago <br>
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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">all in a non-music context.
The man who really impressed him, and he knew Marian
McPartland's playing of old, and not playing stride, was
Lennie Felix. Lennie had this wonderful art of opening out a
trill, unwinding a chord into an extending line. <br>
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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">all the very best, <br>
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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Robert <br>
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<div> On Wednesday, 20 November 2019, 21:05:35 GMT, Ken
Mathieson <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ken@kenmath.free-online.co.uk"><ken@kenmath.free-online.co.uk></a> wrote: </div>
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<div dir="ltr">Hi Robert et al,<br>
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<div dir="ltr">The pianist in Benny Carter's Scottish Big
Band at he 1987 Glasgow Jazz <br>
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<div dir="ltr">Festival was Bob Stephenson. He was an
experienced MD as well as the <br>
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<div dir="ltr">pianist of the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra
(a victim of BBC cut-backs) <br>
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<div dir="ltr">and brother of the wonderful drummer Ronnie
Stephenson.<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Cheers,<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Ken<br>
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