<div dir="ltr"><div>Harry James was a wonderful jazz trumpeter when he felt like playing jazz, probably one of the very best!</div><div>Cheers<br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, 10 May 2020 at 21:17, Ken Mathieson <<a href="mailto:ken@kenmath.free-online.co.uk">ken@kenmath.free-online.co.uk</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Hi all,<br>
<br>
Following on from the debate about whether Harry James was a *real* jazz <br>
trumpeter or not, my view is that he most emphatically could be when the <br>
occasion demanded. He was a consummate trumpet player and a fine, <br>
flexible musician who could play sensitively or brassily in a wide <br>
variety of idioms, but, non-players should never forget the reality of <br>
having to make a living in a notoriously fickle and changing music business.<br>
<br>
I certainly don't grudge him his highly commercial moments as he had to <br>
eat and pay the rent like everyone else (there was also the small matter <br>
of large alimony payents to a sizeable number of former wives and the <br>
attendant legal fees). However when he was in the right musical company <br>
he could demonstrate serious jazz chops.<br>
<br>
Here's a question for Robert Calder: did you hear the Harry James Band <br>
in the Motherwell Civic Centre in the mid 1970s? At that time, he had <br>
Neal Hefti writing for the band, Sonny Payne on drums, so it was a band <br>
very much in the style of the great Basie bands of the 1960s. <br>
Unfortunately, the rest of the band is now a blank, but I remember it as <br>
a cracking night of top quality big band jazz.<br>
<br>
Sonny was on a riser at the back of the stage and, during his solo <br>
feature he was doing his show-biz schtick of bouncing a stick off the <br>
floor and catching it above his head etc while still thundering away <br>
with the other hand. One of the sticks flew backwards and disappeared <br>
off the back of the stage, but in trying to catch it as it flew past him <br>
he amost fell off the back of the stage. He fished another stick out of <br>
his stick bag and carried on after a few stuttery moments, but meanwhile <br>
the rest of the band (Harry included) were having a right good laugh at <br>
Sonny's antics. At the end of the number, Sonny took his bow before <br>
jumping down backstage to recover the errant stick. He was quite a short <br>
man and it was quite a long way down, so he fell when he hit the deck, <br>
then had a heck of a struggle to get back up on stage. Obviously the <br>
band couldn't miss another opportunity for taking the p*ss, but Sonny <br>
was raging (I suspect he was angry at himself for screwing up his act, <br>
rather than at the band, as I know he was held in great regard by the <br>
other musicians, in particular by Harry).<br>
<br>
Regards to all and stay safe and well,<br>
<br>
Ken<br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div>