Back in the early 1970s my Dear Old Dad would drag me off on a Sunday lunchtime, to the Lord Napier Pub in Thornton Heath to listen to Bill Brunskill's Jazz Band. The day before my 13th birthday, DOD allowed me to take his precious Philips cassette recorder along with me and Bill said it would be ok for me to record the set. At first I was slightly disappointed for two reasons. First; it was in the days of the 'energy crisis' and there was no power available for the PA system and second; Bill's usual clarinetist, of whom I was a great fan, was unavailable and was being dep'ed by a young fellow I'd never seen before. In fact it was a bit of a blessing that the PA wasn't working as it meant NO SINGING which, on balance, wasn't much of a bad thing :) The dep turned out to be Sammy Rimmington who spent the afternoon making some of the most beautiful sounds I'd ever heard from a clarinet and also a soprano sax. The following couple of tracks, whilst not being of the technical quality I like to think I achieved during my stint as a BBC sound engineer years later, does, I think, capture the "vibe" of Bill's band and the regularly packed-out Lord Napier when it could justify it's self proclaimed title of "Britain's Number One Jazz Venue". I uploaded just these two tracks after a QSO with John, G3YPZ, on 4m. See what you think...
Just a Closer Walk With Thee. Beeaaauutiful Clarinet
Ice Cream. I can still picture the cigarette smoke pouring out of the trombone during Mick Sherbourne's solo!
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