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Kenny Ball / Alvin Lee R.I.P.
Topic Started: Mar 7 2013, 12:20 PM (907 Views)
rumbaba
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Two at once <rose>

I saw Alvin in Budapest, in a small club, long after his heyday. He looked the same and was very good at what he did, which wasn't 'cutting edge' but he was a master craftsman. He played with old-style, heavy gauge strings, which gave a certain physicality to his playing, almost fighting with the guitar at times RUMBABA : on some of the these modern 'rock' guitars, with their ultra-liight strings, you can probably bend an octave <mohawkguitarist> .

I remember Kenny Ball from when I was a very young child. Not really my thing but he has been around for a long time.
Edited by rumbaba, Mar 7 2013, 05:11 PM.
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Norm Deplume
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He has indeed been around a while Rum,
Arguably the best Dixieland band in the country and has been for decades.
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caissier
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Alvin Lee too .... ?

Leaves from a tree .............
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rumbaba
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I'm not really a fan of that particular brand of British Trad Jazz, Norm but Kenny Ball is part of my childhood, like Andy Stewart and lots of other stuff that I didn't like at the time, but it is all part of my 'musical DNA'. I thought Chris Barber's band was closer to the 'real thing', whatever that is. British trad seemed to filter out most of the blues influence, which is much more prominent in New Orleans' bands.
Edited by rumbaba, Mar 7 2013, 05:12 PM.
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becky sharp
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rumbaba
Mar 7 2013, 12:20 PM
Two at once <rose>

Bobby Rogers co-founding member of The Miracles also died this week,rum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21652875

There was a programme on Radio 2 earlier this year about Kenny Ball that I meant to listen to but forgot <doh> I hope they repeat it soon..he always looked a very happy,comfortable with himself, person to me.

<rose>
Edited by becky sharp, Mar 7 2013, 10:08 PM.
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madfor4

Kenny Ball/Acker Bilk were part of my growing up. In the 1960s I used the Russian time signals as chronometer time checks and the first few bars, albeit played rather more slowly, used to remind me of Kenny "Midnight in Moscow"......
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dai Cottomy
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rumbaba
Mar 7 2013, 05:10 PM
I thought Chris Barber's band was closer to the 'real thing', whatever that is. British trad seemed to filter out most of the blues influence, which is much more prominent in New Orleans' bands.
New Orleans Dixieland was really only a jumping off point for British "Trad." Ken Colyer was probably the one person who tried to stick to the N.O tradition. While in the Merchant Navy, he jumped ship and joined George Lewis's band in New Orleans. He was offered the job of lead trumpeter on a tour, but was then put in prison and deported.
I saw the Kenny Ball band a couple of times, and they turned in extremely entertaining performances, with Kenny leading the band up until quite recently.


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rumbaba
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Kenny Ball had a regular spot on the 'Morcambe and Wise Show': I think he was was more light entertainment than jazz. Mind you, Louis Armstrong, BB King and a number of other hugely influential musical figures realised there was more money in crowd-pleasing, showbiz cabaret than 'real music' towards the end of their careers, and who would grudge them the chance to make some money?
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dai Cottomy
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Being entertaining and playing 'real jazz' are not mutually exclusive, Rum. Louis Armstrong never altered his trumpet playing style throughout his career, and could produce a masterly improvised solo in his later years comparable with the Hot Five or Seven days.
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rumbaba
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I don't doubt it Dai but I think more people know him as a singer and for his TV clowining than for his trumpet playing. I've seen BB King a couple of times and it is worth it for the 10 minutes or so in the show when he drops the whole showbiz cabaret thing and just plays the blues. What I'm saying is, that if he just played the blues, then he would play to smaller audiences and make less money, so I don't blame him for it. He spent a lot of his life playing great blues but not making great money.
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Hugh Mosby-Joaquin
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Kenny Ball once gave me a lift up the M1 from London whilst I was hitching to Nottingham; it was handy that he was going there too, playing that evening. After I had climbed into his Mercedes car, and sized up this mustachioed chap in a camel overcoat, he announced "I'm Kenny Ball, by the way". I didn't quite realise I was supposed to recoil in amazement, so just said, "H---- M--- J------, pleased to meet you". Then I realised who he was.
However, a jolly decent chap was he, and I got quite a few anecdotes from him as we sped along. And he dropped me not two minutes away from my flat. <tiphat>
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rumbaba
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A decent bloke then <ok> His hair always looked a bit unnatural, not just the colour.
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Hugh Mosby-Joaquin
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I'd have sooner been offered a lift by Alvin Lee, but beggars cannot be choosers....and yes indeed, Kenny Ball had a rather fake suntanned look.
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caissier
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(Ah .... those hitch-hiking days ......... <ok>

People who stopped to give lifts were always decent and interesting ...... one time a friend and I were taken on a detour and given a tour of the Culloden battle site.

It was an institution which gave people an opportunity to be good to others ...... )
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Hugh Mosby-Joaquin
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With the present government's insatiable drive to beggar the people of Britain, one wonders whether hitch-hiking will once more make a comeback.
I put out last year a satirical notion that I would not in any be surprised to see DungCan-Sniff take on board:
~~Work-slaves under the yoke of the DWP could be issued with plastic thumb-cards these they could wave at the kerbside to signal "I am going to 'work', please give me a lift". Those philanthropic motorists , sorry, tory donors, who have subscribed to the system, would be able to pick up the slave, and swipe the thumb-card to show how 'valiant' they are, and get a rebate from caMoron head-office. ..sorry, that should read 'from the tax-payer'. And tabs could thus be be kept on the movement of 'idle feckless slaves'....
It's a win-win situation...if you happen to vote tory......
"You stick out your thumb; We'll get back a sum!"
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Norm Deplume
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Very droll HMJ!
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rumbaba
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Who would have thought a low fat spread would be named after a Kenny Ball spoonerism ?
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rumbaba
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http://www.benecol.co.uk/home?gclid=CMr5zp-P87UCFeXLtAode3gAEQ
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Norm Deplume
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Talking of Spoonerisms!

There is a small pretty town in Bucks called Wendover and there is a highway called the "Wendover By-Pass"...Spoonerise that!
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rumbaba
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Alvin is the forgotten man of rock but I remember Woodstock: I lied about my age to get in - the film that is, not the concert (it had an X certificate: I think because there were some shots of naked people jumping about in the mud). I lied to get into 'Easy Rider' and 'A Clockwork Orange' too, as I recall. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGV-CBhnC1w
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waiting4atickle
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Ever thought of becoming an MP, rum?

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rumbaba
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A tad unfair , Tick. I paid for my ticket and did nobody any harm
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waiting4atickle
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<laugh>

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rumbaba
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I viewed it as an act of civil disobedience :)
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tafkaj

rumbaba
Mar 11 2013, 04:27 PM
Alvin is the forgotten man of rock but I remember Woodstock: I lied about my age to get in - the film that is, not the concert (it had an X certificate: I think because there were some shots of naked people jumping about in the mud). I lied to get into 'Easy Rider' and 'A Clockwork Orange' too, as I recall. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGV-CBhnC1w
Why's that? Didn't they allow over-75s into such things in 60s ... ? <laugh> <hug>

But, unbelievably, Alvin Lee gave an interview that appeared in the February edition of Country Music People magazine in which he said (paraphrasing slightly) "There's no reason why I can't go on doing special things into my 70s."

He hadn't reckoned on death.
Edited by tafkaj, Mar 16 2013, 12:42 PM.
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