The Modern Dance

When Your Heart Out first started its activities new music seemed to be quite strongly featured in its pages. It seemed a strangely exciting time for new sounds, and among those enthusiastically mentioned were Paul White, Bullion, Ahu and Floating Points. I think the label ‘wonky’ was just starting to be used to describe these downtempo abstract prog hip hop electronica folk soundscapes, and I’d listen to Alex Nut on Rinse FM on Saturday lunchtime, track down arcane mixes, and feel more excited about current music than I had for a long time. So don’t ask me what happened. On a personal level I guess I just became overly preoccupied with investigating dusty corners, and didn’t really have the drive to keep up with new developments. I didn’t exactly feel guilty, and I figured new music would get by without me pretty well.
And then late last year I found out One-Handed Music was giving away a free download of the new Ahu single To: Love, and this sort of reactivated my interest in new pop. Unless I missed it, however, Ahu didn’t top the charts around the world with this gorgeous modern electronic torch song. The label’s press said: “It’s a captivating performance from the Turkish singer whose unique style might be found somewhere between traditional soul and the studied remove of the likes of Broadcast’s Trish Keenan.” I was thinking more Andrea Parker on Mo’ Wax, but then I would.
I signed up to the One-Handed Music mailing list, and was delighted recently to receive some information about a forthcoming release by Mo Kolours, with a featured track that has a wonderful lazy Afro-Caribbean dub house feel and leaves you keen to hear and know more. Now comes the great news that OHM are offering a free download of Paul White’s 2009 CD The Strange Dreams Of … A fantastic treat if like me you somehow missed out on the physical editions of this collection of magnificent madness which evokes a random reassembling of a derelict Animal Collective.
The One-Handed Music site is also offering an opportunity to hear a mix by Bullion of various Canterbury Scene tracks, which is great fun and makes for perfect summer listening. Bullion’s own set, You Drive Me To Plastic, is now available as a download or as a vinyl edition featuring the 20-minute journey into sound on one side and an etching on the other which could see a return to the fine old tradition of asking … Anyway, it’s a great collage of beats ‘n’ bobs that provides an ideal soundtrack for the modern dance. It is somehow the sort of thing you might anticipate a Canterbury scenester coming up with in these fragmented times.

Enlightenment! - #9

Jeff Kruger's Ember is another record label that pops up several times in Enlightenment!- the current edition of YHO which can be downloaded here. Ember was started it seems almost accidentally at the end of the ‘50s by Jeff Kruger, a London legend who with his father started the original Flamingo Club in Soho, home for the modernists. Jeff indulged himself and got some of his favourite British jazz players to record for him, like Tony Crombie and Ronnie Ross. He also liked the idea that an independent label could thrive by exploiting niche markets, and he went for pretty much all of them. Along the way he leased a fantastic amount of great music from the US, but his big coup was getting John Barry on board as musical director etc. just as his career was gathering momentum, with the Bond stuff, Zulu, and so on. So, among the Barry-related Ember releases was the great Zulu Stamp.
Jeff Kruger also had some of his favourite ladies record for the label. He put Lita Roza together with Tony Crombie for the astonishing single of Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean. And Annie Ross got to make an LP with a real torch song feel – the title song of which was Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt’s A Handful of Songs. Annie herself, the great internationalist, was back ‘home’ in London at this time after her great success with Lambert and Hendricks, and the fantastic series of solo LPs with American jazz greats, like Art Pepper, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan and Jim Hall. She even opened her own nightclub, Annie’s Room, as mentioned in this great clip.
There are plenty of connections between John Barry and Lionel Bart, which are covered in Enlightenment! There’s the title song of You Only Live Twice, of course. And Adam Faith. Bart and Barry collaborated on the theme song for Never Let Go, in which a young Adam appeared with Peter Sellers, and in a seemingly uncoordinated way this was an update of When Johnny Comes Marching Home. Barry of course was responsible for the adventurous sound on Adam’s early hits, and Lionel knew Faith from skiffle days in old Soho.
Adam interestingly recorded a couple of songs from the Frank Norman/Lionel Bart musical Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be. That show really wasn’t the quaint Cockney charmer history seems to paint it as. On the contrary, it’s theme and setting among Soho’s crooks, prostitutes, corrupt policemen and assorted lowlife would surprise anyone who has tapped a toe to the Max Bygraves bowdlerised title song. Adam’s similarly smartened up recording of Carve Up will I’m sure shock anyone who hasn’t heard it before. And the guitar solo is fantastic. Then there is Adam’s rendition of Big Time, the James Booth performed showstopper in the successful stage version, which sensibly leaves out lines about raids down Walworth way and fracas in Notting Hill, but retains ones about using his wits instead of just his mitts. This is a wonderful performance, with John Barry’s group, and it’s a great testament to the songwriting skills of Lionel Bart. Isn’t that where we came in?

Enlightenment! - #8

Melodisc is a record label that pops up several times in Enlightenment!- the current edition of YHO which can be downloaded here. I am fascinated by the Melodisc story. I am more fascinated by the fact that it seems really difficult to piece a detailed history together, even though most people who see this will be aware of the label. I get angry when I read about well-connected industry insiders writing books on the history of independent record labels, with an inference that it all started with New Hormones or something. I get just as angry at articles which refer to Immediate or Island being the first independent labels in the UK. But then I really have no idea what the first independent label was because independents have been around ever since there were labels.
Melodisc, however, has a pretty unique place in the history of UK independent labels. Hmm, so unique I can’t even see a Wikipedia listing for it. Details of its origins are vague, but the consensus is that it was started in New York by Emil Shalit in the late ‘40s (there are variations of Emil’s name, nationality and the date the label came into being) as the UK arm of his operations. The plan was to license American jazz and blues recordings in the UK, but things developed as opportunities arose to exploit immigrant markets (Caribbean, African, Irish, for example). Jazz musician Jack Chilkes seems to have been in charge of UK operations initially as the label diversified. There doesn’t seem to any doubt about Shalit’s motives. He was an entrepeneur, and willing to exploit any market. But nevertheless his label put out an extraordinary array of music.
Our hero Denis Preston in the early ‘50s used Melodisc as an outlet for his pioneering calypso recordings, and indeed some of his jazz ones including I believe the first Joe Harriott outing. From catering for the Caribbean market Melodisc moved into the African one. There is a fantastic article online, from an old issue of Musical Traditions, by Ray Templeton, which details the African recordings released in the ‘50s by Melodisc, either made in the UK or imported. Intriguingly there was a strong market in Africa for calypso recordings, and this was something else Melodisc got involved in, particularly around the time Ghana won its independence.
It’s hard not to dwell on this, but Melodisc really did put out a mixture of musics that makes you punch the air with glee: folk, country, blues, early rock ‘n’ roll, latin, cuban, TV themes, etc. I guess the label is most famous for its ventures into Jamaican music, with Laurel Aitken, Prince Buster, and the Blue Beat subsidiary. Blue Beat may even be the only case in musical history where a label name has become a description for a particular type of music. There may be many quibbles about its business ethics and the Melodisc way of working, but when you hunt around and look at some of the attempts at discographies that are posted on the web you could almost forgive anything. The Whirlygig ‘50s forum features an extraordinary list of many Melodisc releases, and one of my favourite places on the internet, Tapir’s Reggae Discographies, has great lists featuring a selection of Melodisc singles and LPs.
Among the LPs Tapir lists is a Marie Bryant collection. Marie was a singer/dancer from New Orleans who’d worked with Duke Ellington, and been in Nicholas Ray’s They Live By Night, so it’s easy to see why she was pretty popular with guys like Denis Preston when she came to the UK in the early ‘50s. While in the UK Marie recorded with Humphrey Lyttelton, and made a wonderful record with the Mike McKenzie Quintet of Don’t Touch My Tomato, which features in a passage in Frank Norman’s Stand On Me which I couldn’t resist quoting in Enlightenment! Oddly this record by a New Orleans singer and a group led by a Guyanese pianist which was released on a label (Lyragon), a subsidiary of an independent label started by Petula Clark’s dad (Polygon), came to be considered a classic example of Jamaican mento music. The great Phyllis Dillon later did a great rocksteady version of Don’t Touch My Tomato. Incidentally while in the UK Marie appeared in a West End revue and created a worldwide stir by singing an anti-apartheid song that attacked the South African premier.
It is impossible to mention Marie and not refer to the extraordinary short film, Jammin’ The Blues, directed by Gjon Mili in 1944, capturing the spirit of an after-hours jam session - or as it's described "a midnight symphony". Marie features as a singer and dancer and the film also features Lester Young looking exceptionally cool in his pork pie hat. Well, this whole thing is ridiculously cool and oh so beautiful ...

Enlightenment! - #7

Denis Preston pops up with alarming regularity in Enlightenment!- the current edition of YHO which can be downloaded here. I have to confess it is only recently that it has dawned on me quite what an important role Denis played in the development of British popular music. His name features in so many remarkable stories, and yet it is only when you do a historical patchwork exercise that the true significance of this hits home. So, yeah, there’s plenty of mentions of Denis in Enlightenment!
What is Denis best known for? Probably nowadays as the man who gave Joe Meek his big break as an engineer in the ‘50s, giving him plenty of freedom to experiment with the mixing desk, until Denis’ patience ran out and he sent Joe out into the big wide world. Even that story has a sub-text of Denis as pioneering independent producer setting up his own (Lansdowne) studios in Notting Hill, and what was he doing when he finally ran out of patience with Joe? Making a record with Kenny Graham and Joe Harriott!
Denis’ name also crops up in the essential Honest Jons’ series London Is The Place For Me as the first man to record calypsos in the UK, with the likes of Lord Kitchener, and so on. The more I looked into this, the more I liked Denis. While there are plenty who question his technical abilities as a ‘recording supervisor’ there can be no doubts about his ability to put disparate elements and musicians together to see what happens. The absolutely perfect example of this than the sessions Denis ‘supervised’ where some of Humphrey Lyttelton’s traditionalists played with some of the West Indian jazz players who generally featured on London calypso recordings – and on this astonishing track from 1953 George Brown (Young Tiger) joins in the fun.
Another great example of Denis’ approach is where he got ex-pat US skiffler Johnny Duncan to record an adaptation of a calypso hit Last Train To San Fernando which features a wonderful latin-american guitar solo. Johnny Duncan was initially reluctant, but the net result was what Nik Cohn called the greatest British rock ‘n’ roll record. Denis (with Joe Meek) was pretty important in recording skiffle and trad in the late ‘50s, and other delights including a couple of records with Ramblin’ Jack. But Denis was always a jazz man at heart. And he never really seemed to embrace ‘60s pop culture, though he was involved in some of the cracking theme tunes recorded by his old colleague Laurie Johnson, like the one for The New Avengers.
At the end of the ‘60s Denis Preston supervised the recording of a remarkable Laurie Johnson project, Synthesis, which brought the London Philharmonic Orchestra together with many of the top jazz players of the day. This suite is now available on a terrific (value) triple CD set called The Musical World of Laurie Johnson. Among the players on Synthesis was the great Joe Harriott, who had a close working/recording relationship with Denis Preston from the early ‘50s to his tragic and untimely death in 1973. I have to confess I don’t know how the Fire In His Soul biography portrays the relationship between Denis Preston and Joe Harriott, but I have a very strong sense that the world of British jazz would have been far poorer and infinitely more dull without the presence of these great characters and visionaries. Preston one way and another (and these are only touched on and linked in Enlightenment!) helped in the recordings of talents such as Kenny Wheeler, Don Rendell, Ian Carr, Neil Ardley, and often put the players together with often startling results like the Hum Dono LP from 1969 which featured Joe Harriott with the Indian guitarist Amancio D’Silva, plus the always exceptional Norma Winstone on vocals. A review in Gramophone at the time described it as “an authentic piece of Indian-Caribbean-Occidental jazz! Records such as this prove that our music is still the only truly international folk music, with no language barriers.” Stephano’s Dance from that LP is a particular favourite.
Stan Tracey was another musician Preston was close to, supervising for example the wonderful Under Milk Wood suite. One of Joe Harriott’s final recording sessions was on a Stan Tracey Big Band tribute to Duke Ellington, which wonderfully saw Joe line up alongside Acker Bilk – the modernist and the traditionalist united in a common cause. Denis Preston wrote some glorious liner notes for that set, which are included in Enlightenment! And here you actually get to see Joe Harriott with the Stan Tracey Big Brass ...

Enlightenment! - #6

Kenny Graham features prominently in Enlightenment! - the current edition of YHO which can be downloaded here. He is someone whose name crops up occasionally in specific, discrete histories, but the overlaps are fascinating. Kenny is one of the most important figures in the development of British jazz music, as a saxophonist and as a composer. That national treasure Jonny Trunk has gone some way towards raising Kenny’s profile with the reissue of the fantastic Moondog and Suncat Suites, which features 1956 covers of compositions by the Viking of 6th Avenue and some of Kenny’s own compositions of a glorious homegrown exotica flavour. Trunk have also released a digital single of Kenny’s King’s Cross Climax from the Australian Suite he composed for the Ted Heath Orchestra. You’d be hard pressed to buy much else in the way of Kenny Graham product, except for some great tracks on an essential Sanctuary/Castle boxset of 1950s British jazz called Too Hot!
Kenny Graham is acknowledged as one of the most open-minded of British jazz musicians. His compositions used elements of African, Caribbean and Latin music, and his groups (notably his Afro-Cubists) often featured musicians originally from Africa and the Caribbean. One of Kenny’s most revered recordings is his Caribbean Suite from 1953 (later covered by Harold Vick) which features the gloriously infectious track Bongo Chant, which over the years took on a life of its own and gradually mutated into Bangarang, the early reggae hit made famous by Lester Sterling & Stranger Cole.
Kenny Graham also appears in the Colin MacInnes story, initially when the young writer Terry Taylor introduces his mentor to the sounds of Kenny Graham and his Afro-Cubists. MacInnes and Graham become friends subsequently, and work together on a musical drama which alas never got staged as events conspired against it. Kenny never really had much luck at all, and as ever the music business treated one of its truly gifted sons appallingly. He abandoned his sax, and concentrated more on composition. One of his finest moments came with the score for the 1963 Ken Hughes film, The Small World of Sammy Lee. This film features quite heavily in Enlightenment! and it links to many things, including Anthony Newley who put in such a great performance as Sammy.
One of the best things about the film is the opening title credits, with Kenny’s beautiful score playing as we see the streets of Soho as the working day begins and the camera wends its way down Berwick Street, Greek Street, Old Compton Street, past the restaurants, coffee bars and strip clubs. It’s a setting Kenny was perfectly qualified to compose for ...

Enlightenment! - #5

Colin MacInnes turned out to be pretty central to Enlightenment!- the current edition of YHO which can be downloaded here. I’m not sure what the world thinks of Colin MacInnes nowadays. You couldn’t , for example, borrow a Colin MacInnes book from any of my local libraries even if you wanted to these days. And that’s afore the cuts. Yet it was via my local libraries that I first got to read MacInnes’ London novels, with a little bit of timely prompting from Paul Weller 30-odd years ago. And what a revelation they were. Those, and the England, Half English collection of articles, were really important to me.
That damned Julian Temple film of Absolute Beginners has a lot to answer for, and I suspect MacInnes’ stock fell as a consequence. The last time I saw him mentioned in a positive way was by Val Wilmer who recalled MacInnes’ friendship with the ‘father of modern Nigerian music’ Ambrose Campbell. MacInnes would frequent the Abalabi club in Soho where Campbell’s group was resident, and he was godfather to one of Ambrose’s children.
I am still fascinated how, for whatever reason, MacInnes as a middle-aged man from a pretty privileged background became one of the first and best pop commentators. He captured important moments and expressed brave views in a way that can still delight. His best writing, however, is in Sweet Saturday Night, his late ‘60s examination of the Music Hall tradition, which is slightly ironic for someone whose reputation relied once relied on being at the cutting edge of contemporary pop culture.
Anyone who has stumbled across my London songs project will have noticed how MacInnes’ Sweet Saturday Night and the Music Hall tradition form an important part of the content. The same goes for Enlightenment! where Music Hall is indelibly linked to themes like Unity Theatre, Lionel Bart’s work, early British rock ‘n’ roll, through to Alan Klein and the Small Faces. MacInnes’ genuine affection and enthusiasm for the songs and performers of the Music Hall is infectious, but he makes a good case for the way they created a genuine working class art form.
In Enlightenment! there are a number of mentions of how Colin MacInnes was keen to see British pop songs reflect the times in which he lived. Coincidentally this phrase also crops up in this great Style Council clip, featuring a very droll Paul ‘n’ Mick. The group also performs one of its finest songs, Life At A Top People’s Health Farm, which very appropriately references a number old Music Hall and cockney pop classics, including Alan Klein’s What A Crazy World ...

Enlightenment! - #4

Enlightenment! is the current edition of YHO which can be downloaded here. It seemed important when putting together Enlightenment! to emphasise how cover star Lionel Bart came from a Jewish East End communist background. As a young man he was involved with both Unity Theatre and Theatre Workshop, the two great British theatrical phenomena rooted in left-wing, working class, agit prop and the avant garde. If nothing else it is to be hoped that Enlightenment! encourages readers to seek Colin Chambers’ remarkable story of Unity Theatre and Joan Littlewood’s autobiography which is also a unique perspective on the history of Theatre Workshop. These are among the most inspirational stories in popular culture.

The pre-WW2 roots of these organisations are particularly important, and one of the best sources to read about origins is Theatres of the Left 1880-1935 which traces the story of the Workers’ Theatre Movements in Britain and America. Featured in this book is a fantastic account by Ewan MacColl of growing up in Salford and how he got involved with the theatre, how he met Joan Littlewood, and how their Theatre of Action (the precursor of Theatre Workshop) developed. The narrative is only 50-pages long but it packs an almighty punch, and it remains one of the most inspiring of reads.

I do find Ewan MacColl a fascinating figure. I am aware of all the contradictions, and acknowledge the bloody-mindedness, pig-headedness, and his downright daft dismissals of this-and-that development within pop culture. Nevertheless his story is an incredible one, and I do think he is too often portrayed in far too simplistic and dull a way. Hopefully Enlightenment! highlights some of the more intriguing places where his story intersects with others. And for me one of the prevailing ironies is that for a man who had such contempt for what he saw as shallow, plastic polished pop music, he just happened to create some of the most beautiful and enduring of what can only be called pop songs which have been sung by people right around the world, often in contexts incredibly removed from their original settings.

Ironically I have just started reading a (signed!) copy of Peter Cox's Set Into Song, borrowed with glee from a local drama college's library, which traces the stories behind the Radio Ballads of Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker and Peggy Seeger, and seems to feature accounts by many of the people involved in those incredible productions.