60 years of Jazz

For nearly 60 years jazz has been an important part of my life. It started in the early 1960s with my first Chris Barber LP. Since then, through records, radio and TV, plus occasional trips to pubs, clubs and concert halls, I have broadened and deepened my interest in the music. My philosophy is that any jazz, vintage or modern, is worthy of consideration. Good jazz is good jazz.

This website presents writings and commentary on a number of aspects of my interaction with the jazz world:

Reg Rigden

An article based on an interview in 1989 with Reg Rigden, trumpeter with pioneering “revivalist” jazz band George Webb’s Dixielanders.

Cambridge University Jazz Club

A piece of current research on the history of the Cambridge University Jazz Club which was in operation from the 1940s to 1977. This is an ongoing project that will be uploading in sections as they are completed.

I am particularly interested to hear from people involved with the club who would like to share their memories.

The first instalment covering the 1950s has now been posted.

jazzman, 2021

5 thoughts on “60 years of Jazz”

  1. Hi, following with interest. I am doing research into Bill Oddie’s musical career and know he was into jazz at Cambridge (1960-63).

    1. Hi Sally

      Interested to hear from you. There was considerable cross fertilisation between Footlights and the Jazz Club with many of the better club players either playing in Footlights bands or acting as Musical Directors. Unfortunately, 1960-63 is a period with a particular lack of records but I will keep an eye open for any material which might help you. Have you come across material which refers to Bill’s involvement with jazz at Cambridge?

      Thanks

      Philip Etherington

      1. Thanks for your reply, Philip. Jonathan Lynn, in his excellent book ‘Comedy Rules’, writes that he had often seen Bill Oddie, ‘a jazz enthusiast’, ‘lurking shyly in dark corners in the Jazz Club’ before they were introduced to each other by Eric Idle. Lynn was at first a musician but then became a performer in ‘Cambridge Circus’ (1963). Bill had a letter published in Jazz News on 25th July 1962, so you can see he took a keen interest: his dad used to buy him trad jazz gramophone records, too. It obviously sank in, because Bill presented a programme on JazzFM in the early 1990s and won Celebrity Mastermind in 2003 with the specialist subject of American Jazz. Young Oddie wouldn’t have been playing or singing at the Cambridge Jazz Club; just listening, I think. He’d been in the school skiffle band (washboard) and played harmonica – also wrote an entire school review. However, he felt out of place and shy at university, until he found his voice again in the Footlights. It seems the Jazz Club might have been an important part of that process. Oh, and I don’t suppose you know how I could check whether Oddie was one of the founder members of the Twisted Wheel club, please?

      2. Bill Oddie was a keen saxophonist but a bit shy about playing. He did feature splendidly on drums on the footlights number “I Wanna Hold Your Handel”, (George Frederick’s Hallelujah Chorus meets The Beatles), which Eric Idle and I wrote for the 1964 Footlights Show.

  2. A group of us from the Idle Hour Jazz Band did a harmonised vocal version of Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out at Footlights including myself, Russell (Dai) Davies, Robert Orledge and others, with Trevor Stent on bass clarinet, Rod Neame on bass and George Walker on guitar. Julie Covington was on the same bill. 1967 I think…

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