Music on the Web (UK)

Webmaster: Len Mullenger

[ Jazz index ] [Nostalgia index]  [ Classical MusicWeb ] [ Gerard Hoffnung ]

BUY NOW Amazon UK

HARRY GOLD AND HIS PIECES OF EIGHT Bouncing Back Lake LACD 225

1. Bouncing Back
2. Ostrich Walk
3. Look at ‘em Doing It
4. Little Rock Getaway
5. Temptation Blues
6. Panama
7. I Wanna Be Like You
8. Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down
9. Meander in the Minor
10. Honky Tonk Train Blues
11. Birth of the Blues
12. There’ll Be Some Changes Made
13. Dixieland Shuffle
14. Tiger Rag
15. On the Alamo
16. Muskrat Ramble
17. Apex Blues
18. Milneburg Joys
Harry Gold – Tenor and bass saxes
Nick Stevenson – Trumpet
Ron Findon – Clarinet, tenor sax and vocals (tracks1-14)
Randy Colville – Clarinet (tracks 15-18)
Derek Wadsworth – Trombone
Austin Malcolm – Piano (tracks 1-14)
Jack Honeybourne – Piano (tracks 15-18)
Gerry Ingram – Bass
Stan Daly – Drums (tracks 1-14)
Mickey Brooks – Drums (tracks 15-18))

Harry Gold died last November [2005] aged 98 but he was still touring in his nineties and was a part of the British jazz scene for many decades. This album was first released as an LP in 1989, and the CD is filled out with three extra tracks recorded in 1991.

Harry Gold originally formed the Pieces of Eight as a "band within a band" when he was playing for Oscar Rabin’s dance band in the late 1930s. They played as a separate unit from the mid-forties on and off until the 1990s. Their style was Dixieland jazz, with tight arrangements reminding me of the Sid Phillips’ band, which played a similar kind of energetic jazz, mainly performing good old tunes like Muskrat Ramble and Tiger Rag.

The inclusion on this album of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s Ostrich Walk and Look at ‘em Doing It reminds us that Harry saw the ODJB live when they came to the Hammersmith Palais in 1919. Their vigorous playing inspired him, as later did American saxophonist Adrian Rollini, who sold Harry the bass saxophone that became the Gold standard. Harry’s diminutive stature made an interesting contrast with the huge, cumbersome instrument he made his own. He can be heard soloing on such tracks as Bouncing Back and Meander in the Minor (his own compositions) but he generally takes a back seat behind fine players like clarinettist Nick Stevenson and trombonist Derek Wadsworth. Harry’s arrangements give shape to the music, and this album makes a fitting tribute to a British jazz legend.

Tony Augarde

 

Return to Index