Humphrey Lyttelton Band
1. In Swinger
2. Toot'n in Kamen
3. Talk Of The Town
4. One for Buck
5. Harry Looyah
6. St Louis Blues
7. The New Bad Penny Blues
8. Georgia Man
Terry Lightfoot Band
9. Barnyard Blues
10. Happy Bird Shuffle
11. Twelfth Street Rag
12. Sentimental Journey
13. Dippermouth Blues
14. That's a Plenty
When Humphrey Lyttelton died
earlier this year, many of the obituaries
concentrated on his chairing of the BBC comedy
panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
Humph certainly showed his comic timing on
this long-running show, but jazz fans remember
him more as the trumpet-playing leader of
his own jazz group for many years and as the
presenter of The Best of Jazz on the
BBC's Radio 2. Humph's band and radio programme
must have introduced many people to jazz,
and he is rightly celebrated for his contribution
to the music.
The Lyttelton band tracks
on this budget-priced CD were recorded in
1974, when the band's personnel probably included
altoist Bruce Turner, saxist Kathy Stobart,
pianist Mick Pyne and bassist Dave Green -
although the sleeve-note regrettably lists
no personnel details. Humphrey Lyttelton started
his career as a jazz musician playing revivalist
jazz but by this time his band was a mainstream
unit. My father used to say that Humph's playing
worked its way through jazz history, as he
developed from revivalist through trad to
mainstream and even hints of modern jazz.
Humph's band at this period
sounded very like the small mainstream groups
which Humph admired, with well-crafted arrangements
enclosing adventurous solos. Lyttelton wasn't
the world's greatest trumpeter (although his
idol, Louis Armstrong, called him "Britain's
top trumpet man") but he played with fair
technique and sincere enthusiasm - and he
had a talent for picking excellent musicians
for his bands.
Lyttelton was not only a
good trumpeter and bandleader: he was also
a worthwhile composer, and he wrote five of
the eight tunes on this album, including The
New Bad Penny Blues - which followed his
only chart hit, Bad Penny Blues from
1954 - and which is almost indistinguishable
from the earlier tune.
The album cover may give
the impression that Humph's group is playing
with Terry Lightfoot's band, but the latter
is heard in six separate tracks, presumably
included to bulk out the album. The Lightfoot
tracks were recorded in 1976 - some years
after he became famous as part of the Trad
Boom of the late fifties and early sixties.
Clarinettist Terry Lightfoot had formed his
first band in 1955 but left the music business
for periods to be a pub landlord, although
he kept returning with new groups playing
in trad style.
The Lightfoot tracks are
very much in that trad mode, including old
warhorses like Dippermouth Blues and
That's a Plenty. But there is also
an attractive feature written for Terry's
own clarinet: Happy Bird Shuffle, as
well as a gently loping Sentimental Journey.
At budget price, this CD
provides a timely tribute to Humphrey Lyttelton.
Incidentally, the tracks are listed in the
right order on the inner sleeve but in the
wrong order on the rear sleeve.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Forum
FRC 6130
