The Chris Barber Big Band

He's 78 years old and still going strong. That's how it is with Chris Barber, leading a band with the same enthusiasm as he did more than 50 years ago.

The Camberley Theatre, in Camberley, Surrey, held a large audience on June 6 for the concert by his Big Band, featuring the variety of jazz and blues for which he has become popular world-wide. There was some rhythm-and-blues, featuring John Slaughter on guitar, some vocals by Barber and trumpeter Pat Halcox ("Bourbon Street Parade," "The Saints"), three jazz band titles, including a feature for clarinetist Mike Snelling ("Wild Cat Blues"), a touch of Miles Davis (a well-devised "All Blues") and, best of all, reworkings of seven Duke Ellington classics (including "Jungle Nights In Harlem," "Jubilee Stomp," "Black and Tan Fantasy," "Hot and Bothered" and "Merry-Go-Round").

The band has lost its Ellington specialist, trombonist Bob Hunt, but as a replacement has acquired another first-class musician, John Service. Mike Henry is the powerful lead trumpet, with Pat Halcox adding his own individual solos as he has done with Barber for over five decades. Dave Green, a stalwart of the Humphrey Lyttelton band for many years and perhaps better known for more modern activities, is now the regular bassist with the band.

This 11-piece band (two trumpets, two trombones, three reeds, two guitars/banjos, bass and drums) is first-rate. It is well-rehearsed, has strong section work, and fine soloists, A good noise indeed!

Campbell Burnap: A Memoir

In February 1974 trumpeter Alan Elsdon's band, with Campbell Burnap on trombone and Ron Drake on clarinet and tenor, played a gig in darkest Hertfordshire, and I remember being impressed that Campbell's feature with the band was "I'm Gonna Stomp Mr. Henry Lee," an immediate statement of his regard for Jack Teagarden. I encountered him in the interval, and he was very approachable, saying he had no idea who "Mr. Henry Lee" might be! He confirmed he had been with the Elsdon band for three years. His friendship with Ron Drake was to continue thereafter until Campbell's recent death.

After another Elsdon session in July 1975 it was seven years before I saw him again, in October 1982 when he subbed for George Masso in the Lawson-Haggart Jazz Band on their U.K. tour, followed by a Five-A-Slide date. The latter was an all-star trombone quintet also featuring Roy Williams, John Beecham, Pete Strange and Jim Shepherd. Through much of the 1980s he was with the Acker Bilk band, then it was into the 1990s, where I heard him with the 100 Club All Stars (with Ron Drake, of course), and four occasions between 1997 and 2002 when he and Ron Drake provided a most suitable accompaniment for Marty Grosz

In 1991 Campbell recorded for drummer John Petters' own label, CMJ, as one of the Legends of British Trad All Stars, though he was not too happy with the outcome. Subsequently he often appeared at Petters' three-day jazz promotions, both playing and giving a lecture. Between 1996 and 2005 his own band, always including Ron Drake, appeared every June at a charity event held at the Hilton Hotel in Wokingham, when a large audience would enjoy a picnic and the music, beguiled by Campbell's presentation. In recent years he was also chosen by the National Jazz Archive to interview celebrity guests at the library's annual open days.

Although his main adherence was to Jack Teagarden, Campbell Burnap had other influences, including Vic Dickenson, and he would sometimes feature a version of "Constantly," played a la Dickenson. Manfred Selchow's biography of Dickenson, Ding! Ding! contains Campbell's thoughtful tribute to that master, as well as the story he liked to tell about not knowing what was meant when told that Vic had gone to his car "for a smoke."

In addition to his recordings with Acker Bilk, Five-A-Slide, Pete Allen, and Wally Fawkes, Campbell arranged a recording of his Quintet, featuring Ron Drake, in 1997. This resulted in the CD, Night Workers (Mainstem MCD 0010), which well demonstrates the abilities of both front-line musicians. Accompanied by piano, bass and drums, they work their way through a program far removed from the usual dixieland repertoire, including Charlie Parker's "My Little Suede Shoes," Sonny Rollins' "St. Thomas" and Thelonious Monk's "Blue Monk." Campbell plays and sings, complete with verse, "When Your Lover Has Gone" and, unafraid to step forward, he solos on "If I Were A Bell," accompanied by just Tony Barnard on guitar. The whole CD, which also includes trumpeter Bob Barnard on three tracks, is a commendable example of Campbell's winning and tasteful style, instrumentally and vocally.

We will miss him.

July 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.