FLANNELLED STOMPIN' FOOLS - Part Two



Frank Parr, Ray Smith & THE AUTHOR MATTHEW WRIGHT watch the cricket, Ravers CC reunion match 2004

The links between cricket and jazz are not obvious although both have common elements – technical expertise and skill in playing, interaction with fellow players and response to their contributions, plus the opportunity for individual expression and improvisation within a structured context. In issue number 3 (1982) of the music magazine Collusion, pianist & saxophonist Jez Parfett extolled the virtues of the cricketer Kumar “Prince” Ranjitsinhji, making this connection. Writer Neville Cardus described the batting of George Gunn (1879-1958) as classic elements mixed with modernity and unorthodox improvisations, like “Louis Armstrong playing in the Philharmonic Orchestra while a symphony by Mozart was being performed.” Writing for the Manchester Guardian in the 1920s, he saw Cecil Parkin (1886-1943) as “the first jazz cricketer – his slow ball was syncopation in flight.” More recently, Antiguan activist and journalist Tim Hector wrote that West Indian batsmen Gary Sobers and Rohan Kanhai “embodied what can really be termed the satyric passion for the expression of the natural man, bursting through the restraints of disciplined necessity. Both showed the creativity of the great Jazz musicians in their marvellous improvisations.” Hector regarded improvisation in Jazz as the innovation in 20th century music.

There is a history of many taking an interest in both, one of the first being Maurice Allom, who as a student played cricket for Cambridge University, from 1926 to 1928, and during this time played clarinet and saxophone with Fred Elizalde and his ‘Varsity Band, making several recordings in 1927, although the jazz content was limited. A better cricketer than saxophonist, Allom played regularly for Surrey and became the first bowler to take a hat trick (three wickets in three successive balls) for England on Test debut, against New Zealand in 1930, and in fact took four wickets in five deliveries – the first instance of this happening in a Test match. He later went on to become President of the M.C.C.

Another cricket-playing Cambridge undergraduate (albeit briefly) was Patrick “Spike” Hughes, who played for minor counties team Cambridgeshire in 1926 and whose band the Decca-Dents included clarinettist and saxophonist Harry Hines, later to umpire charity cricket matches. As a successful musician, Hughes introduced American jazz musicians to his band, notably Jimmy Dorsey, before moving to the US, where he stayed with music critic and producer John Hammond and recorded as Spike Hughes and his All American Orchestra; Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Red Allen and Dicky Wells amongst its members. Hughes stopped performing in the 30s, but wrote as “Mike” for the Melody Maker, during which he continued to play cricket for club sides and charity matches for the Lords Taverners. “One of my proudest cricketing moments is of capturing the wickets of both Flanagan and Allen in one innings. This is undoubtedly a record.”

The first apparent link between jazz and West Indian cricket began in 1923 with a gathering of a group in London known as the ‘Coterie of Friends’. Founded in 1919 by American clarinettist and composer Edmund Jenkins, its purpose was to create “a social vehicle whereby the much isolated population of serious minded people of colour may come into contact at frequent intervals.” (Coterie of Friends programme notes.) Sunday 13th May 1923 saw a Social Evening at the Adelphi Hotel, London in which the guests of honour included the singer Florence Mills and pianist James P. Johnson, an eminent and influential figure in early jazz, who were in London for an extended period in the Afro-American Plantation Revues. Johnson’s orchestra (with future Duke Ellington bassist Wellman Braud) had “kindly taken charge of the Musical Programme.” Also as guests of honour were members of the West Indian Cricket Team, who had arrived in late April and included the young Learie Constantine.

Original programme courtesy of Howard Rye

In the 1930s, Jigs Club, run by Alec and Rose Ward and George “Happy” Blake in Soho’s Wardour Street, served as a sports and social club for the Afro-Caribbean community as well as a music venue. Its visitors included Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway and others. In 1933 the British West Indies Cricket Club players were met on their arrival at Tilbury by members of the club, invited to dinner, “in honour of their visit” according to an entry in the day book, and made honorary members, as was Duke Ellington and his band, during the extent of their stay in the country. The Ellington Orchestra recorded four sides for Decca at the Chenil Galleries, Chelsea in the July of that year (“Hyde Park”; “Harlem Speaks”; “Ain’t Misbehavin’”; “Chicago”).

The West Indian team included Jamaican batsman George Headley, one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year for 1934 and Trinidadian Clifford Roach, whose 180 against Surrey in 170 minutes was described by Wisden as the most dazzling innings on the tour, Roach scoring a century before lunch. Bandleader Sam Manning, in the country at the time, and bassist Al Jennings, both from Trinidad, would no doubt have been interested in the team’s progress, as would trumpeter Leslie Thompson, who was a leading figure in London’s Caribbean jazz community and a cricket enthusiast.

Later, Trinidadians Carl Barriteau, George Roberts, Dave “Baba” Williams and Dave Wilkins, were all recruited into the Thompson/Ken “Snakehips” Johnson’s band. According to writer Val Wilmer, Wilkins was particularly interested in cricket, both watching and playing. Jigs Club also had its own cricket team, which played against bandleader Harry Roy’s Xl that year, though minutes of the meeting stipulated that it had to be “members of the Musicians’ Union only.” A letter of welcome was again sent to the West Indian Cricket Team for their tour of 1939, during which Calypso and Other West Indian Music, presented by Johnson, was broadcast on BBC London regional service. A regular at Jigs around this time was the Trinidadian trumpeter and younger brother of George, Cyril Blake, who recorded “Cyril’s Blues” (Regal Zonophone MR 3597) with Laurence Caton on guitar, live at the club on 12th December 1941.  

When Al Jennings travelled to Port of Spain in 1945 to recruit musicians for his Caribbean All-Star Orchestra, he returned to London with trumpeter Wilfred “Pankey” Alleyne. After several years playing in Europe, including a residency on the French Riviera and working in Mayfair clubs with pianist Clarie Wears and Tito Burns, Alleyne lost his job, as a result of his passion for cricket. After a game overran, he turned up late for a gig still in his whites to be told by the management, “Don’t bother to get changed.” He had played for the London West Indian Team as well as clarinettist and bandleader Sid Phillips’ Xl, and decided to follow the example of fellow Trinidadian Learie Constantine into professional club cricket, by joining Fleetwood in the Ribbledale League, in 1950. According to Wisden, “he proved entertaining with bat, ball and (in the bar afterwards) trumpet.” Heart trouble eventually forced him to give up the trumpet but continued playing amateur cricket until he was 66.

Calypso was to gain great popularity, especially after West Indies’ victory at Lords in 1950, and much has been written about the connection between the music and the sport. However, it made reference to jazz in Lord Kitchener’s “Kitch’s Bebop Calypso”, (Melodisc 1162) which mentions Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. Producer Denis Preston used a more varied musical combination from the usual calypso instrumentation, including the Jamaicans Bertie King (clarinet / alto-saxophone), Clinton Maxwell (drums), Freddy Grant (clarinet / tenor-saxophone), Neville Boucarut (string bass), Fitzory Coleman (guitar) and the Guyanese pianist Mike McKenzie. Like Grant, both King and Maxwell had participated in the pre-war black music scene in London, the latter two having played together in Jamaica before migrating to Britain.

In his book Jazz in Revolution (1998), John Dankworth wrote that amongst his contemporaries at school was Doug Insole, later of Essex and England and author of Cricket Notes for Jazz Express, the Pizza Express in-house magazine. Dankworth frequently visited Lords to watch Middlesex, sharing this interest with other members of his band, notably bassist Joe Mudele. When arriving at Lords to see England play West Indies, and seeing the ‘House Full’ notice, Mudele singled out a block of flats flanking the ground, marched up several flights of stairs and knocked on a random door, saying “Sorry to bother you, but we’ve come to see the cricket and the ground is full. Could we watch from your window?”

“I marvelled with some embarrassment at Joe’s impudence” recalled Dankworth. “We all trooped in to a sea of welcoming faces and we spent the whole of that day – and the next – enjoying a grandstand view of the action.”

A contemporary of Dankworth, the saxophonist, writer and broadcaster Benny Green, also wrote about cricket, editing the Wisden Anthologies, summaries of the famous cricket annual. Another musician to play with Dankworth was Guyanese singer and percussionist Frank Holder, a keen cricketer who played for Vic Lewis’ Celebrity teams and for the Ravers C.C.

Vic Lewis was regarded by some for his braggadocio – but his stories often turned out to be true. His father, a spin bowler for Kent 2nd team, gave his son an interest from an early age. After forming his Swing String Quartet in 1935, working with Carlo Krahmer, George Shearing and even Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli on one of their London visits, guitarist Lewis visited Leonard Feather in New York, who he knew from the No.1 Rhythm Club in London. Through Feather he met and played with Joe Marsala, Buddy Rich and Joe Bushkin at the Hickory House, as well as guesting at clubs with Pee Wee Russell, George Wettling, Sidney Bechet, Zutty Singleton and Wellman Braud, and sitting in with Tommy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden and Louis Armstrong. On his return to London he formed the Vic Lewis Orchestra, playing at the Paris Festival of Jazz in 1949 on the same bill as Gillespie, Parker and Davis. His band included Kathy Stobart, Ronnie Chamberlain and Hank Shaw. Heavily influenced by Stan Kenton and Gerry Mulligan, he recorded Music for Moderns in 1950 and employed many of the young British musicians during that decade. On the album Mulligan’s Music (1954) arrangements were adhered to, but soloists given the opportunity to express themselves, notably trombonist Johnny Watson and the young Tubby Hayes, whose baritone solo on “Bark For Barksdale” is an indication of things to come, when he would build solos like a batsman compiling an extended innings. Lewis also founded the Vic Lewis Cricket Club, which featured showbiz celebrities and cricketers and raised money for several charities. One of his teams that played against the Ravers included Bernard Bresslaw, Roy Castle, Ronnie Carroll and DJ Pete Murray.

Gerald Lascelles(jazz enthusiast and cousin of the Queen!), Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, DJ Pete Murray and trumpeter Mick Mulligan, uncharacteristically with a cup of tea)

As an agent and manager, Lewis was known to take visiting artists to matches –a photo in Lewis’ book Music & Maiden Overs shows Gerry Mulligan and actress Sandy Dennis at Mill Hill cricket ground and Nat King Cole’s visit to Lord’s was accompanied by the singer being presented with a cricket ball by West Indian captain Frank Worrell.

TO BE CONCLUDED……………………………………….