Rose Room Barber 1982

In a concert in 1982 British clarinettist/saxophonist John Crocker is featured. John is accompanied by the very disciplined rhythm group of Johnny McCallum guitar, Vic Pitt bass and Norman Emberson drums.
Both McCallum and Pitt play solos as well.
I feel that Crocker on clarinet was certainly influenced by my favourite team of New Orleans clarinettists: Omer Simeon, Albert Nicholas and Darnell Howard. Do you agree?

Mary had a little Lamb Barber 1982 Chris Barber and his Jazz and Blues Band

Chris Barber at the height of his popularity is seen and heard in a concert taped for the BBC in 1982.
Cd's and DVD's of this concert are available mostly in Germany. The 97 minute DVD is called "Walking to New Orleans"
Barber's excellent band today is still the leading traditional jazzband in Europe and continuously on tour to the concert halls (http://www.wimwigt.com/tours_barber.html)
In 1982 the band consisted of Chris Barber trombone, Pat Halcox trumpet, Ian Wheeler clarinet/alto, John Crocker clarinet/alto/tenor, Johnny McCallum banjo/guitar, Roger Hill guitar, Vic Pitt bass and Norman Emberson drums

Do what Ory Say Barber Chris

In this fast played traditional tune called Do what Ory say the member's skills are well displayed.

Jambalaya Barber Chris

1986 The band plays Jambalaya with a New Orleans style feel. Here you can hear that the Barber Band always was influenced by the Wilber deParis Band
Chris Barber trombone, Pat Halcox trumpet, Ian Wheeler clarinet and saxes, John Crocker clarinet and saxes, Johnny McCallum banjo and guitar, Roger Hill guitar, Vic Pitt bass and Norman Emberson drums
Chris Barber started his jazzband in 1954 with trumpettist Pat Halcox on his side since the beginning.
This is a recording from his mid period of a concert in Stockholm Sweden in 1986.
In it's 31th year of having worked up te be the most succesful jazz band in Europe. Barber played some 240 concerts a year.
Today, October 2006, I checked Chris' November gigs. 16 concerts in concert halls......and Chris is only 76 years old.

Precious Lord take my Hand Barber Chris 1986

Barber recorded this tune several times in his career. I remember learning to play this tune from a recording probably done around 1958. Wonderful to hear and now see Barber on youtube playing it again some 25 years later.
Chris Barber trombone, Pat Halcox trumpet, Ian Wheeler clarinet and saxes, John Crocker clarinet and saxes, Johnny McCallum banjo and guitar, Roger Hill guitar, Vic Pitt bass and Norman Emberson drums
Chris Barber started his jazzband in 1954 with trumpettist Pat Halcox on his side since the beginning.
This is a recording from his mid period of a concert in Stockholm Sweden in 1986.
In it's 31th year of having worked up te be the most succesful jazz band in Europe. Barber played some 240 concerts a year.
Today, October 2006, I checked Chris' November gigs. 16 concerts in concert halls......and Chris is only 76 years old.

Some of these days Halcox Pat 1986

Pat Halcox is featured in this tune. Pat has a beautiful tone, great ideas. They start in medium tempo and after a chorus pick up the speed. After a great guitar solo by Johnny McCellum, and a mighty piece of bass work by Vic Pitt Pat comes back and I hear that Pat is very much inspired by the improvisations done in earlier years by the Basie trumpetplayer Buck Clayton
Chris Barber trombone, Pat Halcox trumpet, Ian Wheeler clarinet and saxes, John Crocker clarinet and saxes, Johnny McCallum banjo and guitar, Roger Hill guitar, Vic Pitt bass and Norman Emberson drums
Chris Barber started his jazzband in 1954 with trumpettist Pat Halcox on his side since the beginning.
This is a recording from his mid period of a concert in Stockholm Sweden in 1986.
In it's 31th year of having worked up te be the most succesful jazz band in Europe. Barber played some 240 concerts a year.
Today, October 2006, I checked Chris' November gigs. 16 concerts in concert halls......and Chris is only 76 years old.

Isle of Capri Barber Chis 1994

In 1953 Ken Colyer and his Jazzmen recorded several tunes which came out on a 10" Lp called "From London to New Orleans". As a 16 year old and a beginning jazz cornet player I was able to get this LP. with Ken Colyer tpt, Monty Sunshine clt and Chris Barber trombone.
For many of us this was a new style of New Orleans jazz that set a sample and became a standard of how our beloved jazz should be played. Both Ken and Chris's bands had a big influence on my jazz development. Only some 6-8 years later I became familiar with the Eddie Condon Style which gave me an opportunity to look at traditional with a somewhat different view. Once I emmigrated to Canada and eventually landed in the Climax Jazz Band comprised mainly of Brits I got back in the British traditional jazz stream.
Then, I was playing at the 1994 Sacramento Festival and I met drummer Colin Bowden. He told me that he was part of the Chris Barber's 40th Jubilee concert tour, a tour of close to 100 concert hall concerts throughout Europe where Chris would not only feature his much more modern Jazz and Blues Band but also play with his original band, with as many of the original members available.
Shortly after I found this German concert film of one of these performances. You'll see and hear the Chris Barber Band playing "The Isle of Capri" with Chris on trombone, Pat Halcox on trumpet, Monty Sunshine on clarinet, Jim Bray on bass, Johnny McCallum on banjo and Colin Bowden on drums. Nostalgia for them, but certainly for me as well.
Some of you were there at that time in the fifties and sixties, and I think it was a darn good time!

Bobby Shaftoe Barber Chris 1990

In a reunion concert series to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary the Chris Barber Jazz Band plays Bobby Shaftoe, a tune they had recorded in the mid fifties for the first time. Chris had found some of the former members of the band for this set of the concert. Trumpet/cornet player Pat Halcox is still in the band, former members are Monty Sunshine clarinet, Jim Bray bass and Colin Bowden drums.
When I think of my early days of playing in the Netherlands I remember using this Barber arrangement for my own group. Then when I immigrated to Canada in 1966 and joined the Climax Jazz Band in 1971 I introduced this same arrangement there as well. I left Climax some 10 years ago, but I believe the band still plays it, and I'm sure in that same Barber arrangement.

Old Rugged Cross Sunshine Monty 1990

British clarinettist Monty Sunshine plays "Old Rugged Cross" Monty played this first in the fifties when he was with the Chris Barber Jazz Band.
Monty was a follower of the styles of Sidney Bechet and George Lewis. This tune was first recorded in similar setting by George Lewis.
This was recorded during a concert series with the Chris Barber Jazz Band celebrating their 40th anniverary in 1990

Down by the Riverside Patterson Ottilie 1962

Ottilie Patterson in the fifties and sixties was the vocalist of the Chris Barber Band. Ottilie was a school teacher but loved her early jazz and wanted to sing like Bessie Smith and other famous jazz singers from that generation. Chis Barber featured her in his programs and she became very popular. Chris and she became involved and she actually became Mrs Chris Barber.
I don't think there are many films of her singing with the band. This is a clip from this 1962 movie about British traditional jazz. Ottilie sings " Down by the Riverside"

That's a Plenty Bowden Colin/Chris Barber 1990

Colin Bowden - Drums
Colin was born in Hampstead Heath, London in 1932 and lives in Suffolk. He remembers at the age of ten seeing through a village hall window a drummer performing live and feeling that he had discovered Eldorado! Some years later, after conscription service with the RAF he renovated an old drum kit which he had bought from a workmate who was cleaning out an attic. It was late 1952. Colin was collecting Spike Jones records until he heard "Oh, Didn't He Ramble?" and that 78rpm disc by Jelly Roll Morton put him firmly on the jazz trail. Over the years main influences have been Baby Dodds, Big Sid Catlett and Art Blakey along with all the others. He is generally regarded as the finest New Orleans drummer in Europe.
Colin was invited to be part of the 40th Anniversary tour of Chris Barber's Jazz Band. Colin played in this band's concert as it was some 40 years before. Although I believe that Colin then wasn't a member of the band he certainly must have played with them as a substitute. In the sixties and seventies Colin was the permanent drummer of Ken Colyer's Jazzmen.
We see Colin being featured on drums in that particularily interesting Baby Dodds styled approach in the tune "That's a Plenty"

The Saints Barber Chris 1962 

An outside recording of the Chris Barber and his Jazz Band in a 1962 filmclip.
Ottilie Patterson with the vocal and solos of clarinettist Ian Wheeler, Pat Halcox trumpet and of course from Chris on trombone.

Stardust Barber Chris/ Halcox Pat 1990?

A wonderful rendition of Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust done by the Britisch cornetplayer Pat Halcox. Very good close-up camera work make you feel you're standing on stage right next to Pat.
Pat Halcox has been in the Chris Barber Band since the early days in 1954.
Pat was actually reluctant to join the band because he had finished his studies in chemistry and felt he owed it to his parents to stay in that profession, rather than joining a professional jazz band.
Today in January 2007, I just checked their website, Pat Halcox is still playing trumpet in the band and Chris Barber's band is doing 14 concerts in concert halls and theatres this month in the Netherlands and Germany, I think still the most succesfull jazz band in Europe, if not the world.
I've been following Pat's tasteful approach all my music-playing life and although I never met him personally, I learned a lot from him and he has always been a great inspiration.
Congratulations to Pat and his mate Chris who were both born in 1930 and managed to stay on top in their field all their working life!

Royal Garden Blues Barber Chris 1990?

Chris Barber's Jazz Band. I have no info of when or where but it is a recording done in a small place. The members seem to enjoy that closer contact with their audience. Most films I've seen of the Barber band are much more formal in concert halls. There is special attraction for many musicians to play in smaller places where eye contact and audience warmth creates a different inspiration. Also as a band standing closer together, and not being distracted by sound engineers, who usually have a different opinion how the band should sound, brings surprising new ideas to the creative mind. There is a very nice clarinet solo by Ian Wheeler, one of my favourite clarinet players.

Man I love The Barber Chris 1988

Isn't it wonderful to see such a high caliber band play in an intimate setting such as a jazz club. The fellows in the band must enjoy this as well because they usually perform in large concert halls. (I checked their January 2007 schedule and their 17 gigs are mainly done in big halls). Probably this is only happening in Germany where the jazz fans are still willing to pay a generous sum in order to spent an evening witnessing a Chris Barber concert in such a close-up and therefore unique environment.
The band plays Gershwin's "The Man I Love" in a nice relaxed arrangement. Actually hardly an arrangement. They all just play well.
Excellent solos by John Crocker on tenor sax, Pat Halcox on what looks like a Getzen cornet, Ian Wheeler on clarinet and finally Chris Barber himself on the trombone.

If you are a collector of early jazz you probably heard this tune by the New Orleans Wanderers recorded in 1926 . Check it out on that excellent website of jazz before 1930.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/
There will be a sound track of Perdido Street Blues with clarinettist Johnny Dodds.
Many jazz bands are playing this tune still today and it has been one of my favourite blues tunes. I played it for years with our Climax Jazz Band.
Chis Barber has given the tune a different twist, by changing the rhythm pattern. I very much like their interpretation of this classic.