julian_craster

Jazz musicians in British films...

Can you identify any of the following musicians from 'Kenny Baker's Dozen' in the 1954 Hammer film FACE THE MUSIC. There are 8 stills in this folder:


Picasa Web Albums - Edward - Face the Musi...

penfold

Impossible I know, but the drummer looks worryingly like Mickey Dolenz!!

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

dylan

Don Lawson on drums.

D.

essaljay

The only one i recognise is Don Lawson. Drummers fro that period usually put there own initials on thier drums rather than the name of the band, but I don't understand why he's sitting on a piano stool?

clitheroekid

Frustrated pianist?

Moor Larkin

I've noticed 'Bakers Dozen' albums seem to be available on CD etc.. Presumably the band members would be listed on these? I must admit those fellows on your picture look more like a swing band than a jazz band........ but it was all a bit before my time........

[code]http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487363@N02/sets/72157606700675506/code]

essaljay

without looking I would have said Don Lusher on trombone, but looking at the pictures you can't see any of the trombones.

Tom Bancroft

One picture does show a trombonist in the background (top right) and it does look like Don Lusher. Check shirted pianist is Paul Carpenter (or does everyone know that already?!).

"I want to be a sailor - sailing out to sea"

Eddie

The folloing is taken from my book "The Magnificent Eric Delaney" (Upfront Publishing - available through Amazon)"You may have guessed by now that Baker dubbed the playing for Nicol and that Eric was the drummer for the music which the famous Kenny Baker Dozen provided. The rest involved were: Tommy McQuater, Alan Franks, Stan Roderick, Derek Abbott (trumpets), Don Lusher, George Chisholm (trombones), Harry Hayes, Bill Jackman, Keith Bird, E.O. Podgson, Harry Klein (reeds), Stan Tracey (piano) and Joe Muddel (bass). "

This information was taken from a then contemporary issue of Melody Maker which also gives a picture of the soundtrack recording session. Other musicians were clearly involved in other scenes and some may not have appeared for contractual reaons (Delaney is not seen). All these musicians recorded with Kenny Baker on numerous occasions.

Hope this is some help.

Eddie

Additional comment: The baritone sax player in the Picasa Web Album must be Harry Klein (another familiar KB Dozen regular). To me , this indicates that the musicians involved in the soundtrack were not always the same ones used on screen or that two sets were used with some of the musicians participating in both roles. I do have the film under it's American title and the next time I meet up with Eric Delaney I will see if he can identify any (Stan Roderick, Don Lusher and Harry Hayes were all great friends of Eric).

Eddie

Further to my last post, I showed some parts of the film on DVD to Eric Delaney when he visited yesterday. He recognised Joe Muddell on string bass and Harry Klein on baritone sax from an early scene in the film. Apart from Kenny Baker, he could not place any of the others. The Baker Dozen was a flexible group of musicians and thus varied from gig to gig. Constraints of time did not allow a full viewing (next visiti hopefully) but Eric made some valid points:
1) Contractual obligations often prevented musicians from appearing or playing or even being mentioned elsewhere (example see THE MAGNIFICENT ERIC DELANEY book re John Dankworth's "Experiments With Mice")
2) Union rules often presented prohibitions (ie an actor had to play on stage or screen even though a musician played on the soundtrack (Musicians Unions vs Equity!!)

Hope this takes things a little further forward.