THE MIKE COTTON JAZZMEN
Sensation Rag
Savoy Blues
Sittin’ In The Sun
Senora
Colonel’s Tune
Ain’t Misbehavin’
Sidewalk Blues
African Twist
ALAN ELSDON & HIS BAND
The Day The Earth Caught Fire
Willie The Weeper
We’re A Couple Of Swells
BERYL BRYDEN
Casey Jones
Kansas City Blues
Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer
GERRY BROWN’S JAZZMEN
Eccentric
I’m Coming Virginia
That Da Da Strain
Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down
AVON CITIES JAZZ BAND
Hawaiian War Chant
For Me & My Girl
Jump For Joy
King Porter Stomp
FORRIE CAIRNS & THE CLANSMEN
Home Cookin’
Little Sir Echo
JIM McHARG & HIS SCOTSVILLE JAZZ BAND
Look For A Sky Of Blue
Once In A Blue Moon
Forgotten Dreams
Recorded 1956-62
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We’ve now reached volume five in this excellent series and its rubric defines its limits – the Second Line bands that won important record contracts but
sat beneath the Big Boys in the popularity stakes. There are six bands featured as well as singer Beryl Bryden, a larger-than-life presence on the scene
who appears with Monty Sunshine’s Band and as a member of ‘Backroom Skiffle’, wielding her washboard with characteristic venom.
The largest representation is accorded the youthful Mile Cotton Jazzmen, one of the youngest professional bands on the circuit at the time of their
recordings, 1961-62. Arrangements are tight, sometimes bristling, solos are punchy, and there is an exuberance to their sides that remains engaging.
Certainly they’d been listening to their confreres, such as Barber and also Sandy Brown, whose African Twist features a booting trombone solo from
the ever-excellent John Beecham. The groovy side of 60s life can be glimpsed in Alan Elsdon’s The Day The Earth Caught Fire only released in the
USA by Decca – perhaps British sensibilities were thought too weak? Much better, and more representative of Elsdon’s band, is Willie The Weeper in
which John Barnes dons his New Orleans get-up and plays splendidly. There’s too much studio echo effect in a couple of the Bryden sides but solid Blues can
be heard as well as that skiffle track with Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies, no less, from November 1956.
There’s a touch of the Alex Welsh band about Gerry Brown’s Jazzmen except when Ray Lewitt selected the tuba ahead of the double bass. Otherwise it’s an
impressive showing all-round. The Avon Cities Jazz band always put on a fine performance and their quartet of numbers – the earliest in the disc, dating
from October 1956 – reinforce the point. It’s interesting to hear John Critchinson joining the band in the sole 1960 track. Of Florrie Cairns we shall say
no more, except it’s a slice of the times. Jim McHarg and his Scotsville Jazz Band also mine the lighter end of things, though not quite so light as
Cairns. They too are a necessary part of the spectrum of Second Line bands, and it wouldn’t be representative to omit them. Splendid production values
include typically excellent engineering and notes and artwork. Volume six next.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
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