Saturday, May 10, 2008

An evening with Chris Barber

I've loved Chris Barber's band since I was a child and Lonnie Donegan was in the line-up. The band has changed many times over the years but a few of the original players are still strutting their stuff - just about! Chris Barber is now 78 years old and looking rather frail but he obviously still enjoys performing and he can still sing! The concert opened with Bourbon Street; here's a version from about 20 years ago.

7 comments:

  1. Foot-stompin' stuff, M! Hope you had a really good evening out with Chris.

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  2. Goodness, That brings back a few memories!

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  3. Crinny, Did you ever go out to Botley to the pub with the barn (was it the Bugle?) for the jazz nights? I saw a few of my favourites, including Chris Barber and Acker Bilk back in the student days.

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  4. Takes me right back to being 15 and sneaking off with my friend Linda (another convent girl) to Osterley Jazz Club on a Friday night and meeting older friends who were - beatniks! (Remember them?) We all wore black and lots of heavy eye make-up and stomped the night away.

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  5. Last night proved the stomping days are not over yet, D! There were probably more zimmer frames than black sweaters among the audience but there was an awful lot of clapping and foot tapping.

    My secret unfulfilled ambition from those days - to plat banjo in a jazz group. Sh, don't tell anyone!

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  6. No M. I'm afraid I never really got further than 'The Bedford' during the student days. I think I can cap D though. In my convent-school 6th form the trick was to bum off to The Cavern to watch The Beatles etc do their lunch-time sessions - until someone snitched and we were ordered to the head's office and given a lecture warning us of the dangers of visiting 'dens of iniquity' and dancing to music that was... I can't really repeat that bit as it would now be considered not just politically incorrect but positively illegal! What fun it all was.

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