The Last Music Podcast

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Join us as we revisit this fine interview from 2011 with Trombonist/bandleader Chris Barber, who has just announced his permanent retirement from full-time music after leading his internationally popular band since 1954.

Born in Welwyn, Hertfordshire in 1930, Barber became an avid collector of jazz and blues records before buying his first trombone at age 18 and forming a semi-professional band in 1949 when he recorded for the first time. He studied trombone and double-bass at the Guildhall School of Music and assembled his first professional band in 1953, fronted by trumpeter Ken Colyer. Colyer was replaced by Pat Halcox in 1954 who remained with Barber for 54 years. His small group initially played in jazz clubs but by the late 50s became an attraction in large concert halls throughout the UK and Europe. Barber’s Jazz Band first toured the USA in 1959 after having a million-selling hit with "Petite Fleur" that year, featuring clarinetist Monty Sunshine. He also featured a skiffle group with singer/guitarist Lonnie Donegan, which led to a national craze for such blues-based music. The powerful blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who later married Chris, starred with his band for 20 years.
It was Barber's passion for Afro-American music that inspired him to bring many American blues and gospel legends to Britain to appear with his band, including Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters, Louis Jordan, Sonny Boy Williamson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Together with his business partner Harold Pendleton, Chris opened the celebrated Marquee Club in London in 1958 where many British blues performers were first showcased including Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated and The Rolling Stones.
Rolling Stone Bill Wyman notes, " If it had not been for Chris Barber I don’t see how the 1960s bands would have ever happened in the UK. Apart from his own successful Trad Jazz Band, & the talent he had for bringing over to England a multitude of blues artists over the years - he created a section during his shows to play Skiffle music. Together with Lonnie Donegan they created hit records from this music that inspired a multitude of young people to pick up guitars. This included myself, Mick Jagger, the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who, and many others, who began their careers in small skiffle bands. As Donegan moved on to solo success, Chris then added Alexis Korner to his shows to play a blues segment. This inspired Brian Jones to form the Rolling Stones band & play blues music, together with other up & coming blues-inspired musicians. Chris Barber is entitled to be named the founder of the British music scene of the 1960s."

Over the years Barber successfully developed his Jazz and Blues Band and, due to his love of Duke Ellington’s music, in recent times he augmented his personnel and renamed it The Big Chris Barber Band featuring many talented young musicians, bringing a new lease of life to his music and touring widely. The band recorded prolifically over the years in its many forms with numerous special guests. Barber was awarded the OBE in 1991. His autobiography "Jazz Me Blues," co-written with Alyn Shipton, appeared in 2014. The double album “Memories of My Trip” featuring his career-spanning collaborations with other jazz, blues, skiffle and gospel luminaries was re-issued by the Last Music Company on October 4th, 2019.
The limited edition 4-CD compendium, “A Trailblazer’s Legacy” was issued in 2021. Chris sadly passed just prior to its release.

To learn more about Chris Barber, visit www.ChrisBarber.net
Find the album "Memories of My Trip" here: https://lnk.to/ilxoeMtaFind “A

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In this fifty minute podcast, Watkins details how he, Robin McKidd and Gary Rickard formed the basis of the band that stormed the London pub scene of the 80s once they were joined by Arthur Kitchener and Kieran O’Connor.
He tells of how Arthur funded the recording of the first album from a Thatcher hand-out and relates stories around the recording of the other four albums.
Along with his recollections of “crackling” times on the road with the various incarnations of the band, the podcast contains music from each of the five records they released.
In his own words, The Balham Alligators were ‘Never mediocre, we were either brilliant or bad’.
As a companion piece, you can LISTEN to a 44-track compilation of The Balham Alligators' recordings here....and;
READ MORE about their story at our website here.

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In this episode, Malcolm Mills sits down with the Titan of the Telecaster to talk about the new Lost Planet Airmen album, "Back From The Ozone," his fall tour, and what's on the horizon.

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Like many emerging artists, Hannah White has self-released several albums. But since "Car Crash" won the coveted Song of the Year Award at the Americana UK Awards earlier this year, things have gone up a gear.
Her newest album, SWEET REVOLUTION, is out November 3rd, Worldwide, in digital, CD and LP formats.
Malcolm Mills sits down with Hannah, on the heels of her Norway appearances in this short podcast to talk about the album.
You can find the album for pre-order or pre-save here: Sweet Revolution (lnk.to)

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Perhaps the first thing one notices when listening to the Hot Club of Cowtown is its lack of irony, self-consciousness and forced hipness in embracing a style of music that so easily lends itself to such things...Stylistically, the band steps out from the shadow of its influences to become more than a faithful retro band that likes to raise its tempo every now and then. It’s writing more of its own songs and varying its delivery... conscious always that above all else, the music is for dancing and an old-fashioned good time. ~ Neil Strauss, New York TimesIn this podcast, Elana James and Whit Smith talk about the making of What Makes Bob Holler back in 2010, while listening to it for the first time on vinyl. The Hot Club of Cowtown celebrates 25 years in 2022.
Check out "Side 2" here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/605989/9854621

To order or stream "What Makes Bob Holler," click here: https://smarturl.it/bobholler
For more information, visit https://www.lastmusic.co.uk
You can find The Hot Club of Cowtown's upcoming tour dates and other news at http://www.hotclubofcowtown.com.