Ronnie Scott used to say that the way to stay looking young is to hang out with old guys.  I’m beginning to think he was right, and pictured above are my fellow members of  ‘The St Margarets Embroidery Circle’.  This is an occasional social gathering of like-minded, and it has to be said, very amusing chaps.

Left to right: Robin Gardner, trombonist, saxophonist, and son of  the famous 1930s alto player Freddie Gardner; Eddie Harvey, my predecessor at LCM, now in his 83rd year, and frankly a bloody marvel; Wally Hauser, former solicitor to Ronnie Scott’s and for many years a club director; Dr Mike Hough, trombonist, physicist and all-round good nut who played for many years in ‘Rocket 88’ the band of  the Rolling Stone that never was Ian Stewart; and Jim Trimmer, who’s a very good vocalist and also a humanist who presides at funerals and the like.

This gathering is usually instigated by Ed Harvey ‘sending up a flare’ by text and the meeting begins at 4pm sharp.  It’s funny how we use euphemisms for meetings where alcohol may play a significant part; in my old day job it was known as ‘choir practice’.  I usually leave ‘embroidery’ at around 6pm (funnily enough the same time the take-aways open) with my sides aching from laughter.  It’s a good job I don’t drink or I’d be even worse!

One thing you can’t buy in life is experience and these older guys have it in spades.  Of course, a consequence of that is that they also have a seemingly never-ending stock of funny stories, some of which are so outrageous I’m sure they must be apocryphal.

Ed in particular seems to have an anecdote for every occasion, so you can imagine my delight and excitement when he agreed to let me interview him.  This desire on my part to interview Ed came about partly as a consequence of my post-graduate studies last year and partly as a result of my discovering that one of my acquaintances on the Rhythm and Blues scene is a big cheese at the National Sound Archive.

The interview took place last week, and I was able to record it in glorious 24bit sound.  (The Sound Archive are very fussy about recording quality for reasons of longevity.)  I really hope the NSA takes the recording into its archives so that future generations of musicians can share in Ed’s fascinating reminiscences.  He told me lots of really interesting stuff about his early life and career, including the controversy he courted when he crossed the divide from traditional to modern jazz by joining the Dankworth Seven in the 1950s.

As a result of doing the interview with Ed, I knocked on the door of bass player Peter Ind.  I was very fortunate to find him in as he lives in France most of the time these days.  Peter was my landlord for 8 years and a charming chap he proved to be.  Aside from Lee Konitz, Peter is probably the last surviving link to Lennie Tristano, who is hailed by many as being the first person formally to teach jazz improvisation.  Peter lived in the US all through the 1950s and consequently met and played with many of my idols.  I was thrilled when Peter agreed to an interview, and hope to conduct it this side of Christmas. 

I’ll leave you with a tale concerning Peter and teaching, and which he assures me is true.   In the 1970s, Peter built up a stable of students, and achieved a kind of guru status among his faithful followers.  One day he was addressing a group of his disciples who were seated all round him.  One of their number was a rather brash Glaswegian sax player, whom the other members of the group had dubbed ‘McBebop’.

Peter suggested that an active sex life would result in his students playing better jazz.  “Sex and jazz are both all about self expression,” he explained, “So a good sex life will inevitably be reflected in a good jazz life.”  A silence descended on the group as they marvelled at the sagacity of their guru and digested Peter’s words of wisdom.  A Glaswegian voice eventually broke the silence by enquiring, “Peter, would the same apply for masturbation?”