Sylvie's Place
for the best in JAZZ
Vic Pitt - autobiography
I started listening to Jazz in my dads pub The Good Intent in Chatham. There we met some local musicians.
Jim, my Dad, played the banjo so my brother Tony and I grew up with music as an integral part of our daily lives.
I first played mandolin in the family group, and then, with Tony, I joined the Crescent City Jazz Band - both of us on banjo.
"Oh Christ there's two of them" they all cried.
The Deep Bayou Jazz Band had a real double bass (not a T-chest that was commonly used in those days) and no-one to play it. Tony was getting on very well with the banjo - I knew three chords and Tony four (I hasten to add Tony knew much more than that) so I decided to join The Deep Bayou Jazz Band.
In 1957 Tony formed a skiffle group and every Tuesday night we were at the Skiffle Cellar in Greek Street, London... Tony did well on guitar and singing for the whole evening, he was amazing.
My lasting memory of all that was running down to Charing Cross station with the bass over my shoulder to catch the last train to Chatham. I think people thought I had pinched it!
The Skiffle Cellar was run by Russell Quay and the City Ramblers. I was asked to join them as their t- chest player was leaving. Unfortunately I had no bass as it had to be returned to the Deep Bayou Band. So for my first gig in London and I had no bass, and worst of all, no money.
The Star Restaurant was a pick-up place for most bands on their way to gigs.
Someone said that there was a bass down stairs in the cellar and there was, but it had been lying in water and was rotten!
I carried the heap down to Footes the music shop. Their slogan was Footes Has It but I don`t think they had anything quite like this. They gave me £12 for the bits they could salvage. So that gave me a deposit for a bass. In Feb 1958 I joined the City Ramblers.
A year later the Skiffle cellar closed.
Jimmie Macgregor and I from the City Ramblers joined the Don Robb Band and had a month's booking in the Storyville Club in Frankfurt, Germany. The following month Kenny Ball was there and he was looking for a bass player. He liked my playing and the rest is history.
We had many hit records and T.V. shows, The Morecambe and Wise show, Saturday Night at the Mill, Sunday Night at the London Palladium, Royal Command Performances and, in America, The Johnny Carson Show. It was all unreal. Our biggest hit was Midnight in Moscow. We were in New York to collect a Billboard Award because Moscow had gone No 1 in the charts.
The only gig we had there was at the Metropole - more a bar than a jazz club.
The other band on with us was the Gene Krupa band. With Ron Bowden on drums we played The big noise from Winnetka Very nervously as there at the side was the great man himself and also Arvell Shaw. As we came off at the end Gene said hey man, you just played my best number. I think he was a bit upset because the punters had to pay for requests. I wish I had known, we could have made a buck or two.
All good things come to an end and after eighteen years I joined Chris Barber. I toured with the band for the next twenty nine years. In that time we played with some great guests including Jimmy Witherspoon, John Lewis, Trummy Young ,Dr. John and many more.
In conversation one day with Chris it transpired that the bass I found in The Star was in fact his, he was studying trombone and bass at the Guildhall School of music. He had left the bass somewhere and could not remember where!!
I retired from touring at the end of Jan 07. My three children, Mandy, Patsy and Stephen, who are all grown up now, thought enough is enough.Their Mother, the lovely Lady Pamela, as Johnny Parker used to call her, needs you to be with her. It was time to let go they said.
I miss the guys in the band but a whole new world has opened up.I`m gigging with lots of mucians--and the bands of Barry Palser, Brian White, John Howlett, Geoff Cole and many more.
I also run into some old mates from my touring days, John Crocker, Collin Miller and Pat Halcox, Mike Henry, Pete Rudeforth. Sorry if I`ve left anybody out.
The best thing of all is that my brother Tony is on many of the gigs so it`s nice to be back together again.
I also enjoy getting home every night. See you around!!
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