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CD |
| 6.669 Ft
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| 1. | Over in the Gloryland
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| 2. | Bobby Shaftoe
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| 3. | Gatesmouth
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| 4. | Hotter Than that
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| 5. | Tishomingo Blues
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| 6. | Panama
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| 7. | At a Georgia Camp Meeting
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| 8. | Come On & Stomp, Stomp, Stomp
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| 9. | Black Bottom Stomp
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| 10. | Come Back Sweet Papa
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| 11. | Shim-me-sha-wabble
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| 12. | Viper Mad
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| 13. | Big Boy
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| 14. | Miss Jenny's Ball
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| 15. | Baby Won't You Please Come Home
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| 16. | Everybody Loves My Baby
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Jazz
Recorded: London 1956
Dennis Field (tp)
Pete Strangle or Graham Beazley (tm)
Teddy Layton (cl)
Ron Weatherburn (pn)
Eric Silk (bj)
Colin Thompson (bs)
Stan Lewis (dm)
What you will not find on these recordings are soaring impassioned solos, displays of technical ability, blasting ride-out choruses or drummers indelging in what is known as "shed building". What you will find is some very tasteful playing, a light, supple rhythm section (which belies the usual accusation levelled at British traditional bands) and a cohesion in the band as a whole that many bands today could learn a lot from. If it sometimes emerges as a bit clinical and devoid of risk taking then you cannot always have everything. What also became apparent whilst working on these recordings was just how good the original recordings were. Although Esquire pressings were not always of the greatest (and caused one or two problems at the transfer stage for this CD) the original recordings were crisp and clear. - Paul Adams
Eric Silk and his Southern Jazz Band are a unique and unusual band: amateur by profession, yet professional in application. This CD has tracks from 1956 and 1958.The jazz is played in a very pleasant and light style, very much in the nature of high quality silk. The sleeve notes claim that Eric didn't like to take risks, and this is true of the music recorded on the CD (as indeed of all the other recordings I have of the band, including one from a BBC Jazz Club session). Whilst the musicians are all first-class and play with great unity and sympathy for each other, and the recordings are indeed very enjoyable to listen to, they lack much of the emotion one expects from New Orleans jazz. Don't be fooled into thinking that this is 'lift music', or 'Hooked on Trad' music, it isn't. It just doesn't grab you by the testicles and shout, "listen to me", the way music by a Ken Colyer band or any band from his from his school would.
There is much to be admired in the ensemble playing by this band and indeed, most often is it is ensemble playing. The CD contains a rare vocal item. On "Baby Won't You Please Come Home", trombonist Graham Beazley gets to work his vocal chords. After having heard him, I'm no longer surprised that Eric usually excluded vocals from his repertoire!
--- Geoff Boxell
Eric Silk & His Southern Jazz Band
Eric Silk formed his Southern Jazz Band in 1949 having previously played with John Haims'' Jelly Roll Kings. In 1951 they took up a residency at the Masonic Hall in Leytonstone which they called the Southern Jazz Club. (They later moved to the Ex-Servicemen''s Club next door) until 1973. Eric died from a heart attack on the 17th April 1982 at the age of 55. Eric Silk possessed a fanaticism of the kind found in other British Jazz musicians such as Ken Colyer. It was a pursuit of New Orleans music but, curiously, did not seem to be the same New Orleans music Colyer was striving for. Certainly there is an emphasis on collective ensemble playing rather than a showcase for individual prowess, but where Colyer based a lot of his music to the rougher quality of Bunk Johnson/George Lewis, Silk''s music was much more clean-cut, well drilled and to a large extent lacking surprise and "emotional" playing. What it does possess is a highly infectious, light, beat. There are probably no great stylists (although some were to go on to be as they matured as musicians) but it is the sum of the parts which has bestowed upon Eric Silk''s band a sort of cult following. Eric was a determined amateur: his view was that he would have to compromise (commercialise!) to turn professional. Because his musicians also had day jobs he turned down a lot of tours and work on the continent because he felt that if he put deps in "it wouldn''t be the same band". A far cry from the plethora of so called "telephone bands" which abound today. The band left behind a string of records from 1955 to 1966 mostly for the Esquire label. Today they can change hands for quite considerable sums of money. Throughout its life the band had some first rate musicians pass through its ranks. Most notably were pianist Ron Weatherburn (later with Kenny Ball) and Pete Strange (then only 18 years old, but now a member of Humphrey Lyttelton''s Band and one of the UK''s most accomplished jazz trombonists and arrangers). Trumpeter Dennis Field was with the band for most of its like, replaced by Phil Mason in the latter stages of the band. Dennis is still playing some fine trumpet, Phil Mason went on to join Max Collie and now runs one of the most successful bands in the UK (LAKE Records'' best selling band!). Another fine musician still going strong in Teddy Layton. One musician went the other way - drummer George Hopkinson had made his name with the early Humphrey Lyttelton band before joining Eric. George has recently emerged again. Eric himself had some varied interests: Bharata Natyam (Hindu temple dancing), Spanish Folk Music, Chinese Vases, Indian temple sculpture and Hungarian food. He eschewed anything modern: art, jazz, symphony music, (Ravel was too way out for him). In Jazz he cited Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton as particular favourites. How he defined New Orleans Jazz remains a bit vague to those of us listeng to his music. What is important is that he knew what he wanted, stuck to his principles and the results are remarkably consistent. - Paul Adams |
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