Stan Getz's set up

I was trying to play one of Getz's solos yesterday, and in doing so realized that my sound was too harsh to sound like him. It reminded me that a couple of years before he died I was visiting The Nice Jazz Festival with Rose Hayes. She new Getz through Tubby and introduced me to him. I asked him what set up he had and his reply surprised me. At the time he was using a  rubber Link 5 with a 2.5 reed. Nothing jaw breaking and obviously trying for an easy blow. He was recovering from cancer treatment at the time so whether this had a bearing on his set up I don't know, but he managed a 2 hour set with just him and piano accompaniment. I will have to look up the program to se who the piano player was. I was fortunate enough to be on the side of the stage that night, and the time just flew by. Getz weaved a magic spell that had the French audience in raptures. The set was early evening, about 8 p.m. and still blazing hot, on the Arena stage. One of the best times of my life, even capping the day I met ken Mackintosh, which is another story.

Sundays with Jack Higgins

Every Sunday morning Jack would be picked up from his cottage by a villager to play dominoes in The Green man. He never drove, it was beneath him. He played like a West Indian, loudly with dominoes slammed down and opponents subject to his so called wit. He would sulk outrageously if he lost, and it was never his fault. He could boast for England, and talked to the room. His main topic was his lunch, usually the best cut of Scottish salmon or a rare duck never before seen in the U.K., accompanied by home made sauces, followed by pudding and the best Napoleon Brandy. The wine was of course expensive and shipped in especially for him by Stowells of Chelsea.
All village pubs need characters, and he has as yet to be replaced.
R.I.P. Jack

Jack Higgins

Jack Higgins with Tony Bennett

All those who were associated with Jazz in the 50's and 60's knew Jack Higgins. Here is an edited version of an obituary I wrote to be published by a broadsheet. Unfortunate they declined.Their Loss

Jack L. Higgins, who has died recently just a few month’s shy of his 90^th birthday, from the after-effects of a stroke, was the UK’s foremost jazz promoter. He was also George Melly’s manager and put on shows featuring Humphrey Lyttelton and Stacey Kent.
To say he was a colourful character would be an understatement and he made just as many enemies as friends, but even his enemies would admit that he knew how to promote jazz.
He famously fell out with Ronnie Scott and Pete King, whom he worked with until 1974 by leaving with George Melly in tow. (On a night out with friends in London after visiting the Bull's Head jazz venue at Barnes, he decided to get back into Ronnies to see a show, and was literally thrown out by the bouncers by the scruff of his neck and the seat of his pants.) But it is tribute to his success as a promoter that he and George stayed friends until Melly’s death in 2007. Higgins was not a man to wear his heart on his sleeve, but the deaths of Melly and Humph in short succession showed that he was human and had a great emotional impact on him. Higgins said he had spent his war service in "something secret", so secret in fact that he never told anyone what it was. On demob he worked as a proof-reader, at which he said he was the best by using a technique of reading the whole piece backwards.

However his greatest love was always jazz, and it soon took over his life. A 24-hour commitment, it admitted him into wider social circles, including becoming part of Princess Margaret’s social set. He started importing American acts into England, the first being the Lionel Hampton Big band, which he booked into the Royal Festival Hall. The concert started late on a Sunday evening, so that as many English musicians could come and see the band as possible. However the concert ended in a riot as these musicians started booing the numbers, calling for more serious jazz. Higgins left in a hurry as the police arrived. This was the kind of situation that followed Higgins throughout his life, though he always came up, if not entirely smelling of roses, at least in one piece. In association with Harold Davidson his company Jazz Horizons set up tours featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson, Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Henry Red Allen, Big Bill Broonzy. On tour with Broonzy he came up against racial prejudice sleeping on trains and in railway stations. He fell in love with pianist Mary Lou Williams – at first it was her piano playing, then Mary Lou herself. “She was the greatest love of my life", he said, whenever her name came up in conversation.

After he left Ronnie Scott's he worked out of a small top-floor room in Charring Cross Road, but eventually he worked from his home. Home was a two-roomed cottage within an immaculately kept garden situated close to the sea wall at Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex.

He first went to Bradwell when he represented MAM Management who built Bradwell Marina along with Higgins, complete with nautical blazer, cravat and captains peaked hat, at the helm.

From this cottage he represented Stéphane Grappelli, Humph, Melly, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Stacey Kent, Stan Tracey, NYJO, BBC Big Band, Claire Martin, Don Lusher; in fact practically everyone on the UK jazz scene. He cleverly put together jazz packages that featured several artists, such as “The Ella Fitzgerald Songbook”, Stan Tracey’s, “Under Milkwood”, “Ellingtonia”, “Between Friends” Featuring Stacey Kent  and Humph and “George Meets Humph”. Every morning his post was filled with unsolicited CD’s from artists wanting his advice in the hope of him picking them up. If he thought they were rubbish he told them so, but if they had talent, he would take them under his wing. He did this with Stacy Kent, who came to him as an unknown club singer, and in who he saw a unique quality, as did Humph, booking her into small town theatres at first and then gradually moving her up the bill until she was headlining major venues.

Although Higgins could be a bigheaded, pompous know-all and sometimes notoriously tight-fisted, he could surprise everyone with a generous gesture. He became a part of village life and was well respected in Bradwell. He was a true one-off, and we will surely never see his like again. He was pleased to be seen as a rogue; a story he related concerned a gent's toilet in the West End where the graffiti read, “There's only one shit-house worse than this one, and that's Jack Higgins”.
Jack L Higgins 18 10 1920- 26 7 2010. He leaves 3 sons Barry David and Jonathan