Opening up to the wider world of Gypsy/Jazz brought even more new music and groups to my attention this in 1993. Some were back catalogue releases like Waso’s: Live in Laren; many more recent releases from the likes of Angelo Debarre and the Rosenberg Trio; and also the latest releases from Bireli Lagrene, Gary Potter, and the Rosenberg Trio’s landmark live CD: Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival. It was also a year for looking beyond the realms of “Gypsy”, to the great American jazz guitarists; of which my greatest favourite by far; was the truly incredible: Wes Montgomery.
On my personal music front, there were further trips to both Liverpool and the Samois festival in France this year, where I continued to learn the gypsy/jazz craft, and was involved in many jams; as was the norm at these festivals. Through the Liverpool scene, I met and jammed with many great players, like Micky Dunne, John Whittington, James Taylor, and George Fletcher.
On that year’s trip to Samois, I also bought Jimmy Rosenberg’s first musical release, which was on cassette; entitled: Jimmy’s Trio.
Back home, the music scene at the Market Inn expanded further and I would on to meet many people from which various jam sessions would result in unexpected directions besides my intended Django path. This would involve Jim Ward, who would head off in more folk/rock directions, evolving into a band called ‘Grass’ with another friend Ted Carr. On occasion I sometimes played bass for Grass, and the emphasis here was on fun, friendship and just good times.
Another notable band which would eventually spring out the Mansfield scene was the ‘Flowering Heads’, led by guitar/vocalist Sarah Shrugs, and violinist Helen Firth. Sarah was also initially part of the Grass Band, which had more of the feel of a collective, rather than a fixed line-up. I vaguely knew Helen through Pete and Jo’s field parties, and I originally met Sarah through her friendship with Jim. At the Samois festival, I had seen the party trick of two people playing the same guitar, and just for the laughs I worked how to play ‘The Flintstones’ theme for two people on guitar. This was something that Sarah and I occasionally performed at the Market Inn, to great effect and lots of smiles and laughter.
I was also involved in a little bit of recording with Sarah and Jim, where I put some lead guitar down a few of Sarah’s songs. This stemmed from big jam party where ironically, many of my newer friends from the Market scene had never heard me play any rock guitar; and so when I played my Les Paul complete with hard rock distortion, it came as a bit of a surprise to some!
Also in 1993, the landlord of the Market Inn moved to a pub in Nottingham called the Elm Tree, and he invited Swing 91 to play a residency there on Thursday nights. Whilst it started out fairly quiet for the first few weeks, it didn’t take long before word got around, and it soon developed into a jam-packed night. Over the year or so that it lasted between ’93 and ’94 at the Elm Tree, I met even more musicians that I would play and jam with in the future; including Pete Tomlyn, Richard and John Smith, and a certain Paul Johnson with whom I develop a very long lasting musical relationship and a deep personal friendship in the years to come. Swing 91 also gained a residency at another popular jazz venue called Cafe Metz. Also, during this heyday for the quartet, John Buzza and I continued to perform regularly as a duo in smaller venues, and also as street buskers.
During the course of my explorations into Django’s music, I felt a particular affinity for his later recordings on electric guitar. Although comparatively rarely heard compared to the Hot Club material, it demonstrated Django’s musical development very well, and had a particular sound and style of its own which I felt that I would like to experiment with. To that effect, I bought myself an Epiphone Emperor archtop electric guitar, and Swing 91 would play a brief trio set comprising of slightly more ‘modern’ (in jazz terms) sounding numbers, like ‘How High the Moon’ and Django’s own haunting minor key ballad, entitled ‘Anouman’.
As 1994 dawned, Swing 91 was getting more gigs as a result of the residency at the Elm Tree, and things seemed to be going from strength to strength; but in 1994, things would pan out in other ways.
Wayne's random blog 