How the saxophone killed off traditional jazz
sir – As someone who has tried to play jazz trombone for more than 50 years (with mixed fortunes), I was interested in the obituary (March 3) and subsequent article (“British jazz’s greatest moment”, Arts, March 4) on Chris Barber.
Although it is true that, by the end of the Fifties, trad jazz as played by Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball was losing its appeal, it was not the rise of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones that put the nail in the coffin.
It was, paradoxically, Humphrey Lyttelton. Humph introduced a three-sax front line of Tony Coe (alto), Jimmy Skidmore (tenor), and Joe Temperley (baritone), which outraged fans of trad, to whom the saxophone was anathema.
After this, “mainstream” jazz was born and trad bands like those in which Alex Welsh and Mike Daniels played struggled for audiences. Martin Henry
Good Easter, Essex
sir – I was surprised that Ivan Hewett (March 4) chose Acker Bilk’s
Stranger on the Shore to show that jazz’s influence lasted until the Sixties. Like What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, Stranger
on the Shore, though an excellent tune, lacks any kind of improvisation, essential to jazz.
A better choice would have been Bilk’s recording of Buona Sera, a Top 10 hit in 1960, which starts off sounding like a straightforward pop song, but soon develops into a glorious, Dixieland-style romp. Patrick Miller
Hartlepool, Co Durham