TIME WAS
by
Alan Zeffertt 19th February 1990
Jazz has always existed outside the mainstream of popular entertainment and, with hindsight, we who love the idiom have cause to be grateful.
God forbid that our beautiful music should be adulterated and abused by
commercialisation, the currently abysmal quality of popular music being
a hollow testament to that folly.
Nevertheless, in most large towns and cities, jazz clubs and concerts
have become fairly commonplace and jazz itself has acquired a respectability and acceptance that was unimaginable in my teenaged years of
the 1940’s. Then, it was spoken of by establishment figures as the creation of the devil, its players and followers being roundly condemmed as
though they were denizens of the unden/vorld and the places where this
foul noise was perpetrated were assumed to be rampant with every kind
of low life and addictive drug.
Today, its influence has even infiltrated the rarified portals of classical
music. Modern composers regularly incorporate jazz instruments and
forms into their works, musicians strive to master, or at least understand it.
The jazz influence is consequently apparent in the compositions of Sir
Michael Tippett and Richard Rodney Bennett, the playing of virtuosi
Julian Bream and Nigel Kennedy, while renowned operatic singers have
finally discovered the quality songs of Gershwin, Porter and Kern - staple
fodder for generations of jazz musicians and vocalists. But in 1948, at the
Portsmouth Grammar School “Speech Day”, when I foolishly asked Sir
Adrian Boult what he thought ofjazz, he humiliated me in front ofthe entire
school by saying that “ it should have been strangled at birth along with its
protagonists and adherents”. In a moment, he killed my incipient interest
in classical music for almost 25 years.
Boult’s opinion, however, was widely held at the time. Jazz was thin on
the ground and we lovers of Armstrong and Morton, Ellington and Herman, Parker and Powell had to be constantly vigilant in the pursuit of our
particular pleasure.The BBC supplied little to our taste, so we scoured the
radio wavelengths for the more generous offerings on French stations
and, especially, the American Forces Network in Germany.
Locally, the best of British big bands and small groups played for dancing and listening at the Savoy Ballroom, Southsea, every Friday night and
also appeared in Sunday concerts at the South Parade Pier.
The orchestras of Ted Heath, the Squadronaires and Vic Lewis were
crammed with splendid jazzmen and we were even fortunate enough to
get a taste of bebop from Tito Burn’s sextet and Ronnie Scott’s Octet. The
”live” source of the music was, regrettably, denied us for American bands
were unable to play in the UK due to a Musician‘s Union ruling.
The record companies divulged a meagre trickle of 78’s, but the only
notification of these releases was to be found in “The Melody Maker”, a
weekly publication that was then concerned largely with jazz and quality
popular music. Portsmouth’s record shops generally adopted an equally
parsimonious attitude towards jazz, but Murdoch’s store in Commercial
Road proferred a reasonably comprehensive selection. For fanatics and
junk-shoppers like myself, the second-hand shelves of Haskell & Green in
Lake Road were fascinating, if chaotic, while the more orderly stocks of
Titmuss’s in Arundel Street were presided over by a formidable lady of
heinous proportions.
Frank Hurlock’s various houses of wax which regularly surfaced and
submerged across the city were treasured oases of second-hand jazz
discs and first-rate jazz conversation. Frank, who has practically
dedicated his life to jazz, was instrumental in my joining the Portsmouth
Jazz Club in 1947. It only held two meetings before the dozen or so members melted into the cold winter night. But, with Frank's tireless dedication, the club has metamorphosed in various guises and still exists
today.
ln private places, like the bare room over Pete Steven's butcher’s shop
at North End, the boys from Johnny Lyne’s band, other local musicians
and a few groupies like myself, dropped in to blow a few choruses or just
listen, Our local legend, Bill Cole, was an inspiring presence on piano just
as he is today, in his seventies.
Somehow, as it always does, jazz has survived; a minority music with a
tiny but devoted following. Unsubsidised, unpublicised and generally
unloved, its lifespan now virtually matches that of this chaotic century. Undefeated, despite constantly changing tastes, fashions and lifestyles, and
the corrosive, pervasive influence of the pop scene, I daresay it will be
around for some time yet. Indeed, the fact that we are here today to enjoy a
tribute to our city by one of Britain’s finest musician/composers, suggests
that even in its ninth decade, jazz continues to enjoy very reasonable
health. As usual, reports as to its imminent demise are decidedly
premature.
Alan Michael Zeffertt
Profile: British songwriter and producer, born May 15, 1931 in Portsmouth, England. Died 27th May 2017. Also known as Mike Allen.
Writing & Arrangement
Alan Zeffert - Dracula's Daughter album art Dracula's Daughter (as Zeffert) Screaming "Lord" Sutch* - Dracula's Daughter ?(7", Single) Oriole CB-1962 1964
Alan Zeffert - Hey, Hey, Johnny! album art Maynell Wilson And The Wes Minster Five - Hey, Hey, Johnny! ?(7", Single) Carnival CV.7014 1964
Alan Zeffert - This Love Of Mine album art Things Are Getting Better (as Zeffert) Mike Elliot* - This Love Of Mine ?(7", Single) Carnival CV.7008 1964
Alan Zeffert - The File Series - The 60's File album art Lookin For Love (as Zeffertt) Various - The File Series - The 60's File ?(2xLP, Comp) Pye Records FILD 006 1977
Alan Zeffert - Britain Is Rockin' album art Skinny Lizzie (as Zeffert) Various - Britain Is Rockin' ?(LP, Comp) Leedon LL-5025 1980
Alan Zeffert - Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages album art Dracula´s Daughter (as Zeffert) Screaming Lord Sutch And The Savages - Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages ?(CD, Comp, RM) EMI CDP 7 98044 2 1991
Alan Zeffert - Doin' The Mod Volume Five - That Driving Beat album art Lookin' For Love (as Zeffert) Various - Doin' The Mod Volume Five - That Driving Beat ?(CD, Comp) Castle Music CMRCD 757 2003
Alan Zeffert - Beat, Beat, Beat! Volume Five (More Beat, Freakbeat And R&B Rarities) album art Lookin' For Love (as Zeffert) Various - Beat, Beat, Beat! Volume Five (More Beat, Freakbeat And R&B Rarities) ?(2xCD, Comp, Mono, RM) Castle Music, Sanctuary Records Group CMDDD 1401 2006
Alan Zeffert - Original Hits - Rock 'N' Roll album art Skinny Lizzie (as Zeffert) Various - Original Hits - Rock 'N' Roll
EMI Gold 2009
Alan Zeffert - Songs From The Sarcophagus (Tribute To Screaming Lord Sutch) album art Dracula's Daughter (as Zeffert) The Sharks - Songs From The Sarcophagus (Tribute To Screaming Lord Sutch) ?(7", EP, Ltd) Western Star Recording Company WSRCEP 002 2011
Alan Zeffert - Baby Sittin' With Bobby Angelo album art Skinny LIzzie (as Zeffertt) Bobby Angelo - Baby Sittin' With Bobby Angelo ?(LP, Comp) Combo Record A 5230 Date Unknown
Alan Zeffert - Story album art Dracula's Daughter (as Zeffert) Screaming Lord Sutch - Story
7777 (2) Date Unknown
Production
Alan Zeffert - Where Have You Been / Hey, Little Girl! Hey, Little Boy! album art Hey, Little Girl! Hey, Little Boy! and 1 more… Dino And Del - Where Have You Been / Hey, Little Girl! Hey, Little Boy! ?(7") Carnival CV 7026 1965
https://www.discogs.com/artist/2576671-Alan-Zeffert
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