#20 Cushion Foot Stompers with “Clarence Williams Lives” 2005 at Whitley Bay Internati Jazz Festival

#20 Cushion Foot Stompers with “Clarence Williams Lives” 2005 at Whitley Bay International Jazz Festival – The music of Clarence Williams has long been dear to the heart of Mike Durham, and here he gets to play a whole concert of tunes by the great (if somewhat pointey-headed) man himself. Clarence was an amazing man, not only playing the piano but also composing, publishing, arranging recording sessions, broadcasting, singing, tap-dancing, and even playing the jug when occasion demanded it. He made over a thousand records for thirty four different labels between 1921 and 1941, and wrote or co-wrote some of the most famous tunes in the classic jazz repertoire, like Sister Kate, West End Blues and High Society. In the process he employed many of the most famous names in jazz, from Armstrong and Bechet to Red Allen and Coleman Hawkins, from James P Johnson to King Oliver. In order to bring some of this music to you we have put together a scaled down WJRK group that reflects Clarence’s own preference for smaller washboard driven bands , made up of Mike Durham (cornet); Derek Fleck (reeds); Brian Chester (trombone and piano); Keith Stephen (banjo); Phil Rutherford (sousa); and special guests Paul Munnery (trombone) and Gerard Bagot (washboard). There will also be some two-reed numbers a la Clarence Williams Jazz Kings, featuring our third guest, Matthias Seuffert. Programme notes by Mike Durham