PAUL VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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PAUL VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Diz Disley - Stephane & Django's Renaissance Man
Disley was born in
Winnipeg,
Manitoba,
Canada
but was brought up in
Wales
and northern
England.
In his childhood, he learnt to play the
banjo,
but took up the jazz guitar at the age of 14, after hearing the playing of
Django Reinhardt.
Diz studied art in Leeds and it was a good time for music at the Leeds
College of Art. There was Diz, Alan Cooper who later formed the Temperance
7, & from quite a different scene a lad called Frank Abelson who later
became Frankie Vaughn. Diz played banjo in the college band - the Vernon
Street ramblers - when he was asked to join the slightly more prestigious
Yorkshire Jazz band, which brought him to London & the Mick Mulligan/George
Melly rave-ups.
In those days the band was playing for £4.50 a week. But they didn't even consider the money, it was a pleasure to be playing Jazz in London. Melody Maker voted Diz Jazz Guitarist of the Year for a number of years. Diz has played with & continues to play with some of the great names in Jazz - Big Bill Broonzy, Louis Armstrong, Ken Colyer, Sandy Brown, Cy Laurie, Kenny Ball & Alex Welsh among others. Diz led his own quintet at the BBC & compered various folk & jazz programmes for years.
Musical Career Highlights.
Attendance Local Gypsy Jazz Gig:-
Diz Today! An old friend of mine who is now in his early ninties and who's name is Norrie Greenwood claimed to know Diz Disley in his very early days. Norrie often recounted the story of how he was playing his guitar in his house in Settle Ribblesdale when the postman rang the door bell and asked what kind of music Norrie was playing. Norrie went on to give the postman a few lessons but was soon outclassed by him. The postman turned out to be Diz Disley. Norrie would tell this story to anybody who would listen and most of us in the local jazz scene took it with a pinch of salt. That was until all the local players including Norrie went to see Stephane G. with Disley at the Annersley Hotel in Lincoln. When Diz saw Norrie he was said to be over the moon and insisted that he went back stage to meet Stephane. I don't think Norrie, after shaking hands with Stephane, has washed his hand since! Nobody knows if the story was correct but Disley's reaction on seeing Norrie would lend some credence to the tale. - Best Wishes - Alan Davies - Lincoln Hi, ref Diz Disley. I used to see him at the Surbiton (Surrey) folk club quite often. He would sing gently ribald songs and play a lovely old Maccaferri type guitar. He can't be that old now - why doesn't he ever perform? Anyway, he made me fall in love with that type of guitar and it's music. So I wish him many thanks. All the best Nick Weeks I'm back-tracking to 1964/65 when I was also part of the Surbiton folk club audience. At that stage Diz always included one or two George Formby impersonations in his folk club performances and this led to the production of an LP featuring George's songs. A number of recruits from the Surbiton audience attended the recording studio to provide choral backup and applause (myself included). Diz designed the record cover which featured a cartoon of George Formby sitting astride a huge stick of Blackpool rock, with the title "EEE, What a Whopper". The record was a tribute to George Formby who had died in 1961 - though the rather risque cover meant it wasn't a record for taking home to mother at that time! I recall Diz had great respect for the accomplishments of former generations, whether the subject be music, musicians, flying machines or cars. He heard about a 1926 Rolls Royce that someone was trying to sell. It wasn't going but he was excited at the prospect of working on it and I lent him the £15 needed to buy it. He got it going and I later had some rides - feeling very high and mighty, sitting way above mere mortals in the 1960s London traffic. Best wishes to the very able star of this show. - Linda Muldoon (in Canberra)
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Mail
jazzmaster@jazzeddie.f2s.com with
questions or comments about the format of this web site.
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It
was while organising the Cambridge Folk Festivals in the early 70's that Diz
invited Stephane Grappelli to make an appearance. Steph had not played his
style of Jazz since Django died in 1953 - mainly because he couldn't find
reliable acoustic guitar players. The best guitar players to suit his style
of Violin Jazz were all gypsies - & reliability was a problem. It was for
that reason that Steph had stepped out of the limelight for almost 20 years,
before meeting with Diz. Stephane wanted a pianist to accompany him at the
Cambridge Folk Festival, but Diz couldn't get the piano across the field to
the stage, so he suggested that he & Denny Wright accompany the legendary
Stephane Grappelli. It was an outstanding success. When Diz formed the Diz
Disley Trio with Ike Isaacs, Steph was asked to lead the band on a short
tour. 
Took
Place on 20th
Oct 2007
After
leaving the English military service in the 1950's, William "Diz" Disley
enrolled in art school and became a skilled illustrator and painter,
eventually doing covers and cartoons for the weekly magazine Melody
Maker and the political journal The Spectator. 