|
JACK (John) LLEWELLYN
1914~1988
by David and Nigel Llewellyn
 Jack
Llewellyn was an eminent British guitarist
from the mid-1930s to the late 1960s.
He was a child prodigy as a musician and by the age of 20 had established
himself as a band musician in the North of England.
Moving to London in 1935, he pursued a career with an emphasis on jazz
and contributed to the genre on a wide front, performing, recording and
broadcasting with many of the bands of the day as well as making solo radio
broadcasts. A disciple of
Django Reinhardt, he
played with Reinhardt and
Stéphane Grappelli in the
celebrated Quintette du Hot Club de Paris when it reformed in England in 1946.
His career also extended to the world of light entertainment, where he supported
stars such as
Frank Sinatra. Other work
included composing and performing soundtracks for numerous films and playing
jingles for radio and television adverts.
Jack was a prolific session musician.
A “brilliant” soloist and sight-reader, he played with some of the
greatest bandleaders, singers and other musicians of the time.
Although recognised in the music business as a leading guitarist, he
never abandoned his first instrument, the banjo.
Early years
 Born
John Llewellyn in Liverpool on 23rd August in 1914,
he was the second of the six sons of the distinguished banjoist and teacher
David John (“Jack”) Llewellyn.
Taught the banjo by his father, he was a musical child prodigy and
recalled being woken up by his father, who had returned home from the pub with
his friends, to play for them in his pyjamas.
Music seems to have been in the blood.
Jack’s elder brother, Oliver, is believed to have become a classical
musician. One of his younger
brothers, Charles, became a semi-professional guitarist,
sometimes sharing performances with Jack.
Jack had a half-brother, Bernard, and another
half-brother who is the only one of the six children still alive.
Bernard was taught the Hawaiian guitar.
The surviving son was taught the mandolin and is still a keen musician,
playing keyboards, saxophone and clarinet.
The First Step on the Ladder in 1933
By the age of 18 Jack had
achieved a high degree of proficiency at the tenor banjo, and it was at that
time that he obtained his first significant engagement, which was a broadcast of
tenor banjo solos from the North Regional radio station.
According to the daily radio broadcast schedule
published in
The Times, this appears to have been a
performance by the Northern Studio Orchestra, featuring Jack
(billed under his real name, John Llewellyn) on banjo.
This performance resulted in numerous offers of
engagements, and eventually Jack accepted one of them to play for six months at
“a well known holiday resort”.
This was followed by a broadcast on 21st
October 1933, in which Jack (again billed as John
Llewellyn) played syncopation for 45 minutes with a xylophonist, a
saxophonist and a syncopated pianist.
 With
the Blackpool Tower Dance Band in 1934
The holiday resort was Blackpool.
The engagement was with
Bertini’s Orchestra in 1934.
In that year the orchestra was playing the
Tower Ballroom and was known as
Bertini
and the Blackpool Tower Dance Band.
The band has been described as one of the most
popular bands of the time, through recordings, in Great Britain.
At the age of 19 or 20 Jack was
clearly already operating at the higher levels of the British music scene.
Looking back on the experience a few years later in
an article in
BMG, Jack says that he was
faced for the first time with demands such as reading off second violin parts
and improvising without music.
These were challenging tasks for a musician at an
early stage of his career, but Jack confirms that it proved valuable experience
for the future.
Bertini
- Bertram Harry Gutsell, Bertini's real name, was born within the sound of Bow
Bells in the Old Kent Road, on 8th November
1887. His father, Charles, is recorded in the 1901 census as a hatter and his
older brother, also Charles, an engineer’s draughtsman. Bert then 14 years of
age was a 'boy messenger'. Apart from his father being a hatter, Charles Gutsell
was also choirmaster at the local Baptist church and led a small band to
accompany the choir which included Bert's violinist brother. Bert borrowed his
brother's violin and joined a 'shilling a week' music class, paid for by
undertaking chores, becoming good enough to also join the Baptist church band -
but not for long.
With the Orlando Orchestra 1934 - 1935
Jack’s next engagement was
a series of hotel residencies with the Orlando Orchestra. (In
1932, Joe Orlando had taken over from Henry Hall
as musical director of the 32 bands in the LMS Railway Hotel
chain.)
The first residency was at the prestigious
Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, which had opened ten years earlier.
This gave Jack his first opportunity to play with
some of London’s leading musicians, specially engaged for the season.
It also marked his switch from the banjo to the
guitar, as he was required to feature the latter instrument almost exclusively.
The Move to London in 1935
Aged 21 Jack
moved to London.
Between 1937 and May 1939
he was almost certainly living at 21 Mowbray Road in the London
borough of Brent.
Later in 1939 he moved to
44 Waverley Avenue in nearby Wembley, where he
remained (apart from the war years) until 1971. Gordon Wells of Knights
Guitars still has a leather address-fob of Jack’s bearing that address.
The young Gordon Wells worked for Dick Knight,
the founder of Knight Guitars, and married Dick’s daughter, Beryl.
Gordon and Beryl came to know Jack as a result of
Jack bringing his instruments to Knight Guitars for repair, and the fob had
fallen off the case of one of Jack’s guitars while it was with Knight’s.
With Sydney Lipton 1935 - 1937
“I think the ultimate ambition
of nearly every young dance band musician is to be able to play in one of the
leading London bands.”
So wrote Jack in the October 1937
edition of
BMG.
In his own case the ambition was achieved in the summer of
1935, when he joined Sydney Lipton and the Grosvenor
House Band.
This orchestra was resident at the Grosvenor
House in Park Lane from 1932 to 1940
and has been described as one of the most polished of the British dance bands
and responsible for the most elegant of dance music.
Around 1935 it was cutting few
records but making regular broadcasts, and many maintain that the band was at
its best in the 1935 – 38 period.
Jack left the band towards the end of 1937
on being replaced by a trumpet player.
With Val Rosing 1935-7
 Jack
was a peripatetic musician, and his career will at most times have been a
mixture of ad hoc session work, regular work with certain bands as a sideman and
periods of permanent band membership.
So it was that, in parallel with his association
with Lipton, Jack made radio broadcasts and recordings with the
singer Val
Rosing in the period
1935 -1936.
In August 1936
Melody Maker
reported “the formation
of a swing band by Rosing containing such notables
as Don
Barigo (tenor sax),
Frank Weir (clarinet), Chick Smith (trumpet)
and Jack Llewellyn (guitar)”.
This band opened at the Pavilion Theatre
in Liverpool in September 1936. Jack’s return
to home territory proved short-lived.
Les
Cripwell, a band member, recalls “We had
 several
rehearsals and the band was really top class. Then I was given a rail ticket to
Liverpool. We attracted full houses and the band was a great success, but
imagine our surprise when on the Friday of the first week we were given our
tickets back to London. In fifty years as a pro, this was the only time I did a
week’s work without being told the job would only last a week!"
In the 1935 – 1937 period,
Rosing made recordings for Columbia and Regal
Zonophone with two bands of his, the Swing Stars
and the Radio Rhythm Rascals.
Both bands were in essence the same group of
musicians, including Jack on guitar.
Reviews of the bands’ records in the musical press
were generally most flattering.
Two of the Radio Rhythm Rascals’ titles were
Sweet Sue
and Dinah
recorded in July 1935 for Columbia.
The personnel were Bruce Merrill
(piano), Len
Fillis and Jack
(guitar) and Dick Escott
(string bass).
Len Fillis
Among the Top Guitarists 1936-7
  A
page in the December 1936 edition of
BMG
includes a photograph of Jack and his brother Charles.
The page contains photographs of 11 guitarists under
the caption “They’re the Tops” and indicates that Jack, at the age of 22, had
already gained recognition as a leading guitarist.
A more scientific assessment was made the following
year by
Melody Maker, when it
conducted a readers’ poll of musicians.
Jack
was ranked 11th
in the British guitarists’ section, with two of the guitarists photographed
above,
Albert Harris and Ivor Mairants, polling most of
the votes.
This was a notable achievement for a musician of Jack’s
age, especially since there was little, in relative terms, to separate the
guitarists in 3rd
to 11th
position.
It was all the more notable for the fact that Jack
did not do solo work (apart from his radio broadcasts) or front a band.
BMG
described Jack in 1937 as “one of the cleverest guitarists playing in London”.
- Albert Harris
With Harry Saville and George Elrick in 1938.
Jack played with
Harry Saville and
George Elrick Orchestras in 1938,
and also worked in
Eric Winstone’s Quintet.
Jack’s work with Bandleader and Drummer
Elrick is mentioned in a feature on Jack in the December 1938
edition of
BMG.
The feature is built around a photograph of Jack in a
broadcasting studio, and the accompanying text gives some idea of the intensity
of Jack’s broadcasting work in that period: “Jack Llewellyn can be heard from
Radio Normandy on Fridays at 3.15 p.m. and Sundays at 11.00
a.m.; from Radio Luxembourg on Sundays at 3.15 p.m. and 7.30
p.m.; and is also featured in all the George Elrick broadcasts from London and
foreign stations.
One of Jack’s other
radio broadcasts around that time took place on 11th May
1938 on the National Programme, where he played his
arrangement of Liebestraum as a solo,
accompanied by guitarist
Dick Sadleir.
Musical
Writings
Around this time Jack was also
a regular contributor to
BMG.
Articles
discovered to date suggest that he was writing every, or almost every, month
from autumn 1937 to early 1939.
It is possible that he contributed at other times
too.
Jack also wrote for
Frets.
The earlier articles deal primarily with musical
theory.
The later ones focus on technique; Jack explained in the
June 1938 edition of
BMG that this was in
response to the large number of letters he had received from guitarists on that
subject. In
1938 Modern
Plectrum Guitar Playing by
Dick Sadleir
was published at a price of five shillings.
The book is described on the front cover as “A
unique rapid system embodying the essentials of harmony, development of the left
hand, dance band chord styles, extemporisation of ‘hot’ solos and modern vocal
accompaniments together with original solos by famous radio guitarists”.
One of those solos was
Random Thoughts,
a slow fox-trot composed by Jack.
 With
Hatchett’s Swingtette 1939 – 1941
In the autumn of 1939,
pianist
Arthur Young formed a band to play at
Hatchett’s Restaurant in London’s West End.
Its members were Jack and Noel “Chappie”
d’Amato (guitars),
Bill Shakespeare (trumpet),
Dennis
Moonan (clarinet, tenor saxophone and viola),
Frank Baron (second pianist), George Senior
(string bass), Tony Spurgin (drums),
Beryl Davis (vocals) and a violinist.
The
Quintette du Hot Club de France, which had brought together the
geniuses of Reinhardt and Grappelli, had been on tour in
England at the time.
With war imminent, Reinhardt had fled to France and
was followed by all other members of the band except Grappelli.
As the unoccupied Grappelli was strolling down
Bond Street, Arhur Young approached him and invited him to join
his band.
Hatchett’s Swingtette
had now acquired a brilliant jazz violinist.
The group’s musical style was what Max Jones
has described as “polite swing for dancing”.
Notwithstanding the presence of Grappelli,
Hatchett’s Swingtette had to take account of their audience and avoided “hot”
jazz, which would have been unwelcome at the time in the West End.
The Swingtette soon secured a recording contract
with Decca and cut four numbers, including
Scatter
Brain,
Ting-a-Ling
and
Alexander’s Ragtime Band, in
December 1939.
In September 1940 Young was injured in an
air raid and did not return to Hatchett’s.
There is disagreement as to whether Grappelli or Moonan
took over leadership of the Swingtette.
In any case, a new pianist was needed to replace
Young.
Grappelli had heard the young
George Shearing
play and considered him a genius.
Shearing was invited to join the Swingtette and
brought a new dimension to the group’s music.
Jack Llewellyn played with
Hatchett’s Swingtette until being called up in 1941.
Twenty-two of the Swingtette’s recordings
(including the tracks named above) were re-issued in 1992 by
Pavilion Records Limited on the CD
Hatchett’s Swingtette,
and all but five of these were cut during Jack’s period with the group.
Financial success
Hatchett’s was a
fashionable venue in the pre-war period, attracting a well-heeled clientèle.
Jack himself seems to have been well rewarded
financially as a result of his professional success.
There is reason to believe that he had bought his
own house by 1939, when he was only 25.
With George Shearing
Jack also collaborated with Shearing on
recordings made by Shearing in his own name.
War service 1941 – 1945
Jack left Hatchett’s Swingtette
in January 1941 to join the Royal Marines.
Announcing the enlistment of “ace guitarist” Jack,
BMG
printed “Readers of
BMG will miss this
outstanding player of the plectrum guitar, for he was always broadcasting.
It was Jack’s playing one heard with
Dreamy Hawaii,
Accent on
Rhythm and Eric Winstone’s Quintet
– regular BBC programmes – and he was often the featured guitarist with dozens
of other broadcasting combinations.”
Details of Jack’s war service have not yet been
ascertained, but in view of his status as a musician it seems likely that he
would have joined a Royal Marines Band.
 
Jack in Egypt
in the early
1940's after Call-up - with Selmer Maccaferri any one recognise the fellow
Guitarist on the Left of Jack with the Scratch plate Sunburst. Jack McKechnie
was tall and of that age and worked with the Headly Ward Trio?
Musical output in the war years
Military service did not
deprive the public of the sound of Jack’s guitar.
In 1941 he played as a guest with
The Blue Mariners, a Services
band, on
Stardust, recorded from a BBC Services
Broadcast. As
a member of Stéphane Grappelli and his Quartet, he recorded
Dinah
and Body and
Soul in 1941.
The other members of the Quartet were George Gibbs
(base), Dave Fullerton (drums) and George Shearing (piano).
In 1944 Jack played on the recordings of The
George Evans
Orchestra made by Decca.
Four sides, Great Day,
The Toy Trumpet, Sweet and
Lovely and
The Lone Prairie, were
released at the time.
Some of the remaining six,
Rockabye Basie, Temptation, Out of Space,
Grasshoppers’ Dance, Early one Morning
and The Song is You,
have been featured more recently in compilations.
All the musicians used were session players.
Both Grappelli’s and Evans’s ensembles were, of
course, civilian outfits, but it was not unusual at the time for Services
musicians to carry on playing with civilian bands.
The Classic Session Man
   The
post-war period confirmed Jack’s career-path as a session musician.
He had the ideal attributes for session work.
Firstly, he was an outstanding technician.
Judd Procter
told Gordon Wells of an occasion when Jack stood behind him during a session
telling him how to pick a notoriously difficult guitar part in order to phrase
it correctly and make it flow properly.
Gordon himself described Jack as “like God” and “an
absolutely amazing player”.
Secondly he was a first-rate sight-reader, able to
read any music that was put in front of him and, as a result, picking up “the
best guitar gigs in the country”.
He had been taught the banjo by his father as a
small child and was probably reading music from an early age.
Thirdly he was reliable.
Fourthly he was suited by disposition to session
work.
He had a shyness bordering on introversion and probably
would not have enjoyed the exposure associated with forming his own band or
being a long-term member of a high-profile band.
Jack was highly sought-after as a session man,
moving from one session to the next.
If he was typical of the busy session musician he
would sometimes have done more than one session on the same day, perhaps
attending at least one studio session during the day and at least one live
performance or broadcast in the evening:
Big Jim
Sullivan, another prolific session guitarist,
averaged three sessions per day.
When
Ike Isaacs first came to
the UK in November 1946 Jack had so much work that, after hearing Isaacs play,
he gave Isaacs his regular spot at
Hatchett’s
Restaurant to get him started.
Sullivan recalls the older group of guitarists on the
session scene from 1958 onwards as Eric Ford, Brian Dayley, Ernie Sheer,
Judd Proctor, Jack Llewellyn (sic), Ike Isaacs (sic), Roland Shaw and
Dave
Goldberg, amongst others.
He mentions that they all had “exotic guitars” such
as Gibson L5s
and Epiphone
Emperors.
 The
Emperor
 The
guitar held by Jack in the 1936 photograph above with his
brother Charles is believed to be an Epiphone
Triumph,
but Jack’s instrument of choice was indeed the
Epiphone
Emperor.
Jack is playing his
Emperor
in the 1938 photograph taken in the broadcasting studio.
His
preference for the
Emperor was certainly not
shared by his friend Reinhardt.
Jack told of showing the
Emperor
to Reinhardt in his hotel room.
Reinhardt tried a chord or two and then threw it
back across the room to Jack.
The guitar which Reinhardt favoured, and which
remains closely associated with his name, is the Selmer acoustic guitar commonly
referred to as the
Maccaferri.
This is the guitar played by Reinhardt and other
members of the Quintette du Hot Club de France.
Jack indeed also owned a
Maccaferri,
and it seems probable that he acquired it at the time of his collaboration with
Reinhardt.
It was Jack’s love of the Epiphone instrument that gave
rise to his nickname, in musical circles, of The Emperor.
Jack’s
Emperor
was sold in the mid 70’s by Knight Guitars on Jack’s behalf to
Clive Hicks,
who is believed to have kept it until just a couple of years ago, when it was
sold on EBay to a purchaser in the United States.
It is the address-fob from the case of Jack’s
Emperor
that is still in the possession of Gordon Wells.
The Return to Hatchett’s 1945-6
After the war, Jack
returned to Hatchett’s and took up a regular spot there, though, as mentioned
above, he soon gave it to Isaacs.
 With
Reinhardt and Grappelli in 1946
Jack was also able to
renew his collaboration with Grappelli.
When Reinhardt was reunited with Grappelli in London
after the war, promoter Charles Delauney saw an opportunity to revive the music
of le Quintette and arranged for Reinhardt and Grappelli to attend EMI’s Abbey
Road studios to make further recordings for le Quintette.
The session took place on 31st
January and 1st
February 1946.
The other members of the original Quintette were
unable to obtain visas, and the recordings were made with Jack and
Allan Hodgkiss
(rhythm guitars) and
Coleridge Goode on bass.
Le Quintette had been a long-established ensemble
with a distinctive style, and yet these recordings were made with only two of
its original members.
Hugh Palmer observes, “It says much for the
London-based musicians present on this session … that they were able to blend in
so well.”
At least two photographs of these sessions were taken, and they appear in
The Guitar
Style of Django Reinhardt & the Gypsies
by Ian Cruickshank. In both of
them Jack is obscured by Grappelli.
The publicity-shy Jack no doubt felt that Grappelli was doing him a favour.
Eight tracks,
including a new recording of Reinhardt’s composition
Nuages
were recorded.
These are celebrated recordings that feature time
and again in jazz compilations.
They are significant in the sense that they
represent almost the last recordings made by le Quintette in “the great
tradition”: the following year saw Reinhardt favouring the use of the electric
guitar.
The reformed Quintette continued intermittently to play and
record together until 1948.
It has been said that their performances were often
quite brilliant but their popularity was gone. Jack and Goode may have left
before 1948, as further guitarists and a further bassist have been named as
members of the Quintette in the 1946 - 48 period.
When Reinhardt died prematurely in 1953,
BMG
carried an obituary that included tributes from “well known
guitarists” including Jack.
In his tribute Jack describes himself as a great
admirer and friend of Reinhardt and comments “He will always be remembered for
his contribution to single-string playing as we know it today”.
With Hoagy Carmichael in 1947-48
Jack played
Riverboat Shuffle,
recorded at a BBC Jazz Club session in London in 1947 or 1948, with
Hoagy Carmichael
(vocals) as guest star.
Other personnel were
Jack Jackson
(trumpet), Nobby Clark (trombone), Sid Phillips (clarinet), Mickey Lewis (alto
sax), Freddie Gardner (tenor sax), Will Hemmings (string bass) and
Max Abrams
(drums).
Radio broadcasts with the BBC
Jack made regular radio
broadcasts. The BBC played its part, through radio, in promoting public interest
in jazz, starting with its wartime Radio Rhythm Club, which was superseded in
1949 by Mark White’s Jazz Club.
The BBC selected some of the Mark White’s Jazz Club
tracks for a BBC album published a few years later.
The
musicians on one of those tracks include Jack as well as trumpeter Jack Jackson.
The two frequently performed together on radio.
Harry Francis remarks that the recorded performances
of Mark White’s Jazz Club, the Radio Rhythm Club
and another BBC group, the Jazz Club All Stars, “represented
the best in jazz and will stand the test of time for man, decades ahead”.
 Launching
New guitars - the Symphony and the
Committee
In 1946 saxophonist
Joe Van Straten set up a guitar factory in London with the objective of
manufacturing British plectrum guitars matching the quality of American models,
which dominated the market.
A photograph published in
Melody Maker
was taken at the launch of the Straten
Symphony
guitar and shows Jack and Mairants testing the new product.
Behind them, from left to right, are Jo Van
Straten, Joe Deniz, Dick Knight, Dick Sadleir and Lauderic Caton.
Dick Knight
was the key craftsman in the development of the new guitar.
All present were apparently “tremendously impressed”
with the instrument and were unable to distinguish it, in a blind tonal test,
from a top American model.
A few years later, Jack was to be involved with the
introduction of a German guitar into the British market.
The Hofner
Committee, which was the top-of-the-range guitar
supplied by Höfner for distribution in the UK, was designed in consultation with
a committee of the top six British guitarists of the time, one of whom was Jack.
These guitarists also helped with the introduction of
The
Committee into the 1950s music scene.
The
Committee
was in continuous production from 1954 to about
1969. Ivor
Mairants
offers a rather curious alternative version of events.
Approached to lend his name to the new Hofner guitar, he declined because
it sounded very thin and stringy compared with his
Epiphone Emperor.
“I could not very well sell my big sound for a mess of potage by
advertising Höfner” he writes, “so it was called
The Committee.”
With Eddie Carroll in 1949
Jack worked with
Eddie Carroll in 1949.
Between 1946 and 1950 Carroll’s orchestra had the
residency at Quaglino’s, a restaurant operating to this day in
Bury Street, St. James’s.
With Norrie Paramor in the 1950s
Norrie Paramor
had two bands in the fifties, The Big Ben Banjo Band and The Big Ben Hawaiian
Band.
Both Jack and
Bert Weedon
uncharacteristically played banjo in the Big Ben Banjo Band. The band recorded a
variety of music that included Minstrel Shows, The Beatles, ragtime, Dixieland
jazz, “oldies” and dance music.
Jack is noted as having played in “Norrie Paramor’s
band” in the 1950s.
Trumpeter Ron Simmonds recalls that he played “on
practically every session we did”.
As the relevant article is exclusively about
guitarists, this must be a reference to The Big Ben Hawaiian Band.
Both bands were essentially studio orchestras, which
explains Simmonds’s reference to “sessions”.
They did, however, appear on the BBC, and there is
at least one instance of a live performance:
see the paragraph on Jazz Jamboree 1958 below.
With Ivor Mairants in the early 1950s
Jack was a member of the
Ivor
Mairants Guitar Group for a while.
The group was formed in 1950, began a BBC series in
autumn 1952 and continued broadcasting until about the end of 1954.
Jack is one of a number of guitarists credited on
the LP Focus
on Ivor Mairants 1935 – 1954, which includes
recordings of the Guitar Group.
With George Chisholm in 1956
Jack played with
trombonist
George Chisholm on
Makin’ Whoopee,
I
Gotta Right to Sing
the Blues and
Georgetta,
recorded in March 1956.
These tracks are now on the CD
The Art of George
Chisholm, Vocalion, 2005.
With Malcolm Lockyer and Dennis Wilson in 1956 and 1957
Polygon/Nixa issued a
series of
Piano Moods EPs from 1955 to 1957.
Jack plays on the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet EP,
recorded in January 1956, with Lockyer (piano), Joe Muddell (bass) and Derek
Price (drums).
He can also be heard on the Dennis Wilson Trio EP,
recorded in August 1957, with Wilson (piano) and Frank Clarke (drums).
Jazz Jamboree 1958
The Jazz Jamboree
held on 23rd
November 1958 at the Gaumont State, Kilburn saw Jack playing banjo with The Big
Ben Banjo Band referred to above.
Roderick was on trumpet and Chisholm on trombone.
One of the other banjoists was Weedon.
 With
Bert Weedon in 1959
Jack and Isaacs
performed on Weedon’s
Teenage Guitar/Blue
Guitar.
A photograph of Jack on Weedon’s official website
shows Jack, Isaacs and Weedon in discussion during a break from the recording of
that record.
With Tony Crombie in 1960-61
In 1960
Tony Crombie released the jazz LP
Sweet Wild & Blue.
Made in stereo, it has been described as a
“pioneering stereophonic album”.
The following year Crombie recorded a further LP
entitled 12
Favourite Film Themes.
Jack
played on at least one of these records.
(The LPs were re-issued by Vocalion in 2005 on a
combined CD, on which Jack and one other guitarist, Goldberg, are credited, but
the credits do not distinguish between the two original LPs.)
With Frank Sinatra
Jack greatly liked
Frank Sinatra and worked for him at the London
Palladium.
Recordings with the Singers of the Sixties
Jack played on many of
Petula Clark’s
records and also worked on recordings for
Cilla Black.
With Marion Montgomery in the Late Sixties
Jack worked with
Marion Montgomery on several recordings.
This must have been in the latter half of the
Sixties and/or the very early Seventies, as Montgomery moved to England in 1965.
Film Work
Jack composed and
played a great deal of film music. He frequently attended Ealing Studios where
he would play background music for particular scenes as required, all composed
and performed
extempore.
Content to pick up session fees for the work, he
rarely claimed composer’s royalties.
Jingles
Jack’s was the guitar on numerous radio and
television jingles.
Jack’s Musical Style
Ivor Mairants describes him as a “brilliant
soloist”.
Gordon Wells remembers Jack as a chord melody player who
sometimes used unusual harmonies.
Every note of every chord was played with crystal
clarity and, as Gordon puts it, he could “sometimes put a chord in that would
make the hairs stand on the back of your neck”.
His harmonic sense was unique in Gordon’s view.
Jack had a picking style with which he could execute
string-skipping figures to produce a chordal effect that fascinated Gordon, who
says that Jack played in such a strong and positive manner that the sound of his
fingers on the guitar neck was similar to the sound produced by a saxophone as
the pads go down.
Influences
When Jack switched professionally to the guitar in 1934 he devoted most of his
spare time to the studies of solos by
Andrés Segovia, which he
considered indispensable to the improvement of technique.
For the development of style and phrasing he focused on the records of
famous stylists, of whom he considered
Eddie Lang to be
perhaps the greatest of all time.
Of the guitarists of the day (excluding Lang, who had died in 1933)
Jack’s favourites were Dick McDonough and
George van Eps.
 Jack
Llewellyn - the Man
Jack, for all his
accomplishment as a musician, was a shy and unassuming man.
He is believed to have performed as a session man on
many recordings on which he is not credited, but he was unconcerned.
Unlike many other modern musicians reaching the top
of the ladder, he did not go on to lead his own band or do solo work, and there
are no known recordings on which Jack is the lead name.
As noted earlier, he avoided the limelight and was
no doubt comfortable in the relatively anonymous ambiance of session work.
Simmonds provides an insight into Jack’s low profile
when he confesses that, despite playing repeatedly with Jack as mentioned above,
he could never remember Jack’s name:
“Always had to ask.
It got so that I only needed to look at him, and
make a half turn towards the trumpeter Stan Reynolds sitting beside me for Stan
to say, ‘Jack Llewellyn’.”
Jack was un=ambitious and did not take full
commercial advantage of his position at the top of his profession, as
illustrated by his willingness to forgo composer’s royalties.
He was a genial man.
There is a sign of his kindness in the help that he
gave, as mentioned above, to Isaacs when Isaacs arrived in Britain.
Gordon Wells’ wife Beryl describes Jack as being a
lovely man, “a real genuine person”. Jack
was a particularly snappy dresser, a trait he may have inherited from his
father.
He was also one of the smartest dressed people that Gordon
has seen in his life and “wore really expensive suits”.
As a successful performer without a family to
support, he probably had a considerable disposable income.
His Family
Jack and his brother
Charles were close friends, and Gordon remembers them as being “a riot” when
together.
Perhaps the local constabulary perceived them in the same
light and felt drawn to reading the Riot Act to them instead of
taking more formal action when they stopped Jack’s and Charles’s car in the
early hours of one morning in the early 1970’s.
The pair had arrived at
Dick Knight’s
around noon the previous day and had left after midnight, having spent all day
chatting, playing and drinking beer and finishing a whole bottle of whisky as
chasers.
They were stopped by police whilst driving home but somehow
managed to talk their way out of trouble.
Charles lived close to Jack in Dagmar
Street, Wembley.
Like Jack he was an excellent guitarist and
first-class sight-reader (though even he was outshone by the exceptional talent
of Jack).
Charles worked semi-professionally as a musician, by day
loading paper in a printing mill.
Charles and Jack sometimes recorded together.
In about 1972 Jack moved with his wife
Molly and their family to the Newton Abbott area finally
settling in Cullompton, Devon.
The Curse of the MacCrimmons
In his fifties Jack suffered a problem with
his left hand that involved a tendon and impaired the movement of his little
finger.
Although there was talk of the hand having been injured in
an accident, Beryl Wells is sure that the problem developed gradually.
In view of the gradual onset, Jack’s age, his sex
and his mother’s presumed Scottish roots, it was almost certainly
Dupuytren’s contracture, one of the commonest afflictions
and non-traumatic surgical conditions to be treated in musicians.
Jack underwent an operation on his hand, but it made
playing very awkward, and it took him 18 months to regain full use.
The point at which the contracture started to interfere
with Jack’s playing has not been established, nor has the point at which he was
affected by the 18-month recovery period. It is difficult, therefore, to know
the extent to which Dupuytren’s contracture
contributed to Jack’s financial decline.
Death
Jack died on 9th October 1988.
His death certificate records him as a retired
musician of 13 Crowbridge Park, Cullompton, Devon. He died as a result of a
tragic car accident.
His legacy
Jack was a “prolific
sessioneer”.
As noted earlier, there are believed to be many recordings
on which he is not credited.
That fact, combined with the fact that few of his
radio broadcasts will have been recorded, means that the above account probably
falls a long way short of reflecting the true extent of Jack’s contribution to
the body of guitar music.
He made his mark as one of the pioneers of British jazz
guitar.
He is listed among the fifteen or so artists featured in
UK’s Jazz
Guitar Pioneers, and
Martin
Taylor names Jack and eight other
guitarists as the “founding fathers” of British guitar jazz.
Jack played with technical brilliance and an extraordinary
style. In the words of Gordon Wells, “His playing was unlike anybody else’s and
there has never been any one else like him”.
The Quintette du Hot Club de Paris, which
Jack joined just after the war, has been described as the most successful
European jazz group ever, and Jack’s work with Reinhardt and Grappelli probably
stands at the head of his achievements as a musician.
Jack Llewellyn never sought the
limelight, and his outstanding musicianship did not bring him fame.
He was, and is, nevertheless admired for his skill
by fellow musicians, and that was probably all that this remarkable but modest
man would have wished for.
OUTLINE BIOGRAPHIES OF
MUSICIANS REFERRED TO
-
D’Amato,
Noel "Chappie" (1897 – 1976)
Multi-instrumentalist, especially guitar and alto saxophone.
Jack Hylton’s Band, Jack Jackson’s Band and much other work.
Bertini
(1896 – 1957)
Born Bert Gutsell. British
musician.
Carmichael,
Hoagy
(1899 – 1981)
Hoagland Carmichael, American composer, pianist, singer, actor and bandleader,
best known for writing Stardust and
Heart and Soul, two of the
most-recorded American songs of all time.
Carroll,
Eddie
(1907 – 1969)
Jazz pianist, working with many bands including Henry Hall’s Orchestra.
Musical director on the Queen Mary
for its maiden voyage in 1936. Led
own bands 1937 – 40 and after the war.
Bands were among the most popular of the early swing ensembles.
Residency at Quaglinos 1946 – 1950.
Davis,
Beryl
English big band singer. Toured
with her father
Harry
Davis’s orchestra and subsequently with
Grappelli,
Shearing
and
Ted
Heath. Recruited to Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Orchestra.
Hollywood debut on Bob Hope’s show.
Sang with
Frank
Sinatra,
Benny
Goodman,
Vaughn
Monroe and
David
Rose. Formed a popular
gospel quartet in 1954 which scored a series of hits.
Elrick,
George
(1903 – 1999)
Drummer, vocalist, radio disc jockey, band leader, composer and manager, best
known for presenting the BBC’s
Housewives’ Choice.
Evans,
George
(1915 - 1993)
Jazz bandleader, arranger and tenor saxophonist.
Fillis,
Len
(b.
1903)
South African-born banjoist and player of many other stringed instruments.
Leading guitarist of the later 1920s.
Recorded several solos but primarily a supporting musician, playing with
bands such as Jack Hylton’s Hyltonians.
Credited with over 700 recordings.
Also a composer of nearly 100 pieces.
Goldberg,
Dave
(1922 – 1969)
English guitarist, trombonist and
composer. Jazz guitar pioneer.
Band work includes Ted Heath Band, Dizzy Reece's Sextet, Phil
Seaman's Quintet and Jack Parnell's ATV Orchestra. Extensive freelance
work in UK and US. Film work
included playing and writing.
Hall,
Henry (1898
– 1989)
Studied piano, trumpet and harmony. Worked for Salvation Army. Musical director
of the LMS group of hotels in the 20s.
Became a national figure in 1932 when he became leader of the BBC Dance
Orchestra: numerous broadcasts and
recordings. Later featured
regularly in television series Face The
Music. CBE in 1970 for his
services to music.
Hicks,
Clive
British session guitarist who worked most notably with Elton John.
Isaacs,
Ike
(1919 - 1996)
Born in Burma. Renowned jazz
guitarist. Played with numerous bands including the Ted Heath Band, and the BBC
Show Band. Made several albums.
Toured with Disley’s Hot Club, which worked extensively with Grappelli in
the 1960s and 1970s. Moved to
Australia in the 1980s and taught at the Sydney Guitar School.
Jackson,
Jack
(1906 – 1978)
Dance band leader, outstanding trumpeter, disc jockey and broadcaster.
Lockyer,
Malcolm
Talented composer, arranger, conductor and pianist.
Formed own orchestra for broadcasting and recording in 1951.
Conductor of BBC Revue Orchestra and subsequently BBC Radio Orchestra
from 1960 to 1972. Composed and directed the music for more than 30 feature
films. Most popular composition was
Friends and Neighbours.
Lipton,
Sydney
(1904 – 1995)
Classically trained violinist and prominent dance band leader.
Billy Cotton’s Band 1925 – 31.
Own band was one of the leading British dance bands, resident at the
Grosvenor House Hotel for four decades, and making many recordings and
broadcasts.
Llewellyn,
David John (“Jack”)
(1888 – 1961)
Banjoist and guitarist. Reputed to
have been second only, as a banjoist, to Olly Oakley.
Played with Bobby Hind’s London Sonora Band – the first British band to
tour Germany after the Second World War - in the 1920s.
Coventry-based banjo and guitar teacher in later life.
(Fuller details about David John (“Jack”) Llewellyn are available in a
separate note.)
Moonan,
Dennis
Played viola, saxophone and clarinet and recorded at least one track with
Grappelli, but otherwise little information has been found about him.
Paramor,
Norrie
(1914 – 1979)
Pianist, producer, composer and orchestra conductor, best known as a producer
for EMI Columbia Records, where he signed Cliff Richard and The Drifters (who
became The Shadows). Paramor is
only one hit short of George Martin’s record for producing the greatest number
of no.1 hits.
Procter,
Judd
(b.
1933)
Guitarist (and originally banjoist).
Member of Ray Ellington’s Quartet and various other bands.
Mainly session work from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Roderick,
Stan
(1919 – 1994)
Eminent English trumpeter, playing with many of the best known bands and singing
stars of his day.
Rosing,
Val
(1910 – 1969),
English dance hall singer best known as the vocalist with the BBC Henry Hall
Orchestra and for singing on the original BBC recording of
Teddy Bear’s Picnic.
Saville,
Harry
Bandleader, Harry Saville and his Band.
Shakespeare,
Bill
Jazz trumpeter and flügelhorn player.
Worked with Carroll Gibbons, Sydney Lipton, Maurice Winnick and many
other top musicians.
Shearing,
George
(1919 - )
Blind English jazz pianist, originally an accordionist, and composer who moved
to America and was knighted in 2007 for his services to music.
Simmonds,
Ron
(1928 – 2005)
English (albeit Canada-born) trumpeter, pianist and composer, playing trumpet
with many top bands, including those of Ronnie Scott, Jack Parnell and Ted
Heath.
Sullivan,
“Big Jim”
(1941 -
)
Born James George Thompkins, Big Jim Sullivan was a prolific session musician
whose work started in the 1950s. He
performed on over 1,000 charting singles, more than 50 of which reached No.1 in
the UK.
Winstone,
Eric
(1915 – 1974)
Composer and bandleader, who made many popular recordings from the 1930s to the
1970s.
Young,
Arthur
(1904 – 1965)
Scottish jazz pianist and band leader, who made some recordings, including piano
duets with Reginald Forsythe.
| 
PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
