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It was my very sad duty recently to announce the death of
a good friend of countless members of the Manchester Jazz
fraternity and a musical colleague of many decades' standing
- Alan Hare, F. R. I. C. S. He was admitted to Wythenshawe
Hospital, Manchester, on July 22nd, but was transferred to
Trafford General Hospital due to a shortage of intensive care
beds. He subsequently died there two weeks later, at about
11:45 a. m. on August 3rd, 2007. He was 79. Alan had been
suffering from mouth cancer for some time, which caused him
difficulties when swallowing; yet those of us who saw and
spoke to him at the recent Joe Palin Get Well/Tribute in mid-July
never suspected how soon he would be leaving us. His immaculate
dress sense, his elegant bearing and obvious sense of personal
dignity during that whole evening deceived us all into thinking
that all was well. How fortunate those of us there were to
have been able to see and speak to this great man for …"one
more time", as he would often shout out to his "Sixteen
Men Swinging", paraphrasing one of his greatest idols
- Count Basie. We never saw him again.
Originally from Warrington, Lancashire (now in Cheshire)
where he was born on 22nd July 1928 - an ominous date - by
several quirks of fate and his father Percy Hare's professional
travels as a Revenue Officer, after living in Chingford, Essex,
several years, Alan Hare found a new home and, eventually,
two totally separate careers here in the North West, becoming
an integral part of the Manchester Jazz scene in the process.
It is not certain what year the family moved from Warrington,
but Alan's son Miles recently checked school attendance records
with Chingford High School (now Chingford Foundation School).
Alan was there between 1939 and 1943. Therefore, it would
seem that he became 16, in 1944, at Cheadle Hulme and not
in Chingford. While still at Chingford High School, and despite
the ravages of war, Alan was aware of the recent George Webb-led
New Jazz Revival. He tried to form a band with some friends
who were also learning instruments who, like himself, were
clueless about a working methodology to do so.
Back then, Alan was an aspiring pianist studying Mozart,
Chopin and J. S. Bach. For the Jazz band, the boys needed
a clarinetist to complete the lineup. Who should enrol but
a young man of the same age, called Johnny Dankworth. "J.
D." was a pupil at Sir George Monoux's Sixth Form College,
but the College had been '… commandeered by the Military
in 1939 …', according to Ray Marsh, an Old Monovian
evacuee. While Alan was at Chingford High School, some of
the Monovian boys were studying at Chingford High School.
This must have been how A. H. and J. D. 'almost' came into
contact. Just as something terrific was about to happen to
the embryo band's sound with the arrival of the already highly
talented J. D., Alan's father was posted to Manchester, thus
bringing a golden opportunity to an abrupt end. Undaunted,
Alan did his best to adjust to his new surroundings, never
for a moment forgetting his new burning musical ambition -
to form a "hot" Jazz band. Little did he know, he
had come to 'the right place at the right time' - something
that would become his by-word eventually.
While amassing a large collection of Jazz records at home
in Cheadle Hulme, Alan had to put Jazz on hold for some time
while he trained as a Chartered Surveyor, a move which would
in time offer unprecedented Jazz opportunities and foreign
travel. Itching to be involved in Jazz, he borrowed time from
his studies to learn trombone with a local brass band - an
accidental move. He was offered a trombone to play, because
he could read music. Meanwhile, in 1947, a self-confessed
'… poor dance-band pianist …', when he met Derek
Atkins (trumpet) and Derek Mosedale (clarinet), Alan was persuaded
to join the then forerunner of the Derek Atkins Dixielanders,
who had a weekly residency at the Edinburgh Hall, Princess
Road, Moss Side. The gig was so difficult to get to and from,
that, although he thoroughly enjoyed the Jazz, he was relieved
when his piano replacement, Snowy Hanson, came along.
In probably late 1948, he stepped into the vacant trombone
chair in the 2-year old Smoky City Stompers. Lineup in 1948-49:
(some musicians alternating) Frank Wilson/Dave Browning/Derek
Atkins (trumpet); Derek Poole/Geoff Sowden/Alan Hare (trombone);
Eric Lister (clarinet/vocals); Eric Abrams/Harry Giltrap (banjo/guitar);
Trevor Brooks (piano), Alec Smith (drums); Alan Stevens (sousaphone
- a local and later national Jazz critic and broadcaster).
Alan Hare had probably replaced the great Derek Poole, who
later became equally good on double bass. In a letter that
Alan wrote to me in 2006, he said: '… In the late 40s,
after Ken Wray, I think he was about the best trombonist in
town …'. The band recorded on 30 April 1949. The lineup
by 1951 was: Tony Bagot (trumpet), Alan Hare (trombone), Eric
Lister (clarinet/vocals), Barry Schumm (clarinet/alto sax.),
Geoff Wildash (banjo/guitar), Trevor Brooks (piano), Alec
Smith (drums), Brian Adams (d/bass). At about this time Alan
also played trombone occasionally with the then recently formed
Saints Jazz Band (formerly Storyville Jazzmen), a band which
was to have a lengthy and successful lifespan, while deviating
from the predominant pre-Classic Jazz style of the day. Joining
Don Simmonds' Jazzmen, Alan found that he was inadvertently
becoming a dedicated bandleader himself. Don left to improve
his chances in London in 1953; Alan immediately took over
as bandleader. The band's name was changed to The Bluenote
Jazzmen. One lineup at the Sportsman Restaurant in 1953 was:
Tony Bagot (trumpet), Alan Hare (trombone), Derek "Mo"
Mosedale (clarinet/vocals), Ron Baker (banjo/guitar - founder
member of Manchester Grammar School's, The Heat Spots, in
1936), Bryan Houghton (piano), Doug Martin (drums), Pete Shorthouse
(d/bass). The year 1956 was a memorable one for the band.
During June the Bluenote Jazzmen came first at the Bury Carnival,
in which five bands from the region competed in the Jazz Contest.
In keeping with the carnival and the New Orleans street parade
atmosphere, the band played on the back of a wagon. The Bluenote
J/M won with 1,228 points out of a possible 1,350. Following
numerous weekly residencies at the Manchester Sports Guild
(Sportsman) and the Piccadilly Jazz Club (Wheatsheaf Hotel,
High Street), the band appeared at that much-coveted venue,
the Manchester Hippodrome, in Ardwick, on 10 October 1956,
resplendent and professional-looking in their cream tuxedo
jackets. By now Alan was seriously thinking of expanding his
horizons as a bandleader, but on a bigger scale, while playing
conventional Chicago-style Jazz in the clubs, as a pianist
or trombonist, or both.
By April 1st 1958, the Alan Hare Big Band was formed [also
known as "Sixteen Men Swinging"]. Its incredibly
ambitious but successful debut took place at the Free Trade
Hall, Peter Street, five days later. The other band on the
concert was the Alex Welsh Jazz Band; so the boys were in
good company, especially since the Alex Welsh band was there
to back no less a Jazz personage than hot-gospel singer Sister
Rosetta Tharpe. Alan's lineup comprised: Bill Holt, Bob Connell,
Arthur Tongue, Ken Ratcliffe (trumpets); Reg Payton, Alan
Hare, Ted Higgins (trombones); Wally Houser, Barry Schumm
(alto saxes/clarinet); Alan Fawkes, Bryan Burns (tenor saxes);
Jeff Backhouse (bar. sax.); Eric Ferguson (piano); Brian Adams
(d/bass); Ian Buckley (guitar); Ronnie Arnold (drums). Short
of just one major number for the Free Trade Hall concert,
Alan persuaded the not-yet-too-famous Syd Lawrence, with whom
he was quite friendly at the time, from when the Bluenote
Jazzmen and the Cameo All Stars shared sessions at the Cameo
Club in Ashton-under-Lyne to produce an arrangement at short
notice, for £10 (a small fortune then). It was Count
Basie's "April in Paris". The Cameo All Stars consisted
of Northern Dance Orchestra (NDO) members: Syd Lawrence (trumpet),
Roger Fleetwood (alto sax/clt), Frank Dixon (tbn), Bob Turner
(drs), Alan Roper (pno), and poss.? Brian Day (bass). In his
letter of 15 March 2006, Alan, referring to Syd's arrangements,
told me: '… I kept the parts until I went to Hong Kong,
at which time printed parts were available, JUST THE SAME
AS WRITTEN BY SYD! …' My own friendship with Alan goes
back to approximately 1959 in Stockport when and where Alan
still led and rehearsed the Bluenote Jazzmen, after playing
at the Blue Note Jazz Club (Wheatsheaf, in High Street and
later at the Queen's Café, Queen Street, off Albert
Square). Securing a permanent one-night-a-week residency at
the MSG (Sportsman's Restaurant, Market Street), staying there
for six-years, this work ended abruptly in 1959, when the
MSG decided that Alan's Sunday sessions were too popular,
affecting Friday sessions, which often featured expensive
London bands. By the time Alan left for Hong, the Bluenote
Jazzmen had already disbanded, according to Rod Hopton (trombonist
- a close friend of Alan's and in the Saints Jazz Band up
to the early 1980s). Many successes with Alan's big-band,
including recordings, followed; but in 1959, Alan, now a fully-fledged
Chartered Surveyor, was appointed to his first Colonial Service
post in Hong Kong.
Alan thought his playing days were over for the almost 4-year
term of the appointment. Lo' and behold, waiting to greet
him on the dockside in Hong Kong Harbour was the locally-based
Jericho Jazz Band and many from the Hong Kong Jazz community.
The American clarinetist, Tony Scott - famous for mastering
Bop on the clarinet, was also waiting on the dockside - he
was one of the area's leading Jazz exponents and very well-known
in the USA, where work was scarce at the time. I recalled
Bill Brennan (Jazz Aces Manager) telling me about Alan's meeting
with Tony Scott in 1959. The band had heard news of Alan's
arrival through the Jazz grapevine; thus, Alan's next three
years were going to be a lot happier than he had envisaged.
He did a good deal of big-band work there too, backing many
big names on piano, and was involved in many broadcasts. It
was there that Alan often played with another dear friend,
the late Frank Fonseca - part Portuguese, part-Chinese (an
incredible guitarist and a great multi-linguist besides being
an exceptional pictorial artist working in a modern Impressionist
style) who had only one complete arm. Frank sadly died in
early 2007, but he graced this Jazz scene, acquitting himself
admirably, since the 1970s. He had been a child prodigy on
violin and piano in Shanghai and Hong Kong before WW2.
Alan also played in Pete O'Neil's Jazz Band in Hong Kong.
Pete was on trumpet. An Army Captain opened Alan's eyes regarding
big-bands and was probably highly influential in Alan's new
perception of and approach to Modern Jazz. Alan fashioned
his new big-band around the Captain [unidentified] and his
great skills as a modernist trumpet lead. This was complemented
by finding top-flight military bandsmen who played flawlessly
as sidemen; he now strove for bigger goals, pushing out the
envelope further every time. He was determined to keep this
momentum up on his return to the UK. However, although he
concentrated on writing big-band arrangements with the occasional
transcription, Alan's composing days were yet to come - eventually
with a veritable vengeance. The tour of duty over, Alan said
his farewells to hundreds of enthusiastic fans and fellow
musicians. He was to return to an anticlimax, which must have
been a bitter disappointment to him, after the adulation he
had felt in Hong Kong.
Back in Manchester in 1962, Alan had a great deal of adjusting
to do; however, he soon settled into the new day job with
Manchester City Council. The Manchester Jazz scene is not
always outwardly demonstrative when its lost sheep return
to the fold, as if to punish them for straying away. His upkeep
was, however, guaranteed, having almost immediately stepped
into another well-paid Civil Service day-job, this time in
the Planning Department at Manchester Town Hall. He had plenty
of free time in which to indulge in his favourite music, if
it was going to happen. Just before I left for the London
scene in 1963, Alan and I frequently bumped into each other
in and around Albert Square at lunch-times, swapping band
tales.
Alan had had no band to rejoin in 1962. However, that would
not pose a problem for too long. He joined the Southside Jazz
Band, on piano, replacing the late John Featherstone, who
was then playing in my Joe Silmon's Dixielanders. The Southside
J/B. was an outfit that now had a pronounced mainstream flavour,
as distinct from the band originally led and powerfully propelled
by founder-leader/drummer Don Bridgewood in the mid-late 50s.
It was led from the front by Roy Bower on trumpet. It had
been largely New Orleans' pre-Classic-styled. The more recent
band, also had a regular prime-time Saturday night spot at
the same old venue, the Black Lion Hotel, Blackfriars Street,
just inside Salford. The Black Lion was not many yards from
the Parsonage, where in the mid-20s the first Station 2ZY
(later BBC) Jazz broadcast, by Prestwich-based Julian Niman's
Scarlet Syncopators took place. NIman's bands later included
star trumpeters Nat Gonella and Eddie Calvert. Alan found
this information most interesting when I told him during one
of our many recent telephone chats about the book I am writing
on the Manchester Jazz scene. Who knows?, Julian Niman's boys,
in those far off days, might have raced down to the famous
Black Lion (of fond memory) for a quick pint, after broadcasting
in the tiny, stifling studio backing onto the sultry, smelly
River Irwell - always at its worst during hot summers.
After his Southside days, which seemed to be brief, Alan
was asked to join a small band that had been formed only recently
at the Bamboo Club, Hazel Grove, Stockport. It was obvious
from the start that this locally successful band was meant
for Alan. The Gordon Robinson Septet had a style between cool
Mainstream and Modern Jazz. The band, while Alan played in
it, won several significant Jazz band awards, at home and
abroad, some at Montreux, Switzerland. Lineup: Gordon Robinson
(trombone), Doug Whaley (trumpet/flugel horn), Brian Smith
(tenor sax.), Bernie Brown (bari. sax.), Pete Staples (drums),
Chris Daniels/the late Pete Taylor (bass) and Alan Hare (piano,
arrangements). Regular sessions kept the band based at the
Bealey family's Bamboo Restaurant/Club almost indefinitely.
During 1963, Alan had also been playing with the Art Taylor
All Stars at the Manchester Sports Guild (in Long Millgate).
This was a quasi-Mainstream band, but based largely on the
Louis Armstrong All Stars. Personnel: Doug Whaley (trumpet/flugel
horn); Art Taylor (trombone); Chris Lucas/Chris Berry (clarinet)/Maurice
Gavin (clarinet/piano); Rod Hamer (drums); Lawrence Selcoe
(bass). The band soon became a favourite at the MSG. At the
time, unfortunately, Alan was prone to overindulging in alcohol;
this excess altered his normally benign and gentlemanly behaviour
occasionally - but only temporarily. He stoically rode the
intermittent brainstorms. Eventually, the band replaced him.
Depression was at the back of it all; after some outpatient
treatment locally he became determined to recover, quite sensibly
through throwing himself more intensely into his work. As
an in-patient for a little while, Alan wrote a ballad called
"Why am I Hare" (an obvious play on words). He now
concentrated on writing, playing and arranging for the Gordon
Robinson Septet, the latter considerably contributing to the
band's sound, repertoire and eventual success at home and
abroad. A thorough soul-searching reinvigorated and encouraged
Alan to recover and to go on to bigger and better things.
Interesting moves involving bookings of several big American
Jazz stars at the Guild in 1964, largely organised by Jack
Swinnerton who had replaced the late Johnny Orr as Jazz Organiser,
backed by General Secretary "Jenks", found Alan
back at the MSG, but now once again back at the helm, leading
his own big-band. This time, there was no turning back. By
1965, the Alan Hare Big-Band consisted of: Alan Hare (piano/leader/arranger),
Bill Brown (bass), Pete Staples (drums); Doug Whaley, Dave
Browning (fellow veteran of the Smoky City Stompers, 1948),
Ken Rawding, Frank McDonald (trumpets); Ted Higgins, the late
Fred Fydler, Paul Latham (trombones); Johnny Smith, Brian
Crowther, Barry Schumm, Jimmy Barnes, Jeff Logue (saxes).
Ian Royle (tpt) and Julius Hasford (tnr sax) were in some
of the lineups too, around this period. Almost all of them
were present at Didsbury Cricket Club at the reception following
Alan’s funeral.
With this big-band, at the Manchester Sports Guild, Alan
and the boys were picked to back some of the visiting American
greats; as stated booked mainly by Jack Swinnerton, one being
Earl Hines, but for a concert at Manchester's Houldsworth
Hall, agencied partly by the MSG. For this concert, held on
6 April 1965, Alan was asked by Earl Hines to rearrange Clark
Terry's "Groundhog". This apparently was very well
received by Mr Hines, who thought it was "… terrific
…". Alan, as late as March 2006, wrote to me to
say that he intended to record this number on a CD with his
Octet:
'… all the musicians are keen and we won't need a lot
of rehearsal, as the tunes have been played many times. Such
as "Black Butterfly" … Duke …, "All
God's Children got …", "Groundhog", a
composition by Clark Terry …'.
It would be interesting to hear if that recording ever took
place. After some more time with the Gordon Robinson Septet
(as pianist, arranger, MD), Alan simultaneously continued
running his own big-bands intermittently between 1965 and
the 1970s, also accepting small-scale gigs as trio or quartet
work in hotels, clubs, etc., as available. One of these in
1965-66 at the Sunnyside Country Club in Denton, near Hyde,
Cheshire, on Wednesday evenings, consisted of Alan (piano),
Mike Medina (bass guitar) and Graham Smith (drums). It was
a club that got quite full, but its owner, Hussain Saidi,
was always a difficult man to deal with when it came to money
matters. Wages became "negotiable" after every performance.
The man would sit eating "spaghetti" while haggling
over what should be paid to the bandleader for the musicians.
The bandleader, like a serf, remained standing. It was the
same story when I took the group over from Mike Medina, who
left in 1967-68. Alan, Graham and myself (on reeds) were the
basic trio, but it became less definable, as we were allowed
to book guest musicians and - sometimes - vocalists. So we
decided, because of this uncertainty, to rename the group
the "Joe Silmon ?-tet". One of the vocalists was
the lovely, highly talented Jo Lester, daughter of the big-bandleader
Art Lester. No artistes booked at the club ever had any problem
with Alan's superb piano accompaniment. Saidi - who was supposed
to be a millionaire - persisted in his old barter remuneration
method, a problem exacerbated even further, when guests such
as Jo and extra front-line musicians were allowed to perform.
We felt relieved from this stressful uncertainty when a non-Jazz
trio succeeded in "muscling in" and barefacedly
took over our gig - to which they were well and truly welcome!
Still leading the SIXTEEN MEN SWINGING at the MSG, by the
end of the 1960s, Alan accepted other work with Dixieland/Mainstream
bands, such as those of Randy Colville and Gordon Robinson,
and trio work. He replaced the great Joe Palin on piano in
Randy's Manchester-based Old Fashioned Love Band, headquartered
at the Victoria Hotel, Hardman Street, in 1971. I rejoined
the band shortly afterwards. By September 1972, Alan Stevens
(Producer) and John Featherstone (Presenter), had arranged
a radio broadcast on BBC Radio Manchester at the Victoria
Hotel, on "Jazz Parade". Personnel: Randy Colville
(leader/arranger/clarinet, alto, soprano saxes), Alan Hare
(piano/arrangements), local ace Doug Whaley (trumpet/flugel
horn), the great Ken Wray (trombone), myself (mainly on tenor/alto
saxes, flute and bass clarinet), Frank Gibson (drums/Frank
Sinatra-style vocals) and the superb Ian Taylor (d/bass) played
a fine mix of tunes arranged by Randy Colville, the band sounding
double its size, thanks to the clever 'voicing' used by Randy.
However, Alan's skills as a band-leader/arranger were also
indispensable at the time, especially during rehearsals.
By about mid-1974 the Alan Hare Big-Band had moved to the
Midland Hotel, West Didsbury, where it played to packed houses
during each of its performances there. By now, Alan was composing
a lot more as well as arranging and leading the band. He was
to strike up a relationship some months later with Bill Ashton,
leader of the National Jazz Youth Orchestra, and did many
arrangements for that outfit of such fine, young musicians,
that were played over the decades. His arrangements and compositions
are still in regular use with the orchestra. Alan's compositions
began to flow at a fairly steady rate in 1975. While working
with local groups, including bands led by Julie Flynn (vocalist),
the Harlem Hot Stompers and the new Smoky City Six, by 1994
Alan's compositions already included the following (taken
from the NYJO Magazine, Spring 2006):
1975 Ballad for Brigitte / Lift off / Bones for Basie
1976 Going for a Burton Who Wray for Ken
1979 Nothing like a Thane
1980 Fox Fur
1985 Waltz for Duke
1990 Afterburner
1992 Bethlehem Lift Off
1994 Tara's Tuesday [dedicated to his daughter, no doubt]
1995 Lift off [new treatment of Basie's Doxy,
as recorded in 1976-77 by the NYJO] / Tenor Each Way
1996 Blues for Mike
1997 LBG
1998 Miss Pankhurst Protests [recorded at Ronnie Scott's that
year]
Quite a respectable legacy to leave to the Jazz-playing world.
The Alan Hare Octet, a manageable sized group preferred by
Alan as he gradually became - only very slightly less energetic
- played intermittently but always to great effect between
the 1980s and into the 2000s, yet the group did a surprising
amount of out-of-town touring. The pre-Millennium year was
a prominent year for the Octet. Perhaps Birch Hall, Lees,
Oldham was the venue that best showed off its popularity.
The lineup some fifteen years on, by 2001 was: Alan Hare (leader/composer/arranger),
John Robinson (pno), Laurie Cooper (tbn), Mike Burns (tpt,
fl. hn), Chris Williams (alto sax/elec. flt), Brian Smith
(tnr sax), Sam Reynolds (bar. Sax), Dave Edwards (drums) and
Stewart Riley (d/bass). During the same period Alan continued
to 'dep' in several bands, or played piano regularly in some.
Up to approximately 2001, he was the regular pianist in Julie
Flynn's sextet and Mart Rodger's Manchester Jazz at Didsbury
Cricket Club and at other venues. Over the next 8 years, deciding
to play less frequently, he usually only led his Octet when
he revived it for specific airings from time to time, such
as at Hyde Cricket Club in recent times.
Although he dressed elegantly, like a country gentleman at
times, and behaved and conversed in a generally conservative
manner, Alan could act the 'clown' too. When he wrote to me
in the last two to three years regarding my queries about
the early Manchester Jazz Scene, his zany sense of humour
was always in evidence. He had a series of letterheads that
were proof of his "goonish" humour, some of which
is reflected in the bizarre titles of most of his compositions
(listed above). One letterhead reads:
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