James Blades

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Disc's Archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen seventy seven, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:32

This week our castaway is the percussionist James Blades.

Presenter0:36

James, of all forms of instrumental activity,

Presenter0:40

Percussion must be the toughest job because you've got so much stuff to haul about. Why did you become a drummer, a percussionist?

James Blades0:47

I became a drum player because as a boy.

James Blades0:49

I was fascinated by the sound of a drum.

James Blades0:53

What boy isn't?

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Now ma'am couldn't afford a dram.

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But I was told if I joined the Boy Scouts they'd give me a drum.

James Blades1:00

They gave me a drum.

James Blades1:02

And I played it, and I really enjoyed it. That was the beginning of it all. You come from Peterborough, don't you? Yes, I was born in Peterborough. A musical family? I like to think so.

James Blades1:13

My mother and father had to me wonderful voices.

James Blades1:17

I had an uncle that played the drum in the volunteer band.

James Blades1:21

another uncle that played the cornet, and my grandfather played the melodeon, and my three young brothers like myself

Presenter1:28

Uh

James Blades1:28

became choristers.

Presenter1:30

Yes, you were a chorister at the local church, and you were offered a post in the cathedral choir, weren't you? I actually

James Blades1:35

Really got in Peterborough Cathedral Choir, did you? In a rather strange way. I suppose my choral experience is probably the shortest on record.

James Blades1:45

But they wanted a probation in Peterborough Cathedral.

James Blades1:48

When I took along my brother told me he was a year younger than me.

James Blades1:53

Now Tommy was absolutely frightened.

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by the sight and the sound of Doctor Keaton.

James Blades1:59

A real martinet. He trained uh Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir Thomas Armstrong.

Speaker 22:04

Hmm.

James Blades2:04

Now I can see this old man to this day with his gown and his mortar board and his cane.

James Blades2:10

He shoved a tuning fork in my brother's mouth. said Sing that note boy, while my brother was petrified, and thinking to help, I said, Come on, Tom, you can sing that.

Speaker 22:21

Mm

James Blades2:22

Keaton said, Here, you sing Ding, boom, boom, boom. So I went, Ding, boom, boom, boom. Keaton says, You're in the choir. By which time I was too frightened to tell him I couldn't come in the choir, I was an errand boy. I took papers out in the morning, and I worked as a tobacconist dinner times nights and Saturday. Do you know, Roy, I was earning four shillings a week when I was nine years old, and my dad only earned twelve shillings. He was a journeyman tailor, and things were not very good. Now my four shillings a week was very valuable.

James Blades2:55

But I couldn't tell Keat and I couldn't come in the choir, so I went home and told Ma'am.

James Blades3:00

She said,'Well, you'll have to go to morrow. He said you'd go to morrow'. So I went the next day and I sat in front.

James Blades3:07

as probation is due.

James Blades3:09

He said, Now you come to Evensong, and you'll sit in the front again.

James Blades3:13

I went and sat in the front again.

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And I plucked up courage after even song and I said, Please, sir.

James Blades3:20

I can't come in the choir.

James Blades3:22

Because I'm an errand boy, and I've got to help ma'am. And he looked at me, God bless him, and the old man changed from that martinette to such a kindly chap, and he said, Sonny, I believe you. What I'll do you've been in the choir.

James Blades3:37

You can always say you're a Peterborough Cathedral chorister, you bring your brother to morrow night, and I took Tommy, and he became solo boy in the cathedral choir.

James Blades3:48

Let's have your first record, James. What shall that be? Ah, it would be Britain's cantata, Saint Nicholas.

James Blades3:54

And I've chosen this because

James Blades3:57

I remain fond of people's voices.

James Blades4:00

Particularly

James Blades4:01

If they're singing praise to the Lord.

Presenter4:54

An excerpt from Benjamin Britton's Saint Nicholas with the composer conducting.

Presenter5:01

Now, we left you as an errand boy in Peterborough and playing in the Boy Scouts band. What happened to you after that?

James Blades5:07

Yeah.

Presenter5:07

After that

James Blades5:08

Towards the end of the First World War I was sent into the engineering factory to become an apprentice to an engineer. I liked engineering, but I liked music and drumming better. My uncle came back from France, he gave me a few lessons, and I got on well enough to play in little dance bands. But what I wanted most to be was a professional.

James Blades5:30

My father and mother didn't want me to be a professional. In fact, they were horrified when I took my first job. What was your first job? It was a job in a circus. In a circus? Yes, oh, yes. I I answered an advertisement in a London newspaper. It said Wanted drummer, Jeannette Circus, star Tenley on Thames, three pounds five a week and tent.

James Blades5:49

I got the job. I was four and a half months with that circus, but I never did get the three pounds fine. The circus was broke, but it mattered not to me. I was professional. Must have been tremendous fun, too, playing for the acrobats and the clowns. Tremendous fun. Long rolls on the side drum for the man when he walked on the trapeze, plodding music.

Presenter6:01

Two playing for the

James Blades6:10

For the elephants and

James Blades6:13

For the horses galloping, always tremendous fun. And at the end of the summer? All the end of the summer I'd been busy knocking on doors of theatres and silent picture houses, and one man in a place called Wisby G, he actually looked at me and said, Sonny, all right, I'll give you a fortnight's trial. And I got a job at Wisby Chippodrome. Let's have your second record now. What's that to be? In the silent cinemas in the early twenties and on,

James Blades6:38

Beethoven's music was used much in the incidental music to epic films.

James Blades6:44

and the Coriolan overture, and Egmont, for instance, they were often part of the music that we found in our rather large books. So I would have Coriolan Overture by Beethoven, by the Berlin Philharmonic under its own conductor Herbert von Carrigan.

Presenter8:02

The opening of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karian. You were playing for Silent Pictures in the cinema in Wis Beach. What happened after that? Did you move on to other cinemas? I

James Blades8:14

I moved all over the country. I went north, south, east, west.

James Blades8:18

And then eventually down to London. Yes. Did they welcome you in London?

James Blades8:23

I was not met with a blaze or a fanfare of trumpets, and there were no red carpets.

James Blades8:28

In fact, I well remember that when I got to Crouch Hill station,

James Blades8:33

The only conveyance I could muster

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to get myself and my instruments to the Hippodrome in Crowchon Broadway.

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was a coal cart. But I got there, and London smiled on me.

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On my very first night,

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I came out of the pit. I walked down a dark passage to the street.

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As I walked down this passage, a hand touched me on the shoulder.

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and said in a very hoarse voice, Are you the drummer, my friend?

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I said I am.

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He said, And what are they paying you?

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I said five pounds eight.

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He says I'll give you six pound at Clapton Rink.

James Blades9:16

On your first night? On my very first night. And then you moved on into a number of variety theatres. I went to the Homan Empire, which was considered quite as good a a haul as the

Presenter9:28

Um Then the Palladium. A good variety drummer was worth his weight in gold. He was an enormous help to the comedians and the knockabout acts and

James Blades9:35

Uh

Presenter9:35

That sort of thing.

James Blades9:36

I think many of the knockabout acts relied absolutely on the drum player.

James Blades9:42

But yes, di it was a first class job. It was in a London theatre, as my uncle had said so often when he gave me my first lessons, I'm waiting to see you sit in evening dress in a London theatre. And I got in a London theatre, and uncle came to see me in my evening dress.

James Blades10:01

And shortly after that you sat on the stage in your evening dress. Oh, I didn't, because I'd heard dance bands, the early Hiltons, and people playing dance music, and I said, That's the job for me. I got a job in a dance band, and the leader's name was Gerald Bright.

James Blades10:16

Giraldo. He became Giraldo. Mhm. And then I got a job at the Piccadilly Hotel in the dance band, or quite a swell job, I think. I became the house drummer at Gaumont British Film Studios. Let's have your third record. What's that to be? It's called Spaceman.

James Blades10:32

and on this record a famous vibist,

James Blades10:35

That's the popular name for one that plays a vibraphone.

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The Vivist is Lionel Hampton.

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But he doesn't play a mime braffil.

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He plays with vibraphone technique on the piano keyboard with his middle fingers.

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He plays the treble.

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But another great jazz figure, just Stacy.

James Blades10:55

plays the bass, and I think the sound that Lionel Hampton gets with his two fingers on the top of this piano is, to say the least, remarkable.

Presenter12:06

Spaceman, Lionel Hampton and Jess Stacey on one keyboard.

Presenter12:10

Having accompanied so many silent films, you began to work on the soundtrack of sound films.

James Blades12:15

Yes, I became the house drummer, as I said, at Gaumont British Film Studios, and there, of course, I

James Blades12:21

played in the orchestra to many fine films. The first I will remember was The Midship Maid with Jesse Matthews.

Presenter12:29

Now every rank film began with a muscle man beating a gong. In fact it was you making that gong sound, wasn't it?

James Blades12:37

Yes, I've tried hard to live the rank gong down, but perhaps I like to reflect on it. Yes, when that big man, it was originally Bombardier Billy Wells, probably still is, when he strikes the big gong, he's striking what is known in the trade as a dummy, and I provide the sound with two strokes on my largest, rather special type of Chinese gong. But not as big as the one that that man appears to be hitting. Not as big.

Presenter13:05

You gotta wonder whether if we had one as big that it would sound as well.

Presenter13:09

How much does a percussionist practice? Obviously a a drummer must have supple wrists.

James Blades13:15

To keep your wrists supple and to keep your ear fresh. For instance, on the kettle drum one must be able to pitch their notes and change them and so forth. The the ear must be kept fresh just as well as the wrists. Many people feel that the drum player need not be so great a musician, but uh Wagner said next to my leader, my greatest player must be my tympanist.

James Blades13:37

I think it's time for another record. What shall we have now?

Presenter13:39

Yeah.

James Blades13:41

I would choose.

James Blades13:42

Stravinsky. Did you work with him? I worked with him. I had the good fortune of playing the Histoire de Solda, the soldier's tale, the pearl of percussion writing, and I think the opening march it would make me march along and probably reduce a bit of the fat if I became a bit lazy on the island.

Presenter15:01

Igor Stravinsky conducting the Soldiers' March, which opens his suite, The Soldier's Tale.

Presenter15:07

At the beginning of the war you did some work for Ensa, and then you decided to give up light music and concentrate on the classical. You joined the London Symphony Orchestra.

Presenter15:16

Why did you make that decision?

Presenter15:18

I think the war made

Presenter15:20

Uh

James Blades15:20

A lot of people more serious minded.

James Blades15:23

and I'd grown, of course, to become very fond of uh

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the rather more serious music and uh

James Blades15:30

Of course, I was getting older that I felt, well, I've had a good run as a dance pandrummer. I'll change my

James Blades15:37

Life's work and become a serious pro

Presenter15:39

And then shortly after the war you joined the English Chamber Orchestra. Uh well, you've talked of Benjamin Britton at the beginning of the programme. I know you did a lot of work with him, and in fact you devised some special percussion instruments for him.

James Blades15:54

Yes, uh whilst playing with the English Chamber Orchestra, Ben um enlisted my support, if I could say that, in uh

James Blades16:03

making certain sounds for him. For instance, he wished the sound of an anvil, something quite strident, he said to me, and I took a big piece of metal along and gave it a good cronk at the first rehearsal in Alford Church, which is near to Walborough. And he said, Yes, Jimmy, he said, it's very good, but not quite strident enough. I rushed out to a nearby garage and I said to Bill the chap, got any steel? Billy said, Yes.

James Blades16:27

Best I can do for you, Jimmy said, is some car springs. So I took a big car spring back into the church and I gave it a mighty one and Ben said, Jimmy said, that's marvellous. I said, indeed, it should do, Ben. This spring came from a Rolls-Royce. Nothing but the best. Record number five, we've got to.

James Blades16:46

You might think me greedy, because this record has two for one, you know, but as I'm only allowed one, I would have one part of the BBC record, Fifty Years of Broadcasting, and on it there are the voices of many famous people, many delightful, lovable people, many that I knew, and what opens this record is a particular friend.

James Blades17:08

and something for which I have great love.

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The chimes of Big Ben.

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And what a reminder of home would be those wonderful bells pealing

Presenter17:48

The sound of Big Ben from Fifty Years of Broadcasting.

Presenter17:53

Now, I made a jibe at the beginning about having to carry all that percussion stuff about, James. You must possess a tremendous number of instruments, a collection.

James Blades18:02

I have what is considered to be one of the finest collections.

James Blades18:06

Of any professional percussionist. I've gathered instruments from all parts of the world.

James Blades18:13

In fact, it's the one bone of contention between my wife and myself, the stories of these instruments. I've left her a certain part of my bungalow.

James Blades18:23

the cooking and sleeping, but the rest of it I'm afraid is taking up a good deal with my with my equipment.

Presenter18:30

Yeah. Well now we get

James Blades18:30

Good to hear you.

Presenter18:32

Playing the drum. This is a record of your own we're going to hear next.

James Blades18:35

Yes, this is my own LP, and I would like to take this for two reasons.

James Blades18:41

On it my wife accompanies me on the piano. Her professional name is Joan Goosens, and the piece that I would very much put on, I'm sure, quite often, is the piece that Benjamin Britton wrote for me, and I would think of Ben

James Blades18:56

And I would think of Joan as I listened to Benjamin Britton's Timpenny Piece for Jimmy.

Presenter19:59

Tinpenny Piece for Jimmy, played by you and misses Blade.

Presenter20:04

In recent years you've done a lot of writing. You have in fact written two standard works on your job, Orchestral Percussion Technique and a mammoth book called Percussion Instruments and Their History. That really is a vast book. It must have taken you a long, long time.

Presenter20:18

It took me quite a long time, the best part of seven or eight

James Blades20:20

Gears.

James Blades20:22

And you've written an autobiography. That's not out yet? That, to the best of my knowledge, is going to be published in the spring. I've called it Drum Roll, a professional adventure from the circus to the concert hall. And you do a lot of lecturing, especially to children?

James Blades20:37

Yes, I love talking to children, children of all ages. In fact, my audiences range from probably four years up to sometimes those approaching ninety or even more. My youngest member was a little child of one.

James Blades20:52

in at the Birmingham Chest Hospital, and believe me, Roy, at the finish of my talk I managed to get the big drumstick in her hand

James Blades21:01

and she gave my big drum a wallop that I would rather envious of.

James Blades21:06

Let's have record number seven.

James Blades21:08

Mochart. I love Mochart.

James Blades21:11

and I would like it to be played by some one who I loved, and had great admiration and respect.

James Blades21:17

And that was Gaitzer Ander.

Presenter22:16

Gaetzer Ander as the soloist and conductor in the Mozart piano concerto in E-flat, the slow movement.

Presenter22:24

Now, we've been talking about music so much we haven't really talked enough about desert islands. You've shown you're a handyman by improvising various percussion instruments. Are you handy to the extent of being able to build a hut?

Presenter22:37

Oh, I'm sure I could build a hut, and there'd be plenty of wood on the island, wouldn't?

James Blades22:40

Indeed Could you build a boat of some sort a raft, perhaps?

James Blades22:46

I could build a raft, but I don't know that I'd be particularly anxious to get back. If I knew all my people were all right, I'd like to stay on the island. In the meantime, your last record. What's that?

James Blades22:56

Walton, the finale of Belshazzar's Feast. Why do you choose that? Never fails to lift me off my feet.

Presenter23:59

Andre Previn conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in the finale of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast to lift you off your feet. If you could take just one disc of your aid, which would it be?

Presenter24:11

It would be the Britain cantata Saint Nicholas.

James Blades24:13

Yeah.

Presenter24:14

Yeah.

James Blades24:14

And one luxury to take with you?

James Blades24:17

The luxury is the biggest telescope that you can muster, and I could spend many pleasant hours looking at and studying the handicraft of the great architect of the universe.

Presenter24:31

That

James Blades24:32

Yeah.

Presenter24:32

And one book to take with you. The Bible and Shakespeare are already on the island. We put the bar up on big encyclopedias.

James Blades24:38

Yeah.

Presenter24:39

What are you going to take?

James Blades24:39

Yeah.

Presenter24:40

I think it will

James Blades24:40

would be Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. I learned much from that when I was writing.

James Blades24:47

and I'm sure there's much that I could learn from it. Yeah.

Presenter24:50

Still.

James Blades24:51

Yeah.

Presenter24:51

Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. And thank you, James Blade, for letting us hear your Desert Island discs. Thank you, Roy.

Presenter25:00

Goodbye everyone.

Speaker 125:10

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk/slash radio four.