Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Singer whose unique voice kept her at forefront since '51. Sang jazz, pop, experimental works; hit records; starred shows. Now Dame.
On the island
Eight records
Ella Fitzgerald & Ellis Larkins
I think this is so delicate and so beautiful and the piano playing of Ellis Larkin is stunning.
Stan Getz & Beaux Arts String Quartet
If I couldn't hear this man, Stan Goetz, at some point in my week or on the radio or something, I would I would be very unhappy.
Alec Dankworth, John Dankworth & The Generation Big Band
It was written, the the tune was written by my my son Alec, and I really would love him to write more.
Winter (When Icicles Hang by the Wall)
I think is one of them the records that is me. It's a subject matter that I that I like very much. Shakespeare, for instance.
Well, it's um what's the word? A bit of nepotism here first, Aleck. And then John, now my daughter.
Now in the Name of God I Will Be Gone (from Noye's Fludde)
Owen Brannigan & East Suffolk Children's Orchestra
There was a young lady called Abigail Morris... who decided that God in those flood should be played by a woman. And she chose me.
John Horler, Tony Coe, Alan Ganley, Dave Horler & Malcolm Creese
Record number seven is my current rhythm section in Great Britain. And I thought it would be wonderful to really present them as they are without me having to get in the way.
Una voce poco fa (from The Barber of Seville)
Maria Callas, who I think was uh an amazing singer, not only because she had all the equipment that opera singers have, that is, to have a a great voice, but she was a good actress.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:45When you first started, did you fall into jazz almost by mistake?
Quite true because I really just wanted to sing. But I think John explains this much better than I can. He says that all those auditions that… Cleo did… in the beginning, and nobody wanted her at all. It was because she didn't sound like the current singer of the day, which is what everybody wanted.
Presenter asks
3:22Did [Johnny Dankworth] hire you on the spot?
Oh yes, he certainly did. In in fact, he said, Well, we like you, but you the other musicians have to to hear you before we can hire you. Uh can you sing tonight in the club?… They all seemed to to like me because then they said, Well, will you come round and to the office, which was the pub around the corner, and we'll discuss all this and I think for the first time in my life I became a businesswoman because they offered me something like six pounds a week, which was terrible money really. And I said, Um, make it seven.
Presenter asks
5:16Where did you get [your performance genes] from?
Well, I guess it must be, really. My my father was a singer. He never became a professional singer… in the accepted term, he did busk in the streets… in the thirties as you know, um people couldn't get work. And if you were black and you were a working class man, um it was even harder to get work.
The keepsakes
The book
John Dankworth
John at the moment is writing a book called The Jazz Revolution. Hopefully he will finish it before I'm shipwrecked. And that would be the book that I would take.
Presenter asks
15:17How long was it before you fell for John [Dankworth]?
must have been four, four, four years or something like that before we clicked. And it was really, because of uh New Year's Eve um you know, at New Year's Eve parties where everybody kisses each other. So I was going around and everybody else was going around kissing. Happy New Year, Happy New Year and and John and I kissed and and the sparks flew.
Presenter asks
26:01What was the original idea behind [the theatre and music workshops you established]?
We wanted to present all kinds of music. We had been playing all kinds of music for many years. A lot of our musical friends, like John Williams, James Galway, Richard Rodney Bennett, etc., etcetera, they all enjoyed all kinds of music, and yet the public was they were still resisting it. So we created this theatre in our back yard to present all kinds of music, but then we thought well we just don't want to put on concerts… So we decided then to have um courses, music courses.
“I sat on the stage and I listened to what they were doing, and I really couldn't do it because I didn't have enough range. So I had to go back to singing lessons and everything that I heard in my head that I wanted to do but couldn't I eventually started to do because I had improved my reign.”
“I love him so much in his playing that I don't really want to experience anything horrible about him. I would rather have him as a a beautiful player in my memory. And um I should have gone.”
“I need to move on. And I still feel that way, that I need to move on. And I'm I have decided that that to to be in long runs or even three weeks in a in a one place I get itchy.”