Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Renowned as a musician and composer.
On the island
Eight records
Benny did a lot of things on both sides of the fence, very jazzy and as I said, very classical pieces that were written especially for him in the classical idiom. But this one seems to bridge the two to me.
John came into my life comparatively recently over the last ten years or so, but he always struck me as a musician who epitomized someone who wanted to break down those awful barriers between classical music and jazz.
It's a marvellous Monty Python track which I'm sure many listeners will have heard many times, but one more won't hurt.
When That I Was and a Little Tiny BoyFavourite
I'd already written this setting of a Shakespeare poem for a City of London festival production of Twelfth Night. And when I write things for other lady singers, especially Cleo, is very good at picking them up and showing them she can do better, and so it was a natural choice for Cleo to select this one to record
Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31
when I was young I remember every Saturday morning for months on end waking up in bed and hearing my sister practice on the piano and going over every bar slowly, fast and uh soft and loud until I knew every single note in that particular scherzo.
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
It's always been one of my favorite little musical jokes.
Here's a charming little portrait of the central character in Macbeth, or one of them, Lady Mac. And the trumpet soloist on it is a great friend of mine who I feel to be one of the great trumpet stylists in the world club, Terry.
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by André Previn
I've chosen them to play a piece of music by a composer who I've admired so long for his magnificent orchestration and was one of my early influences in the orchestral field.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:29Why is [the Benny Goodman version of Clarinet A La King] one of only two records you have chosen to repeat from your first appearance?
Benny Goodman... was my first inspiration to be a jazz man, and he was my first excuse for being allowed to be a jazz man... The only way I could really convincingly get my parents to believe that I was serious about playing jazz clarinet was by choosing an instrument played by Benny Goodman, who was already then crossing the barriers of music
Presenter asks
5:29What did they make of you at the Royal Academy of Music, this person whose great passion was jazz?
It wasn't regarded at all because I kept it a very closely guarded secret. Believe me, if they'd have really known, I'd have been in for a hard time of it anyway... in those days it was a sort of dirty word, and I used to pretend my saxophone was a bassoon when I put it in the left luggage department
Presenter asks
10:22How did Cleo Laine come into your life?
I had this little band, the seven... and we needed a singer... my agent said there was a girl who'd come into our office looking for a job. I and the pianist auditioned her one lunch time... and we couldn't believe our ears. It was such a a finished, um mature sort of sound from someone who'd never been a professional.
The keepsakes
The book
I just think it's fascinating to read, you know, where you can buy a reptile or a donkey or a synthesizer or a pile of uh polystyrene.
The luxury
Presenter asks
11:34Do you object to being quoted as the Svengali figure in your working relationship with Cleo Laine?
Well, I don't object to it because it's natural for people to say things like that. I think in some elements of her career I have been helpful to her. But the answer is now that she is doing something without me and with nothing to do with me... and creating an enormous success for herself. So I don't think that what I've done has been at all essential to her career.
Presenter asks
12:06What problems have been caused by the two of you working together this closely for all these years?
Yes, it's a very difficult thing to handle sometimes when you feel you should be, as you would with any singer to whom you were a musical director, drawing attention to something that she shouldn't be doing and she is musically. And sometimes, if we're both in the wrong mood, it can look like a husband and wife bicker instead.
Presenter asks
14:05Do you think that you've succeeded in shifting people's positions in breaking down musical barriers?
Well, I'm not sure that I've succeeded, but I certainly have noticed during the period that I've been in this profession that there's a profound difference of attitude to the crossing of barriers... these days it seems to enhance them... maybe what I have been preaching over twenty-five years has had some little effect.
“the real goal of a truly great composer or arranger of music, to be able to absorb improvisation into the tapestry of his composition and for us not to know the difference.”
“I always listen to the music first and the lyrics after, so there are inevitable clashes there. But once again, we fight quite hard on those issues, and the one who has got the weakest case hopefully realises it and backs down in time, which almost always we do.”
“I always feel that a a sense of humour is something not only that musicians should have, but everybody should have if they're going to get through life in this crazy world. If you don't laugh at something, you're in trouble.”