The Kirchin Band

Last updated
The Kirchin Band
Also known asthe Ivor and Basil Kirchin Band
OriginScotland
GenresJazz, Latin, Beebop, Pop
Years active1952 - 1957, 1958
Labels Parlophone, Decca, London
SpinoffsThe New Kirchin Band, the Basil Kirchin Band

The Kirchin Band, later known as the Ivor and Basil Kirchin Band, was a British band that recorded for the Parlophone and Decca labels during the 1950s. It was led by both Ivor Kirchin and his son Basil Kirchin.

Contents

Background

The beginnings of the band can be traced to when they were the resident band at Fountainbridge Palais in Edinburgh in September 1952. The band had eleven members. This included four trumpets, four saxes, piano, bass, and drums. The lineup then was George Bradley, Dennis Roberts, Trevor Lanigan, Frank Mowatt on trumpets, Geoff Taylor on alto sax, Johnny Marshall and John Xerri, both on tenor sax, Alex Leslie on bass, Harry South on piano, Don Percival on bass, Basil Kirchin on drums, and Ivor Kirchin, musical director, on vocals. They stayed there until November 1953 and then they became a resident band in Northern Ireland. [1]

The group enjoyed popularity during the 1950s. They also toured with Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine. [2] According to Pop Matters , with the popularity of the percussive Latin-flavor that the band had evolved, Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine wouldn't tour England unless the band was backing them. [3]

Singers Rory Blackwell and Dean Webb sang with the band during the early parts of their careers. [4]

Career

Their singles, "Mambo Macoco" b/w "Tangerine" (Parlophone R. 3958), "Panambo" b/w "Tango Mambo" (Parlophone R.3968), and an EP, Minor Mambo", "Mother Goose Jumps" / "Mambo Nothing", "Lover Come Back to Me" (Decca DFE 6237), were reviewed by Mike Butcher in the Friday, January 21, 1955 issue of New Musical Express. Due to the space inhibition of the magazine, he couldn't give a review of all the songs. In his positive review, he did point out the quality of the recordings and the impact of the music. He also mentioned that trumpeter Bobby Pratt had guested on a couple of recordings but the lead trumpeter on the others was Murray Campbell. [5]

On Friday, January 28, 1955, the band was appearing at the Trocadero Ballroom in Derby, on Saturday, they were at the Baths Hall in Manchester, then on Sunday at the Rialto in York, then on the following Thursday at the Regal Ballroom in Beverley. [6]

In 1956, as The Ivor and Basil Kirchin Band, they released the Biggest Little Band in the World EP on Parlophone GEP 8569. It included the songs, "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie", "Stone Age Mambo", "Down Under" and "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile". [7]

Due to Ivor Kirchin wanting to pursue different things, the band broke up some time around June 1957. [8] In the Melody Maker July 6, 1957 article, "Entertain or die, Says Basil Kirchin", Basil said that he and his father had discontinued the band because they couldn't see a future in big band jazz. [9]

After the breakup there was apparently a new version of the band that performed at venues for a period of time. The New Kirchin Band played gigs on 14 September 1957, 23 November 1957, 22 February 1958, and 26 April 1958, the last three being billed as the Basil Kirchin Band. [10]

Later years

Their version of "Tweedlee Dee", originally released on Parlophone R 4010 in April 1955, appeared on the British Rock 'N' Roll - Volume Two compilation that was released on Reel To Reel RTRCD 049 in November 2018. [11]

The Basil Kirchin Band

The Basil Kirchin Band
OriginEngland
GenresJazz
Years active1957 - ?
Labels Parlophone
Past members Basil Kirchin

Background

The Basil Kirchin Band was a musical ensemble led by Basil Kirchin following the breakup of The Kirchin Band. [12]

Career

Billed as The New Basil Kirchin Band, they appeared at the Savoy Ballroom on August 23, 1957. [13] Now called The Basil Kirchin Band, they appeared with The Moonbeams at the Savoy Ballroom on December 20, 1957. [14]

In February 1958, the Basil Kirchin Band with Rory Blackwell appeared at the Baths Hall in Streatham on a Friday and the Corn Exchange on a Saturday. [15] It was reported by The Cash Box in its 29 March 1958 issue that The Basil Kirchin Band was to fly to the US on April 30 for a three-week tour of military bases. [16]

Along with Marvin Rainwater, Johnny Duncan & the Bluegrass Boys, Phil Fernando and Dickie Dawson, The Basil Kirchin Band was booked to appear at the London Coliseum on Sunday, April 20, 1958. [17]

Along with Lita Rosa, The Dallas Boys, Lonnie Donegan, Ken Mackintosh and his band, The Basil Kirchin band appeared on the televised Six-Five Special. The show, which was compered by Jim Dale, was broadcast on Saturday, 16 August. [18]

With their successful tour in the US behind them, the Basil Kirchin band was playing at the Gaiety Theatre for the morning coffee dances at 10:45 and 7:30 evening dances. They also played a carnival and Wednesday evening late night carnival, and Sunday Variety Concerts with guests such as Walter Niblo and Peter Cavanagh. [19]

Discography

Singles
ActReleaseCatalogueYearNotes
The Basil Kirchin Band"White Silver Sands" / "Waiting For The Robert E. Lee" Parlophone A79621957 [20] [21]
Basil Kirchin Band"Rock-A-Conga" / "Skin Tight"Parlophone R 45271959 [22] [23]

Related Research Articles

Mambo is a genre of Cuban dance music pioneered by the charanga Arcaño y sus Maravillas in the late 1930s and later popularized in the big band style by Pérez Prado. It originated as a syncopated form of the danzón, known as danzón-mambo, with a final, improvised section, which incorporated the guajeos typical of son cubano. These guajeos became the essence of the genre when it was played by big bands, which did not perform the traditional sections of the danzón and instead leaned towards swing and jazz. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, mambo had become a "dance craze" in Mexico and the United States as its associated dance took over the East Coast thanks to Pérez Prado, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez and others. In the mid-1950s, a slower ballroom style, also derived from the danzón, cha-cha-cha, replaced mambo as the most popular dance genre in North America. Nonetheless, mambo continued to enjoy some degree of popularity into the 1960s and new derivative styles appeared, such as dengue; by the 1970s it had been largely incorporated into salsa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bebop</span> Subgenre of jazz music developed in the U.S. in mid-1940s

Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure, the use of scales and occasional references to the melody.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lewis (pianist)</span> American jazz pianist, composer and arranger

John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger, best known as the founder and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pérez Prado</span> Cuban bandleader and mambo musician

Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, pianist, composer and arranger who popularized the mambo in the 1950s. His big band adaptation of the danzón-mambo proved to be a worldwide success with hits such as "Mambo No. 5", earning him the nickname "King of the Mambo". In 1955, Prado and his orchestra topped the charts in the US and UK with a mambo cover of Louiguy's "Cherry Pink ". He frequently made brief appearances in films, primarily of the rumberas genre, and his music was featured in films such as La Dolce Vita.

Afro-Cuban jazz is the earliest form of Latin jazz. It mixes Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. Afro-Cuban music has deep roots in African ritual and rhythm. The genre emerged in the early 1940s with the Cuban musicians Mario Bauzá and Frank Grillo "Machito" in the band Machito and his Afro-Cubans in New York City. In 1947, the collaborations of bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and percussionist Chano Pozo brought Afro-Cuban rhythms and instruments, such as the tumbadora and the bongo, into the East Coast jazz scene. Early combinations of jazz with Cuban music, such as "Manteca" and "Mangó Mangüé", were commonly referred to as "Cubop" for Cuban bebop.

Donato Joseph "Danny" Cedrone was an American guitarist and bandleader, best known for his work with Bill Haley & His Comets on their epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geraldo (bandleader)</span> English bandleader

Gerald Walcan Bright, better known as Geraldo, was an English bandleader. He adopted the name "Geraldo" in 1930, and became one of the most popular British dance band leaders of the 1930s with his "sweet music" and his "Gaucho Tango Orchestra". During the 1940s, he modernised his style and continued to enjoy great success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Allandale</span> Dominica musician

Eric Allandale was a trombonist, songwriter, and bandleader. During the 1960s, he was in number of bands in various genres which included jazz pop and soul.

Joe Daniels, was a British Dixieland drummer and performer, whose career began in the early 1920s. Among his more popular numbers was "Experiments with Mice".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rory Blackwell</span> British musician

Rory Blackwell was an English rock and roll musician, bandleader of The Blackjacks, singer, drummer and songwriter.

William James Eyden was an English jazz drummer.

Henry Coker was an American jazz trombonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cab Kaye</span> English jazz musician (1921–2000)

Nii-lante Augustus Kwamlah Quaye, known professionally as Cab Kaye, was an English jazz singer and pianist of Ghanaian descent. He combined blues, stride piano, and scat with his Ghanaian heritage.

Ashley Kozak was a British jazz bassist, record producer and artists' manager, best known as having been Donovan's manager alongside Grahame Corbyn.

Basil Kirchin was an English drummer and composer. His career spanned from playing drums in his father's big band at the age of 13, through scoring films, to electronic music featuring tape manipulation of the sounds of birds, animals, insects and children.

The Rainbow Ballroom was a dance hall in Denver, Colorado that was one of the best known dance halls west of the Mississippi, according to a 1946 Billboard article. Its capacity of 3,000 made it the largest indoor dance hall in Colorado during its 28 years of existence — from its opening day on September 16, 1933, to its closing day in 1961.

Ivor Kirchin was a British band leader, and the father of noted composer Basil Kirchin (1927–2005).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie</span> 1955 single by Bill Haley & His Comets

"Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie" is a 1952 song composed by Bill Haley and first recorded by the Esquire Boys in 1952. Bill Haley and the Comets recorded the song in 1955 for Decca. The song was featured in the 1956 movie Rock Around the Clock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of jazz</span> Musical style and genre

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to jazz:

Dean Webb is an English rock and roll singer, actor, and composer.

References

  1. ↑ British Bebop - Kirchin Band - Dance halls and the BBC...
  2. ↑ National Jazz Archive - Basil Kirchin (1927–2005)
  3. ↑ Pop Matters, 13 April 2011 - BASIL KIRCHIN: PRIMITIVE LONDON By D.M. Edwards
  4. ↑ Record Mail, Vol. 2. No. 5 May 1959 - Page 8 Just FOR THE RECORD By John Castle, NO AUDITION
  5. ↑ New Musical Express, Friday, January 21, 1955 - Page 8 MODERN MOOD by MIKE BUTCHER
  6. ↑ New Musical Express, Friday, January 28, 1955 - Page 12 BAND CALL, Week beginning January 28, THE KIRCHIN BAND
  7. ↑ Popsike - IVOR AND BASIL KIRCHIN BAND EP:1956 PARLOPHONE INCLUDES:"ROCK A BEATIN' BOOGIE"
  8. ↑ British Bebop - Kirchin Band - Dance halls and the BBC..., June 30th, 1957
  9. ↑ Melody Maker, July 6, 1957 - Page 7 Entertain or die, Says Basil Kirchin
  10. ↑ British Bebop - Kirchin Band - Dance halls and the BBC..., June 30th, 1957
  11. ↑ hitparade.ch - The Kirchin Band – Tweedlee Dee
  12. ↑ British Bebop - Kirchin Band - Dance halls and the BBC..., June 30th, 1957
  13. ↑ History in Portsmouth - THE COOPER ALLEN MUSIC ARCHIVE, The Music of Portsmouth in 1957, August 23rd 1957
  14. ↑ History in Portsmouth - THE COOPER ALLEN MUSIC ARCHIVE, The Music of Portsmouth in 1957, December 20th 1957
  15. ↑ Melody Maker, February 8, 1958 - Page 8 • Call SHEET • , Basil KIRCHIN Band with Rory Blackwell
  16. ↑ Cash Box, March 29, 1958 - Page 28 London Lowdown
  17. ↑ Melody Maker, April 19, 1958 - Page 9 LONDON COLISEUM, SUNDAY, 20th APRIL, at 7.30 p, m.
  18. ↑ Manx Music, 6 July 2023 - Page 54 Summer Entertainment on the Isle of Man
    Ronnie, Ivy, Ken and Phil, but no Joe
    by Maurice Powel, Tight jeans and ‘sloppy joes’ at the Villa
  19. ↑ Manx Music, 6 July 2023 - Page 62 Summer Entertainment on the Isle of Man
    Ronnie, Ivy, Ken and Phil, but no Joe
    by Maurice Powel, The smaller venues
  20. ↑ 45Cat - Basil Kirchin - Discography, Uk, White Silver Sands
  21. ↑ Internet Archive - WHITE SILVER SANDS
  22. ↑ 45Cat - Basil Kirchin - Discography, Uk, Rock-A-Conga
  23. ↑ Popsike - BASIL KIRCHIN BAND 'SKIN TIGHT/ROCK-A-CONGA' TOP RARE UK JAZZ PARLOPHONE DEMO 45
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.