Burt Butler's

      Jazz Pilgrims


   Burtie has played with many musicians

   and different bands.  Here is his hall of Fame of  Cornet / Trumpet players

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           Bill Barnacle     Bill Phelan     Denny Ilett       Dave Clennell       Malcolm Walton      Tony Pink      Dave Link

              Dennis Jenkins    Mick Stansell    Dave Ware     John Sheppard     Tom Brady

 
   

      

                       

                                                                                             

                                                     Dave Ware - trumpet   Dave playing here with his regular band 'The Phoenix Dixieland Jazz Band'
                                                                                          a lovely number 'Blue and Broken Hearted' on their CD - 'Preheated'
                                                                                          band  members are: 
                                                                                         
Robin Coombs clt,  Norman Bull tmb,  Peter Rampton gtr,
                                                                                          Barney Smith bass and Reg Stead drums (deceased)

                                                                                         - to buy this CD or to book the band contact Robin Coombs on 01959 524794
                                                                                         
click here to listen

I lived in a house where there was always music going on, my dad was a cornet player in the Coldstream Guards, and my grandad, who lived with us, was always playing jazz records on his HMV wind up gramophone. Dad sent me for violin lessons, I took a couple of exams at Trinty College, but soon switched to Trumpet. When I heard Wild Man Blues by Louis on Desert Island Discs, I was hooked. Spent some time in the sixties playing soul, and backed a few popsters of the day, including 6 months with Dusty, then got hooked on modern jazz, and didn,t return to Dixie jazz until 1988 when I answered an ad, and the Phoenix Dixieland Jazz Band was formed.Still with them and depping for Burt and anyone else who,ll have me. Favourite trumpeters are therefore varied, and apart from Louis, Clifford Brown, Wild Bill Davison, Ruby Braaf, Roy Eldridge,Clark Terry, Miles Davis.

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                                           John Sheppard - trumpet       John playing " Avalon " here with the Jazz Pilgrims at a Jazz Picnic in Chislet
                                                                                Band members are: Geoff Foster clt, Don York tmn, Mike Marsh drms,
                                                                                Burtie Butler bnj and Chris Thompson double bass.

                                                                                click here to listen

 John Sheppard - Trumpet.

Born in Bristol December 1939. Moved to Chelsea, London with parents when 18 months old. So no recollection of Bristol at all. Lived in Chelsea with my parents until I got married in 1966 (England won the world cup). In 1956 a crowd of us liked the jazz revival music that we heard in London. So we formed a jazz band. I was told that the only instrument left unfilled was the trumpet. The clarinet player had an old London Taxi so we drove to Mitcham and I bought a Trumpet for £7-10s-0d from a friend. Thus we all started to try and play and it must have been dreadful. Eventually I had lessons from Phil Parker Snr in Dansey Place Piccadilly on Saturday mornings. I played in and around Chelsea and Fulham at pubs and clubs. When I got married we moved to East Molesey, Surrey in 1967. So then I met a whole new crowd of players and I just moved around from band to band. Bands like Colin Kingwell, Brian White, The Georgia JB and many others. But fame eluded me and in 2009 I moved to Bapchild in Kent and the 3rd cycle began all over again, new people and new bands.

 


                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                   

               
                                  Bill Barnacle - Cornet and vocals  
  This is Bill singing and playing ' My old man said follow the van' he has in my opinion one
                                                                                              great voice not to mention his playing. This was recorded with his band at the Whitstable
                                                                                              Playhouse Theatre on the 14th October 2006, the band members are : Pete Rose reeds,
                                                                                              Séan maple tmb, Ray Perkins piano, Colin Hodges bass and Mike Marsh drms.

                                                                          The Bill Barnacle Jazz Band Story 1979 - onwards

Bill started playing the cornet at the age of eight, in the church band, under the tutelage of his father, former Royal Marine's bandmaster Percy Barnacle. When he was twelve, World War Two interrupted his musical development, as he was evacuated to Ebbw Vale along with the rest of Dover Grammer School. Whilst Bill was not to pick up the cornet again for fourteen years, his musical taste was not halted so much as diverted by the discovery of jazz, the prime influence being Bunny Berrigan. At the age of 26, now a staff sergeant in the Royal Education Corps, Bill started gigging with a combo called The Martinique Saints, an amateur 14 piece big band of REME personnel earning 25 bob each on a Saturday night at the Brownlow Hall in Hants. What riches in 1953 ! On leaving the army in 1963 and moving to Dover, Bill was able to settle into a regular gigging pattern aided by the landlord of the Grapes (now the Louis Armstrong) , Bod Bowles. During this formative period Bill met all the local 'musos', Burt Butler among them, and has happily continued those musical friendships to this day. So far it has been 42 years of fun, thanks 'lads'

                                        Bill had a great 80th Birthday bash at Cullins Yard, Dover, Kent. 17th July 2007 - here are a few pics and a video
                              of the occasion:

                                 

                                                               
            

                                                                          
                                                                                  Bill with the lads playing Sweet Sue
                                                                                    click on pic or title to view video

                                                          band members:   Bill Barnacle crt,  Sean maple tnb, Bruce Roberts clt.
                                                          Bob Pluck gtr, Ron Woodward bass and Bills son Peter barnacle drms

                                      Sadly Bill passed away on Tuesday 10th October 2017 at the grand old age of 90 years

                                          and will be sadly missed by all who new him a great musician RIP

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                                          Mick Stansell - trumpet   Here is Mick's  distinctive style of playing on these three tracks taken from the CD recorded
                                                                                    live at the 'Duke of Cumberland', High Street, Whitstable, Kent on the 21st December 2007
                                                                                    band members are: Dennis Lear clt,    Séan Maple tmb,    Burtie Butler bnj,
                                                                                    Mike Porter-Ward bass,  Barry Knight drms and yours truly on trumpet.        
                                                                                    so click on the titles below  to hear.

                                    
                                                                                
  Avalon               Marching through Georgia                Royal garden blues 

When I was 14 years old a school friend who was having piano lessons taught me how to read music.  After listening to Winifred Attwell records I bought some sheet music and learned to play boogie-woogie and ragtime tunes on the piano.  Shortly afterwards I saw a film featuring Pérez Prado playing ‘Cherry Blossom Pink’ and this inspired me to buy a trumpet. Our local general shop sold Dixieland records, including early American jazz played by the black Chicago and New Orleans musicians.  When I heard the George Lewis Band that was the only music I wanted to play.  My skills were honed at Bill Brunskill’s Sunday Clinic and the 51 Club ‘University’ where I saw the Ken Colyer Band.  During this time I played alongside Sammy Rimington and Eric Webster among others and belonged to a New Orleans Parade Band.  Having left London and moved to Rochester I first played with Neil Highley followed by Pete Lay’s Phœnix Band and a long spell with Sam Weller’s band.  For the last 15 years I have been playing with the Syncopators Jazz Band.  My tastes are much wider now but the New Orleans approach is at the core of my playing.

                                                                                          

                                                                                                      

                                                           Here is a CD with Mick on Tenor Saxophone in the Hot Club idiom recorded at the

                                                             'The Eagle Tavern' Rochester, Kent. England in February 2002.

                                                 featuring:                Michael E. Stansell       Tenor Saxophone
                                                                                Chris Cook                    Solo Guitar
                                                                                Barney Smith                Rhythm Guitar
                                                                                Leopold Ferdinand        String Bass
                                                                               Jim Foxwright              Drums

                                                                     click on the titles below to hear 'The Hot Club Five'

                               Sweet Georgia Brown             I'm Confessing               Honeysuckle Rose               Misty               Crazy Rhythm  

 

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                                                                                                                 Tom Brady - trumpet and vocals
Self-taught, can't read music, started too late - that sums me up as a musician.
I didn't buy my first trumpet until I was 19 years old (far too late in life!) and couldn't be bothered with the tutor manual that came with it. That was consigned to the bin pretty quickly, and my idea of trumpet practice was to try and play along to records (only when I had the house to myself - I didn't inflict it on the rest of the family). Forty-seven years later, I'm still trying to sound like some of my "heroes" in my record collection. First and foremost amongst these is Louis Armstrong (of course!). Some of my other favourites are (in no special order) Buck Clayton, Roy Eldridge, Harry Edison, Bobby Hackett, Ruby Braff, Warren Vache, Clark Terry - the list could go on and on.................... .. The above-named are all Americans - on this side of the pond some of my favourites are Humphrey Lyttelton, Alan Elsdon, Colin Smith, etc. Some of you may be surprised at a couple of omissions from the above lists - Bix Beiderbecke and Ken Colyer - these guys do nothing for me but, given their reputations, the fault must lie with me! On that controversial note, I'd better finish this little essay and start running!

 

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                               Bill Phelan - trumpet, cornet ............    playing Let me call you Sweetheart on CD Reigning Supreme 25th Jan 1999

Multi-instrumentalist, plays cornet, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, flugelbone, alto, tenor and baritone sax, clarinet, double bass and bass guitar, sousaphone and tuba. Started as a "G" trombone player with Wood Green Excelsior Silver Band in 1956 playing brass band music. Discovered live jazz on Hampstead Heath on Easter Monday 1956 and it has since then been the dominating musical interest. Played in several amateur jazz bands in North London in the late Fifties and early Sixties, until the day job forced a move to the peace and serenity of the Cotsowolds. The Cotswolds in the Sixties was a jazz music wilderness and the only gigs available were in "dance bands" playing venues such as The Winter Gardens in Malvern, and Cheltenham Town Hall. Crowds of 3,000 or so were usual at these venues in those days but the music was all Jimmy Lally and not much jazz. Moved to Sussex in the Seventies where there was a very good jazz scene and worked with most of the local bands and musicians there since then, mostly playing sousaphone, string bass or trumpet. 
   
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                             Dennis Jenkins - trumpet, cornet and vocals ......
                            
                     Dennis is playing  My Little Girl, this was recorded at The Jolly Knight pub
                                                  with The Vocalion Jazz Band, 12th September 2007 - other members of the band are: Jan Bryce tmb,,
                                                  Ivan Gandon clt, Burtie Butler bnj, Paul Ferdinand bass and Mark Alexander drums.

I learnt to play the cornet in the Faversham Gospel Mission Brass Band when I was 15, but having listened to the bands of Acker Bilk, Chris Barber and then Ken Colyer, soon realised that this was more the type of music that I wanted to play. So, I began to sit in with various bands in the Faversham and Canterbury area but it was particularly with the Eagle Jazzband with Norman Halliday and Frank and Charlie Webster that my listening was directed towards the New Orleans Revival and the trumpet styles of Bunk Johnson, Kid Howard, Elmer Talbert, Percy Humphrey and then later Kid Thomas and Dede Pierce. Once my teaching career began, jazz and the trumpet unfortunately seemed to get put aside whilst I developed a passion for classical music. This involved attending live concerts and I started to build up a large collection of particular recordings of many different types of repertoire. Playing classical music was not really an option but I was able to get involved by singing in various choirs and choral societies which I continue with to this day. Some years later, as I started to reduce my teaching commitments, I began to follow the jazz scene once again in the area, sitting in and deputising.  At the moment, I play with the Vocalion Jazzband, and any other bands when required.

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                                 Denny Ilett - Trumpet and vocals  Back of Town blues at the Louis Armstrong 16th April 2006 with
                                                                                                                        with Paul Hoking clnt, Barry Weston tmb, Trevor Williams bass,
                                                                                                                        Chris Marchant drms and Burtie Butler bnj


As Denny said here's the.... bollo'...'bumpa'......'just a joke'! My start was around 8 years old on cornet, my father was a pro trumpet and viola player from the Army and London Music Halls. Here are some comments, what the press have said about me by jazz critic Gerry Dibsdale, quote "one jazz session at the Plough at Adderbury, had what can only be described as an exciting experience. The Acme Jazz Band, headed by trumpeter Denny Ilett, the man whom Humphrey Lyttelton rates as the best jazz trumpeter in the UK, and also Denny's multi fingering and high note attack was an absolute joy and he excelled on all the numbers selected, especially the lively ones, The Acme Blues and Swonderful" and also by another jazz critic, Tim Phillips, quote " This was the ex-Temperance Seven musician's first visit to Banbury, but if his great success last week is anything to go by, Denny will be welcome here any time! He certainly knew how to cater for the enthusiasts, and won tremendous acclaim for his superb trumpet work. He is also a ferociously hot player of the 'take no prisoners' school with stamina quite beyond the reach of most." Here are the bands - from 1954 - 2001 I have played in Ashmead Brass Band 1954-1955, Reading Light Orchestra 1955-1960, Gems of Swing 1958-1962 and the Merrydown Jump Band 1954-1968; then I joined the famous Soul Trinity, at the West End of London's top " Soul" club The Flamingo, then toured for 6 years backing such stars as Jimi Hendrix and James Brown etc. The Temperance Seven followed during which time Denny and the band became the first musicians in history to record at twice the speed of sound on board the British Airways Concord. Then I freelanced playing lead trumpet with my son's Big Band, Mr Acker Bilk, Humphrey Lyttleton, Kenny Ball, Terry Lightfoot etc and during the last 6 years I have returned to lead the Max Collie Band.

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                              Dave Clennell - trumpet and vocals            This is one of my favourites with Dave singing and playing 'Heart of a Clown'
                                                                                                    
recorded live at The Swingate Inn, Dover, Kent on the 21st August 2003, with
                                                                                                    The Burt Butlers Jazz Pilgrims. Band members are : Chris Rumsey reeds, John
                                                                                                    Finch tmb, Burt Butler bnj, Ian Rogers bass and Robin Beames drms.

                                                                               Sadly passed away this weekend 7th June 2008  aged 72yrs
                       truly an inspiration to us all with his introduction of rarely heard tunes - a fine talent sadly lost by all who new him.
                                                                                                                                                                                                             Burtie

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                   Malcolm Walton - Piano / trumpet /vocals  
This is Malcolm singing and playing with his Blue Rhythm Kings 'From Monday On'
                                                                                             this was recorded at the Louis Armstrong, Maison Dieu Road, Dover. The year 2000.
                                                                                             Band members are: Malcolm tpt/voc, Pete Rose clt/sax, Chris Hunt tmb,
                                                                                             Colin Martin piano, Dave Bashford bnj, Roger Hooper sous and Geoff Colins drms.
                                                                                             Also Malcolm wrote an original composition for piano © 2006 Autumn Shadows.
                                                                                            
to purchase the CD 'From Monday On' was taken from or to book the Blue Rhythm
                                                                                             Kings, Malcolm can be contacted on his email address: malcolmwalton@talktalk.net

                      To go to Malcolms Blue Rhythm Kings website and gig dates and video at the Bude Jazz Festival       click here
  
I come from a musical family; my father was an excellent pianist and my grandfather played euphonium and concertina and was a choirmaster. I had piano lessons as a child and reached grade 5. I saw the film St Louis Blues in about 1955 and became obsessed with jazz. At about that time skiffle was the big thing so I formed a skiffle group and learned to play a few chords on the guitar. We played at youth clubs around the Barnet area and pretty soon I joined a jazz band at one of the clubs. The bandleader persuaded me to switch from guitar to banjo and Monk Hadley's Jazz Friars was formed. Success went to our heads and we appointed an agent (not that he did much for us). I soon switched to piano and during the Trad boom we got lots of gigs (riverboat shuffles and student ravesetc.) but I became seduced by the glamour of the front line and bought a second hand Salvation Army cornet and had lessons from a dance band clarinettist, which helped a bit. I moved to Kent in 1969 and joined Owen Bryce's band on piano. Then Humph Mayes, who ran the New Jazz Bandits at Bredgar, asked me to take over on trumpet. Since then I have run my own 1920s band, The Blue Rhythm Kings and I have been the regular trumpet player with the Imperial Jazz Band, The Vocalion Jazz Band, Burt Butler's Jazz Hasslers, The Shanghai Syncopated Orchestra, The Rio Grande Hot Tango Orchestra, Black Cat Jazz, The London Vintage Jazz Orchester, Jack Gilbert's Panama Jazz Band and Bob Dwyer's Hot Seven. My favourite players are Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, Bunny Berigan, Red Nichols, Jack Purvis, Teddy Wilson and many more!! I am happy to play any early jazz style (from King Oliver to Swing). I will always "have a go" at anything that anybody throws at me.

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         Tony Pink - trumpet     
 
       The last job I ever took was for our landlord at our local pub in 1981 and at  short notice I secured the services of Kenny Pyrke, Trevor Whiting,
        Bob Pluck  John Ellmer, Dave Veryard. I think it finished my career nicely. Sample track attached. (just played some of it - goes on a bit I am afraid)
        playing Squeeze Me click on Tony's name to hear it.
        Do you remember "Roy Burton" - he left for Australia about 1973/4 He sent me an  interesting link to youtube about his band there. That film was       
        well put  together too                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6YIY-rDkzk

                                                             
                                                                            Tony Pink's Jazzmen    circa early 70's
                                    L/R  Alan Robinson (ten), Dave Straker (gtr), Tony Pink (tpt), Bernie Smith (drs), Sam Weller (tmb)
                                                        Ralph Hayward (bass), Dennis Lear (clt) and Terry Wells (piano)
 

                          quote from Tony's website to the above pic:        and the story of Tony's life from an early age

                         'standing at the bar was Roland Jones, the manager of the Central Hall. I clocked him and elected to play one of our more
                                rehearsed numbers, then took an interval. He said he was looking for an act to open the Mike and Bernie Winter's show.
                               Just seven minutes, and two houses could we do it? - How much said I - £30 said he, Done said I - and would you believe
                               with that money I bought eight pairs of trousers, eight shirts and eight cravats (see the photo above) '

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Dave Link - Trumpet / Vocals 
       
This is Dave on 'Some of these days' , on the Invicta Jazzband tape ' On the Bayou'  recorded at the  Chatham studio's 1990,
         band members:     Roy Mason reeds,  Kenny Pyrke tmb,   Burt Butler bnj,   Mike Porter -Ward bass and John Cottis drms
              

                                                    
                                                        All of Me                                                                                 Blue Turning Grey

                                                      
                 
                            Sweet Georgia Brown                                                                     S'wonderful

                                      The above four videos were filmed at the 'Limberlost Caravan Park' Seasalter, Kent 1995
                            The musicians in the band are:
                 Dave Link tpt, Hylton Mowday clt, Dave Bashford gtr/bnj, Andrew Ford piano, Roger Link bass and Ted Backhouse drms.
                                                    
                                 joined in the jamming by Ray Broadwell bass, Keith Lambert gtr and Les Biggs gtr on 'All of Me'

                                                                      so click on pictures or title to watch the videos


  
     
           Dave had a great send from musicians far and wide, as you can tell from the pictures below, see if you can recognise any of them:
        
        
        
                                     
    
   
        sadly no longer with us, but the lads gave him a wonderful send off          
           click here to see and hear:   for         Video 1              Video 3        Video 4        Video 5

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