I first met Bill in 1964, by accident. Bob and I had cruised into this club
somewhere in Boscombe, met a bunch of musicians and (to cut it short) picked up
Bill and formed the group that we named the Trackmarks. Me, Bob and Bill were the core of that group.
When we decided to split out, we gradually formed the core of
Dave Anthony’s Moods, recruiting others as we went along.
Bill was a great bass player. All the way through our musical relationship,
he was there behind everyone else’s madcap flights, holding down the
foundation. We probably didn’t
appreciate that enough. Andy once told
me that he’d gone on to make great keyboard music of his own; I’m sorry that I
never heard that.
He was very funny, and loved a Spoonerism. (Or Snooperism, as he called them.) I can’t remember any of his jokes, which is
probably just as well, because the best jokes vanish from their moment.
Some years ago my phone rang, and it was Bill. We chatted a bit. He said “your voice sounds different.” I’m sure he was right. So did his.
Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteJust finished reading "Dave Anthony's Moods, This Obscure Group" Book. Really interesting read. I remember Graham many years ago in the 80's talking about a group he was in. I remember him telling me that he did a session with Bowie and it didn't go that well and it left Mr Jones in tears. He also mentioned stuff about travelling as a musician, Clapton and the London scene.
I like your writing style it carries wit and is a real page turner, I read the whole book last night. I also enjoyed the little anecdotes about the musicians from the Bournemouth area of the time like Greg Lake, Al Stewart, Andy Summers and hearing about the places that were open for gigging. I used to gig a lot in the 80's in Bournemouth especially in an after hours madhouse called "Bacchus. Bournemouth. lovely town but can get a bit violent some nights lol!
Great read Tim! I go and listen to a bit of New Directions!
John, Tim and I had that played at our wedding, four and a half years ago. I insisted!
DeleteHi John, I'm not sure who you are, but thank you for the very kind comments. The book was a labour of love!
DeleteYou can find me and PM me on FB if you want.
btw, your comments took some time to get posted, because I monitor comments before allowing them - been overspammed too much in the past!
Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying. I do have a Blogger blog but I don't use/maintain it anymore [I use wordpress https://www.jazzimproviser.com] . But, I assumed that when I posted a comment on Blogger it would show my Blog/site and Profile as an authorised blogger..
Anyway, it's great that you wrote the book, because that's what musicians need to do to keep the music alive otherwise it soon gets forgotten about.
I'll look you up on FB.