| Event type: | Meeting |
| Date: | 16th January 2025 |
| Time: | 2:30 pm |
| Venue: | Kenilworth Methodist Church |
| Organiser: | |
| Cost: | Entry is free to members (non-members welcome for a £1 donation) |
Speaker: Roger Browne
An acomplished Jazz pianist who is back again to give more stories and music from his colourful career.
The strange, fascinating, interwoven stories of :
- King George V, against the will of the establishment, bringing jazz music to Britain in 1919, how British society was never to be the same ever again.
- The determination, against the odds, of a young white boy, born in New Orleans of Sicilian decent, to learn to play the cornet.
- The Prince of Wales friendship with The Earl of Donegal.
- Drugs, drink, scantily dressed women, and wild behaviour in Chicago.
- Queen Mary’s needlework guild.
All this, explained in words, and illustrated with live piano playing by Roger Browne - raconteur, historian, and pianist.
Musical content includes: The Tiger Rag, At The Jazz Band Ball, The Original Dixieland One Step, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles.
Review - by Paul Weller
Roger Browne’s musical talks are always full of fun and this talk was no exception. He is a self-taught pianist and started playing at the age of four and, like many of the early jazz musicians, does not read music. Roger explained that nobody invented jazz, it evolved and was developed by people wanting to express themselves through music.
Jazz originated in Congo Square, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1819. The Square was a public space where enslaved people gathered on Sundays to play music, dance and sing. Each nationality played their own national music using any rudimentary instrument they could lay their hands on.
Jazz in Britain is usually said to have begun with the British tour by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1919. This band originated in New Orleans and played in Chicago but, strangely, consisted of five white, male musicians.
The Prince of Wales had heard the band play and desperately wanted them to play at Buckingham Palace but his father King George V would not allow it. He had been told by the Archbishop of Canterbury that ‘ jazz was the music of the devil’.
Queen Mary was patron of a number of charities, one of which was a needlework group that she wanted the King to visit. However, the King expressed no interest in needlework and took all possible measures to avoid such an engagement. An upcoming audience with the King was eventually cancelled, and it seemed he had no more excuses to avoid the visit. But the Prince of Wales saw his opportunity and offered to invite the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to fill the King’s diary. So the band arrived at Buckingham Palace to be met by scornful stares from courtiers and servants. The audience convened, the King arrived and the band played Tiger Rag. At the end there was total silence for 30-40 seconds – no clapping, no cheering – until the King burst out laughing and commanded the band play the piece again!!
Jazz had arrived in Britain and at Buckingham Palace and the two week tour of Britain was extended to fourteen months!!
Roger played a number of jazz pieces including:
- Tiger Rag – the ‘tiger’ refers to the roars and growls produced by the jazz band’s trombonist. The ‘rag’ is the reference to ragtime.
- Dixie Jazz Band One-Step
- Twelve Bar Blues
- Livery Stable Blues – so named as the clarinet was made to sound like a rooster, a cornet whinnied like a horse and a trombone issued a bovine moo.
- Precious Lord – which was sung at Martin Luther King’s funeral.
A remarkable presentation from a very talented musician and raconteur. Roger Browne will definitely be invited back.