JOHN R T DAVIES
| JOHN R. T. DAVIES: ( Memoirs by Dave July 2004 )
News came through a few weeks ago of the death of John R. T. Davies. Who, you might say? If you collected the Jazz Greats series of CDs from your friendly newsagent some years ago, you will find his name credited on the back of many of them as sound engineer. He was arguably the world's foremost restorer of old 78s. His collection of old 78s was huge and he contributed material to many re-issue albums, and over the years I learnt that I could be confident in purchasing re-issues of rare and old 1920s and 1930s material if JRT was credited with the sound engineering. As well as the Jazz Greats° series, labels where his work can be found include JSP, Retrieval and Timeless. A mufti-instrumentalist, he played trumpet, trombone, saxophones, piano, banjo and more, it has been suggested at least 17. He played with the Mick Mulligan Jazz Band in the late 40s, was a co-founder of the authentic New Orleans style Crane River Jazz Band, and played in Sandy Brown's Jazz Band, the AngloAmerican Alliance (that he co-led with American trumpeter Dick Sudhalter), the New Paul Whiteman Orchestra, as well as his own Gentle Jazz, which he said, just once, played with a drummer. JRT, as he was known, was a member of the British cult band of the 1960s, The Temperance Seven, which had several chart-toppers, knocking of the great rock bands of the time. If you were around the Melbourne jazz scene of that time, think of the Red Onions: the same sense of excitement and exuberance, coupled with an irreverent, non-conformity. It was the time of that quirky English anarchic humour of Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe and their characters: Eccles, Colonel Bloodknock, Neddy Seegoon, Min and Henry from the Goon Show. Sellers even contributed vocals for a Temperance Seven recording of Ukulele Lady in 1960, complete with added scratched record noises to give it period authenticity. The early Temperance Seven recordings were produced for Paramount by George Martin, later to come to greater fame as producer of the Beatles recordings. The band's recordings of You're Driving Me Crazy and Pasadena even displaced rock n' roll from the charts. The Temperance Seven marketed itself on its eccentricity. JRT was billed as Sheik Haroun Wadi el Yadounia, and the band included Prof. Emeritus Brian Innes who was listed as playing the grand percussion kit, the pianist was Canon Colin Bowles, the trumpeter, Captain Cephas Howard (cashiered) and so it went on for the rest of the band. In 1981, during the 36th Australian Jazz Convention, word was received that JRT had been seriously injured in a road accident, and that he had suffered head injuries. Roger Bell, who had become a friend of JRT during Graeme Bell Band visits to Britain, suggested that musicians who had known JRT should record get-well messages and greetings. So Roger, Ade Monsbrough, convention guest artist artist, Dill Jones, and others came round to Bron's house and a cassette was recorded and airmailed off. Two years later, at the Convention held in Toowoomba, JRT, who was out to advise the new Australian National Sound Archive, turned up with Roger Bell. Roger decided that Bron and I should go out to dinner with Bells and JRT and his wife. It was one of those nights that one never forgets. JRT looked the part of the whimsical English eccentric, intellectual: learned, witty, original. He kept losing his glasses. (He kept pushing them up on his forehead. They're on your head, dear, would be the reminder from his wife.). He spoke about his fascinating experiments to seek better means of remastering and repairing old records (remember these were pre digital days). There were tales of the mad British music scene of the late forties through to the sixties. He introduced me to frog's legs, insisting I should try them. The piece d' resistance of the meal was the house special dessert: mango marinated with liqueur muscat, topped with ice cream in an oven proof dish, topped with beaten egg whites, then quickly heated in an oven. Served, it had a meringue crust on top, below the ice cream had not melted. Sensational. JRT wanted the recipe, and the chef duly arrived. Chefs' tend to be jealous of their own recipes, but the JRT charm worked, and to our surprise, the recipe was disclosed. I remember as a child being intrigued by the stories of larger then life individuals written by contributors of the Readers Digest to a regular segment about unforgettable characters. JRT has to be mine. My memories of him live on in his sound restorations. |
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