BIG BILL

[13_temple_street]

Chris Barber recalled how a significant ruling by the Musicians' Union created an environment in which homegrown British players were allowed to work with visiting American artists. :
"(Big Bill) Brooncy had been over in 1951, and he was brought back again in '54, and that time they got my band to play with him. The Musicians' Union had banned any American musicians from playing in Britain because the American Federation of Musicians had banned British musicians from playing in America. They [the AFM] had pulled the plug on some concerts done by some British dance bands or stage bands around 1939. We discovered, however, that neither the Musicians' Union in Britain nor in America considered singers accompanying themselves as musicians. This one smart agent had figured out how to fool the union into thinking they had scored a great point against us all and had achieved something. In reality, he scored the point. Basically, the deal was that any concert played by an American band in Britain was matched by a British band in America. It wouldn't happen, but they would say it happened. Brooncy could come in because he was a singer and accompanied himself, and we immediately booked a tour beginning in '57. We had Big Bill with former gospel singer Brother John Sellers, and then we brought in Sister Rosetta Tharpe in November of '57 and again in '58. We brought Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee over because they had done some kind of folky, bluesy stuff for Folkways. As this happened, a lot of the jazz groups came in from America, authorized by the union under this 'nudge, nudge, wink, wink' exchange deal. The union didn't realize they were being fooled."
In I957, tour Harry Isakson booked Brooncy into the Temple. The Temple Bar and Restaurant was the place where all the Jazzers of the day congregated. Big Bill was seated at the bar when I entered the bar area. He was drinking from a bottle of ‘Jonny Walker’s whisky '. I found it difficult to comprehend that one of my all-time heroes, whom I had only heard on
CDS or Vinyl was sitting in the Temple. He quickly downed the bottle of Johnny Walker’s.In my excitement, and I assure you, very much out of character, I organized a whip round just enough to get Brooncy another bottle; the contents of the bottle disappeared into Big Bill's belly. Icke (Harry Isakson) handed another bottle over to him and politely invited him to the small stage. Brooncy immediately picked up his guitar and started to sing. He made his way to the stage whilst singing, someone plugged his instrument into an amp he sat on a chair. The performance was electrifying, never to be forgotten.https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=15 ... 2919422813