THE DEMON BARBER OF BRITISH BLUES

One man can take much of the credit for inspiring the blues boom that was the root of all British rock’n’roll. He plays a pretty mean jazz trombone, too. Chris Barber talks to Owen Adams

The Reading Festival, the Marquee club, the dawn of British blues, skiffle and the entire pop and rock scene of the 60s and beyond are primarily down to one man: Chris Barber. There were plenty of other players along the way, but the source, the conduit and the catalyst for so much of it was this committed trombonist and bandleader.

Britain’s war and immediate post-war years were severely music-starved. Before rock’n’roll exploded, it took a great deal of ingenuity to get beyond Vera Lynn, Max Bygraves and the soporific, bland dance bands and dig out something with real feeling.

A ban on American musicians visiting the UK had been imposed by the Musicians’ Union from the mid-30s and wasn’t lifted until the late 50s, in an apparent tit-for-tat after the American Federation of Musicians stopped Jack Hylton’s band from appearing in the States.

The scarcity of imported shellac to make 78rpm discs meant very few British record companies were willing to release anything that wasn’t a guaranteed big-seller. You had to forage in second-hand shops for the occasional jazz or blues gem, order from hard-to-get catalogues, make contact with American GIs stationed on wartime bases or be close to those bases to pick up the limited American Forces Network radio broadcasts. Or you could always rely on …

by Owen Adams
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