All that jazz

Michael Stuart, our music man, is eclectic and you can read anything from Rod Stewart to Rigoletto in his column but rarely – if at all – jazz.

This mirrors the general attitude to jazz.

Major jazz figures and bands are still relatively unknown. It has more of a cult following.

This is why I always enjoy seeing R,  an eighty year old jazz drummer, and his wife J, who is our art course tutor.

Both came for dinner last night.

R grew up in Liverpool and recalls the blitz inflicted by the Luftwaffe as a two year old.

He played at the Cavern with the Beatles and went to Hamburg.

After that he was talented enough as a session musician to be sought by visiting American jazz musicians at Ronnie Scott.

I asked him how good a drummer Ginger Baker was.

He had a personality cult about him, though one which not many would want.

R considered him a flashy drummer, less adapt than many jazz drummers.

A keen Liverpool FC fan, he was relieved when I suggested he could watch his team play Sheffield United on the TV.

This enabled his wife and I to discuss Dutch Art, of which she is highly knowledgeable.

in short, a lovely couple married since 1962.