Anybody know what happened to Bryan Haughton, who played piano with The Blue
Note Jazzmen at The Sportsman
in Manchester during the
60's?
Regards,
Pat O'Beirne
Brian played with the Tony Charlesworth quartet after the Blue Note Jazzmen
folded. The Tony Charlesworth quartet played at the Imperial Club in Stockport -
in the Purple Room. Pete Staples played drums, Colin Knight double bass, Brian
Haughton Piano and Tony trumpet/vocals.
Regards Mart Rodger.
Hello Fred
This is a bit of further information for Pat O'Beirne. I hope it will be of some little help.
Bryan seems too young to have been in the Alan Jackson's Apex Jazz Band, which preceded Alan Hare's band; but he does appear to have started off in the Blue Note Jazzmen, led by Alan Hare, by 1958. He continued in the band until (as far as I can ascertain) 1962. However, the band changed its name once or twice in that time, and Bryan possibly freelanced after, or around, 1962, when I recall playing with him in several bands that had a predominant Modern Dixieland and/or Mainstream policy, before I turned "professional"
(the term means starving for a living) and moved to London at the end of 1962.
In 1959, Alan Hare, FRICS, left for a Colonial Service post in Hong Kong [he returned in 1963]. Tony Charlesworth (trumpet/vocals) took over in 1959, renaming the band Tony Charlesworth's New Orleans [Jazz] Band, with Bryan now on banjo [due to a drastic non-Chicago-style band policy - which Eric Welch, their excellent Chicago-styled clarinettist, seemed to have accepted stoically]. In January 1960, the band became Rod Hopton's Jazzmen [Rod had replaced Alan Hare on trombone], with Bryan back on piano [another change in policy - common during that period]. The band was once again renamed Tony Charlesworth's, ... Jazzmen, Sextet, etc., reflecting a new Mainstream bias, after late 1961; then the name reverted back to Rod until March 1962, when Rod decided to join The Saints. So it became Tony Charlesworth's again, still with Bryan Haughton on piano. I think Bryan then left and freelanced for a while. I lost track of him by the time I returned - disillusioned with the London Jazz scene at Christmas 1965, and joining the Zenith Six. Alan Hare might have looked him up on his return from Hong Kong in 1963 and might know what became of Bryan. I will contact Alan Hare and Rod Hopton about this, to see if between them they know anything. If I find out more, I will update Pat O'Beirne -
she is also welcome to contact me by e-mail.
Meanwhile, kindest regards, Merry Christmas and Happy 2006 to all concerned!
Joseph A A Silmon-Monerri (Joe Silmon) on 14 December 2005