KEEPER OF THE FLAME - by Spike Wells (Continued)

Apart from the masters of his own instrument, Bobby was digging Willie Smith, Johnny Hodges and Bird on alto, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Clifford Brown, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. The vocal horn of Louis and the instrumental voice of Billie are perhaps recognisable ingredients in Bobby's expressive playing and it is interesting that he singles out one particular Armstrong performance - the orchestral arrangement of Tiger Rag from the thirties - for the sound of Louis floating in half-time over the frenetic ensemble. The elongation of the solo line over a faster shifting background is currently employed in Bobby's aptly titled composition Ba-lues which stretches over 24 bars and gives a similar feeling of slow motion.

After working with Buddy Featherstonhaugh and Tony Crombie, Bobby was by the beginning of the sixties advancing musically at a much faster rate than most of his contemporaries. His experiments with free form, which started in a bedsitter with drummer Laurie Morgan and an old tape recorder and which culminated in the concert presentation of Culloden Moor, were years ahead of their time. The legendary Culloden Moor performance involved the New Departures quartet together with a 14-piece orchestra evoking the battle scene in an unprecedented set of improvisations.

The pianist with the New Departures quartet, which was also at the centre of the jazz and poetry cult, was Stan Tracey (a former colleague in Tony Crombie's band) and the quartet under Stan's name and with Jackie Dougan on drums went on eventually to make the magnificent Under Milk Wood record, a suite of compositions by Stan inspired by Dylan Thomas and beautifully interpreted by Bobby. The writing and the solos were recognised as unique achievement in jazz and the record led to television appearances in England and Germany and to another excellent album With Love From Jazz. Somehow, however, the momentum created by the success of Under Milk Wood was not sustained and the group split up.