Bernie Privin Dies
[Quelle / source: The Independent]
Bernie Privin had to thank Glenn Miller for giving him the last 55 years
of his life. As a trumpeter in Miller's Army Air Force (AAF) band he had
sailed on the Queen Elizabeth for Europe on 28 June 1944. The band docked
on the Clyde and Miller escorted his men to London by train. As they
came out of Euston Station a V1 bomb landed nearby. Army trucks took Miller's
men, suddenly aware of the business end of the war, to their billets at
25 Sloane Street. The house had been booked in advance before the
V1 raids had begun. Miller immediately made arrangements for the
musicians to be housed out of town in Bedford. The morning after the band
left a V1 landed on 25 Sloane Street, killing 25 US military policemen
and 70 civilians in the area.
Miller had always been a strict disciplinarian, and when his band became
a military organization, Privin in particular resented what he saw
as discipline for its own sake. Pianist Mel Powell and clarinetist Peanuts
Hucko joined him as a rebel. Privin was particularly annoyed when Miller,
with no explanation, ordered anyone in the band with a moustache to shave
it off. Some of them had spent years growing their adornments,
and in Privin's case the moustache helped to cushion his trumpet on his lip when
he played. The only explanation that Miller ever gave was that the moustaches
made the men look like gangsters. Privin was a remarkable soloist whose playing very much inspired the musicians
around him, and he was one of the most featured sidemen of the Swing Era,
playing in more 'name' bands than anyone else. Apart from his
solo work, he was a remarkable lead player.
A self-taught musician, he was one of ten children, and learnt to play
the mellophone in an orphans' home where he lived for eight years. He first
heard Louis Armstrong when he was 13 and remained a devoted disciple for
the rest of his life. The two men later became friends.
In 1937 Privin worked in the bands of Bunny Berigan and Tommy Dorsey, but
it was when he joined Artie Shaw's band in 1938 that he really came to
prominence. Shaw featured him as one of the main soloists, and it is probably
no coincidence that some of Shaw's best clarinet solos were recorded when
Privin was at his side. When Shaw broke up his band, Privin joined Benny
Goodman for the first time in 1941. He left the next year to play lead
trumpet in Charlie Barnet's group, where Bob Burnett was the established
trumpet soloist. He was called up and worked as trumpet soloist with Glenn
Miller's AAF band from 1943 until he left after the war ended in
1946.
Miller's huge orchestra had been based in England for some months and had
broadcast from the BBC. Miller flew to France ahead of his musicians and
the aircraft in which he was crossing the Channel disappeared on 15 December
1944. But the band played on, and in Paris the next month Privin and his
friends clarinettist Peanuts Hucko and pianist Mel Powell recorded some
outstanding small group sides with the guitarist Django Reinhardt. Meanwhile
Lieutenant Don Haynes took Miller's place. One of his first
actions was to demote Privin, Hucko and Powell from sergeants to privates.
This reduced their wages drastically, and they gladly played on illicit
French recordings for $40 a session. Released from the service, Privin
returned to Benny Goodman's band for two years and then came off
the road to settle in New York as a studio musician, working for
two years with Perry Como at NBC before settling into the CBS staff
band for the rest of his career. He continued to play jazz whenever he
could and worked with Sy Oliver's band from 1949 to 1951. In 1952 he soloed
on Charlie Parker's recording of 'Temptation' and in 1954 made his first
album under his own name with a quintet featuring the tenor saxophonist
Al Cohn. He was the trumpet soloist the following year on an
album by guitarist Al Caiola. He also recorded with Artie Shaw again and
with Woody Herman during this period.
He filled his leave times from the studios with jazz work and became very
popular in Scandinavia visiting there several times and making his second
album there in 1969.
In 1974 Privin returned to Britain during a European tour by the Kings
of Jazz, an all star band that included fellow trumpeter Pee Wee
Irwin and clarinettist Johnny Mince. During the tour Privin had a notable
Armstrong-inspired feature on 'Someday You'll Be Sorry'. He deputised
for a while for Billy Butterfield in The World's Greatest Jazz Band, but
because of his studio contract with CBS he was not able to stay with the
band. However he did manage to tour Europe that year with the 'ghost' Tommy
Dorsey band (Dorsey had died in 1956) and in 1975 visited Russia that year
with the remarkably successful New York Jazz Repertory Company where he
interpreted Armstrong's music along with the ex-Count Basie trumpeter Joe
Newman.
Privin continued his work in the studios and to play the fiery jazz for
which he had become known until he contracted Parkinson's disease some
years ago. Although his speech was severely impaired, he continued to
practice the trumpet until recently. Famous for his acid wit, he
never lost his sense of humour. He was honoured a few years ago by the
cream of the players at New York's Brass Conference, when each of the players took turns to play for him.
When he rose to speak after the music had finished he eyed them all balefully.
He spoke with difficulty. 'Is that your best?' he said Bernard
Privin, trumpeter, born New York 12 February 1919, died New York 9 October
1999.
Steve Voce |
OBITUARY
