From the blues to Lennon/McCartney to the iconic Free Trade Hall, to music by a close friend of Paganini's to a musical invention......
From the blues to Lennon/McCartney to the iconic Free Trade Hall, to music by a close friend of Paganini's to a musical invention......
Episode 31 Robin Hill’s ‘Eclectic City’ 14 th April 2021
Opening music: ‘The Stumble’ (King) performed by Robin Hill
Hello, this is Robin Hill and welcome to Episode 31 of ‘Eclectic City’. The music you just heard was my recording of ‘The Stumble’ by Freddie King… .but in the style of the great Peter Green when he recorded it with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.
I remember seeing John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in Manchester when I was sixteen. The line-‐up included Mick Taylor (guitar), Jon Hiseman (drums), Dick Heckstall-‐Smith (tenor & soprano saxes) and, of course, John Mayall!
The gig was at a Manchester club called ‘The Magic Village’….and its incredible to think that John Mayall OBE is still doing gigs all over the world at 87!! What an inspiration to us all…
Some of the albums by John Mayall which have inspired, and continue to inspire me, are ‘The Blues Alone, ‘Hard Road’, ‘Bare Wires’ and ‘Blues from Laurel Canyon’. If you don’t know them they are well worth investigating.
I saw Mayall about eight years later at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall…the hall, was built on the site of the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, and also survived a direct hit from the Luftwaffe in the Second World War. It was the hall where Bob Dylan played after going electric, with the famous shout of ‘Judas!’ from some folk music enthusiast in the crowd.. ’I don’t believe you!’ was Bob’s angry reply, and the band burst in to ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ at full volume…
I saw most of my musical heroes there: Count Basie, Buddy Rich, John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chicago, the Halle Orchestra, Julian Bream, John Williams, Shakti…John McLaughlin’s fantastic band of Indian musicians, Chick Corea’s Return to Forever and Andres Segovia……quite an eclectic mix…Some very notable people who have appeared at the Free Trade Hall..who I, unfortunately, didn’t see were: Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, Frank Zappa, Genesis, Pink Floyd and Genesis. I eventually got to play at the venue too…with the concerts for children group, Atarah’s Band and what piece did I play to make my Free Trade Hall debut? ‘Postman Pat’!
Music: Postman Pat performed by Robin Hill
I later played there with my duo partner, Peter Wiltschinsky. The Free Trade Hall is, sadly, now a hotel….
Here is some Hill/Wiltschinsky from our Classic Beatles album…this is ‘And I Love Her’…
Music: ‘And I Love Her’ performed by Robin Hill & Peter Wiltschinsky That was ‘And I Love Her’ arranged for 2 guitars by Peter Wiltschinsky and performed there by myself and Peter Wiltschinsky.
The next piece is an original composition by Peter Wiltschinsky and one we recorded together with additional percussion by Dave Hassel.
In this piece Peter quotes from the third movement of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s ‘Concerto for Two Guitars’ which we performed many times with orchestra.
Peter is playing the main part in this and I think it demonstrates what a great player and composer he is.
This is ‘Mexico’
Music: Mexico performed by Robin Hill & Peter Wiltschinsky
That was ‘Mexico’ performed by Peter Wiltschinsky and myself.
Luigi Legnani was born in 1790 in Ravenna in Italy…he died in 1877. During his lifetime he was an operatic tenor, a virtuoso guitarist, a composer and a guitar maker…a man of many outstanding talents. His ’36 Caprices for solo guitar’ are probably his best-‐known compositions. This pieces explore all the major and minor keys and were probably inspired by his friend, Nicolo Paganini’s ’24 Caprices for solo violin” They certainly explore a virtuosity which is a guitaristic equivalent of the Paganini caprices.
Paganini and Legnani were rumoured to have performed together although there is no evidence to support this.
Here is my recording Luigi Legnani’s ‘Caprice No.7’ played on my 1980 Miguel Rodriguez guitar.
Music: Caprice No. 7 – performed by Robin Hill
That was ‘Caprice No 7 by Luigi Legnani performed by myself.
Finally a movement from Claude Bolling’s “Concerto for Classic Guitar & Jazz Piano Trio’. This is from my second recording of this work. This features Daniel Bath on piano, Maurice Cheetham on drums and Dave Lynane on double bass…this is Invention…thanks for listening see you all next week
Music: Invention by Claude Bolling