Ronnie Verrell

[Paul Creasey]

Thanks for posting those, Phil!
A PERFECT way of winding down following a MAMMOTH wash-up after feeding family & friends at our New Years Day get-together.
Those Big Bands...................WOW!
Those Big Band Drummers.....................WOW again!
Ronnie Verrell.......................WOW, one more time!!
(Sorry to mount my hobby horse - for the FIRST time in 2010)..........but it just proves to me (Guitarists please note!) it ain't WHAT you play, it's HOW you play-it!!
Happy New Year to everyone!
Regards
Paul

[Moderne]

I can't thank you enough for drawing my attention to these clips. I've loved Ted Heath for years but had given up hope of ever seeing good quality footage of the band in their heyday...and in colour!!

Clive

[Alan Prudhoe]

What can you say - other than absolutely brilliant?
(And I can't even play the drums )

[Paul Creasey]

Good point, Phil!
I hadn't really considered "bravado" before, but you may well be right.
I'm certainly not claiming to be an "Ace" drummer, but me an Little Bro' (A Lead Guitarist of not inconsiderable ability) have often said words to the effect "Wouldn't it have been GREAT if we'd had the gear we have now, back in the 1960's!" - but the thing that kept us going back then could probably be described as "bravado" (or simply youthful arrogance!). We've got (some of) the gear nowadays, but the bravado/arrogance is long-gone - we're too busy keeping BREATHING during a gig!
Back to Ronnie Verrell...............(and the other long-serving Drumming "greats") what they had in their "senior" years WAS continuing "bravado". That MIGHT be what our Forum friends are discussing on the thread about Cliff Richard's "arrogance" - it's what keeps Bands like CR and The Shads going in their late '60's, and doing worldwide tours!
Marg and me took her (now late, lamented) Mum to see the Syd Lawrence Orchestra at Lincoln Drill Hall 20-odd years ago, and I - too - remember being impressed by the "OAP" Drummer who went-on to give a truly startling performance - within a Band of musicians who ALSO gave startling performances!!
Happy Days!
Regards
Paul.

[Mikey]

Brilliant! I can't play the drums either (trust me, I've tried) but if that's what the competition's like I'll stick with the guitar.
Incidentally, i thought one of the trumpet players on "Skin Deep" clip looked a bit like Hank

[Moderne]

You are both very welcome.

I remember taking my parents to see the Syd Lawrence Orchestra - about 93/94 - and Ronnie was on drums. The poor guy came on stage virtually bent double. Once behind the kit he played absolutely superbly - one of the best ever big band drummers with that perfect combination of technique and bravado.

Regards,
Phil.

I saw Ronnie playing with a jazz band in The Talbot in Belbroughton in Worcestershire around 2001 - not long before he died. At the time he was appearing as one of the Skinerettes on the Frank Skinner show. As Phil said, he was bent double - following a car crash I believe. He had a whisky in one hand and a ciggie in the other. I told him how much I loved his playing and he replied, "Bless your heart"! I've never been so knocked out by a drumming performance (sorry Brian!) as I was by Ronnie Verrell that night.

Clive

[roninnes]

Awesome, simply awesome.
Thanks Phil for bringing some great moments together showing Ronnie at his very best.

Ron

[Cheeseford]

Great clips, Phil. Like all sensible drummers, he did like a Ludwig snare. That hammered bronze job he played with the Yamaha kit was lovely, as was the Black Beauty he paired with his white marine pearl Premiers (for years a Soundwave before it was replaced by a Genista). In return, I can offer two for the price of one - Ronnie and Kenny Clare (both playing Ajax, although with a chrome-on-brass Ludwig 400 in Kenny's case) on a 1962 Ted Heath TV show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZHUktIw8aA

Ronnie also turns up with the Jack Parnell band on a new DVD called Les Dawson at ITV: the Specials. Ronnie and Jack get stuck into Skin Deep. I met Ronnie a few times towards the end of his life. One occasion was when he sat in with Dick Esmond's Sound of 17 Big Band at the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing for an evening of Heath band charts. I sat front and centre and watched him like a hawk. He'd suffered pretty serious spinal injuries in a car accident, which accounts for the stoop, but when he sat behind that kit, he might as well have been 10 feet tall. One of the true greats of the British music scene, and a gentleman too.

[Bob Dore]

And, of course, this is actually Ronnie playing...

[Cheeseford]

Many thanks for the link & info, Louis - a great clip!

My pleasure. The show was mimed to playbacks of various Decca recordings of the Heath band, so I dug out the stereo record and synced it to the video. The original sound on the telerecording is not particularly good optical film sound.

Interesting photo of Ronnie with his small tom & ride cymbal swapped over - presumably for ease of playing:

I suspect that it's more that Ronnie turned up and somebody clueless had already set his kit up for the pic.

I'll look out for the Les Dawson clip.

You'll need to buy the DVD. It's a very new release. It's worth every penny, though. On one of the other shows, a 16-year-old Gary Husband does Drummin' Man with the Syd Lawrence band.

Brian Bennett also worked with Les, in the Seventies, with a single released which was popular in some of the Northern Soul clubs.

Spread It Around? I have the single on the Ocean label in front of me now. Arr/cond by BB, written by Ray Cameron, who co-wrote all the great Kenny Everett shows with Barry Cryer.