CUFF and SAMMY 
Cuff Billett and Sammy Rimington
with The New City Jazzmen live in Crawley 1973

For a few years in the 1960s and 1970s Cuff Billet and Sammy Rimington guested regularly with the New City Jazzmen in Crawley, sometimes together but often singly. Two of the sessions with both present (one at the Grasshopper Pub and the other at the Floodlite Club) were recorded by New City trombonist Ron Westcott. 

This CD contains a selection of the music played. On it you can hear two superb jazzmen letting their hair down in front of a friendly audience. Sammy plays clarinet clearly rooted in style to George Lewis and alto sax with more than a passing glance towards Captain John Handy. Yet the overall sound is Sammy's own. Perhaps the proof of this is in his interpretation of Burgundy Street Blues. Sammy's version contains subtleties which are missing from George Lewis's starkly simplistic original recording yet each one is hauntingly sad and beautiful.  The Grasshopper Public House, Tilgate, Crawley, 1973

The Grasshopper Public House, Tilgate, Crawley, 1973 
Last night at the Grasshopper January 1973. Cuff Billett (trumpet) star guest. Cuff's playing is impossible to categorise. Many trumpet players base their style on one trumpet great, often Armstrong, but Cuff defies convention. He plays like so many! Bunk Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Red Allen, Kid Howard, Rex Stewart, Roy Eldridge, even Miles Davis, you'll find reminders of them in Cuff's playing. But, like Sammy, Cuff has an individual voice. 
Have any other two British jazzmen, before or since, got together and produced more exciting jazz than this?
Last night at the Grasshopper January 1973. Cuff Billett (trumpet) star guest.
Personnel

Personnel:
(a) Cuff Billett (trumpet, flugelhorn and vocals), 
Sammy Rimington (clarinet and alto sax)
Ron Westcott (trombone) Mike Godfrey (piano)
Don Oliver (banjo), Alan Kennington (bass)
Paul Norman (drums)
(b) As (a) but omit trumpet, trombone and piano
(c) As (a) but add Chris Jaques (clarinet)

Recording details

Recorded January 1973 and May 1973
in Crawley, West Sussex, UK by Ron Westcott

The CD features the following tracks:
To play each track click on the link below, (connecting times vary from 15secs to 4 minutes)
Or download, more details are given below (save the track for instant replay offline)
1. Sister Kate (a)
2. St. Philip Street Breakdown (b)
3. Saratoga Swing (a)
4. Over The Waves (a)
5. Doctor Jazz (a)		 6. Bourbon Street Parade (a)
7. Burgundy Street Blues (b)
8. Travellin' Blues (a)
9. Franklin Street Blues (a)
10. Give Me Your Telephone Number (Higginbotham) (c)
Samples of the tracks listed above will appear here soon.
A hyperlink will be visible as each track becomes available for downloading 
How to download sample tracks from 'Cuff and Sammy' 
Right click any of  the above links, then click 'save target as' from the pull down list. Once the file has downloaded to your computer, double click the file to play it. The file has been created in the MP3 format, and can be played back using Windows Media Player
It is also possible to 'double click' each link and play live via the internet. (Please be patient while the file is downloading)
Only track 1 is available in its entirety, tracks 2-10 are samples that last between 30 to 60 seconds.
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For further information email Bernard Hodgson: bernardhodgson@tinyworld.co.uk

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