New Orleans Comes to Covent Garden

In June 2006 I received a call out of the blue from Tom Wacher, trombonist and Covent Garden organiser ......... inviting me to join in the anniversary Street Parade ............. Especially as friends of mine like Johnny Barnes, Digby Fairweather, Johnny Beecham and Barry Martin's son Emile (bassdrum) would be there I naturally made the pilgrimage up to London and joined in ...... I always like N.O.Parade playing and that day was no exception ......... especially when we found that among our audience was old friend Jack Honeybourne, piano player in the early fifties with Kenny Graham who was celebrating his birthday (don't ask how many years!). Jack being what we then thought of as a "modernist" and having met me and members of my band when we stayed over after our afternoon club session in Great Newport Street to hear Kenny Graham's "Afro-Cubists" finally popped in to hear our session one week and was really surprised to hear our King Oliver style music ....... He didn't realise that some people actually like both!

Chris Barber, 11 September, 2006

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