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Ade Holland - and Friends
Above is an Picture of Ade Holland a fine Reading based exponent of Manouche
Swing taken in the early 1960's (only a short period after Django's
death) in Corby with his original 1930's Maccaferri's.Dscf0195.
Life
was far for simple then.- but did he anticipate the eerie image echoing
through this artistic advert of Django in a similar pose.
George Parry
from Snowdonia North Wales.....he's now a Luthier, Gypsy Guitars only! He
first started in the 60's after taking copies, measurements and photos of both
my original Selmer Maccaferri and my converted Eddie Freeman Special (shown in
the b&w left) this shot is the earliest of George perhaps contemplating
making one !!
The
two main four string models offered then by Selmer included a regular
tenor guitar, with a 23 inch scale length, tuned CGDA, and the
Eddie Freeman Special, with a larger body and a longer scale
length, using a re-entrant CGDA tuning. The Eddie Freeman Special
had been designed by English tenor banjoist Eddie Freeman to
have a better six string guitar sonority for rhythm guitar work
than the normal tenor guitar with its very high A string.
However, it was still tuned CGDA so that it could still be
played by tenor banjoists.
The Eddie Freeman Special was based on a six
string model and it had a larger six string body and a six
string scale length of 25.25 inches, rather than the tenor's
smaller body and normal 23 inch scale length. The CGDA tuning
used was re-entrant with the C and D tuned in the same octave
and the G and the A tuned in the same octave, lowering the
overall tone. The tuning and scale length give this very unusual
four string guitar a sonority that is very close to that of the
six string guitar, compared to a regular tenor guitar.
Unfortunately, this guitar was not
commercially successful in the 1930s due to concerted resistance
by the British six string guitar fraternity, particularly Ivor
Mairaints. Many were subsequently converted to much more
valuable six string models because of the Django Reinhardt
connection. Originals of the Eddie Freeman Special are now very
rare and are consequently highly valuable.
The
In the colour shot are George sitting Centre (Ade knew him then in the 60's as Cec.)
and showing off 2 of his his guitars. The one he's playing is left
handed! I had the Eddie Freeman
Mac sitting in was George's brother Eric.
The
now Mature craftsmen pose as both players and Luthier displaying the Macca copies
(1 Left Handed).
Recently, modern Maccaferri-style Luthiers,
such as the late David Hodson in the UK and Shelley Park in
Canada, as well as others, have started building this four
string model again due to demand from their customers. Many have
now been made and they are becoming more widely played. They are
considered to have a beautiful sound and offer a very broad
range of tuning possibilities including CGDA, GDAE, DGBE, CGBD,
DGBD and ADGB.
As the six string guitar eventually became
more popular in bands in the 1930s and 1940s, tenor guitars
became much less played, although some tenor guitar models had
been made in very large numbers throughout this period and are
now still common. Tenor guitars came to prominence again in the
1950s and 1960s, possibly due to the effects of the Dixieland
jazz revival and the folk music boom. At this time, they were
made by makers such as Epiphone, Gibson, Guild and Gretsch as
archtop acoustics and/or electrics, as well as a range of flat
top models by Martin.
Martin
Taylor, Ade Holland, & Tom Anderson
Wallingford’s Corn Exchange was packed with an enthusiastic audience
for a jazz and blues night starring internationally acclaimed guitarist
Martin Taylor.
The first half of the show featured local group The Fat Chance,
whose style and infectious enthusiasm had the audience shouting for
more. Their 45 minutes just flew.
The Fat Chance comprises Adrian Holland (guitar), Saffron Young (double
bass), Geoff Hawkins (saxes) and Tom Anderson (guitar)
In the second half, Taylor displayed his incredible skills, including
the “three guitarists in one” technique Which became a favourite with
audiences worldwide.
Martin’s has been to many exotic places where he has amazed jazz
lovers — and that now includes Wallingford.
The Corn Exchange, with its excellent sound qualities and intimate
atmosphere was the perfect venue for this musical evening,
Jim Cane -
Feb 1995
Martin Taylor & FAT
CHANCE
a review
by Chris Harris
After all these years one doesn’t expect originality of small jazz combos.
Yet Adrian Holland’s Fat Chance seemed to me to achieve it. Bass, two
guitars, and more often than not the soaring of a soprano saxophone on top. The
result was an extraordinary combination standard ‘mainstream’ infrastructure
with a vibrant, highly modern solo voice. I found this irresistible. The band
certainly sent plenty of excitement across footlights. Maybe ‘Ornithology’
didn’t quite suit line up, failing to soar and tending to chug, though it
sounded fine when it became ‘How High the Moon’ and the traded fours at the end
were great. Otherwise, a simply inspiring set - great variety of tunes
including a Brazillian thing towards the end, for which Mr Hawkin got his flute
out), Saphon Young’s unfailingly swinging bass playing, contrasted the equally
inventive guitar playing by Adrian and Tom Anderson. Which leaves Geoff Hawkin.
Versatile or what? Vibrato-drenched tenor playing on balIads like ‘September in
the Rain’ one minute, then dazzling hard-toned wall-of-sound soprano the next.
Wonderful stuff.
Having toured America
with Grappelli, starred in Nashville and so on, Martin Taylor doesn’t
need some Wallingford hack to rave about him. He’s the ultimate virtuoso of
course, and yes, it was understandable (and really rather thrilling!) when he
showed off the ‘bass, rhythm, tune, improvisation. all at once’ trick on ‘I got
Rhythm'. He told us that his early influences were pianists inluding Fats
WaIler, though the one I thought of instantly he began his first selection was
Bill Evans. The same quiet bits, the same intense exploration of the tunes
possibilities. (This may be partly because I thought opened with ‘Here’s That
Rainy Day’).
Technique is fine. But Martin Taylor gave us much more. One never lost the sense
of a man in love with his instrument, feeling privileged and happy to playing it
- whether re-inventing Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Somewhere’, enhancing ‘Taking a
Chance on Love’ with a subtle new arrangement, or swinging like Brian Lara’s bat
on ‘Cherokee’. Perhaps this rhythmic gift what struck me most. Although playing
solo he almost seemed to have the drive and shifting accents of a great jazz
drummer behind him. Maybe playing jazz, with its technical demands allied to
limitless chances for self-expression delivers the ultimate creative
buzz? We could ask Martin Taylor ……….
Tom Anderson, the joint solo voice in Fat Chance, was born in Edinburgh. He
started playing the guitar at the age of 9, influenced by Hank Marvin, and
acquired the blues from listening to masters like John Lee Hooker and Muddy
Waters. Tom went on to play the blues rock scene around the Scottish Capital and
the West Coast, and moved to Southern England in 1985. Having joined various
rep. and production theatre companies he has been much in demand on the English
theatre circuit.
Tom, a guest artist at the ‘92 Edinburgh Five Band Blues Festival, is a
brilliant musician with roots firmly planted in blues and soul, present
influences include Robben Ford and Albert Lee.
Below Ade playing his Petite Bouche
Maccaferri and his 1963 Gibson awaits his caress
Ade's
Anecdote................
In 1990 I went with my son Nathan to the Django Reinhardt festival in
Samois-Sur-Sene near Fontainebleau about 40 miles south of Paris. I
read that Django’s guitar was in the Paris Conservatoire, so a train to
Paris was on the agenda. We bought our tickets which covered the metro
as well, on entering the centre of Paris we thought it would be a good
idea to get a taxi to the Conservatoire. The cab driver said which
Conservatoire? There are 16 conservatoires in Paris!! After choosing
one only to find they had never heard of Django let alone his guitar!!
We called into a small hotel to ask for advice; the receptionist phoned
every conservatoire in Paris for us only to find that his guitar had
recently been taken away by Django’s son Babik! That receptionist was
wonderful, she didn’t charge us a penny (or a franc) for all she did, a
fine example, and to anyone who don’t like the French……she was great.
After a day roaming round the music shops we decided to make our way
back, and at the last metro station that took us to the overland train
station, the machine swallowed our tickets! Thinking no more of it we
jumped on the train which started to pull away, after a short while I
spotted an armed guard at the far end of the carriage checking the
tickets!!Ironically my son gave me the same advice as Ian did
years before in Maidenhead - pretend that you are asleep!!! I looked
behind and there was another guard checking tickets starting from the
other end!! We were doomed!! - the Bastille beckoned
- or worse still the Guillotine!! We happened to be sitting right in the
middle of the carriage and as the two of them met we were the last to be
checked - fate took a hand as the family opposite us didn’t have any
tickets either!! They carted them out of the carriage and didn’t
come back, goodness knows what happened to them, but on our part it was
totally un-intentional, the tickets we bought which included the metro
stops did not include a return fare. Perhaps Django was smiling down on
us that day after all.
Ade with Gary Potter at Samois Sur Seine 1991
YouTube
- Shadow of Your Smile - Ade Doodlin'
Ade now lives in Reading and is available for
teaching both Jazz Guitar and Manouche Swing Techniques -
his skills also be
experienced at various gigs in the zone - see the Concert Jazz Calendar.
Email Ade Holland
0118
9507610 mobile 07711 030 391