Florence Kathleen "Kathy" Stobart (1 April 1925 –
5 July 2014) was an English jazz saxophonist primarily known for playing the
tenor sax. Arguably the first outstanding British female sax player Kathy was
also considered by many to be "The First Lady of British Jazz."
Born in the coastal town of South Shields, County Durham, to
a musical family, with a pianist mother and two brothers who played the
saxophone, Kathy Stobart followed suit. By the age of 14 she was a member of
Don Rico's Ladies' Swing Band and touring nationally, before establishing
herself in London in 1942. The wartime entertainment scene guaranteed much
work, and among the more informal jazz sessions were ones where she played
alongside American servicemen such as the saxophonist Art Pepper and Glenn
Miller's clarinettist, Peanuts Hucko. She also made several broadcasts with the
British AEF big band.
One of her early London engagements was with the band led by
the Canadian pianist Art Thompson, whom she married and played alongside until
1948, including a trip to Canada and the US which saw her sitting in at the
famous Eddie Condon club in Greenwich Village. During this time she also played
with other London-based bandleaders such as Vic Lewis and Ted Heath, and led
groups herself.
Divorcing Thompson, in 1951 she married one of the members of her own band, trumpeter Bert Courtley, and soon retired from playing in order to raise her three sons, two of whom would become semi-professional musicians. After deputising with
Lyttelton, though, she played more, and in the 1960s sometimes co-led a group with Courtley. He, however, was chiefly occupied with the Heath band and a busy schedule of studio sessions; sadly, the pressure of this work, and the ready availability of alcohol, contributed to his early death in 1969.
Needing to support the family growing up in Norbury, south London, Stobart began touring again with Lyttelton, but also decided to study the clarinet formally at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Players of her generation were usually not expected to take seriously the education of younger musicians but, along with the pianist-trombonist Eddie Harvey, throughout the 1960s and '70s she taught adult classes at the City Literary Institute in Holborn.
As a result she influenced a new generation of players on all instruments, including the vibraphonist Orphy Robinson, and guitarist Deirdre Cartwright, who has written that Kathy "was a great musician and wonderfully droll company." The saxophonist and educator Elisabeth (Issie) Barratt recalls, "She was also an exceptionally kind, as well as hugely inspiring, teacher."
Kathy Stobart Band 1950s |
Divorcing Thompson, in 1951 she married one of the members of her own band, trumpeter Bert Courtley, and soon retired from playing in order to raise her three sons, two of whom would become semi-professional musicians. After deputising with
Lyttelton, though, she played more, and in the 1960s sometimes co-led a group with Courtley. He, however, was chiefly occupied with the Heath band and a busy schedule of studio sessions; sadly, the pressure of this work, and the ready availability of alcohol, contributed to his early death in 1969.
Needing to support the family growing up in Norbury, south London, Stobart began touring again with Lyttelton, but also decided to study the clarinet formally at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Players of her generation were usually not expected to take seriously the education of younger musicians but, along with the pianist-trombonist Eddie Harvey, throughout the 1960s and '70s she taught adult classes at the City Literary Institute in Holborn.
Stobert and Lyttelton |
As a result she influenced a new generation of players on all instruments, including the vibraphonist Orphy Robinson, and guitarist Deirdre Cartwright, who has written that Kathy "was a great musician and wonderfully droll company." The saxophonist and educator Elisabeth (Issie) Barratt recalls, "She was also an exceptionally kind, as well as hugely inspiring, teacher."
Here's "In A Sentimenral Mood" from above album.
celebrating the return visit of Scottish reedman Joe Temperley, then as now living in the US, called Saxploitation.
Her own groups, and another jointly led with vibraphonist
Lennie Best, were also heard on BBC broadcasts until 1985, when she moved to
Axmouth, Devon, and set up a student band in Exeter. Meanwhile she made guest
appearances in New York with saxophonist Zoot Sims and the expatriate English
pianist Marian McPartland, and in 1982 she was the obvious performer to
headline Britain's first women's jazz festival. Always encouraging to female
musicians, she was a guest with Gail Thompson's Gail Force in 1986 and led a group
with saxophonist Joan Cunningham in the late 1980s.
Already a senior citizen, Stobart once again worked
regularly for Lyttelton throughout the 1990s, although he was by then more
selective about his playing engagements. She was a member of his ensemble when
they appeared alongside the group Radiohead, before an audience of 42,000 in
2001. She still took solo engagements and undertook lengthy teaching stints at
the City Literary Institute in London and, after moving to Devon, in Exmouth.
Her early experience made her a natural choice to tutor Dame
Judi Dench in playing the saxophone for her role in Alan Plater's 2000
television play The Last of the Blonde Bombshells. In 2005 she received the
prestigious British Parliamentary Jazz Award.
Stobart did finally began to take things a little easier in her
eighties, especially after surviving a severe stroke during 2011. She died 5 July 2014, age 89.
(Edited mainly from The Independent)
5 comments:
For “Kathy Stobart / Joe Temperley Quintet – Saxploitation” go here:
https://www.upload.ee/files/9773674/Kathy_Stobart_Saxploitation.rar.html
1. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise 4:44
2. My Funny Valentine 5:26
3. Tickle Toe 7:41
4. Drop Me Off At Harlem 4:14
5. In A Sentimental Mood 3:39
6. Blues On The Closet 7:50
7. Crazy He Calls Me 4:55
8. Cottontail 5:00
Bass – Dave Olney
Drums – Tony Mann
Piano – Mike Pyne*
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Kathy Stobart
Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Joe Temperley
Recorded: Olympic Sound Studios, Barnes, England - Monday March 8, 1976.
For “Kathy Stobart – Arbeia” go here:
https://www.upload.ee/files/9773679/Kathy_Stobart_-_Arbeia.rar.html
1 Arbeia (Stobart/Courtley) 6.49
2 Detour Ahead (Carter/Ellis/Frige) 4.33
3 Pieces of Dreams (M. Legrand) 2.44
4 As Is (H. Beckett) 3.17
5 2HS (K. Stobart) 5.47
6 If I thought you'd ever change your mind (Cameron) 2.47
7 Enchanted into (H. Beckett) 4.00
8 Cry of Triumph (H. Beckett) pt1 3.01
9 Cry of Triumph (H. Beckett) pt2 3.58
KATHY STOBART QUINTET
Kathy Stobart (ts, ss, f); Harry Beckett (t, fl-h); Martin Blackwell (p, el-p);
Harvey Weston (b); Tony Mann (d, cga); Marion Williams (v)
Recorded February 28 / March 1 1978.
Many thanks for these two Stobart releases, which I didn't have in my collection. Long may you improvise and syncopate on this blog.
please reup
Hello GSO, Here's the new link
https://krakenfiles.com/view/HL6T2770HO/file.html
Many thanks
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