Soul Survivor: Biography Of Archetypal Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith.

DH-S Biography Overview.

Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith was blessed with the advantage of a restless, didactic edge in his every creative endeavour. His career is a landmark in a number of regards for British jazz and R & B. As a founding protagonist, he takes his place as a truly significant figure in the 1960´s cultural revolution, although he lived and died in the spirit of a working musician. Dick joined Alexis Korner´s Blues Incorporated in 1962, a project that subsequently evolved into The Graham Bond Org, featuring Dick in the esteemed company of Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. Dick Heckstall-Smith also took his place in John Mayall´s Bluesbreakers and proved to be a strident creative force in the innovative jazz-rock fusion band Colosseum.

'Soul Survivor: Biography Of Archetypal Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith´, offers a penetrating insight into some of Dick´s most significant projects during the latter part of his career. Author Stephanie Lynne Thorburn has documented Dick´s solo work with DHSS, Electric Dream and the fruition of his Arts Council jazz suite Celtic Steppes. Passages of special interest to DH-S connoisseurs have been carefully constructed on Mainsqueeze featuring Bo Diddley and the reunion of Colosseum. There is notable interview input from the ever insightful Jon Hiseman and lifelong friend and colleague, Cream lyricist Pete Brown regarding Dick´s 2001 WC Handy nominated album ´Blues and Beyond´ which featured Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Paul Jones and Clem Clempson. Dick´s son Arthur also offers some reflections on his father´s vibrant life-force and creative psyche, leaving the reader in no doubt that Dick Heckstall-Smith had the ability to draw out both the musical essence and humanity of those he worked with professionally and interpersonally. Additional links/ documents include an author´s obituary of Dick and a review of the tribute concert to DH-S at the Astoria in 2005.

Pictured: The cover of Dick Heckstall-Smith's T.S. Eliot themed solo album 'A Story Ended', Bronze Records 1972.

Introduction: Dick Heckstall-Smith In Perspective.

Images. The electrification of Chicago blues, as Lennon and McCartney perform Sergeant Pepper´s on acetate. Contemporary mythical tales describe the token economies of Dartford railway station, as the Stones meet over a Howlin´ and Muddy afternoon consummated in an exchange of Chess vinyl. The texts of authors such as Harry Shapiro and connoisseur Chris Welch capture these defining moments in the history of the British musical revolution, from Alexis Korner and the iconography of the Hendrix experience, to the novelties of fresh Cream. In the Shapiro classic ´Waiting For The Man´ (1), his story of drugs and popular music casts our most loved personalities into their respective roles; heroes and archetypes, heroes and heroin, emphasising that too often creativity and genius merge into a backdrop of cultural folk legend and demoniacs. A harsh and valid perspective, yet the origins of the 1960´s cultural movement find their solace in Dick Heckstall-Smith´s text, ´The Safest Place In The World´, a unique and perceptive concept referring to the psyche of working musicians. The appeal of his narrative is in the persuasive message conjured, that of the ability of the artist to lose themselves within the sanctum of music itself.

Dick Heckstall-Smith´s candid narrative guides us through his progress from Cambridge graduate to conscientious objector and jazz/blues saxophone pioneer. The apprenticeship offered to young pretenders by such divergent venues as the Nucleus, The Marquee and The Flamingo are illustrated through his animated experiences. Presented in a matter of fact tone, Dick introduces us to some of the most significant protagonists in his early career and ultimately guides us through an animated personal history of contemporary music. Ginger Baker makes an entrance as part of the Café des Artistes scene resulting in some illuminating and marvellous anecdotes of this, " Long legged, short tempered, nine stone of red- rimmed Irish cockney." The story continues on a late night bus as a series of monster crashes pervade a particularly memorable journey home, indicating the loss of Ginger´s drums in the ether of an LT bus route, his characteristic ´fire and brimstone´ awakened. Dick´s memoirs of the Cambridge University May Ball where he first made acquaintance with Jack Bruce are equally unforgettable as the freshly united Graham Bond Org. personnel exorcise their prowess, performing a completely inspired and irreverent rendition of ´Lover Man´ and ´Blue ´n Boogie´. The excitement of witnessing a developing ´R & B´ scene boom has never been more entertainingly described than by Dick's tales of Blues Incorporated and G.B.O alias ´GBH´. Without a doubt, neither the momentum or fertility of this period has been paralleled by subsequent generations.

'Soul Survivor: Biography Of Archetypal Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith' is now available for download from the arts section of the music community website www.truefire.com; see profile for Stephanie Lynne Thorburn. The eBook, a supportive document and sample content can be purchased in word format:

http://truefire.com/list.html?store=the_arts§ion=new_arrivals&orderby=&offset=&item=8101

Author's Homepage:

http://stephaniethorburn.webs.com

The text is Copyright Stephanie Lynne Thorburn 2009.