Dear Reg, Regarding John Westwood’s obituary it occurred to me that we made no mention of his love of music. It’s not something that might spring to mind as one of his interests, in view of his increasing deafness with the passing of the years.
The reason I mention it is that he and I spoke about music during my initial interview in Atlantic House. He was asking about my current interests. Not wanting to say “my girlfriend” on such short acquaintance (true as that was), music was the obvious thing to mention. Instead of the usual responses to any such mention – “Oh!” or “I only listen to the Top Twenty” or “It’s Beethoven all the way, for me” – or “In my opinion, jazz ended when Louis Armstrong left New Orleans” – he asked what I was listening to at the time. When I included “jazz”, he waxed very enthusiastic. One of his sons was a budding bass guitar player, who was already involved with several well-known British jazz outfits – and the young player barely out of school. JW was clearly very proud of his son’s achievements and, over the next eight years told me how well he was doing.
The jazz link didn’t end there, as JW came a few times to the lunchtime jazz sessions in The Rumbo pub in Old Bailey: steak and chips, a pint and a jazz trio. It was difficult to tell whether or not this pleased the rest of our once-or-twice a week expedition members. (Regulars were Joe Burns, Gerry Watt, Mick Shillaker, David Challis – occasionally – and, during their time in the studio, Jim Cairns, Ronnie Burnett, Phil Randell, Phil Critchley, and Paul Beer.) Thanks to that early conversation, though, JW’s enjoyment of the “live” music made sense.
Best wishes, Nodge