Reunion Band (Ivy Benson musicians)
8 April 2015 @ 8:45 pm
In Tomorrow the Moon we present projects led by women of all ages. We love to hear from young up and coming musicians however as musicians get older they bring a depth of experience and authenticity which is sometimes overlooked in the search for the ‘new’. This evening we present a fantastic quartet with three older players and no it’s not a typo, Claudia Colmer – Lang is the legendary bass player who left the Ivy Benson Band in 1962!
Reunion Band (featuring musicians from the Ivy Benson Band of the 1950’s and 60’s).
The Reunion band is a bit of a misnomer as these three women never actually played together in the Ivy Benson Band and pianist Max Turnbull was a bit young! However this is the Band that played at the Celebration last year of what would have been Ivy Benson’s 100th birthday.
Most of the group are based in Cornwall where they play regularly so we’re thrilled that they’ve travelled up especially for this gig. They’re all great musicians and bandleaders in their own right. Tonight they’ll be playing a mixture of swing, ballads and latin.
Featuring
Carol Gasser Tenor sax (1966 – 1971 Ivy Benson)
Claudia Colmer Double bass (1954 – 1962 Ivy Benson)
Crissy Lee Drums (1962 – 1964 plus also in the 1980s Ivy Benson)
Max Turnbull Piano
Deirdre is especially excited about this gig – and here’s why…
Carole Gasser (nee McBean). In May 1976 I had to make a very difficult choice. Was I going to take my end of year Economics exam or play on a recording session in Manchester with the Ivy Benson Big Band? My first professional studio session. Both on the same day, what a clash!
I remember closing the enormous Economics book and saying to my Mum I have to play on that session. End of my degree course at the Polytechnic of Central London after just one year.
At Strawberry Studios I met most of the band for the first time. I was nearly sick with fright.
Kathy Stobart was there on baritone, my sister Bernice was Ivy’s bass player. However, the person that created a buzz in the studio was Carol MacBean. No longer with the band, she had been Ivy’s tenor player for several years.
As some of the horn section steadily got through several carrier bags of beers, they warmed up and despite no prior rehearsal with this particular line up, there was some great playing. I can still recall what a great sound Carol had and she could really improvise. We needed one more number to complete the album at the end of a marathon day. Ivy called ‘The Pink Panther’. Carol, despite being a bit worse for wear by this point stood up and played the theme beautifully with a couple of great bluesy breaks.
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I often wondered what happened to Carol McBean? Never heard of her again. Then last year there was a big Ivy Benson Band reunion in Bristol. One of the old band mentioned that Carol McBean had played in the Reunion Quartet set. Her married name is Carol Gasser and she still plays regularly in Cornwall. Not only that but gigs regularly with Claudia Colmer – Lang – this was Ivy’s legendary double bass player from the 1960s, who also lives in Cornwall.
I happened to be playing with ARQ in St Austell in November and managed to hook up with both of them. It was great meeting them and I managed to persuade them to come up to London, the first time in over 35 years for Claudia, to play at the Vortex as part of the Tomorrow the Moon season.
