Need To Talk To The UK Old Farts!!! ;-)

[JSngry]

Ok, I just got this Annie Ross thing, A HANDFUL OF SONGS, and the arrangements are by Johnny Spence, a name I recognize from his work with Matt Monro as a Nelson Riddle clone of the highest order (and I mean that as a compliment, "clone" notwithstanding). This is a perfectly wonderful pop album, with a version of "Love For Sale" that gets more intense every time I listen to it, and not in a "comfortable" way. Ms. Ross seems to understand the darker side of the lyrics QUITE well.

Then I jog my memory a bit more and realize that Johnny Spence was Tom Jones' arranger for years. O...K...

So I'm doing some Websearch last night and find hime mentione in connection with a seminal(?) British rock band called The Pirates.

Now I'm REALLY asking myself - who the hell was this Johnny Spence cat? Seems like he came up on the cusp between jazz(y) pop and rock, had the tools to fully work in both worlds, and did so. Seems like an interesting career, to say the least.

Anybody got stories? Info? Opinions? Recs? Outright venom? Gimme something here, I'm clueless!

[J.A.W.]

Interview with Johnny Spence, the Pirates' bass player

[JSngry]

Yeah, I read that, and I'm not convinced that it's the same Johnny Spence. But maybe it is!?!?!?!?!

[J.A.W.]

As far as I know they're two different persons: the bandleader Johnny Spence, who had a U.K. hit with his orchestra with the instrumental Theme from Dr Kildare in 1962 (I guess he's the one you're referring to), and the bassist Johnny Spence, who played with U.K. rock band Johnny Kidd & the Pirates; they had a couple of U.K. hits in 1960 and again in 1963.

I can't find any info on the bandleader.

Edited August 10, 2003 by J.A.W.

[JSngry]

Ok. That removes much of the "interesting career" angle then. Thanks.

So what remains is this question - did Spence (the arranger) have a jazz past, like Johnny Dankworth? Or did he just learn those fat chords and other "jazzy" touches by copping straight from Riddle sides?

[JohnS]

I think Spence was purely a commercial arranger. The nearest he came to jazz were a few jazz-lite big band arrangements in the 60s if I remeber correctly.

[JSngry]

Thanks for that info, John. I'm an afficanado of the type of pop-vocal arranging that Riddle and many others did, it's a craft/art that is a lot more tricky than the EZ-listening results might betray, & this Spence cat seemed like he had Riddle's bag down, all but the VERY deepest stuff, which Riddle himself didn't trot out all that much.