Denny Payton, RIP

[GA Russell]

Denny Payton of The Dave Clark Five has died. We spoke of the DC5 not long ago on a thread about the R&R Hall of Fame. Payton was the only sax player of the British Invasion that I was aware of. This makes me feel old!

Here's his obituary from the LA Times:

Denis Payton, 63; played saxophone with the Dave Clark Five

From Times Staff and Wire Reports

December 19, 2006

Denis Payton, 63, the saxophone player in the British pop band the Dave Clark Five, died Sunday of cancer in Bournemouth, southern England, Clark's office said Monday.

Payton, who was born in Walthamstow, East London, England, appeared on all the group's records and also played guitars and harmonica and sang backup vocals.

The group was London's answer to the wave of hits pouring out of Liverpool in the 1960s. Their hit records include "Bits and Pieces," "Do You Love Me?" and "Glad All Over."

"Denis was a very dear friend who I've known since we were teenagers," Clark said in a statement. "Denis was very brave and not afraid of death. He will be greatly missed by me and all who knew him."

Just weeks ago, the group was nominated for induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[chris olivarez]

RIP to Denny Payton. However he wasn't the only sax player in the British Invasion. One of the guys in the early edition of Manfred Mann(can't remember the name-getting old myself)also played sax. On the first Manfred Mann album-the one with" Do Wah Diddy"-they recorded "Sack O Woe" and really that's how I first got introduced to jazz.

[GA Russell]

Chris, a few minutes after I posted the above, I remembered Mike Vickers with Manfred Mann! However, it should be noted that when they were on TV Vickers always played guitar. He doubled on sax and flute for the albums of course.

I became a huge Manfred Mann fan three years after Do Wah Diddy hit. I heard their third album and loved it. I thought that their hits were their worst songs. It was my feeling that Manfred Mann had the most talented musicians of all the British Invasion groups.

By the way, the group reformed as The Manfreds with everyone except Mann himself about ten years ago, and has released a number of CDs. I have three of them. No new compositions. The songs are either remakes of their old songs or covers of 60s hits. Lots of fun. Vickers was a member of The Manfreds for a number of years, but left the band a few years ago.

As I recall, Mike Vickers was the orchestra conductor on the Beatles' All You Need Is Love.

[chris olivarez]

I was going to say Vickers but I just wasn't sure. Agree eith you about the hits being the lesser material.It was that way on the first album too. There were some talented dudes in that group. Thanks for posting this.