A shameless bit of name dropping

Having reached the age where there’s a lot more to look back on than look forward to, I thought I’d jot down a list of some of the people I’ve been lucky enough to work with over the years. This doesn’t include ‘being on the same bill as’, as that would be too long a list and would include people such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy Fury, Roy Castle, Bob Monkhouse, Henry Mancini, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and All etc, etc. This is just a (probably incomplete) list of well-known musicians and vocalists with whom I’ve actually performed, either on stage or in the recording studio, or both. I’ve worked with many other accomplished musicians, but have confined this list to those who show up online, particularly Wikipedia or thefullwiki.org. Just click on their name and it’ll take you to their page. The lists are in no particular order.
(NB. For my day job, working for Lloyds Bank, I also produced, and appeared in, videos with Peter Sissons, Paul Eddington and Donald MacCormick, but that’s another story.)

As a washboard player

Alan Whicker (not exactly ‘worked with’: interviewed by him in late 1957/early 1958 for BBC TV’s Tonight programme, watched by about seven million people. In terms of exposure it was all downhill from then on.)

As a lead guitarist

Rory Blackwell
Screaming Lord Sutch
Vince Eager
Tony Blackburn (And as a pianist on one recording session)
Dave Anthony
The Dowlands
Michael Giles
Peter Giles
Jimmy Justice
Zoot Money
Johnny Kidd (According to my diary he was at a gig we did at Weymouth with Screaming Lord Sutch, but I can’t remember if he actually got up on stage with us.)
Paul Elliott (In a school concert!)
Dave Dacosta

As a pianist

Andy Summers
Zoot Money
Michael Giles
Peter Giles
Robert Fripp
Dave Anthony
Matt Monro
Lyn Paul
Ophelie Winter
Mornington Lockett
John Altman
Jean Toussaint
Art Themen
Alan Glen
Gary O’Toole
Dave Lewis
Andy Crowdy
Tony Lee (not in public – just several great piano sessions in his front room with him on my Fender Rhodes and me on his grand)
Spike Heatley
Bill Le Sage (Bill produced the session at Abbey Road)
Laurence Cottle
The Dowlands
The UK Mixmasters (with Gary Wilmot on vocals)
Jess Lidyard
Roger Dean
Dave Pegg
Colin Allen
Ronnie Johnson
Nick Newall
Gary Foote
Nick Payn
Bobby Tench
Paul MacCallum
Jeff Allen
Denise Gordon
Sally Magnusson (another ‘interviewed by’ with a bit of piano and singing for BBC Radio 4)
Papa George
Howie Casey
Pete Kirtley (Well I had to mention him, as he’s my son, but he is, of course, pretty well known in the business)
The Tweenies
Sounds Incorporated (NB. This is cheating a bit, as I just had a jazz jam with them before our first set as support act for Gerry and the Pacemakers at Oxford, 1964.)
Steve Laffy
Annabel Williams
Todd Sharpeville
Terry Davis
Phil Berry
Les Booth
John ‘Rhino’ Edwards
Jim Mullen
Mark Fletcher
Kenny Clayton (Kenny often did guest spots playing my piano but in Feb 2020 he actually joined in with me on piano backing his daughter Alex doing Dancing in the Street. I think he was a secret rocker!)

And the high-spot of all this? Well, it’s got to be playing solo piano for Matt Monro on ‘Birth of the Blues’ in the early 1980s. That was just bloody magic!