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Chris Barber — Petite Fleur
Album: The Premier Collection of Instrumental Hits
Avg rating:
7.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1068









Released: 1959
Length: 2:40
Plays (last 30 days): 2
(Instrumental)
Comments (47)add comment
RP has ONLY ONE TUNE by him on the playlist.  Please ADD MORE!  Thank You.
Dear Chris my sweet little flower.

My dad used to wink his big toe from his upper, stretched out leg when you were played.

My nose were level and eyesight splendid.
Chris may be gone, bless him, but the band lives on under the able stewardship of Bob Hunt, a long serving band member who shouldered much of the trombone work in Chris's last years.  I have shared a stage with Bob on many occasions, but unfortunately never with Chris.
 ecojot wrote:

he brought US based blues artists to the UK. John Mayall has huge respect for this man.




Totally Cool!   
This tune is ten years older than me, but has a good deal less wear and tear on it. My Dad was an Acker Bilk fan, so I grew up hearing it.
 Pedro1874 wrote:

That was Humph, Toke!  The late, great and incredibly multi-talented Humphrey Lyttleton.  The first "trad jazz" tune that I was introduced to by my older next door neighbour when it was released in 1956 - Thanks David!.{#Notworthy}

BTW Chris was almost solely, or one of the very first, responsible for the extension of the careers of bluesmen BBK, MW, HW, LB, JLH etc when he brought them over to UK to play in our local clubs after their careers were over in the US.  Still going strong at 82.


🙂👍
 1wolfy wrote:





 
Great man.  Thanks for everything you did for music in the UK Chris.  RIP.  
as Miles would say "this does not swing"
 rharvey658 wrote:

 
 
The cover confused me too, I hear a clarinet, (with a break from a guitar), but no trombone.  Thanks for the background info.

the album is "Instrumental Hits..." - gives him leeway. How about some Bobby Hackett!!!

haunting clarinet is just astounding 
This is lovely. Never heard of him, but this is excellent.
c.
 {#Yes}ecojot wrote:
he brought US based blues artists to the UK. John Mayall has huge respect for this man.

 

he brought US based blues artists to the UK. John Mayall has huge respect for this man.
Just watched a video of Nick Lowe in concert for BBC Radio 4 with Chris Barber leading the horn section - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghlRyfzZb_Y. Fabulous!
 VH1 wrote:
This reminds me of le vacances de Monsieur Hulot! {#Clap}

Great movie {#Dancingbanana}

 


Weird.  I just heard this song on WWOZ 1 minute ago.
 d-don wrote:
Awesome! How about some Acker Bilk some time?

 
That's Mister Acker Bilk to you (and me), sir.
This reminds me of le vacances de Monsieur Hulot! {#Clap}
Nice! My Parents had the 45 venyl Single. I often put it on the turntable, when I was a little boy ({#Roflol}60s:).
 good lord, seriously , Acker Bilk and Chris Barber. What next, James Last or a bit of Mantovani?

oldfart48 wrote:

seconded...{#Dance}

 



 

WhiteWater wrote:

But it's clearly a clarinet being featured in this tune.

From the interwebs...

"In 1959 the band's version of Sidney Bechet's "Petite Fleur", a clarinet solo by Monty Sunshine with Barber on string bass, spent twenty-four weeks in the UK Singles Charts, making it to No. 3 and selling over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. After 1959 he toured the United States many times (where "Petite Fleur" charted at #5)."

 
The cover confused me too, I hear a clarinet, (with a break from a guitar), but no trombone.  Thanks for the background info.

swing and sway, bump and grind
 WhiteWater wrote:

But it's clearly a clarinet being featured in this tune.

From the interwebs...

"In 1959 the band's version of Sidney Bechet's "Petite Fleur", a clarinet solo by Monty Sunshine with Barber on string bass, spent twenty-four weeks in the UK Singles Charts, making it to No. 3 and selling over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. After 1959 he toured the United States many times (where "Petite Fleur" charted at #5)."

 
That clarinet sounds a lot like the clarinet played in Leon Redbone's band. A great, full, round sound.
 xnavy wrote:


neither it's a trombome

 
But it's clearly a clarinet being featured in this tune.

From the interwebs...

"In 1959 the band's version of Sidney Bechet's "Petite Fleur", a clarinet solo by Monty Sunshine with Barber on string bass, spent twenty-four weeks in the UK Singles Charts, making it to No. 3 and selling over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. After 1959 he toured the United States many times (where "Petite Fleur" charted at #5)."
 Vero_Luxemburg wrote:


Trumpet on the cover? ;-)
 

neither it's a trombome
 dw wrote:
Sounds like something my father would have listened to. A clarinet, I believe.

 

Trumpet on the cover? ;-)
Sounds like something my father would have listened to. A clarinet, I believe.
Cool, but the it doesn't sound much like a trombone (the cover?)
 d-don wrote:
Awesome! How about some Acker Bilk some time?

 
seconded...{#Dance}
good stuff.....{#Dance}
Wow.
Went to see Chris perform this from a marquee in Lime Street in 1964 outside the then New Lloyds Building opened by Princess Margaret some 6 years earlier. No, not the Refinery, the first New Lloyds building.

Anyway, it was a fine drunken evening with the crowds spilling out of pubs and offices to listen to the  band play this stuff. 
In a few minutes it became apparent to me that it wasn't Chris Barber at all, but Johnny Dankworth and, of course his future wife Cleo Lane. He of "The Avengers" theme music fame, a fine set it was too, but I was somehow not quite  satisfied. Never did hear Chris perform this live, so Thanks, Bill.
Fabulous! Just like living in an episode of Northern Exposure!

Gorgeous!

Chris and Monty (Sunshine) were a perfect team!


 Toke wrote:
Any chance of ''BAD PENNY BLUES''  Rebecca ?? showing my  age now lol
 
That was Humph, Toke!  The late, great and incredibly multi-talented Humphrey Lyttleton.  The first "trad jazz" tune that I was introduced to by my older next door neighbour when it was released in 1956 - Thanks David!.{#Notworthy}

BTW Chris was almost solely, or one of the very first, responsible for the extension of the careers of bluesmen BBK, MW, HW, LB, JLH etc when he brought them over to UK to play in our local clubs after their careers were over in the US.  Still going strong at 82.
Awesome! How about some Acker Bilk some time?
 kpilates wrote:
OMG! I hated this music when my Dad played it when I was a kid.  Now of course I love it!
 
Yeah - me too. I guess good music shows keeps its value over time, and we have grown to recognise this.
Nice and nostalgic
Hi hi...was even on the Top-Ten chart here ! {#Lol}
Any chance of ''BAD PENNY BLUES''  Rebecca ?? showing my  age now lol
love it!
 kpilates wrote:
OMG! I hated this music when my Dad played it when I was a kid.  Now of course I love it!
 
It's like me.
Thanks to Rebecca for adding this.

There is nothing like the woody lilt of a lead clarinet—especially when playing something as tasty as this.

P.S. Just went looking on Amazon for this and scored it for four bucks. Bunch of great stuff—some of it I already have, a lot more not. Very cool.

OMG! I hated this music when my Dad played it when I was a kid.  Now of course I love it!
Reminds me of a Woody Allen movie.
Beautiful