John Bevan (musician)
John Bevan (born 3 August 1938 in Catshill, Bromsgrove, England) is an English clarinetist, saxophonist, conducter and orchestra leader who emigrated from England to Norway in 1969. Bevan now lives in Nesodden, Akershus, Norway.
John Bevan Big Band
Early in the 70's, Bevan who now lived at Nesodden formed his 18 piece orchestra titled the "John Bevan Big Band" who played in the traditional Glenn Miller/Count Basie styles.
The orchestra, which originally consisted a selected few of local musicians in the main from Nesodden grew rapidly in popularity and developed to be one of Norways leading and most extensively used orchestra in a period of almost 20 years. On many occasons the orchestra provided the music for the Norwegian National Championships in both Ballroom and Latin American styles. The break through came in 1978 when it performed for the World Championship in Latin American dancing at Ekeberghallen in Oslo where the Norwegian couple Gunn og Raymond Myhrengen took second place in the competition. This competition went on direct television transmission on the Eurovision network.
John Bevan Big Band with time became a meeting place for some of Norway's leading musicians which included Biørn Barlo, Harald Bergersen (saxophones), Gunnar Andersen, Finn Eriksen, Christian Beck, Atle Hammer (trumpets), Erling Wicklund, Dag Aukner, Arne Johannesen (trombone, Gunnar Moreite (drums). The band also performed with one of the periods top drummers Kenny Clare who was a regular member with Johnny Dankworth and og Cleo Laine). Jimmy Staples, correspondant with the English jazz magazine Crescendo, not only performed but also arranged for the orchestra.
The orchestra was constantly engaged for dance occasions and also broadcasts for both Norwegian radio and TV. In co-operation with arranger Erling Wicklund the John Bevan Big Band produced their one and only LP entitled The Great Walt Disney Film Tunes. This was extremely well received and Norways leading jazz critic, Stein Kagge, gave the record top marks for the final production with the heading "a Norwegian Big Band in an international class". The orchestra in 1984 was invited to perform for a music festival in Istanbul accompanying a local Turkish vocalist IBO in the Istanbul Opera House.
Other artists which the orchestra has had the pleasure to accompany are as follows: Georgie Fame, Jack Dailey, Sylvia Vrethammer, Lill Babs, Per Møller, Vera Lynn, Putte Wickman and many, many more.
References
no:John Bevan