Pal Jimmy!

One of the least happy features of the local jazz scene since April 1957 has been the continued absence of Jimmy Deuchar. Since Victor Feldman's departure for America, Jimmy has been probably the most mature and complete all-round musician in British jazz. Jimmy is a 'natural' born musician. As a trumpet player, he ranks among the best ever heard here. He can read almost anything on sight, and blow jazz on sequences he's never seen before. He has tremendous awareness of what is going on around him in the band. He anticipates well. He has an incredible aptitude for instinctively "right" phrasing and for dynamics, and a big broad singing sound. He also has that feeling for jazz, both harmonically and rhythmically, that cannot be acquired and which must be innate.