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China's 60s Pops Golden Jazz Musicians: Peace Hotel (和平饭店) Shanghai (中國上海): Henri Gann

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Henri Gann travels much when he works and play. This former guitar boy with 60s 'Trekkers' SG band loves jazz. Here's his story about the oldest jazz band in the world. He took his precious time to write me his piece from China's most fun city.

Thanks, Henri.

My recent travels to Asia took me to Shanghai, a city once known as the Paris of the East or the Pearl of the Orient. While at the Bund, I came across the Peace Hotel, a place much wrote about in the history of Shanghai.

Picture 1

The Peace Hotel is a very impressive building on Nanking Street and it can be seen from the Bund. The granite structure building looks very much like the colonial buildings of Old Singapore. Additionally, it has a distinctive pyramid rooftop which can be seen from the Bund.

Picture 2

As I entered the lobby of the hotel, I was instantly struck by a feeling of the hotel past. Beautiful chandeliers and stained glass windows were displayed as it once was showing the grandeur of the hotel. The hallways were an art gallery.

Photographs of the silent movie star Charlie Chaplin, the renowned rocket scientist Qian Xuesen and the British war hero Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery were displayed together with photographs of the American President Bill Clinton, the father of radio Guglielmo Marconi, the famous British Playwright Sir Noel Coward and Edgar Snow, the man who had met Mao Tse Tung and who wrote the Red Star over China, a best seller book in the 60s.

Picture 3

Also lining the lobby hallways of the Peace Hotel were photo displays of many movies filmed at the Peace Hotel. Some of these were Shanghai Triad, the Empire of the Sun, the Silent War and the Last Aristocrats to name a few.

Picture 4

As I reached the far corner of the lobby and adjacent to the dining room, I finally came upon the famous Jazz Club. I was in awe looking at the pictures and newspaper clippings of the musicians who had once played at the club. It was estimated that the current jazz musicians had been playing together in the band for decades and that their ages ranged from the 80s to 90s.

Picture 5

As I entered the room, the rich mahogany dark wood furniture and wall paneling reminded me so much of the Old Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Sitting in rows and facing the bar counter were five musicians dressed in white suits and sitting upright with their musical instruments. If not for their silver hair, one would never have guessed their ages.

Picture 6

As the trumpet blared away together with the alto and tenor saxophone, the musicians played the Saints Go Marchin' In, to the beat of the drums, the double bass and accompanied by the piano. I could not believe the energy the musicians had displayed even after all these years and nightly performances. The carried on with, The Entertainer, the theme song from Sting (video below). It was a blast.

When they played Misty and Sinatra's It Had To Be You an elderly couple could not resist the dance floor. The audience applauded to every piece of the band's performance and the musicians always acknowledged with a modest smile, a nod or a wave to the crowd.

As I left the club, I could not help but feel nostalgic to the changing times after listening to the jazz musicians. In watching them perform I had added a sense of hope to my own pursuit of a fulfilling life.

Shanghai Bund by The Shanghai Sisters: Winnie Ho, Janet Lee, May Mow.

The Guinness World Records in 2006 had designated the group the Oldest Peace World Jazz Band. 

 Henri Gann with Andy Young: The guy who hates to be photographed with me. But he's OK alone, with his hat and sunglasses.

Images and Article: Henri Gann.

My Tormented Heart: Tribute To A Lady Pianist

Image is for illustration only

DEAR MARY [MARLENE] LIM HAD PASSED AWAY TODAY

WEDNESDAY, 26TH JUNE, 2024. 

RIP MARLENE: CONDOLENCES TO HER FAMILY N FRIENDS

A Mike Bangar Music Story:

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 23 COMMENTS, CHATS 

Hi Andy, 

Just to share another interesting episode for your blog. This true story that happened more than 40 years ago came to mind.

Michael Bangar

For those who lived, played or hung around the East Coast Road (Katong) area during that time will remember this lady everyone knew as Water Mary (we never got to know her real name) reason being, that whenever she was anywhere near large amounts of water, she would just immerse herself in it and get soaking wet. She loved it when it rained.

She used to live in one of the terraced houses in Katong and her regular hang-out was at the church which was across the road from her home. Most of the time when she walked out of the church, her clothes would be wet.

Terraced homes in Singapore. A familiar scene in the 1960's

She was a very friendly person and most people who knew her treated her well, including me. For a while in the mid-70's, after I had a family, we lived with my brother-in-law in the same area. He owned a Lawry organ and an upright Yamaha piano. One afternoon while all of us were at home and my brother-in-law was tinkling on his piano, we heard a lady's voice calling out loudly at the gate. It was this lady.

She asked if she could come in and join the fun. Mind you she spoke good English. When he invited her in, he asked if she could play any one of the two instruments available.

Liberace plays 'Chopsticks' YouTube Video from pianoplaylist.

"Yes," she replied without hesitation and proceeded straight towards the piano. And when she started to hit those ivories, we all went, "Oh my goodness!" 

She was all at ease on the keyboard as her fingers flew, playing in the style of Winifred Atwell.  All the popular piano tunes of the day came to her mind. And by heart too!

A few of the songs that she played included, My Tormented Heart (Toselli Serenade), Chopsticks and other piano hits by Atwell and Liberace. There were many more numbers that were played that afternoon. 

But I can't recall all at the moment. Her solo performance went on for more than an hour and our home was filled with her selection of melodies.

After that, she left just as abruptly as when she came in but thanked us gratefully. Even our neighbours, who had gathered to watch her performance, were mesmerized and dumbfounded by her talent. 

No one knew she could play so well. I still remember her in her sarong kebaya. She could have been in her late 40's or early 50's. We have never heard or seen any lady play the piano like she did, ever. 

Winifred Atwell (1914-1983) n Liberace (1919-1987)

I hope this story keeps her memory alive. My family and I will remember her always. 

Thank you, Andy.

Copyright Article by Michael Bangar.

The images and gif are for illustrations only.
Images: Google.
My Tormented Heart: Winifred Atwell.

        (Try to play this song as you read Mike Bangar's story...)

My tormented heart
Cries out I still love you
Though I know you're gone
Your love lives on
To haunt my memory.
(1st verse).

Golden Venus True Story A Parallel Universe Horace Wee

 Horace Wee contributes to this blog and I must thank him for his insights on the various aspects of local music. 

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45 CHATS, COMMENTS

He doesn't profess to be a guru but with the amount of encyclopedic knowledge he has of the subject, Singaporeans can be proud that we have, at last, a genuine shifu (师傅) who was on the professional scene for years. 

No fake stories here as he rights some of the wrongs in this short article about Golden Venus and the Singapore jazz scene.

Again, many thanks Horace (image right) for enhancing this blog.

"Many articles that recall the music of the sixties in Singapore have only viewed it from a narrow perspective.  That is, pop bands and music proliferated the whole music scene.

Truth to be told, there were a whole lot of resident bands in clubs and restaurants that comprised of so called professional musicians that played more traditional music that had its roots from pre-World War 2 and the post war years. 

Much of this was American music from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway. Running alongside, jazz was using this music as vehicles for jazz improvisation and the subsequent evolution into swing, bebop, modern jazz and subsequent off-shoots.

The Golden Venus (image left) at the then Orchard Hotel, has been portrayed as a hot bed for rock and pop music. This information is skewed and fails to mention that this was only happening on Sunday afternoons as a TEA DANCE. 

All seven nights of a week the place was a restaurant and after dinner club. This was the club that became the center for all local, British Forces and visiting musicians to come together to play and jam. There was a very active jazz movement of various types and the musicians formed groups of their own.

The American Consulate, well aware that this was a significant piece of their culture decided to promote this art form as a series of sponsored concert under USIS (United States Information Service).

Louis Armstrong with the gang. Can you guess their names? And which one is Horace Wee, Louis Soliano and the late Tony Castillo?

These concerts were at the Victoria Theater. A copy of the typewritten program illustrates a good variety of jazz styles and features prominent local and foreign musicians of this art form.

My own contribution in Item 4 was a jazz suite in a then advanced approach to jazz using atonal and modal concepts. A US official told me it reminded him of New York City waking up.  

If you thought rock trios of bass, guitar and drums were original - the format I played was a trio comprising of acoustic bass, drums and myself on alto- saxophone and bass clarinet. That was Fernando Cortez on bass and Terry Tay on drums - Horace Wee."

Don't forget to read the chit-chat under Comment page below.

Article and photographs 1, 3 and 4 are copyrighted and belong to Horace Wee.

Mother's Day: My Mother's Eyes 世上只有媽媽好

Songs I Love:

One of the most pleasant songs about mothers is My Mother's Eyes by Abel Baer and L. Wolfe Gilbert. It is from a film, Lucky Boy, screened in 1929. The lyrics are easy to remember with its rhyming couplet:

One bright and guiding light, 
That taught me wrong from right
I found in my mother's eyes

Those baby tales she told
That road all paved with gold
I found in my mother's eyes

Then the form changes with the chorus:

My Mother's Eyes by Russ Hamilton. YouTube Video by Li-Moh Chuah. Thank you.

Chorus:
Just like a wandering sparrow, 
One lonely soul, 
I walk the straight and narrow, 
To reach my goal.

God's gift sent from above, 
A real unselfish love, 
I found in my mother's eyes.  

Depending on who is carrying the song, the vocabulary varies a little. The present lyrics was Russ Hamilton's recording, ingrained a long time ago. There's also an introductory verse to the song, somehow not used by many singers, and it goes like this:

Back in childhood days, 
I can remember loving caresses showered on me. 
Mother's eyes would gaze at me so tender, 
What was their meaning? 
Now I can see.

Don't forget to check out the jazz clip below by Kenny Ball.  Exactly halfway through his Jazzmen take over and you won't believe it could be the same lullaby. You just wanna swing with them!

Singers and Instrumentalists who recorded, My Mother's Eyes:

The first lot includes Frankie Valli, Tom Jones, Russ Hamilton, George Jessel, Ella Fitzgerald, The Mills Brothers, Etta Jones, Tab Smith, Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen, Lonnie Johnson, Kevin Coyne, Nellie Lutcher, Sydney Devine and David Newton.

It is a simple tune and should be taught to the children. Tom Jones puts more soul in his voice and gives the song a new life. It's a personal choice. 

There's also Nancy Sinatra, Roland Stone, Christine Tyrrell, Karl Denver, Linda Hopkins, The Royal Teens and many others.

Folks, what gives. Does this one bring back memories? It was played everywhere in Singapore 60's.  Yes, but mostly the Russ Hamilton pressing. Come on give us your take on this lullaby.  Or is it a lullaby?  

This posting is for all mums. A Happy Mother's Day!

My Mother's Eyes by Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen. YouTube Video by

Images: Google. 

Bowler Hats, Checkered Vests: Singapore Dixieland

"Way down in New Orleans at the Golden Goose/I grabbed a green-eyed dolly that was on the loose/Well I dig that music and she sent me too/I said pretty baby come on let's do/The Dixieland Rock /Well the Dixieland rock /Let your hair down sugar, shake it free/And do the Dixieland Rock with me...

With the blue light shining on her swinging hips/She got the drummer so nervous that he lost his sticks/The cornet player hit a note that's flat/The trombone hit him while the poor cat sat..."

Elvis Presley, King Creole: Dixieland Rock lyrics.

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"Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as hot jazz, early jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans, USA at the start of the 20th century. It spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s. Well-known jazz standard songs from the Dixieland era, such as Basin Street Blues and When the Saints Go Marching In, Tiger Rag, Basin Street Blues, Panama are a few known songs. Edited: Wiki."

New Orleans came early to Singapore and this island has no Golden Goose Club but the above lines from Presley's song prompted me to write this posting as I vaguely remember when a *Dixie band performed in the sixties in Singapore. These were music artistes well-versed in their craft and as the above images prove, were well established and even televised in black and white way back when.

The music caught on some in Singapore and there has always been a steady stream of enthusiasts who love the genre. Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Louis Armstrong were some of the imports that locals listen to.

Check out their full regalia too - bowler hats, checkered vests, special bow-ties and sleeve garters that were usually worn by musicians playing this genre, be it barbershop, ragtime or Dixie. But suspenders (master interviewer Larry King's favourite) and straw hats, familiar accessories for the uniform, were not used here. To all 21st Century male fashionistas. You don't know what you've been missing. Cool Cats they were man!

The first image features a Radio Television Singapore (RTS) camera in a studio at Caldecott Hill, filming a group playing Dixieland music for a Special Easter programme. The second one shows Anthony J Danker with his solid Hofner guit with bowler hat intact. The third shows, from left, Eddie Fernandez, Harry Klass, Anthony Danker, Claude Olivero and Jimmy Gan. If there's ever to be a 50s Music Hall Of Fame line-up, these boys would definitely fit the bill.

Today, Dixie is alive and well on our island, thanks to the various schools, Community Clubs and music institutions that help to organise groups. One group, the Summertimes Big Band (Singapore) has a thoroughbred of jazz players, vocalists and music directors trained, qualified and schooled from licentiate colleges in the UK and US to lead the way.

The pictures above could have been taken in the mid-sixties after the advent of television in 1963 but are labelled under a 1958 portfolio. Is this a mistake? Anyone?

*Read Horace Wee's (previously with RTS/SBC Orchestra) under Comments below:

Images: Thanks to Anthony Danker for them. Courtesy of National Archives, Singapore (for online reference viewing only).

Original article: Andy Lim.

Dixieland Rock: Elvis Presley: 

Movie: King Creole. 

YouTube video by: 13 AMTRY.