Pat Halcox joined (or rather rejoined) Chris on 31 May 1954 at what is now the 100 Club, London, and has been with him ever since. When I asked Pat if the last nearly forty years seemed a long time, he said „Not at all really, I have enjoyed playing and touring with Chris“. He first got together with Chris in 1952 as an amateur, but because he had trained as a chemist, thought he should give chemistry a go; later, when he heard the band perform (at that time The Ken Colyer Jazzmen) he wished he had stayed with the life of a musician. However, he was lucky: a second opportunity came up, and he re-joined. Now he’s absolutely certain that the choice was correct.
Pat enjoys being part of a group and getting the best from the whole rather than individuals. He has enjoyed all the guests he has played with, and as a bandleader Louis Jordan impressed him: Louis knew exactly what he wanted and how to organize the band to play it.
Pat is happiest with the Band’s live recording output, but albums like Echoes of Harlem and Elite Syncopations still remain favourites, as is Take Me Back To New Orleans, the record with Doctor John. He has also played and recorded away from the Barber Band, recording with Don Ewell, Art Hodes, and Wally Fawkes, and two albums of his own as leader: the first with The Pat Halcox All Stars, a band that started life originally as „Pat’s Summer Band“ (touring during the Barber Band’s holiday break), and more recently a band of other friends, including Bruce Turner and John Beacham, playing tunes from Tin Pan Alley. The Summer Band existed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with personnel including, at one time or another, John Crocker, Vic Pitt, Johnny McCallum, Pete York, Johnny Parker, the vocal group Sweet Substitute, Campbell Burnap, Roger Limb (of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop), and others.
Pat’s musical tastes are catholic: classical, light music (Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday) and of course jazz — from Bunk Johnson to Clark Terry via Louis Armstrong. Pat’s most memorable moment is first hearing Louis in Paris in 1956. Other music he enjoys is that of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, pre-war Swing, Bechet, and Jelly Roll Morton. He does not get enough time to follow his hobby, photography. However, many of his photographs can be seen in the various band brochures.
Besides the Louis Armstrong memory, the other episode that stands out is the band’s sell-out concert in the Deutschlandhalle, Berlin in May 1959 (Chris Barber International, Volume 1, Barber In Berlin). The six members of the band came out on to the stage to be confronted with about twelve thousand people in the audience, including about three thousand over from East Germany. The atmosphere was overwhelming. Another live performance that Pat remembers was the Washington concert for President Kennedy in 1962: the Band played between Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck.
Pat enjoys travelling, and tours have taken him to many countries all over Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East (Hong Kong, and last year Japan, which he found most interesting), and also Australia, where he would like to return some day. In the meantime he is happy continuing to play and record with Chris and the Band.