When I suggested the fantasy band idea for the daily create I was
thinking I would create some sort of photo manipulated image, but
unfortunately today I was a bit short of time, and also finding suitably
licensed images of musicians is not too easy. So, a blog post instead.
Once
or twice I have seen bands live who had sounded very good in
recordings, but turned out to be
fairly terrible when I actually heard them
play live. So, I have a rule for my fantasy band – I will only include
people who I have seen playing. I’m not going to require them to still
be active or even alive – after all this is only a fantasy. But I do
require them to be talented: they have to make up for my terrible
keyboard playing.
So to start. My singer needs to have charm and warmth, to be the personality that fronts the band as well
as having a great voice. The late Cab Callaway is my choice for this
role, and perhaps that means I’m putting together a jazz band. Given
that, I’m going to include someone who I first saw playing in the Halt
Bar when he was a teenager, but who has gone on to become a legend. On
saxophone my fantasy band will have Tommy Smith. On bass, not actually a
jazz musician but someone who could certainly play all the most
complicated bass parts, the late Chris Squire of Yes, and it’s good to
keep a strong rhythm section together so on drums I would have Bill
Bruford, though it is a concert I saw him doing at Strathclyde
University with his band Earthworks that wins him a place in my fantasy
jazz band. I feel that the late Alan Holdsworth would have been he right
guitarist for this band, but sadly I never got the chance to see him
live, so he is not allowed. Instead, my favourite guitarist, Andy
Latimer of Camel gets the final place in this fantasy line-up.