CONCERT JAZZ Events - Chiltern Hundreds Area

Diz Disley - Stephane & Django's  Renaissance Man

Musical Career Highlights.
Yorkshire Jazz Band 1949. Mick Mulligan Jazz Band 1953. Ken Colyer Jazz Band 1954. Cy Laurie Jazz Band 1955. Diz Disley String Quintette 1956. Sandy Brown Band 1956. Bob Cort Skiffle Group 1957. Nancy Whiskey Group 1958. Kenny Ball Jazzmen 1959. Alex Welsh Band 1960. BBC Radio Bandleader & Compere 1956-1963. Folk Clubs & Festivals 1963-73. S. Grappelli & Diz Disley Trio 1973-83. Artist: Melody Maker, Radio Times, The Spectator, Jazz Journal, Daily Mirror, record companies, advertising etc. Actor : (Hollywood LA), Heliotrope Theatre, Mark Taper Theatre. Has recorded 13 albums with Stephane Grappelli 1973-83. One album Soho String Quintet 1959 on Lansdowne label.

Nils Solberg - For some fine vintage videos of the Diz Dizley's Soho Quintet
Diz, Jeff Green and Nils Solberg on guitars, Dave Etheridge on bass and Johnny van Derrick on violin

Diz Attends a Local Gypsy Jazz Gig:-

Took Place on 20th Oct 2007
Woodcote Village Hall,
Reading Road 01491 681391
Mito & Fleco Loeffler + Gypsy Jazz - Ian Cruickshank, John Coverdale
Genuine Alsace Gypsy guitarists from the French / Belgian Manouche Gypsy Tribe, Mito & Fleco are highly respected guitarists, in the Django Reinhardt vein Mito Loeffler and his musical family live in a caravan in Alsace, speaks only Romany and some bad French and lives and breathes Manouche music of all lands from traditional waltzes to gypsy jazz.  Gypsies begin to play as soon as they can hold a guitar.  Mito’s playing was charming, honest, bewitching, utterly entrancing.
The mature but ever enthusiastic Diz Disley attended the concert and sat quietly and appreciatively nodding and voicing his approval of the Manouche tradition that influenced his own musical contribution in perpetuating the magic of Django's Legacy. The band paid him due tribute for his supreme presence..

After leaving the English military service in the 1950's, William "Diz" Disley enrolled in art school and became a skilled illustrator and painter, eventually doing covers and cartoons for the weekly magazine Melody Maker and the political journal The Spectator.

Music entered his life some years earlier when he became a fan of jazz guitar playing in the style of Django Reinhardt and his group The Hot Club of France which featured Stephan Grappelli on violin. He mastered the guitar and before long Diz was on his way up in the world of jazz music. After joining Tony Crombie's outfit (Britain's first rock and roll band) in 1958, Diz performed with Acker Bilk (Stranger on the Shore), Humphrey Lyttelton, Beryl Bryden and others who would gain success on record like Chas McDevitt, Ken Colyer, Nancy Whiskey and Lonnie Donegan. Eventually he formed his Diz Disley Trio and made contact with Stephan Grapelli whose music career had stalled and was playing piano in a hotel bar in Paris. Through Diz's connections with the British festival circuit he revived the violinist's career during the 1970's world-wide. On this day in 1963 the guitarist, artist, had been given the honour of hosting a popular jazz radio program for BBC before a live audience.

If any one wishes to add to this assembly of information i would be glad to expand it ....Jazz Eddie

Diz Today!
- in his maturity he can still be seen mingling with fellow Manoucheries at various live concerts given by those that have followed his creed.  He sits entranced by the passion and intricate skills of the new generations that seek to emulate the master.  He can be heard sighing in delight and satisfaction that he was a torch bearer  in his time and kept the Django Legacy alive and thus restoring its glory to ears of rising generations of Listeners and Players alike.  He graciously takes a bow each time from the appreciative audiences that recognise this gargantuan effort to keep this music alive and vibrant - and what success he achieved!

Additions to the Appraisal.

ENCOUNTERS

Diz is still with us, and I make a point of checking up on him every week. I have known Diz since the fifties, and shared a pad with him for a short time in the 60's whole we were both doing the folk scene.  I also helped produce his last Jazz CD which was a compilation of music from a concert he did in the Midlands in 1974. I still have the original studio tracks, he sold the rights but I don't think it was ever released. I also made  a folk album with him and Johnny Silvo called ''Blues in the Backyard'' which is available from Lakeside records.- E Van Johnson

I met Diz about  40 years ago in Stafford where he used to visit sometimes at the height of the folk club era. He would entertain us with humorous ditties and sometimes we would have a meal in the local Chinese restaurant. It was at one of these meals that he had us all in stitches ,relating his hilarious exploits on his way to entertain the troops in Malaya I think it was. One day he turned up at my mothers house ,where I lived and cadged some money for petrol . He was off to a gig in Manchester when his Rolls Royce ran out of gas ! True to his word the small loan was repaid.   On another occasion he was on his way to Immingham with a load of disco equipment bound for Sweden when his car broke down . The gear was stored in our garden shed until he collected it some time later. I later heard the Swedish disco venture ended rather ignominiously, but I'll  leave the details to Diz!
I met him again some years later at the Cambridge Folk Festival and he introduced me to Stefane Grappelli . A memorable moment, Stefan played for us in the tea tent, we were awestruck that such an eminent musician should ask us what we would like him to play ,when he should have been relaxing between spots .
Two of life's real gentlemen . I salute you!  Pete Richardson Stafford

There are other anecdotes about Diz I could relate but the person who knew him best was Ron Winkle, local banjo player and vintage car restorer. Diz commissioned Ron to paint his Rolls Royce yellow once I believe ! This was typical of Diz who had a rather cavalier attitude to his own personal road transport. I remember he had a large heavy saloon which would not go in reverse so any trip had to be accompanied by helpers who pushed when required . Ron told me that Diz parked this unwieldy vehicle in the Lord Mayors parking spot in Birmingham once when attending a gig.I can only imagine the kerfuffle that probably ensued !
Diz was unfailingly courteous in all the dealings he had with me and his memory was and probably still is prodigious . He never forgot my mother and sister ,and would enquire of their welfare ,despite the passage of many years and the fact that he only met them once.
Our association was very brief but I often think of the humour and fun he brought into our lives. I'd love to drop him a line but don't have his address . One little anecdote that I never forgot was when I asked Diz how he kept so fit and slim . His reply was "It all goes in through the mouth son " Pete Richardson Stafford

An old friend of mine who is now in his early nineties and who's name is Norrie Greenwood claimed to know Diz Disley in his very early days.  Norrie often recounted the story of how he was playing his guitar in his house in Settle, Ribblesdale when the postman rang the door bell and asked what kind of music Norrie was playing.  Norrie went on to give the postman a few lessons but was soon outclassed by him.  The postman turned out to be Diz.  Norrie would tell this story to anybody who would listen and most of us in the local jazz scene took it with a pinch of salt.  That was until all the local players including Norrie went to see Stephane G. with Disley at the Annersley Hotel in Lincoln.  When Disley saw Norrie he was said to be over the moon and insisted that he went back stage to meet Stephane. I don't think Norrie, after shaking hands with Stephane, has washed his hand since!  Nobody knows if the story was correct but Diz's reaction on seeing Norrie would lend some credence to the tale. - Best Wishes - Alan Davies - Lincoln

I  also know Norrie Greenwood and a few years ago met Diz Disley who was on his way to play a concert in Lancaster. He called in on Norrie at Hellifield, where Norrie was living at the time and played along with us .well I say along he was stunning  .the evening is on a video the fiddle player's wife made.. He didn't tell me Diz was coming he just said there was a special friend coming to the practice session ...special indeed...Diz confirmed the postman story by the way....Doug Lawrence

Hi, ref Diz Disley. I used to see him at the Surbiton (Surrey) folk club quite often. He would sing gently ribald songs and play a lovely old Maccaferri type guitar. He can't be that old now - why doesn't he ever perform? Anyway, he made me fall in love with that type of guitar and it's music. So I wish him many thanks. All the best Nick Weeks

I'm back-tracking to 1964/65 when I was also part of the Surbiton folk club audience. At that stage Diz always included one or two George Formby impersonations in his folk club performances and this led to the production of an LP featuring George's songs. A number of recruits from the Surbiton audience attended the recording studio to provide choral backup and applause (myself included). Diz designed the record cover which featured a cartoon of George Formby sitting astride a huge stick of Blackpool rock, with the title "EEE, What a Whopper". The record was a tribute to George Formby who had died in 1961 - though the rather risque cover meant it wasn't a record for taking home to mother at that time! I recall Diz had great respect for the accomplishments of former generations, whether the subject be music, musicians, flying machines or cars. He heard about a 1926 Rolls Royce that someone was trying to sell. It wasn't going but he was excited at the prospect of working on it and I lent him the £15 needed to buy it. He got it going and I later had some rides - feeling very high and mighty, sitting way above mere mortals in the 1960s London traffic. Best wishes to the very able star of this show.  - Linda Muldoon (in Canberra)

When I lived in Corby, I remember Diz Disley was booked to play at the Nag's Head in the old village, having played there myself on a few occasions, I asked him if I could sit in.  Diz , at the time was doing his solo folk club thing but called me on during the second set.
It must have gone ok as he invited me to his next gig in Market Harboro', I turned up feeling quite nervous, however I felt a lot worse after the interval when he announced me as "boy wonder"!!  after the first number I got up to go and he told me in no uncertain terms to "sit down" so I ended up doing all the second set with him,  he then invited me to do a concert with him on the following Saturday in Leicester.
At the time I was a member of quite a successful local band called "The Midnighters" run by two brothers, Pat and John Casey, and I had a gig with them on the same night so I had to decline his offer, Diz was not the type to accept such a futile excuse so I remember him saying to me "this is not a pub gig dear boy, it's a Concert in a Theatre, it's your big chance" sadly it was a chance I missed, as much as I wanted to do it I felt I had to honour the first gig with the boys.
When he was in the area Diz called on me a few times after that, he had a big influence on my playing and certainly kept you on your toes, - playing with Diz was a great experience.  - Ade Holland Jazz Guitarist

I first met Diz in the late 60s/early 70s at a Bayswater pub called “The Redan” on the corner of Queensway and Westbourne Grove in London. I was playing jug band music and early 20s jazz with a loose collection of musicians called “The Egbert Souse All-Stars”. The pub landlord was an ex-muso called Johnny Watkins, and Diz was his tenant in the upstairs flat. Johnny had all kinds of jazz-based music going on – I recall Sunday lunchtime sessions with Frank and Laurie Denise, for example, and the “Egberts” played once a week. We weren’t particularly accomplished musicians, but we played with enthusiasm and gave a good performance for £2 each and a free beer! The band members would come – or not – as the mood took them and, one particularly sparse night, there were only 3 or 4 of us playing. Diz came downstairs for a pint, saw us struggling, and went upstairs for his Maccaferri. He jammed with us all night and turned it into a wonderful evening. When we’d finished, I asked if he would take a share of the kitty. He said “no”, he had a good gig the next evening. When asked where, he said “Carnegie Hall – with Stephane”. I last saw him when I was playing at a folk club in Arundel called “The Willows”. I turned up to watch. He saw me in the audience and asked me to come up and play “backing” guitar for him – which turned out as me taking as many solos as he did! He drove a huge hearse in those days, and wondered where he could fill up before going back to London. I’ve not heard of Diz for years –hope he’s OK - Mike Ainscough

Hi -  I served with him in Trieste in 1940 and was in touch till nearly 1950.  Diz gave us all instruments - spoons, comb and paper, harmonicas, and wash boards.  We ran Music sessions in the various Barrack rooms.  -  Lionel Morgan ex Sgt - Royal Signals

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Last modified: 13/04/2009