Havana Musicians 2019
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Walt Smith – came to prominence in the mid 70’s as the jazz clarinettist with Mike Hart’s New Society Syncopators in Edinburgh. Known over the years for his “animated, intense playing” today Walt leads the Storyville All Stars as well as his Django Reinhardt inspired group Havana Swing. Walt has also featured with the Dundee based East Coast Jazzmen, the Milenburg band based in Fife, the Scottish showband Spatz and Co., as well as many small jazz groups.
Walt highlights his involvement with Havana Swing as being the closest he has ever been to emulating the swing groups that formed his early listening : Benny Goodman quartet, Artie Shaw’s Gramercy Five, Tommy Dorsey’s Clambake Seven etc. The ability to solo in front of talented musicians that are both able to provide competent timing and accurate chord patterns is a joy.
Apart from jazz festivals Walt spends part of his holidays attending the Jazz Summer School and professional jazz performer courses at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
Kevin Murray - "Went for a tune" with the Jazzers at The Sunday Jazz session in The Sands in 1977 and landed the gig. This led to meeting Jimmy Deuchar and that led to a 40 year career in Music as a Session player, Composer, Songwriter, Arranger and Producer. A founder member of Havana in 1983 with Alan Breitenbach and John Whyte and didn't take a break till 2003. Rejoined Havana in 2017 and began writing a Suite of 12 tunes for the band and a proposed Album. Has benefitted from working with many Musical Luminaries and influences like: Michael Marra, Dougie Martin, Walt and Tommy Smith, the Rae's and the Bancrofts, Rick Taylor and many more. Continues to study, practice, play and write music daily.
Dave Rattray – a renowned manouche guitar player who learned the Django style from spending long summers at the festivals held annually at Samois-sur-Seine south of Paris. He is a very good friend of Fapy Lafertin of the Waso band who specialised in learning the Django solos note for note from old 78 inch recordings. This October heralds Scotland’s first gypsy Jazz Festival, Bute Manouche, and Dave has been appointed the workshop tutor for advanced solo guitar playing. Known to his musical friends as “funky Dave” he has been known to leave the maccaferri and takemine type gypsy guitars for his beloved seven string electric guitar with its superb sounding bass!
Ray Elrick – at the tender age of ten years Ray started his musical career as a drummer in his father’s band playing around the Edinburgh area and throughout central Scotland. A gifted musician playing many different instruments he recently featured as the keyboard player in the Spatz and Co showband, and actually played as a deputy in the Storyville All Stars at Discovery Point, Dundee in 2004. As a bandleader Ray runs Fife’s Milenburg Jazz Band and at the Sands Hotel in Burntisland he comperes a monthly open-mic session for jazz vocalists However it is as the double bass player that Ray excels with Havana Swing, although many have commented on his Havana appearances usually asking “how many instruments does Ray Elrick play”!
Dick Lee is an outstanding jazz clarinet player and kindly deputised for Walt during his hospitalisation and recovery in 2019. Dick played a Glasgow May wedding, an Inverurie June wedding and the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival concert in July. Dick’s own groups include Chamber Jazz, winners of BBC Radio 2’s National Big Band competition, Dr Lee’s Prescription and Dick Lee’s Swingtet. In 2002 Dick received the prestigious Creative Scotland Award, which resulted in a 5 movement piece for orchestra and traditional instruments, Airts and more recently his Dalriada, for the same instrumental forces, won the Scottish Centres of Excellence Composers’ Competition.