{"id":300,"date":"2010-04-10T16:01:11","date_gmt":"2010-04-10T16:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/?page_id=300"},"modified":"2014-10-16T09:32:53","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T09:32:53","slug":"george-webb","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/?page_id=300","title":{"rendered":"GEORGE WEBB – The legend who introduced traditional jazz to UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newsletter<\/span><\/b><\/span> about George Webb March 2010<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I start this newslett<\/span>er speaking about George Webb and how sad to hear we have lost him, yet we also have a great happiness when we think of him.\u00a0 Keith and I also feel so proud, because we count ourselves among the many thousands of personal friends he had, even though we have only known him personally for about 20 of his 92 years.\u00a0 I especially loved him calling me kitten, although I’m sure he called most of us women by that name.\u00a0\u00a0Everyone thought of George as the living legend, George the jazz pioneer and George the great musician.\u00a0 Well, I also love to think of George, the man who was always smiling.\u00a0 I see the sprightly little man with the huge heart.\u00a0 You have only got to look at his lovely family and what fun they all are, to know George and Minah were great parents.\u00a0 Penny and Peter, I know you will be feeling a great emptiness at the moment, but what a man!\u00a0 How lucky you are to have had such a Dad.\u00a0 Without George, none of us would be on our jazz circuit (as I know it) and I would not be writing this newsletter.\u00a0 What a talent he had.\u00a0 We shall all miss him very much.<\/p>\n

Our usual newsletter will be back next week, when I will write about last Friday and this Friday with Vintage Jazz.<\/p>\n

Diane and Keith.<\/p>\n

TRIBUTE TO\u00a0<\/b>GEORGE WEBB<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Jazz Pioneer, Band Leader, Pianist<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

8 October 1917 – 10 March 2010 (Aged 92\u00bd yrs)<\/span>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Tuesday, 31st<\/sup> March 2010, was George Webb\u2019s funeral. It was bitterly cold, but on my way, the sun was shining and continued to shine until we were all inside the United Services Club (home to Sidcup Jazz Club). The Humanist service was conducted by Celebrant, Denis Cobell. I would guess there was at least a 300-strong crowd outside to see George\u2019s coffin, followed by the family (on foot), plus Jim ‘Jimbo’ Pack as Grand Marshall, leading 20 musicians playing Jazz. The rain held off until we were all inside. Great and comical tributes were given by John Letchford and Sir Richard Waterhouse (ask him about his title). Then George Webb\u2019s \u2018Band of Brothers\u2019 played that lovely number \u2018Georgia on My Mind\u2019, sung by Charlie Connor.\u00a0 Then Digby Fairweather and George\u2019s daughter, Penny gave their tributes. Your Dad would have been extremely proud of you, Penny. All the tributes were given with such humour, remembering funny memories, although I will not repeat them, as they are their stories. Then, whilst George and the family were departing for the Humanist Ceremony, the band played them on their way with \u2018When the Red, Red Robin\u2019, being the signature tune of Charlton Athletic Football Club. We all tried to sing it, but were all a bit choked up. As most of you are aware, George was an avid Charlton supporter (me being the other!) There was probably about 50 or 60 famous musicians and most of them took a turn at playing, whilst we all had a drink in George\u2019s memory. I have a special bit of pride, because a photo chosen to appear on the programme of service, showing George and the band, perchance was taken on my birthday at our very own Farnborough Jazz Club. I have to say that no one \u2018likes\u2019 a funeral, but George must have been full of pride at all the happy faces of those of us who were celebrating his very colourful life. The warm and happy atmosphere was just as one would expect at a funeral of such a man, full of music and laughter.<\/p>\n

Diane & Keith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newsletter about George Webb March 2010 I start this newsletter speaking about George Webb and how sad to hear we have lost him, yet we also have a great happiness when we think of him.\u00a0 Keith and I also feel so proud, because we count ourselves among the many thousands of personal friends he had, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":302,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-300","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1042,"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/300\/revisions\/1042"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farnboroughjazz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}