Ready for Teddy

Tomorrow’s Jazz Library on BBC Radio 3 is a conversation with Martin Litton about Teddy Wilson. It’s a good connection, because Martin put me onto the MS of Teddy’s autobiography, which we published through Continuum in 1996. We both have a fondness for the Wilson piano style, which you’ll be able to hear when Martin tours with me next year in the Buck Clayton Legacy Band (watch this space for details). I heard Teddy’s trio here in Oxford in 1973 when he was playing support to Buddy Rich. That was a bit of a contrast, but I remember being close enough to the stage in the New Theatre to watch Teddy’s fingering. He was the epitome of the elegant piano stylist, even at that stage in his career.