Plays Jazz On Harp

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31255, 30 December 1966, Page 13

Plays Jazz On Harp

“Gone are the days of the harp being associated with Welsh folk songs and salons,” Mr David Snell, an exponent of the harp in jazz, said in Christchurch. “Some people are now writing jazz music for the harp. “I agree mine is an unusual jazz instrument. The only other jazz harpist I know is a girl in America. “In the early days when I set out to establish a place for the harp in jazz by playing in smokey music clubs the reaction of many people when they saw the harp was, ‘Oh gor’ followed by a loud guffaw. “In London circles at least the harp in jazz is not laughable any more,” he said. “The harp is not significant as a jazz instrument at the moment but I don’t see why it shouldn’t be. I feel it’s a new voice in jazz. -< “The flute at first was not thought of as a jazz instrument but it now has an established place.” Mr Snell began his musical career at the age of 10 and learned to play the harp at 18. “I was originally a straight pianist but I played with dance bands and other groups for extra money and that’s where I came in contact with jazz,” he said. “When I learned the harp I could not see why the things a jazz pianist does could not also be adapted to the harp. “Some of the ideas which

I have adapted came off and some didn’t,” he said.

Mr Snell said he was quite at home playing varying types of jazz except for some types of avant garde jazz, on which he was not keen.

“I don’t feel they are really getting anywhere,” he said. As a harpist Mr Snell has. played with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Covent Garden Opera House Orchestra.

“Though I was a straight player I had my interest in jazz. “My first big break came when Tubby Hayes, an internationally known jazz saxophonist, heard me playing at a musicians’ club and invited me to appear on television.” Since then he has worked with the Johnny Scott quintet, which was unique in that it had the harp as an integral part of its rhythm section, and with his own trio of harp, bass and drums. He also worked with Cleo Laine, a foremost British jazz singer who is the wife of Johnny Dankworth, and with Matt Munro and Cilla Black. Film and television work took a lot of time. He was in the group which played the theme in the film “Alfie.”

In a film, “The Eye of the Devil,” starring Deborah Kerr and David Niven, he plays the theme as a solo jazz harpist and also appears in the opening scenes. “The film and television

sessions now provide the bread and butter and because I have become known as a jazz player I’m also asked to do pop music work because I am able to improvise. “The key to playing the harp as a jazz instrument is the same as being able to play any instrument in jazz, being able to improvise. “British jazz is now something to be reckoned with, though that wasn’t always so. At present there are some interesting things happening in jazz in Germany and Paris but I have not been closely associated with them.

“London is becoming a cultural centre and now the music for many internationally produced films is produced in London because of the talented musicians available there.

“There has been a great revival of jazz in Britain.” Asked when he would be able to consider himself as really established as a jazz harpist Mr Snell replied, “I suppose when everybody goes out and buys a harp to play jazz on.”