Walk On The Wildside, Space Oddity, Toccata in D, the final T.Rex incarnation, and appeared on Surprise Surprise dressed as a gnome with fairy lights on his tuba
Sorry to hear the news. He really has added magic to so many tracks.
I was thinking to myself,imagine he’s on holiday sitting relaxing at a bar and a stranger sits down and strikes up a conversation. ” Oh you play bass? Anything I would have heard of?”
God bless him.
Spookily I found a few nice singles out and about in the fields this morning, including this one sided 7″ bootleg featuring Bowie + Bolan and Herbie Flowers performing “Heroes” on the Marc TV show a couple of days before Bolan was killed. The recording is mostly Bowie singing live before Marc comes in to jam as the credits roll signing off with “thank you goodbye from all the boys in the band, David, everybody, all the cats you know who they are”.
Pretty much anyone who learns to play the tuba (admittedly, that’s a small cohort) learns Herbie’s composition ‘Tuba Smarties’, which he used to play with Sky dressed as Noddy and with Christmas lights on his Tuba, as per the mentions above. He and Tristan Fry were recently interviewed and said how proud they were of their work with this rather difficult to pigeonhole band.
I think Herbie was one of those ‘wild card’ musicians. Somehow could always come up with an idea that turned a recording upside down. He seemed to rather enjoy his role. I would have loved to meet him.
I got to know Herbie, he could be found most Sunday evenings playing his double bass in the Sussex Yeoman, a small pub near Brighton station, and more conveniently near my house, usually playing with one or two up and coming young musos. This was around ’95 – ’96. Much hilarity often ensued during those evenings. He was a beautiful gent. When he lived in Ditchling he’d hose the riders down during the London to Brighton bike ride as they rode past his house.
One of his many finest hours:
Walk On The Wildside, Space Oddity, Toccata in D, the final T.Rex incarnation, and appeared on Surprise Surprise dressed as a gnome with fairy lights on his tuba
He was also dressed as a gnome with fairy lights on his tuba on the cover of ‘A Little Potty.’
Strange album but I kind of love this…
Surely that’s not just any gnome…
Surely that’s Noddy!
Cum On Feel The Tuba
Sorry to hear the news. He really has added magic to so many tracks.
I was thinking to myself,imagine he’s on holiday sitting relaxing at a bar and a stranger sits down and strikes up a conversation. ” Oh you play bass? Anything I would have heard of?”
God bless him.
Here’s how to do the WOTWS bass.
Spookily I found a few nice singles out and about in the fields this morning, including this one sided 7″ bootleg featuring Bowie + Bolan and Herbie Flowers performing “Heroes” on the Marc TV show a couple of days before Bolan was killed. The recording is mostly Bowie singing live before Marc comes in to jam as the credits roll signing off with “thank you goodbye from all the boys in the band, David, everybody, all the cats you know who they are”.
R.I.P. Herbie
You play what’s right…you don’t play what’s not right.
R.I.P., Herbie…
I love this. When it starts dragging on, just detune the bottom string….
Pretty much anyone who learns to play the tuba (admittedly, that’s a small cohort) learns Herbie’s composition ‘Tuba Smarties’, which he used to play with Sky dressed as Noddy and with Christmas lights on his Tuba, as per the mentions above. He and Tristan Fry were recently interviewed and said how proud they were of their work with this rather difficult to pigeonhole band.
I think Herbie was one of those ‘wild card’ musicians. Somehow could always come up with an idea that turned a recording upside down. He seemed to rather enjoy his role. I would have loved to meet him.
I got to know Herbie, he could be found most Sunday evenings playing his double bass in the Sussex Yeoman, a small pub near Brighton station, and more conveniently near my house, usually playing with one or two up and coming young musos. This was around ’95 – ’96. Much hilarity often ensued during those evenings. He was a beautiful gent. When he lived in Ditchling he’d hose the riders down during the London to Brighton bike ride as they rode past his house.