Lauderic Caton
Lauderic Rex Caton (born August 31, 1910 in Arima , † February 19, 1999 in London ) was a Trinidadian- British jazz guitarist . According to Val Wilmer , Caton is considered the pioneer of the electrically amplified guitar in Great Britain.
Live and act
Caton learned to play the guitar as a teenager; He taught and wrote poetry while still at school. In addition to his main instrument, he also played the banjo , double bass and saxophone , performed with local bands and recorded records with calypso musicians. In 1938 he moved to Martinique to teach at the music school of saxophonist Stanley Carter; When the school failed financially, they decided to emigrate to Europe together. In Paris he had first opportunities to perform (including with Oscar Alemán ) before he moved to Belgium with Carter. There he worked as an arranger and played with Ram Ramirez , the co-writer of Lover Man . Shortly before the invasion by the German Wehrmacht, he fled to England, where he arrived in May 1940 and found an engagement in the Boogie Woogie club . He also took lessons from the Cuban pianist Marino Barreto, who introduced him to Latin American music. In Barreto's band, Caton met the saxophonist Louis Stephenson . As a band leader, he worked at Jig's Club in Soho, a meeting place for Afro-Caribbean musicians. After Cyril Blake , who also came from Trinidad, took over the leadership of the band, the first recordings were made in 1941.
In the formation of West Indian All-Stars , Caton played with the Jamaican saxophonist Bertie King , as well as with Johnny Claes and Harry Parry , in whose sextet he played an electrically amplified guitar for the first time in Great Britain; The new sound spread rapidly via the BBC broadcasts. Caton recorded with both bands. In the Caribbean Club he appeared from 1946 in a trio with the German-born pianist Dick Katz and the bassist Coleridge Goode ; Recordings of the trio were made in the 50s with the drummer and singer Ray Ellington , with whom it formed a quartet under Ellington's direction since the end of 1947 and went on national tours. Caton left the band in April 1949. In 1950 he worked in the trio of Errol Barrow and sang in a vocal trio in 1951. After working as an actor, a European tour with Coleridge Goode in 1954 and other stations in the late 1950s, he finally left the music business (after building amplifiers for his guitar colleague Pete Chilver ). In the following years he worked as a car mechanic and electrical engineer; he also wrote three novels, but they did not find a publisher. Tom Lord recorded 19 dates with Caton between 1939 and 1949; he can also be heard on records with Happy Blake and in a duo with Vic Lewis . The compilation Black British Swing (2001) also contains pieces with him.
Lexical entries
- John Chilton , Who's Who in British Jazz London 2005; ISBN 978-0826472342
Web links
- Val Wilmer obituary The Guardian
- Obituary The Scotsman
- Lauderic Caton at Allmusic (English)
- Lauderic Caton at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Caton, Lauderic Rex. Retrieved June 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Interview with Caton and Louis Stephenson
- ^ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography
- ↑ portrait (gypsyjazz.uk)
- ^ Black British Swing
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Caton, Lauderic |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Caton, Lauderic Rex |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British jazz musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 31, 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Arima (Trinidad and Tobago) , Trinidad and Tobago |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 19, 1999 |
| Place of death | London |