Continued: Final Notes

Jazzman-Editor Jack Hutton
Dies in London

by Clarrie Henley

Jack Hutton, former editor of England's Melody Maker and a trumpeter who idolized Wild Bill Davison, passed away in the Royal Free Hospital, London, Aug. 24 from pneumonia, following a five-year fight against tubercular meningitis. He was 80.

Hutton's heartfelt love of jazz and his roots as a journalist were often in conflict, but professionalism always won, especially during his period of editorship of the Melody Maker, the British tabloid weekly that had championed hot dance music and jazz from its inception. Under Hutton's editorship, it dramatically changed emphasis to pop music, having a big say in the rise of Beatlemania -- though still maintaining a jazz content. He also gave the paper a typographical facelift and switched from the hot metal style of publication to the new web-offset method. Circulation rose, and it overtook its great rival, the New Musical Express.

Hutton was a tireless and inspiring editor who began his career working on the children's comic papers, Dandy, Beano and Hotspur. He was born in Sydney, Australia, while his Scottish parents were on board ship, bound for their homeland. They settled in Dundee where Hutton gained his early experience before fulfilling his National Service obligations with the R.A.F. He returned to Dundee to work on the Sunday Post, and there married his sweetheart, Joyce Fisken, in 1953. Together, they organized the Dundee Jazz Club before moving to London where Hutton had a choice of three jobs -- one with an evening newspaper, one with a daily and the third with the Melody Maker. This was the lowest-paid of the three but nearest to his heart.

His successful spell there included interviews with Charlie Chaplin, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Ella Fitzgerald, Erroll Garner, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, Peggy Lee and all the stars of British trad -- Alex Welsh, Chris Barber, Humphrey Lyttelton, Acker Bilk, Sandy Brown (who lived next door in West Hampstead), and Keith Ingham, who was just three doors away. The Huttons were hosts to Pee Wee Russell during his engagements in London, and Hutton used to recall how he escorted Billie Holiday to a famous store where she amazed the staff by rolling up her skirt and taking out a huge billfold from her underwear to pay for her purchases. He also interviewed Miles Davis, but it was a short-lived affair. "He advised me to have sex and to travel," was Hutton's famous quote.

Hutton's services also brought more responsibilities when he was made managing director of Spotlight Publications with more pop music magazines and the trade journal, Music Week. Eventually he had no fewer than 17 publications under his control.

Throughout all this he continued to play his cornet (a Wild Bill Davison model), and when he retired, he blew like a liberated man at a special party at Ronnie Scott's Club. He teamed up with clarinetist Ian Christie and guitarist (and fellow journalist) Tim Holder to form the basis of a group that recruited other musicians as required and played at every opportunity. Hutton also played and recorded with the Fleet Street Darts Team Jazz Band and with The Codgers, an occasional group made up of senior musicians who got together for a regular Wednesday lunchtime drink and spent the afternoon playing tapes on Spike McIntosh's portable gear. He enjoyed his retirement with a ferocity that matched his editorial dynamism until illness forced him indoors where he was cared for with patience and dedication by his wife. He was unable to speak for two years, but always there was a Davison tape playing in the background. He treasured his jazzman's sense of humor and would have loved the card sent with one special floral tribute. It read: "See you soon, Jack -- The Codgers."

He leaves a wife, Joyce, and two daughters, Mandy and Louise.

October 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.