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Charles Botterill, Percussion |
THE BOTTERILL BANDWAGON ...
CHARLES BOTTERILL REMEMBERED
Charlie began his musical life playing drums in the Boy Scouts during the First World War, but his mother recalled an even earlier debut, using a couple of sticks on the family dustbin! At the age of 14 he was appearing as a violinist at Harrogate Opera House in Yorkshire, where he played in a small orchestra accompanying musical comedies. As soon as he became a full-time professional musician, he concentrated on his drumming skills. By the end of his career he was the percussionist extraordinaire with an array of equipment stretching almost the length of the concert platform: tympani, xylophone, marimba, tambourine, vibraphone (vibraharp), glockenspiel, drum set, temple blocks, wood blocks, bongos, cymbals, orchestra bells, chimes, Chinese gong, triangle, castanets, a variety of Latin American percussion instruments and all sorts of special effects. (Photo above includes Charlie Botterill with Mantovani and His Orchestra in Japan, 1963. The guitarist is Ivor Mairants.) Charlie was born in Ilkley, Yorkshire, in September 1905, and attended Ilkley Grammar school. At the age of 19 he had a successful violin and drums audition for the Cunard White Star and Anchor liners crossing the Atlantic and so began a life on the ocean wave - or so he thought. It is intriguing to think that had he signed on a few years earlier he might have ended up in the ill-fated band of the White Star liner "Titanic"! His first salary was about £9 a month and he went on to play on ten different ships. In later years he estimated that he made about 120 crossings to New York. He also crossed to Canada several times, cruised the Mediterranean and went around the world.
In the 1920s Prohibition ruled in the USA. Because of his stock of on-board liquor Charlie became very popular with the American musicians who would pay him a visit for "medicinal purposes". He became acquainted with members of the Paul Whiteman Band and knew a host of drummers such as Gene Krupa (who didn't drink at the time) and Buddy Rich. A number of actresses from the show "Girl Crazy" also visited Charlie and one or two of those had to be carried off the ship!
In 1929 Charlie met his future wife Grace while she was on holiday in Ilkley. Three days later they were engaged and they were married on 25 November 1929 at St Margaret's Church in Ilkley. They had a very happy marriage which ended only with Charlie's death from cancer on 2 March 1986 at the age of 80. His two daughters Pat and Sally and a number of grandchildren survived him.
Charlie decided that he should settle down after marriage and he took a job in the orchestra pit of a local silent movie house, only to find that the "talkies" were arriving two weeks later and that he was out of a job! He returned to the sea, to work on the "Aquitania" for two and a half years in an eight piece orchestra, but then adapted to life on shore as a freelance musician, working with British bandleaders Henry Hall, Jack Payne, Felix Mendelssohn and Debroy Somers, as well as holding down a position as a sales manager with the Premier Drum Company. He was also employed on film soundtracks with Percival Mackey.
During the 1939-45 war he was initially at the London Palladium. While serving in the Home Guard he was on duty at the Premier factory when it was hit in an air raid; to Charlie's horror all the equipment went up in flames in front of his eyes. In 1942 he volunteered for RAF service and was drafted into the Fighter Command band; it is thought that during this period he studied music at the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, Twickenham.
Charlie first met Mantovani during the war at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus in central London when he was invited to assist Monty's drummer Georgie Fearston for a radio programme. He recalled in a November 1974 interview with his friend Paul Barrett that the first tune he played with Mantovani was "Easter Bonnet", using glockenspiel and chimes. Charlie joined Mantovani on a regular basis on VE Day in June 1945 to begin an association of 30 years without a break. He soon became indispensible to Mantovani who recognised his all-round ability. Like many of his fellow musicians Charlie found him very demanding, a perfectionist who sometimes found it difficult to explain to musicians exactly what he wanted. Charlie observed that one had to be with Mantovani for some time to understand his moods - and his Italian temperament!
Throughout his days with the Mantovani Orchestra Charlie retained his freelance status and played with a host of musical luminaries, among them Jascha Horenstein and the London Symphony Orchestra in South Africa, Sir Malcolm Sargent, George Melachrino, Gilbert Vinter, Sydney Jerome, Peter Yorke, Eric Robinson, Jack Parnell, Semprini, Bob Sharples, Frank Chacksfield, Robert Farnon, Max Jaffa, Stanley Black, Stanford Robinson, Norrie Paramor, Harry Rabinowitz, Leonard Hirsch, Maurice Jarre and Dimitri Tiomkin. He contributed to movie sound tracks such as "The Guns of Navarone" and "My Fair Lady", sat in the orchestra pit for the 1946-47 Noel Coward musical "Pacific 1860", worked at the BBC, participated in recordings with Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra and performed with the London Light Orchestra and the London Studio Players. He appeared in several Royal Command Performances, too, including one with Mantovani at the London Coliseum in November 1958.
Charles Botterill's great hero was Saul Goodman, the legendary tympanist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and he corresponded with him over a number of years after he retired from his transatlantic travels in about 1931. When he visited the USA, he would study with him, and he tried to emulate his method of playing. Charlie was also very friendly with the Zildjian family - Avedis Zildjian (of Turkish descent) was a world famous cymbal manufacturer from the Boston area. He also met Red Norvo, Cozy Cole and other members of the drumming fraternity on his visits to New York.With Mantovani Charlie devised a routine which never failed to delight concert audiences. It first evolved at the Royal Albert Hall in London via a piece of music written by the French composer Wal-Berg, the "Danse Du Diable" (Devil's Dance), a concert favourite during the 1950s. Charlie would dash up and down the stage, music in hand, in a seemingly impossible chase to reach the required instrument at the appropriate time, but, of course, he always succeeded. One day he slipped and almost fell, causing great mirth, so this was adapted for a while into the routine. At one of the 1959 concerts at Youngstown, Ohio, the local newspaper reviewer described the Botterill routine thus: "And there is the one-man percussion section. As usual he had his innings, flying busily from one instrument to another. Also moving his music hither and yon, just as though he had to look at it, and as though each instrument would not have its own score."
When "Danse Du Diable" was brought back for the 1967 US tour, Charlie did not let his admirers down, as reported in a Toledo, Ohio, newspaper: "the percussionist, who worked harder and more steadily than most of his counterparts in symphony orchestras, reached his peak in the novel Danse Du Diable of Wal Berg. Had he tripped, dropped his hastily transferred part or a stick, or zigged when he should have zagged, he would have been hard put to make his entrances, but all went well, and he ended his race through the kitchen department without mishap."
Several other pieces became Botterill showpieces - Wal-Berg's "Symphonie Des Machines", Strauss' "Tritsh Tratsch Polka" and "Perpetuum Mobile", Sarasate's "Zapateado", an encore called "Cat And The Mice" and the Latin numbers "Granada" and "Mexican Hat Dance". When the latter was played as a second encore on the 1968 US tour, Charlie did a quick costume change into a Mexican jacket and sombrero. On the same tour he played a washboard on the tune "Irish Washerwoman". For the hit "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" he introduced a loud klaxon at the finale which startled the audience.
Composer Cecil Milner wrote a piece especially for Charlie called "Percussion on Parade" for the 1960 UK and US tours in which he used xylophone, bells, chimes, gongs, tympani, tambourine, castanets, cymbals and triangles. Surveying the Botterill battery of instruments Mantovani would turn to the audience after the applause and say "I don't think he missed any" whereupon Charlie would pick up a tiny bell and ring it with his dead pan expression which with his sleek jet black hair reminded American audiences of the film star Basil Rathbone.
Another part of the act was illustrated by a correspondent of an Allentown newspaper in November 1965: " the audience's sustained reception of Strauss' Blue Danube had died down and Mantovani announced Tritsch Tratsch Polka then waited with a great show of magnanimous patience while Botterill arranged his instruments all but frantically. Botterill ready, Mantovani bowed low in apparent monumental restraint, Botterill returned the bow and they got on with the business of music. It was a nice piece of caricature and whimsy, light humor in keeping with the good taste of the rest of the program."
But there was a serious side to Charles Botterill. He was a shrewd businessman and was very professional in all of his musical activities. He served on the advisory committee and the executive council of the International Drummers Association and in semi-retirement coached youth orchestras. He eventually moved from St Albans to Malvern in Worcestershire to teach at various local colleges. On television shows it was just not feasible to include Charlie's stage routine. For these and some stereo recordings a number of Britain's top session drummers were brought in to assist him including Barry Morgan, Kenny Clare, Bobby Kevin, Maurice Plaquet, Ronnie Verrell and Geoff Lofts, but in live concerts Charlie was on his own strictly by choice and as already indicated did the work of three men.
When he first went to USA with Monty in 1955, he had to join the Boston branch of the US Musicians' Union. He was actually one of the first British musicians to play in the USA for 33 years. He recalled in later times that the first rehearsals for this tour were a disaster and the first concert was not much better. Some of the Boston Pops Orchestra musicians were just not up to scratch - the aging flautist had been in John Paul Sousa's band! In the second concert the orchestra leader broke his glasses after dropping them and the concert had to be halted while he trotted off to the dressing rooms to find replacements. At the interval Monty was so uptight that Charlie and orchestral manager Wally Ashworth had to administer a couple of shots of brandy to him! Several of the players were rejected, but their contracts for the tour had to be paid up in full. After these teething troubles had been sorted out the Mantovani orchestra went on to attract full houses wherever they went, even on the last tour in the fall of 1969.
Charlie's percussion kit was always flown over to the USA and it filled part of a touring bus which was christened Botterill's Bandwagon. Charlie had an unnerving experience with this kit while filming at Elstree with Mantovani in the winter of 1958/59. Having parked his station wagon in Hyde Park in central London, it was stolen with all his precious kit inside, and he had to beg, borrow or buy replacements. Because the new gear was not identical to the equipment he had been using on the films, a day's filming had to be scrapped. While filming a TV jingle at Hammersmith a couple of days later, Charlie learned that his vehicle had been found at Walham Green with all of his instruments intact, much to his relief.
His final Mantovani public concert took place on London's South Bank at the Royal Festival Hall on 20 April 1974. Earlier, on 1 October 1973 he appeared in Mantovani's last television show. With Mantovani's retirement Charles and Grace led a more settled life in the beautiful Malvern hills away from the bustle of London. He was always willing to talk of his Mantovani days, and it is with great pleasure - and thanks - that we ourselves recall the halcyon days of this most accomplished musician.
Colin MacKenzie with special thanks to Paul Barrett.
Some Memories of Charlie Botterill (Monty's percussionist)
I stumbled across your website quite by accident but I am very glad I did so that I was able to read a lovely piece about Charlie Botterill, Mantovani's percussionist.
Charlie was a very well known player and a great percussionist. I studied percussion in London with, firstly, Denis Brady and after his untimely death, with Jimmy Blades. As a teenager in London in the late 1950's/ early 1960's I did several pro jobs as an "extra" and first met Charlie on one of those. Being only about 16 or so I was extremely nervous but he instantly put me at my ease and, so to speak, "took care" of me during rehearsals and performance. A lovely man and a great player.
Jimmy said to me: "Charlie will look after you......" and so he did. It was a real pleasure to read an appreciation of such a great player.
I won an exchange scholarship to Prague and, although now "winding down" at 61, I stayed there! Charlie, along with Jimmy Blades, was one of the last masters of the art of "trap drumming" (although it is now a little revived with the salon orchestras, one of which I run) or nowadays given the posh name "multi percussion one performer".
Whether you call it trap drumming or multi percussion, the right instruments have to be in the right place which is why Charlie had to re-arrange things for the encore. Very funny, though. However, that is the secret of one person "multi percussion" or "trap drumming."
One of the other great artists in percussion at the same time was Ben Edwards, who taught me kit work. Ben was Victor Sylvester's drummer for nearly half a century.
Along with Charlie, I remember such great personalities in the orchestral field as James Bradshaw, Gilbert Webster and Reggie Flowers.
I really am thrilled to see Charlie's worth appreciated. He was a key member of Mantovani as all can hear.
He was a very fine player (and noted in the business as such) which is no doubt why Mantovani hired him!! He, like Jimmy Blades, came from an era when you were expected to do anything and everything at sight.....whether it was dance band, Mantovani, Albert Sammons or Brahms. Today it is called "crossover" I believe. Then, it was just the role of a musician. If the phone rang and you were free, you just said "yes". Some years ago, I walked into a bookshop in England and found the entire orchestral parts for the "Bijou Theatre Orchestra" from about the 20's/30's and bought the lot on the spot for, I think, $12 for the lot.
I run a 12-strong salon orchestra for fun - more or less Britain of 1900-1930 - which includes a complete orchestral version of La Boheme in 12 minutes flat followed by a great zylophone part in Bucalossi's "Grasshoppers Dance". "Trap Drumming" is just multi percussion across a wide range of percussion instruments, usually snare, pair of timpani, cymbals, bass drum, triangle, horses hooves (coconut shells/woodblocks), zylophone and tambourine (sometimes mounted on a stand). Charlie, like Jimmy Blades, played for "silent film" orchestras and so would have been thoroughly familiar with it.
The world premiere performance of Rhapsody in Blue by Paul Whiteman's orchestra (recorded on film) includes a pair of WHITE timpani, quite the style for the crossover of the day. Charlie would have been familiar with that, often playing "tuned percussion" for Ambrose and his Orchestra long before Mr M hired him. They also used white timpani.
I am just pleased that Charlie has his due and thank your organisation for that. Sometimes we matter and when there is just one of you, sometimes we matter a lot.
Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins
Editor's note, you and your fellow musicians really mean a lot to us fans of good music, Mr. Watkins and you all should received respect and honor for your work.
More Memories of Charlie Botterill (Monty's percussionist)
I was actually trying to help someone find some of Stanley Black's arrangements (he did many for Mantovani, of course), in particular some carols for brass which Mantovani recorded. I landed on your website and
obviously clicked on "musicians" and was delighted to find Charlie there.
Among musicians you are trying to find out more about, Louis Voss (I am sure it was with two s) was very famous and the same era as Charlie. He, too, had played in dance bands in the 20s/30s/, done all sorts of orchestral work and was a much in demand freelance violinist. What Mantovani's "fixer" clearly did was simply to go for the best, most reliable freelancers around (which is exactly what you would do, today).
Sidney Sax was another great pro violinist but he became the "fixer" for virtually every orchestra in London. If you wanted to assemble a freelance orchestra in the 60s, 70s, 80s, you went to Sidney. He ran a well known agency which "assembled" musical groups. If you were not on Sidney's list you were not on the "circuit"!!!! Sidney was often the leader of these assembled symphony orchestras (things like film scores, The New Symphony Orchestra of London, the London Festival Orchestra but whether he played or not he would have "fixed" the players for all of them).
Although I wasn't playing in England at that time, I was well aware from friends of Sidney as a "fixer"....he was enormously important! That was because, as a great violinist himself, his judgment of orchestral musicians was respected and if you play within an orchestra you know very well who can do the "biz" and who can't...who turns up late for rehearsal and who doesn't etc etc. He fixed extras for everyone (like a big Mahler or
something similar) as well as "pick up" orchestras like the Kingsway Symphony (for Decca) and people like Stanley Black, Cyril Stapleton, Frank Chacksfield.......you name it, I suspect Sidney "fixed" it. He did the majority of all fixing work in London and for things like a ballet or
Gilbert and Sullivan on a national tour.
He was THE man!
Many years ago there was an LP of Ted Heath big hits and they beefed up the brass section with players from the Royal Philharmonic/London Philharmonic...and I know Sidney fixed that because Jimmy Brown, the RPO principal horn player, was a great friend and he told me as soon as Sidney had rung him. Sidney also knew, of course, that Jimmy Brown was a big Ted Heath fan (which helps). Once again, thank you for a beautiful appreciation of a great player (who would otherwise be forgotten, no doubt). His sense of fun reminds me very much of my great teacher, Jimmy Blades, who shared that attitude to music while being completely virtuosic.
Not relevant to Mantovani but here's a little story about Jimmy Blades which might make you smile. For many years (and they carry on today) the late Sir Malcolm Sargent held an annual carol concert in aid of charity in London.....it was always a "pick up" orchestra but (fixed by Sidney) contained as far as poss the best boys/girls around. One year they did "Silent Night" sung unaccompanied by a choir of tiny children recruited and rehearsed for months....it was SO good that Sargent decided to encore it there and then and gave an encore sign to the orchestra. Jimmy, in the percussion section, missed the sign.....which was a pity because the next scheduled piece was Hark the Herald Angels Sing and when Sargent gave the downbeat Jimmy did his FF clash on a pair of 18 inch cymbals, obliterating the start of the encore of Silent Night. He delighted in telling this story against himself!!! When I have time I will see if I can come up with anything else about former Mantovani musicians.
Alan M. Watkins
Editor's Note: with all due respect and gratefulness to Mr. Watkins, Stanley Black did not arrange for Mantovani.
From the Malvern (UK) Gazette:
"Grace Botterill (seated on the right) turned 100 in December and is a newcomer to the (Malvern residential) home, after moving from Colwall.
Wife of acclaimed musician Charles Botterill, a (the percussionist Ed.) percussionist with Mantovani and his Orchestra, Grace spent more than three decades traveling the world before settling in Malvern."
More on Mrs. Botterill from the Worcester News archives:
Grace cruises her way to landmark birthday
From the Malvern Gazette, first published Friday 1st Dec 2006.
GRACE Botterill first boarded a luxury cruise liner to New York in 1924, when she was working as a maid. She
then spent more than three decades travelling the world as the wife of acclaimed musician Charles Botterill.
But while her travelling days may be over, she will reach another milestone this week - her 100th birthday.Grace now lives a comfortable life in Colwall, but remembers her globe-trotting days with fondness.
She was born in Middlesex on December 2, 1906 and at the age of 16 went to work as a maid in Brashfield, a large country house in Bicester.
At 18, she became personal maid to the lady of the house, travelling with her on exotic holidays and even accompanying her on her six-week chauffeur-driven honeymoon tour through Europe.
While on holiday with her aunt in Ilkley, Yorkshire, Grace met her future husband.
Charles was staying next door, having just returned from a second world cruise, working as a percussionist with Mantovani and his orchestra.
According to Grace it was love at first sight, and just a week later the couple was engaged.
In 1929, Grace became Mrs Botterill. The pair settled in Middlesex and had two daughters, Patricia and Sally. But they did not stop travelling until 1961, before eventually moving to Malvern in 1971 to live in a flat at the house of daughter and son-in-law Sally and David Agnew, and their four children. Mr Botterill died in 1986.
Nanny, as she is known by all, then spent much of her time baking cakes and biscuits and making toffee.
She was even brave enough to sit in the car when the grandchildren were learning to drive.
Daughter Sally said: "My mother is a remarkable lady and greatly loved by everyone who knows her.
"Her family is very important to her and she will be spending tomorrow (Saturday) with all 18 of them and two days later, enjoying a large party with all her friends from near and far."
Please see more on Mantovani Percussionist, Charles Botterill on his biography page.
