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George Swift - Trumpet |
 Geoge Swift (1911 - 1986)
joined Mantovani on a regular basis when the regular first trumpeter Stan
Newsome, who was awesome, quit Mantovani c 1960 to find more settled
employment. On the 1960 LP "Mantovani Concert Spectacular", recorded in
Kingsway Hall, George played a trumpet duet with Monty Montgomery, and later
also made a fine recording with Mantovani of "What Kind Of Fool Am I". I
think that virtually all of the Mantovani trumpet solos between 1960 and
1965 were those of George. He was featured in a 1961 Mantovani TV show,
playing "Elfriede", his own composition named after his German wife. She may
still be alive, living in Spain.
Swift also recorded this piece with a studio orchestra conducted by Eric
Robinson on Parlophone R3303 (a 78).The flip was called "El Banico." He
also
made a single of "Sonia" b/w "Zigeunerweisen" (details not known).
He played with the Jack Hylton Orchestra between 1935
and 1939. He first played for Mantovani at the start of WW2 when he was
in
the Irish Guards. He apparently used to wear khaki under his evening
dress
so that he could make a quick change into uniform if the Military Police
turned up.
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He toured USA with Mantovani on more than one occasion, but, the
story goes
(and it may well not be true) that he was given his marching orders
after
claiming hotel expenses while staying with an American musician. I
cannot
confirm the truth or otherwise of this story.
My info is that he died in 1985 aged 73. He did indeed live in Spain
for a
while, I was told he was running a launderette!
From Colin MacKenzie (see the many pages that include information on Swift in the Mantovani Biography, "Mantovani - A Lifetime In Music" by Colin MacKenzie.See a description of this wonderful book and reviews on the Mantovani Fan Website homepage. (From Ole.J.Utnes in Norway:)
George Swift (1911 - 1986): George Swift sound sample in MP3. http://www.purtle.com/jeff_sound.html P.S. My source is Friedel Keim's book (page 315)
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