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Musical heaven at jazzman John’s funeral
A CELEBRATION OF JOHN LATIMER SMITH
Islington Crematorium
A FINE selection of jazz records played at the Islington Crematorium celebrated the life of John Latimer Smith, a long-time Soho resident and friend of the late trumpeter Ian Carr, who died recently aged 73.
John Smith was widely known in London publishing circles for his time with Alison & Busby in the 1960s and for titles published by his own Latimer Press in the 1970s. But he was equally well known among a wide circle of friends and acquaintances over five decades in Soho’s licensed premises, restaurants and jazz clubs.
Not just those friends and acquaintances but all enthusiasts of early jazz will be entranced by his selection of records played at the funeral:
Isle of Capri by Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen, 1953; Careless Love Blues by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong, 1925; Dr Jazz by Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, 1926; West End Blues by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five, 1928; and Someday Sweetheart by King Oliver & His Dixie Syncopators, 1926.
The last, a little-known King Oliver number, has some outstanding tuba playing. Witty and fun, so much like John himself.
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