Something truly magical happened at my book launch event for Alpha Boys' School: Cradle of Jamaican Music in my hometown of Brighton in early 2018. I'd co-written a book about the famous musical school in Jamaica run by Roman Catholic nuns and was hosting a launch party at a community arts venue, the Rose Hill. By a complete fluke, I had discovered that octogenarian former Alpha stduent, trumpet player Eddie 'Tan Tan' Thornton was in Brighton on the very same night as my launch, playing a gig with rhythm 'n' blues sibling rockers, Kitty and Daisy and Lewis. If you don't know this outrageously talented North London family band, also featuring their mum on upright acoustic bass and dad on guitar, check them out here in this clip, featuring Eddie Tan Tan.
Tan Tan came to Europe from Jamaica in the late 1950s, initially making a splash in Germany. He hit London at the height of the swinging sixties and after a spontaneous jam at the Marquee club in Soho, literally overnight he became the talk of the town and the go-to-guy for trumpet for bands like the Small Faces, the Rolling Stones, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames – and the Beatles. Later on he played with Boney M, Aswad, Jazz Jamaica, King Sounds and the Israelites, Ska Cubano, The Trojans and many more. And if you're wondering about the name Tan Tan, its how his surname Thornton gets pronounced in Jamaica.
It was a tight window of time, but I arranged for him to come down to the venue in a cab during the soundcheck for Kitty, Daisy and Lewis. For the first twenty minutes of the launch, Tan Tan captivated us with his charisma and wild humour. But I had a little plan up my sleeve. At my request, one of the the DJs for the night had brought a vinyl copy of The Beatles' Revolver LP along with him. DJ Mark, from Ska-Beat-Soul slipped Got To Get You Into My Life on the turntable and I invited Tan Tan to play along. With no prior warning, he attempted to jam along with his younger self on a recording made 52 years earlier. I wish I'd filmed the audience because the entire room was slack-jawed in amazement. Watch it here:
Incidentally, Tan Tan is the only session musician to receive a credit on a Beatles' record sleeve (if you have a 1960s vinyl copy of Revolver, you can verify this yourself. His name was removed on later copies and is not on the CD edition). Not even Eric Clapton nor Billy Preston got sleeve credits for their session work with the Beatles, but for some reason, Edward Thornton got one.
Afterwards we had a half-hour break in which I attempted to drag Tan Tan away from talking to everyone while fielding text messages from Kitty, Daisy and Lewis' management (basically, their Dad) to please get him down to the venue ASAP as he was due on stage in half an hour! I literally had to take Tan Tan by the arm, march him out of the venue and bundle him into the waiting cab!
It was a great night and I'm so glad that my partner, Peta, had the good sense to get her phone out and film it. At the time of writing (August 2024) Eddie Tan Tan is still alive, aged 90, but sadly retired from music a couple of years ago due to health issues.
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