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Contrasts Trevor Bolshaw
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(M) = Music Grinder (G) - Gaumont (D) = Dormston House
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Contrasts Trevor Bolshaw
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(M) = Music Grinder (G) - Gaumont (D) = Dormston House
1. One (M)
2. Berceuse (M)
3. Tango For A Ballerina (G)
4. Chloe (G)
5. Under The Double Eagle (D)
6. Autumn Crocus (D)
7. Good News (M)
8. Romeo And Juliet Theme (M)
9. Through Night To Light (G)
10. Serenade To A Lonely Star (G)
11. On A Spring Note (D)
12. Estudiantina (D)
13. Blaze Away (M)
14. Ten Cents A Dance (M)
15. Lionel Monkton Melodies (G)
16. Estrellita (G)
17. Evening Primrose (G)
18. Medley: What Goes Up Must Come Down / Sweet Sue / Anybody Seen My Gal (M)
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Trevor Bolshaw hails from Walsall in the West Midlands. He studied piano with well-known Midland Broadcasting Organist Leslie Taff. He later progressed to the Organ, his early theatre organ experience being gained on a Compton Theatrone (electric) organ at the Regal Cinema Darlaston. More serious studies took place on the three manual Binns Organ of Darlaston Town Hall.
He displayed a great interest in, and aptitude for, the theatre organ and progressed to performances in such famous theatres as the Odeons in Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Leicester Square London and the Gaumont State Kilburn, also in London.
He has visited the U.S.A. many times as a soloist performing concerts in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Atlanta where he has appeared twice at the famous Fox Theatre. He has also played concerts in various venues in Holland.
Trevor has lived in Devon for the last 35 years where, apart from his solo concert work, he teaches and takes part in classical and light musical performances as an accompanist either on piano or organ.
His recording and broadcasting work includes the BBC Radio 2 Programme ‘The Organist Entertains’ and regional programmes on BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Devon.
The Mighty Wurlitzer is still Trevor’s great love however and here he is heard on three Wurlitzers in widely varying locations ; A private home, an American Pizza Parlour and a Television Studio Tour.
ABOUT THE ORGANS
The organ used on tracks 5, 6, 11 and 12 is a two manual nine rank Wurlitzer that was originally built for the Marlborough Cinema in Holloway, London and instead was installed in Leicester in 1929. It was later re-installed in Dormston House, Sedgley in the West Midlands of England and first played in 1957 by George Blackmore, followed by Reginald Dixon and Robin Richmond.
It was first broadcast in a program entitled “The Cinema Organ at Home,” a Midland BBC program featuring Hubert Selby and Gerald Shaw in 1958. Other organists were featured including Robinson Cleaver, Vic Hammett and Reginald Porter-Brown.
Several modifications have been made to the organ since it was first installed. From the Palace Ballroom Blackpool Wurlitzer (which itself came originally from Madame Tussaud’s) came an English Horn rank. A large scale master glockenspiel was housed in a cavity beneath the floor along with the chimes. An orchestral cymbal was added from the Christie organ of the Plaza Swansea along with a Chinese gong and a Compton tom-tom and sand block.
This Wurlitzer is the third organ to grace the music room of Dormston House, which was the residence of successful businessman and committee chairman of the local borough council, Alan Hickling.
The organ used on tracks 3, 4, 9, 10, 16, 17 and 18 is Wurlitzer opus 2189, which was one of the last to be shipped before Wurlitzer ceased production of pipe organs. It was ordered for Granada Theatres for their brand new Manchester cinema but for an unexplained reason they sold the theatre to Gaumont Theatres a few weeks before the opening. It was played for most of its life in Gaumont, Manchester, by Stanley Tudor, who broadcast it regularly. It had a highly individualistic sound owing to Tudor’s use of tibia and tierce combinations on a very slow tremulant. It was removed from the then closed Gaumont in May of 1976 and re-opened in the Granada Studios Tour also in Manchester and was thus finally played under the banner of the company who had originally ordered it. It has now been removed from that location also and is awaiting re-installation by the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust once a suitable venue is found.
The organ console has four manuals and fourteen ranks, plus percussions and an upright piano. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this CD will go towards the LTOT’s funds for the continued restoration and preservation of the organs owned by them.
The organ used on tracks 1, 2, 7, 8, 13, 14, and 18 is a 3/25 Wurlitzer which has an upright piano and a full range of percussions. This instrument has also had a varied career. It started life in the North Park Theatre, Buffalo, NY. It was later moved to the residence of Dick Weber in Schenectady and with the move of the Weber family south to Atlanta went with them to be installed in their “Music Grinder” pizza emporium in Marrietta.
The program played on this recording is a deliberate mix of some of the rowdy type of music so beloved of the pizza parlor patrons and also the quieter, more melodic music displaying the beautiful quiet stops of this fine American Wurlitzer.