Mike Nash – “Make your own arrangements”

1 It don’t mean a thing (6.29)
(Duke Ellington)
2 Time on my hands (6.12)
(Vincent Youmans/Harold Adamson/Mark Gordon)

3 All of me (4.17)
(Gerald Marks/Seymour Simons)
4 Our love is here to stay (6.40)
(George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin)
5 Christopher Columbus (7.19)
(Chu Berry/Andy Razaf)
6 I wished on the moon (5.44)
(Ralph Rainger/Dorothy Parker)

7 Sleepy Time Gal (5.34)
(Richard A Whiting/Ange Lorenzo/Joseph Alden/Raymond B Egan)
8 Don’t get around much anymore (7.52)
(Duke Ellington)

9 As long as I live (5.32)
(Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler)
10 It’s the talk of the town (8.32)
(Jerry Livingston/Al J Neiburg/Marty Symes)
11 Crawfish Shuffle (6.31)
(Bob Wilber)
(Total playing time: 70.42 mins

CD 519

Mike Nash + Harlem Airshaft Ealing Jazz Festival “Just You Just Me”

Mike Nash + Harlem Airshaft Ealing Jazz Festival “Talk Of The Town”

Mike Nash + Harlem Airshaft Ealing Jazz Festival “Sweethearts On Parade”

“Make your own arrangements”

Mike Nash was born in Lambeth, London on 30th October 1938. Played violin at six, took
up the cornet at nine, then switched to trombone at sixteen. He studied trombone and
double bass at the Royal Manchester College of Music between1955-58, gigging with
local bands and graduating with an ARMCM. Mike moved back to London after
graduation, playing with the Bob Wallis Band (1962), Ed Corrie (1963), the Freddy
Randall Band (1964-65), London City Stompers (1966), and the Alan Elsdon Band (1967-
70) – the most broadcast band on BBC Radio 2. Worked with Harry Gold in the 1970s,
before joining the Surrey-based Georgia Jazz Band from 1982 until 1990, played with the
Bob Guthrie Band that evolved into the JCM Jazz Band, and Harlem Airshaft; freelanced
in Britain and on the Continent into the early 2000s.

With an impressive four and a half octave range Mike Nash, well known for a lifetime’s
work in the field of jazz, has also had a career playing in the field of classical music. He
performed with some of the UK’s leading orchestras including the English Chamber
Orchestra, the Hallé, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC Northern
Orchestra (which was renamed the BBC Philharmonic). At the age of 67, he was invited to
join the staff of the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London as Professor of
Trombone, an offer which he declined. He discovered that he had been recommended
for the role by players in both the jazz and classical fields.

Mike Nash is known for his unique turns of phrase, “It’s me, me, me, buster”, “What I don’t
drink throw over me as I leave”. As Mike himself would say, throughout his long and
distinguished career he has always ensured that “arrangements have been made by me,
for me, and with me!”

Chris Hodgkins
September 2020

Grateful thanks to Eric Gilchrist for the sleeve design and Richard Jones for championing this tribute to Mike.
Produced under the MCPS/PPL Limited Manufacture license.

Tracks 1 and 4 were recorded by Harlem Airshaft on 8th August 2000 at Ealing Jazz Festival.
John Evans (Clarinet), Mike Nash (Trombone), Chris Hodgkins (Trumpet), Max Brittain (Guitar), John Ferguson
(Double bass), Clive Pracy (Drums).

Track 2 was recorded by Harlem Airshaft on 8th August 2000 at Ealing Jazz Festival.
Mike Nash (Trombone), Max Brittain (Guitar), John Ferguson (Double bass), Clive Pracy (Drums).

Tracks 3 was recorded by Harlem Airshaft on 18th January 2008 at the Concert Artistes Association, London.
John Evans (Clarinet), Mike Nash (Trombone), Chris Hodgkins (Trumpet), Max Brittain (Guitar), John Ferguson
(Double bass), Don Cook (Drums).

Tracks 5 and 10 were recorded by Harlem Airshaft 13 August 1992 at the Ealing Jazz Festival.
John Evans (Clarinet), Mike Nash (Trombone), Chris Hodgkins (Trumpet), Max Brittain (Guitar), John Ferguson
(Double bass), Dave Barry (Drums).

Tracks 6 and 8 were recorded by Harlem Airshaft 13th August 1992 at Ealing Jazz Festival.
Mike Nash (Trombone), Max Brittain (Guitar), John Ferguson (Double bass), Dave Barry (Drums).

Tracks 7, 9, and 11 were recorded by the JCM Band 19th July 1986 at the Kings Head, Acton, London W3
John Evans (Clarinet), Mike Nash (Trombone), Chris Hodgkins (Trumpet), Max Brittain (Guitar), John Ferguson
(Double bass), Dave Barry (Drums).

Front photo credit: John Ross