Sting - "Cookin' at the Cluny"
'I'm very proud of our Springtime, it's a great performance.'
Gerry was in the year ahead of me in teacher's training college, but gigging was all we wanted to do ...
It was Gerry who was the pioneer, the pathfinder into that fabled realm of jazz clubs, working men's clubs, pubs and cabaret. To be a professional musician, a journeyman able to sight-read sufficiently to hold down a job, to play whatever style was required; this was the ultimate goal, and Gerry, with his prodigious skills, could do all of it. I was in awe of him.
He and I worked together in bands for many years, I played bass and sang, he would often say (only half joking) that if only he could sing he would fire me, and it's clear from this album that I have much to be grateful for, not least that during our time together he limited his 'vocalising' to the Vox Humana stop on his beloved Hammond. On that instrument he was always passionate, innovative, surprisingly angular and, even on those early days, his playing was stamped with a clear authority.
(Sting in the notes of "Cookin' at the Cluny")
