I knew Chris Barber because he was always down all the clubs. He was from the generation before us but his love of blues meant he would be likely to want to get up and jam with Hendrix and play a bit of trombone. His wife, the jazz singer Ottilie Patterson, strangely enough had been a patient of the doctor who’d owned my house in Cavendish before I bought it. There had been stories of this guy painting the house in mid-winter, wearing just a pair of shorts, so I was obviously carrying on quite a rich tradition at this place. I’d said, ‘Well, come round for a cup of tea tomorrow.’ When Ottilie saw the house, she said, ‘Oh yes, this used to be the consulting room.’ Chris Barber was a good musician and a good fun, interested guy. He was not patronising. With a few jazz musicians at that time it was, ‘Mmm, rock ‘n’ roll …’ They felt like they knew more scales than we did, or they could read music, unlike us, but not Chris.
Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997
Albums, EPs & singles by The Chris Barber Band
-
By The Chris Barber Band • 7" Single
