Charlie Gillett

News in that Charlie Gillett, deejay, record label owner, and of course writer, has died. While still a schoolboy I borrowed the first edition of Charlie's history of rock and roll "The Sound of the City" from the local public library. The book was probably the first to properly examine the deep roots of rock and roll and give due place to the pioneers of rhythm and blues. It was thanks to Charlie that I first came across names like Wynonie Harris, Roy Milton and Joe Liggins. Without "The Sound of the City" I may never have been moved to start digging around for recordings of these R&B performers.

Charlie's record company Oval issued one of the great compilation LPs - "Another Saturday Night" - back in 1974. It was a collection of cajun, swamp pop and zydeco sides from Jin and Swallow, and decades after buying it, I still find myself humming some of its brilliant tracks like Belton Richard's "Un Autre Soir d'Ennui" and "Cajun Fugitive", Vin Bruce's "Jole Blon" and of course Johnnie Allen's classic version of "The Promised Land."

I'm gonna put the disc on the turntable, play the first track, (Tommy McLain's version of "Before I Grow Too Old") and raise a glass to the memory of Charlie.