Dave Barclay
A Tribute by Bobby Crowe
Born in Brechin on 21st September 1927, Dave was one of a family of five, two girls and three boys. As the family grew up, it was a home where music was played all the time. Jim played violin and saxophone, Ray played piano, and Dave, having been taught by a Mr George McKay, also played violin.
When Dave left school, he worked as a clerk in an insurance office. The call of music, however, was strong and he decided to study the subject more seriously. He obtained a place in Dundee, at an off-shoot of the London Trinity College of Music. The College had premises above Methven & Simpson’s Music Shop in Reform Street, where Dave attended classes two nights per week for a number of years, travelling from Brechin to Dundee and back by bus. During this period, he decided he really wanted to play the double bass, with a view to becoming a professional musician. Money, of course, was in short supply so, to supplement his income for his studies, he managed to get some casual playing engagements. One of the venues he played was the Rosemount Rooms in Montrose, by all accounts a fairly prestigious ballroom at that time, where his brother Raymond also played piano in the band.
In one Music Theory examination, Dave gained a mark of 99%, only to receive a letter a few days later, saying that there had been a mistake in the marking. He should have been awarded 100%. A footnote read, “only angels in Heaven were ever awarded 100%”.
Dave had always been interested in “Big Bands” and the musical arrangements, most of them written by professional arrangers, of the popular music of the day. Some of those bands came from the South and Dave would hitchhike from Brechin to Dundee and back, on many occasions to see and hear professional musicians at work and gain valuable knowledge from what he saw and heard.
Since childhood, Dave suffered from asthma – not a good condition to have when wanting to become a professional musician, given that a lot of the people he would be playing with would be smokers!
Around 1950, he joined the up and coming Lindsay Ross Scottish Dance Band, which was broadcasting sometimes every two weeks. Those broadcasts were all live, mainly from Coldside Library in Dundee or the BBC Studio at Beechgrove in Aberdeen. They were most proficient at performing all the dance tempos but their Scottish waltz selections were pretty special and that was because of the key signatures used, mainly played in flat keys. Jimmy Sturrock, the fiddler, would take over the bass from Dave, who would play the fiddle for the waltz, then change places for the next selection. All this live on air – no pre-recordings in those days. As a former band leader myself, I have yet to hear Scottish waltzes played more beautifully than by The Lindsay Ross Band.
The pianist in the Band was Lindsay’s sister, Marjorie Jane Ross, and Dave was to fall in love and marry this lovely lady. She became Marjorie Jane Barclay and the late Angus Fitchet composed a beautiful slow air for her. This lovely melody was played at Dave’s funeral by Jimmy Lindsay, just before a reel, also composed by Angus, entitled “David Barclay”. Their loving partnership lasted until Madge’s death on 14th October 2004. Exactly six years to that date Dave passed away.
The Lindsay Ross Band, with Dave on bass, was one of the first to appear on television, the programme being called “The Kilt is My Delight”, a peculiar title for a programme full of colour, considering the TV picture in those days was in black and white! Although the band was popular, it was becoming difficult to keep going in a full time professional capacity. Lindsay had heard that The Ian Powrie Band needed a bassist and got Dave the position in that band. The arrangement between Ian and Dave was that Dave would play in the band provisionally for a month and if either party was not satisfied with that arrangement for whatever reason, they would part company amicably. This arrangement was never discussed further. Seven years later, on 6th December, 1966, after numerous broadcasts, BBC’s “On Tour” shows, TV and stage shows with Andy Stewart, including the popular “White Heather Club”, Ian Powrie took off for Australia. At Ian’s farewell party, Dave was heard to remark that he must have been the longest serving “dep” bass player in the business. Typical Barclay humour. However, in Ian Powrie’s own words – and I quote – “There’s never a loss but what there’s a modest gain”. The gain was that Jimmy Blue took over the Powrie Band, Ronnie Kerr replacing Ian on fiddle.
When Jimmy announced that he would be taking over the Band, he canvassed all the players and Dave’s reply was that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his days in the back of a band bus. Later Jimmy told me that Dave was the player who supported him most. The personnel of the Band changed from time to time but Dave was always the bass player. Jimmy Blue continued to be the backing band for Andy Stewart, playing many summer seasons, appearing in theatres up and down the country and touring Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and Rhodesia. Dave didn’t do the South African tour. Ally McLeod played bass on that trip but when the band returned, Dave was again in his seat in the back of the band bus.
A new show, fronted by Andy Stewart, began on national television, called “Scotch Corner”. This show was broader based and the band had to accompany such guest artists as Dame Shirley Bassey, Rolf Harris, Dana, Julie Felix, etc. These people had their own band parts with the arrangements scored by professional arrangers. This posed no problems for Dave. All his studying in Reform Street stood him in good stead.
In many of the theatres, Dave also played in the pit orchestra. He had two instruments, one in the pit and one just off stage. When it came to the band spot and Andy’s main spot, Dave would dash from the orchestra pit to the stage for that part of the performance, in spite of asthma, he must also have been a bit of an athlete! In 1977, Jimmy Blue decided to retire from the professional music scene. Gordon Pattullo came into the picture as Andy’s backing band. Who was on bass? Yes, you’ve guessed it – David Barclay.
When Andy Stewart gave up performing, Dave played mainly studio sessions with many well known Scottish artists including Jim Johnstone, Cameron Kerr, Billy Anderson, Jim Lindsay, Bill McGuffie (jazz pianist), Angus Cameron, Hebbie Gray, Jimmy Shand and myself – and possibly more.
I was fortunate to have Dave in my band from 1977 until 1993. On the many broadcasts and recordings we did with my band, I have to thank Dave for his generous help with the bass notation. He would never say this or that was wrong. He would just say, “At bar such and such, it suggests to me that the choice of bass note should be A, B or C”. I can honestly say that Dave’s suggestions always made the music sound better.
After a recording session and so that we could relax and have a few drams, my son Steven often acted as “roadie”. One Sunday after recording a Take the Floor for the BBC in Aberdeen, we came down to a pub in Forfar. The session had gone well, only one retake, most likely due to some slip by me. We were all feeling pretty good about our performance. Many months later Steven let it slip that Dave had remarked to him “Your old man is getting better at this arranging. I only had to alter one bass note today”. What a compliment from such a wonderful musician.
The numerous 45 rpm records, tapes, LPs, CDs, videos and DVDs that Dave has performed on will surely be a lasting legacy to the man who changed the whole style of bass playing in Scottish dance music.
When Dave left school, he worked as a clerk in an insurance office. The call of music, however, was strong and he decided to study the subject more seriously. He obtained a place in Dundee, at an off-shoot of the London Trinity College of Music. The College had premises above Methven & Simpson’s Music Shop in Reform Street, where Dave attended classes two nights per week for a number of years, travelling from Brechin to Dundee and back by bus. During this period, he decided he really wanted to play the double bass, with a view to becoming a professional musician. Money, of course, was in short supply so, to supplement his income for his studies, he managed to get some casual playing engagements. One of the venues he played was the Rosemount Rooms in Montrose, by all accounts a fairly prestigious ballroom at that time, where his brother Raymond also played piano in the band.
In one Music Theory examination, Dave gained a mark of 99%, only to receive a letter a few days later, saying that there had been a mistake in the marking. He should have been awarded 100%. A footnote read, “only angels in Heaven were ever awarded 100%”.
Dave had always been interested in “Big Bands” and the musical arrangements, most of them written by professional arrangers, of the popular music of the day. Some of those bands came from the South and Dave would hitchhike from Brechin to Dundee and back, on many occasions to see and hear professional musicians at work and gain valuable knowledge from what he saw and heard.
Since childhood, Dave suffered from asthma – not a good condition to have when wanting to become a professional musician, given that a lot of the people he would be playing with would be smokers!
Around 1950, he joined the up and coming Lindsay Ross Scottish Dance Band, which was broadcasting sometimes every two weeks. Those broadcasts were all live, mainly from Coldside Library in Dundee or the BBC Studio at Beechgrove in Aberdeen. They were most proficient at performing all the dance tempos but their Scottish waltz selections were pretty special and that was because of the key signatures used, mainly played in flat keys. Jimmy Sturrock, the fiddler, would take over the bass from Dave, who would play the fiddle for the waltz, then change places for the next selection. All this live on air – no pre-recordings in those days. As a former band leader myself, I have yet to hear Scottish waltzes played more beautifully than by The Lindsay Ross Band.
The pianist in the Band was Lindsay’s sister, Marjorie Jane Ross, and Dave was to fall in love and marry this lovely lady. She became Marjorie Jane Barclay and the late Angus Fitchet composed a beautiful slow air for her. This lovely melody was played at Dave’s funeral by Jimmy Lindsay, just before a reel, also composed by Angus, entitled “David Barclay”. Their loving partnership lasted until Madge’s death on 14th October 2004. Exactly six years to that date Dave passed away.
The Lindsay Ross Band, with Dave on bass, was one of the first to appear on television, the programme being called “The Kilt is My Delight”, a peculiar title for a programme full of colour, considering the TV picture in those days was in black and white! Although the band was popular, it was becoming difficult to keep going in a full time professional capacity. Lindsay had heard that The Ian Powrie Band needed a bassist and got Dave the position in that band. The arrangement between Ian and Dave was that Dave would play in the band provisionally for a month and if either party was not satisfied with that arrangement for whatever reason, they would part company amicably. This arrangement was never discussed further. Seven years later, on 6th December, 1966, after numerous broadcasts, BBC’s “On Tour” shows, TV and stage shows with Andy Stewart, including the popular “White Heather Club”, Ian Powrie took off for Australia. At Ian’s farewell party, Dave was heard to remark that he must have been the longest serving “dep” bass player in the business. Typical Barclay humour. However, in Ian Powrie’s own words – and I quote – “There’s never a loss but what there’s a modest gain”. The gain was that Jimmy Blue took over the Powrie Band, Ronnie Kerr replacing Ian on fiddle.
When Jimmy announced that he would be taking over the Band, he canvassed all the players and Dave’s reply was that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his days in the back of a band bus. Later Jimmy told me that Dave was the player who supported him most. The personnel of the Band changed from time to time but Dave was always the bass player. Jimmy Blue continued to be the backing band for Andy Stewart, playing many summer seasons, appearing in theatres up and down the country and touring Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and Rhodesia. Dave didn’t do the South African tour. Ally McLeod played bass on that trip but when the band returned, Dave was again in his seat in the back of the band bus.
A new show, fronted by Andy Stewart, began on national television, called “Scotch Corner”. This show was broader based and the band had to accompany such guest artists as Dame Shirley Bassey, Rolf Harris, Dana, Julie Felix, etc. These people had their own band parts with the arrangements scored by professional arrangers. This posed no problems for Dave. All his studying in Reform Street stood him in good stead.
In many of the theatres, Dave also played in the pit orchestra. He had two instruments, one in the pit and one just off stage. When it came to the band spot and Andy’s main spot, Dave would dash from the orchestra pit to the stage for that part of the performance, in spite of asthma, he must also have been a bit of an athlete! In 1977, Jimmy Blue decided to retire from the professional music scene. Gordon Pattullo came into the picture as Andy’s backing band. Who was on bass? Yes, you’ve guessed it – David Barclay.
When Andy Stewart gave up performing, Dave played mainly studio sessions with many well known Scottish artists including Jim Johnstone, Cameron Kerr, Billy Anderson, Jim Lindsay, Bill McGuffie (jazz pianist), Angus Cameron, Hebbie Gray, Jimmy Shand and myself – and possibly more.
I was fortunate to have Dave in my band from 1977 until 1993. On the many broadcasts and recordings we did with my band, I have to thank Dave for his generous help with the bass notation. He would never say this or that was wrong. He would just say, “At bar such and such, it suggests to me that the choice of bass note should be A, B or C”. I can honestly say that Dave’s suggestions always made the music sound better.
After a recording session and so that we could relax and have a few drams, my son Steven often acted as “roadie”. One Sunday after recording a Take the Floor for the BBC in Aberdeen, we came down to a pub in Forfar. The session had gone well, only one retake, most likely due to some slip by me. We were all feeling pretty good about our performance. Many months later Steven let it slip that Dave had remarked to him “Your old man is getting better at this arranging. I only had to alter one bass note today”. What a compliment from such a wonderful musician.
The numerous 45 rpm records, tapes, LPs, CDs, videos and DVDs that Dave has performed on will surely be a lasting legacy to the man who changed the whole style of bass playing in Scottish dance music.