Memories of the Mull Maestro
by Lorn MacIntyre
B&F August 2009
Whenever
I look at the picture of Bobby MacLeod’s legendary dance band in its heyday in
the 1950s that sits on my study mantelpiece, a tear comes into my eye, because
of the six musicians posing in their even suits, only one, Willie Lowe, is
still alive, and I danced to most of them. What better reason for a visit to
Willie to recall old times in his home in Connel, Argyll? His house commands a
panoramic view acriss Loch Etive, and before there was further building around,
he could see the mountains of Mull. That island is a constant presence in Willie’s
mind, even in his eighties, because that was where both he and Bobby MacLeod
were born in 1925. Willie was to play in the Mull maestro’s band for several unforgettable years.
Though they both lived in Tobermory and attended the local school, albeit in different classes, they didn’t meet until music brought them together. Willie’s home set great store by education, since his father was the headmaster, and Willie recalls, “I was told that I would get an accordion if I passed my Highers.” The instrument duly arrived, and Willie mastered it, though this modest man would deny the term. “Bobby came up to the house when I was still at school and dazzled me, playing the accordion in different keys.”
When Willie was abroad doing his National Service, Bobby asked if he could borrow Willie’s accordion, and their friendship and musical collaboration began. An occasional band was formed, with Bobby on the box, Willie vamping on the piano. The drummer was George Purvis, purser on The Lochinvar which plied between Oban and Tobermory. “The dancing was completely new to me,” Willie remembers of these post-war gigs in The Aros Hall, Tobermory. “I’d never seen the Canadian Barn Dance, St Bernard’s Waltz, Gay Gordons or Quadrilles before. To me ceilidh music was a disappointment because I couldn’t play what I’d played in the Army.”
The Band started to venture away from the island, but session time was never wasted. “Charlie Hunter, father of Alasdair, that fine Aberdeen-based bandleader who died last year, was radio operator on The Lochearn. Bobby and Charlie would play on the sail to Oban.” Willie remembers a gig on piano in The McLellan Gallaries, Glasgow “George Purvis said to me : you know what your instrument should be – the bass!” He also remembers that Bobby was “hurt because he was never asked to play at The Argyllshire Gathering Ball in Oban.” Bobby’s life was a flexible one, since hw was the son of the owner of The Mishnish Hotel, Tobermory, but Willie was at College in Glasgow, getting qualifications. “I spent a lot of time coming up to Oban to play – at least weekly – and my studies suffered.” But this is not a complaint. Willie’s face lights up as he charts the evolution of Bobby MacLeod’s Band into one of the most distinctive and admired sounds of its time. Fiddlers could be hard to come by, but Jimmy Shand recommended Alasdair ‘Pibroch’ MacKenzie (“He’ll suit your style of playing son.”) ‘Pibroch’ had played jazz on the fiddle in the Army, and his virtuosic skills had come to the attention of the great Stephane Grappelli. However, it wasn’t jazz Bobby wanted him to play, but Scottish tunes. “It was wonderful to hear Bobby and ‘Pibroch’ playing together, “ Willie recalls wistfully. When Bobby announced that he was forming a full-time band Willie said to himself, “I’m not masquerading as a pianist in a full-time band, not being a pianist at all – much to my regret.” When Bobby’s first broadcast with his Band came on the air Willie phoned from a call-box in London and Jean, Bobby’s wife, held the phone to the public address system in The Mishnish Hotel so that the exile in surbiton could hear the entire broadcast! In the course of our conversation Willlie brings up legendary names associated with the Bobby MacLeod Band ; Davy Whitehead the pianist; Alasdair Downie on second box; the brilliant Fenwick McDougall on double bass. “When I saw how successful Bobby’s full-time band was I thought I should have a shot at it,” Willie reveals. But there was only one vacancy, Fenwick McDougall was about to go to do his National Service, and a double bass player was needed. Bobby offered Willie the vacancy. “I had bought a double bass with the last of my education grant but had never played it, “ Willie confesses. “Bobby was booked for a dance in a loft at the Mart in Oban, but there was no piano. I phoned Glasgow and asked my friends to put my double bass on the train for Oban. The first time I played it was at the Mart dance !”
More memories. “Bobby told me that Fenwick was coming back to his double bass, and said that I could start on the second box. I just played rhythmic chords; this was Bobby’s innovation. We never had music in front of us. Bobby would shout the key and off we went.” As the light begins to fade over Loch Etive, Willie recalls the ultimate sacrifice to the MacLeod sound. “Bobby was going to play in Moscow in 1957. He said he was looking for a bass player, and I said that I would come, though it meant leaving my job. Our two weeks in Russia were followed by a year doing mostly theatre work.” The following year, Willie left the Band a few months before it came off the road.
Bobby returned to Tobermory to help Jean to run The Mishnish Hotel. I have teenage memories of passing The Mishnish on a summer afternoon and hearing Bobby in the public bar, either mastering a new tune or composing one. He and my father Angus, the bank manager, ran summer ceilidhs in The Aros Hall and entertained wealthy Americans on the cruise ships which anchored in Tobermory Bay.
Willie Lowe’s last gig with Bobby was in 1989 at Glengorm Castle on Mull. “I was on keyboard, with the late ‘Pibroch’ MacKenzie’s grandson Steven on drums.” Before Bobby passed away in Tobermory in January 1991, Willie and his wife visited the maestro in hospital in Oban.
This courteous and musically accomplished man, who still plays for Scottish Country Dancers in North Connel, has many more memories; driving with the stylish and charismatic Bobby in his MG sports car to dances; being enchanted by the maestro’s playing in one of Scotland’s greatest dance bands, whose sound still causes that frisson as it did over 50 years ago.
Though they both lived in Tobermory and attended the local school, albeit in different classes, they didn’t meet until music brought them together. Willie’s home set great store by education, since his father was the headmaster, and Willie recalls, “I was told that I would get an accordion if I passed my Highers.” The instrument duly arrived, and Willie mastered it, though this modest man would deny the term. “Bobby came up to the house when I was still at school and dazzled me, playing the accordion in different keys.”
When Willie was abroad doing his National Service, Bobby asked if he could borrow Willie’s accordion, and their friendship and musical collaboration began. An occasional band was formed, with Bobby on the box, Willie vamping on the piano. The drummer was George Purvis, purser on The Lochinvar which plied between Oban and Tobermory. “The dancing was completely new to me,” Willie remembers of these post-war gigs in The Aros Hall, Tobermory. “I’d never seen the Canadian Barn Dance, St Bernard’s Waltz, Gay Gordons or Quadrilles before. To me ceilidh music was a disappointment because I couldn’t play what I’d played in the Army.”
The Band started to venture away from the island, but session time was never wasted. “Charlie Hunter, father of Alasdair, that fine Aberdeen-based bandleader who died last year, was radio operator on The Lochearn. Bobby and Charlie would play on the sail to Oban.” Willie remembers a gig on piano in The McLellan Gallaries, Glasgow “George Purvis said to me : you know what your instrument should be – the bass!” He also remembers that Bobby was “hurt because he was never asked to play at The Argyllshire Gathering Ball in Oban.” Bobby’s life was a flexible one, since hw was the son of the owner of The Mishnish Hotel, Tobermory, but Willie was at College in Glasgow, getting qualifications. “I spent a lot of time coming up to Oban to play – at least weekly – and my studies suffered.” But this is not a complaint. Willie’s face lights up as he charts the evolution of Bobby MacLeod’s Band into one of the most distinctive and admired sounds of its time. Fiddlers could be hard to come by, but Jimmy Shand recommended Alasdair ‘Pibroch’ MacKenzie (“He’ll suit your style of playing son.”) ‘Pibroch’ had played jazz on the fiddle in the Army, and his virtuosic skills had come to the attention of the great Stephane Grappelli. However, it wasn’t jazz Bobby wanted him to play, but Scottish tunes. “It was wonderful to hear Bobby and ‘Pibroch’ playing together, “ Willie recalls wistfully. When Bobby announced that he was forming a full-time band Willie said to himself, “I’m not masquerading as a pianist in a full-time band, not being a pianist at all – much to my regret.” When Bobby’s first broadcast with his Band came on the air Willie phoned from a call-box in London and Jean, Bobby’s wife, held the phone to the public address system in The Mishnish Hotel so that the exile in surbiton could hear the entire broadcast! In the course of our conversation Willlie brings up legendary names associated with the Bobby MacLeod Band ; Davy Whitehead the pianist; Alasdair Downie on second box; the brilliant Fenwick McDougall on double bass. “When I saw how successful Bobby’s full-time band was I thought I should have a shot at it,” Willie reveals. But there was only one vacancy, Fenwick McDougall was about to go to do his National Service, and a double bass player was needed. Bobby offered Willie the vacancy. “I had bought a double bass with the last of my education grant but had never played it, “ Willie confesses. “Bobby was booked for a dance in a loft at the Mart in Oban, but there was no piano. I phoned Glasgow and asked my friends to put my double bass on the train for Oban. The first time I played it was at the Mart dance !”
More memories. “Bobby told me that Fenwick was coming back to his double bass, and said that I could start on the second box. I just played rhythmic chords; this was Bobby’s innovation. We never had music in front of us. Bobby would shout the key and off we went.” As the light begins to fade over Loch Etive, Willie recalls the ultimate sacrifice to the MacLeod sound. “Bobby was going to play in Moscow in 1957. He said he was looking for a bass player, and I said that I would come, though it meant leaving my job. Our two weeks in Russia were followed by a year doing mostly theatre work.” The following year, Willie left the Band a few months before it came off the road.
Bobby returned to Tobermory to help Jean to run The Mishnish Hotel. I have teenage memories of passing The Mishnish on a summer afternoon and hearing Bobby in the public bar, either mastering a new tune or composing one. He and my father Angus, the bank manager, ran summer ceilidhs in The Aros Hall and entertained wealthy Americans on the cruise ships which anchored in Tobermory Bay.
Willie Lowe’s last gig with Bobby was in 1989 at Glengorm Castle on Mull. “I was on keyboard, with the late ‘Pibroch’ MacKenzie’s grandson Steven on drums.” Before Bobby passed away in Tobermory in January 1991, Willie and his wife visited the maestro in hospital in Oban.
This courteous and musically accomplished man, who still plays for Scottish Country Dancers in North Connel, has many more memories; driving with the stylish and charismatic Bobby in his MG sports car to dances; being enchanted by the maestro’s playing in one of Scotland’s greatest dance bands, whose sound still causes that frisson as it did over 50 years ago.