Phil Seamen - Seamen in The 1960s

Seamen in The 1960s

During the first half of the 60s he worked often with Tubby Hayes, and Joe Harriott. In 1962 he played a couple of nights with Dexter Gordon at Ronnie Scott's, recorded with Carmen McRae, in 1964 played r&b with Alexis Korner and Georgie Fame. He started teaching in 1962, one of his pupils being Ginger Baker, who went on to influence a whole generation of rock drummers.

However, his heroin addiction meant his health was deteriorating, and increasingly many bandleaders would no longer hire him. He did work at Ronnie Scott's - with British bands, but it is a grave misconception that he was ever 'the house drummer'.

Notable exceptions were with Freddie Hubbard in 1964 and Roland Kirk in 1967 (followed by a UK tour).

From 1965-66 his regular gig was with the Dick Morrissey Quartet. Seamen also worked with the Harry South Big Band, in 1967 with Stan Tracey and Joe Harriott. He studied tympani at the Royal School of Music briefly with Sir James Blades: "Phil was so enthusiastic to begin with, but increasingly didn't show up. It was the drugs, you know. It was so sad. He was a percussion genius."

In 1967 Philly Joe Jones and Seamen met and became good friends.

In the 1960s "trad" era, Phil Seaman made appearances at the Midland Jazz Club in Birmingham at Digbeth Civic Hall. He can also be heard from this time on the album "Clarinet Jamboree" with clarinet players Acker Bilk, Terry Lightfoot, Sandy Brown and Archie Semple. He accompanies Sandy Brown, and plays in a remarkable modern jazz style in "The Last Western".