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Last week a video came across the radar of English rock musician Roy Wood and his band Wizzard.
I must admit that while I had never directly heard of Roy Wood, I tangentially knew of his work through his early years in the Electric Light Orchestra.
As an example of musical entrepreneurship, Wood sets a fine example of an active and creative musician who thrived in the business for many years after his initial successes. After a short stint with ELO, Wood went on to form several other bands including The Move and Wizzard. He remains active to this day.
Baby jive
This video features Wood as the front man for Wizzard, performing “See My Baby Jive.” There are multiple versions of this song on YouTube – dating from the late 1960’s to more recent concert versions.
In all the early versions, Woods holds a French horn – more-or-less as a stage prop. In this particular version he even manages to pull a few surprises out of the bell.
Although Wood does not play any notes, it is an interesting statement that the French horn is used in this way. Sometime in the late ’60s to early ’70s there was a significant movement towards using more classical instruments and sounds in rock music.
To my eye, this particular use of the horn as a stage prop is perhaps a tip-of-the-hat to the overall progressive/symphonic rock movement that was gaining popularity in Great Britain at the time.
