Basil Tait - a musical legend who will be so terribly missed.
We have been sorry to hear of the sad passing of our dear Cabaret Friend and Musical Legend Basil Tait. Basil was passionate about his music and worked tirelessly for many years providing the musical backdrop for shows at The Cabaret Club, Mawgan Porth. The following tribute was first paid to Basil in 2010 in the programme for our 25th Anniversary show. Basil will be remembered for his talent but most of all for his generosity of spirit, kindness and unwavering determination to help those around him be the best they possibly could be. He will never be forgotten. Basil, we thank you.
Basil was born in 1925 in Moor Park, London and started his musical career with piano lessons at the age of four! By the time he began to study music at Merchant Taylor School aged 13, he had already been writing his own music and had formed his own band, called Jay Manbee and the Windjammers. His next stop was Trinity College of Music, prior to a stint in the Air Force from January 1944. He spent his 19th birthday on a troop ship aground in the Suez Canal. He was posted to India and Rangoon, Burma, with a mobile signals unit. After the war, he took up amateur radio operation, a love of which continues to this day.
Basil then accepted a position on the Queen Mary, as bandmaster for the first class passenger lounge. He travelled the ocean for two 3-month stints, revelling in his time ashore in New York, where he saw live performances of the famous jazz musicians of the time.
Back in England, he started to build a musical career in a post as rehearsal pianist and accompanist for a BBC TV auditions unit, when television first started up again after the war. He was then invited to become the musical director for a dance group called The Visionnaires & Visionettes, with whom he is pictured in the photograph above! He went on to produce, arrange and direct music for such well-known names as Benny Hill and Cilla Black.
Basil married Angela in 1956. In 1960, he heard that Frankie Vaughan was due to appear in a revue in Brighton, for which a musical director was required. Basil applied and was asked to create the music for the first show. The revue was so successful that when Frankie was contracted to appear in Las Vegas and Hollywood in 1961, he asked Basil to join him there. Angela gave this career move her full support, and off Basil went to the set of 20th Century Fox in Las Vegas for the filming of the movie “The Right Approach,” starring Frankie and Juliet Prowse.
Basil formed a 7-piece band called “Basil Tait and The V-Men” who performed with Frankie Vaughan, to allow total independence in the creation of Frankie’s music. Back in England, they performed at the Palladium and the Winter Gardens, among many others. Frankie was heavily involved in the National Association of Boys' Clubs, and Basil performed the music in support of various fund-raising events.
After the winter season in Glasgow in 1967, Basil decided he wanted to spend more time at home with Angela and he left Frankie’s company, although they remained friends until Frankie’s death in 1999. Angela had been brought up in Cornwall and considered it “paradise” so they moved to Polzeath and eventually to Newquay. Basil did not leave the musical world however, and continued to play at the Bodmin Jail Nightclub and Casino, among other smaller musical groups. He also continued to create music professionally for the company Rediffusion, while at the same time indulging his love of music by assisting many amateur groups, including The Lane Theatre, The Operatic Society, and of course, Mawgan Porth Cabaret Club!
The Cabaret Club, Mawgan Porth would like to thank Basil for the music. His influence on our club has been immense. His contribution will be sorely missed but his legacy will live on in each and every show as we end with his classic "Back In The Old Routine!"
Reproduced from 2010 Show Programme to accompany our 25th anniversary show
"Many Happy Returns."
Basil was born in 1925 in Moor Park, London and started his musical career with piano lessons at the age of four! By the time he began to study music at Merchant Taylor School aged 13, he had already been writing his own music and had formed his own band, called Jay Manbee and the Windjammers. His next stop was Trinity College of Music, prior to a stint in the Air Force from January 1944. He spent his 19th birthday on a troop ship aground in the Suez Canal. He was posted to India and Rangoon, Burma, with a mobile signals unit. After the war, he took up amateur radio operation, a love of which continues to this day.
Basil then accepted a position on the Queen Mary, as bandmaster for the first class passenger lounge. He travelled the ocean for two 3-month stints, revelling in his time ashore in New York, where he saw live performances of the famous jazz musicians of the time.
Back in England, he started to build a musical career in a post as rehearsal pianist and accompanist for a BBC TV auditions unit, when television first started up again after the war. He was then invited to become the musical director for a dance group called The Visionnaires & Visionettes, with whom he is pictured in the photograph above! He went on to produce, arrange and direct music for such well-known names as Benny Hill and Cilla Black.
Basil married Angela in 1956. In 1960, he heard that Frankie Vaughan was due to appear in a revue in Brighton, for which a musical director was required. Basil applied and was asked to create the music for the first show. The revue was so successful that when Frankie was contracted to appear in Las Vegas and Hollywood in 1961, he asked Basil to join him there. Angela gave this career move her full support, and off Basil went to the set of 20th Century Fox in Las Vegas for the filming of the movie “The Right Approach,” starring Frankie and Juliet Prowse.
Basil formed a 7-piece band called “Basil Tait and The V-Men” who performed with Frankie Vaughan, to allow total independence in the creation of Frankie’s music. Back in England, they performed at the Palladium and the Winter Gardens, among many others. Frankie was heavily involved in the National Association of Boys' Clubs, and Basil performed the music in support of various fund-raising events.
After the winter season in Glasgow in 1967, Basil decided he wanted to spend more time at home with Angela and he left Frankie’s company, although they remained friends until Frankie’s death in 1999. Angela had been brought up in Cornwall and considered it “paradise” so they moved to Polzeath and eventually to Newquay. Basil did not leave the musical world however, and continued to play at the Bodmin Jail Nightclub and Casino, among other smaller musical groups. He also continued to create music professionally for the company Rediffusion, while at the same time indulging his love of music by assisting many amateur groups, including The Lane Theatre, The Operatic Society, and of course, Mawgan Porth Cabaret Club!
The Cabaret Club, Mawgan Porth would like to thank Basil for the music. His influence on our club has been immense. His contribution will be sorely missed but his legacy will live on in each and every show as we end with his classic "Back In The Old Routine!"
Reproduced from 2010 Show Programme to accompany our 25th anniversary show
"Many Happy Returns."
