Ian Cruickshank

spatzo · May 2017

Yes Ian was a nice guy, not always easy but a nice one. I remember him explaining me how the melody of "Pêche à la Mouche" exactly fitted the fishing act with its main phases : loading, delivery, fly casting and final retrieving. For him Django's music was an evocation of his first years when he was a boy and his mother was cooking for the family while he was quietly listening to Django's records.

Heretic · May 2017

Ian's VHS tape was my introduction to Django's music. He and I had corresponded several times over the years. Not only did I admire his technique and playing, but I found him to be a lovely man. He was always kind to me, and gave me lots his time to answer my questions.
I will miss him.

Trevor · May 2017

I knew Ian a little – I went to a couple of guitar weekends that he was teaching on. I found him very encouraging and good humoured. He was very musical, and his lead playing was a delight. Being shown a couple of the ‘fundamentals’ was a huge eye-opener for me, and there’s no question but that it changed my life. It was like having a door opened in my mind.
He was also a fund of interesting anecdotes.
He was definitely a pivotal figure in bringing this music to more mainstream attention. It wasn’t possible for most people to learn to play in this style, but Ian had the idea that since Django was a gypsy, perhaps the music might have been handed down. He went to France on the offchance, and by coincidence happened upon a massive gypsy gathering, where sure enough he found people playing Django style music.
He was promoting, teaching and playing this stuff many years before anyone else caught on to it.
Ian put on concerts in the UK – I think he put on Birelli Lagrene when Birelli was only about 12.
I agree that he wasn’t always easy – but I also agree that he was nice. He was perhaps impatient with people who he thought ought to know better, but with people who were keen and enthusiastic to learn, I found him very patient, and he seemed to take a certain delight in passing the knowledge on.
He would ask me how I’d been getting on. Now I won’t be able to tell him.

Buco · May 2017

@Trevor I just wanted to tell how beautiful is what you wrote.

I read somewhere that his daughter is considering putting a book together with all of his anecdotes and she mentioned that he has enormous collection of photographs mostly unseen by public.
Maybe somebody can assist and encourage her?

TonyRees · September 2017

I corresponded with Ian a few times in the early 80s when I was discovering this music and he was "the man" (in the UK at least) who knew the most about it at that time, also had been to France and had made some of his recordings available on a cassette "Gypsy Jazz from France" with recordings of the Ferres, Raphael Fays etc. from Samois in 1978 or so. His letters were very friendly and informative and I still have them in a file...

Having seen this thread, and also having just completed the task of adding a much needed "history" section to the wikipedia entry for "gypsy jazz", I also thought Ian deserved a WP page of his own so have just created one. Take a look here if interested:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Cruickshank

As usual, if I have missed or mangled anything, please let me know (or make your own adjustments as needed). Best - Tony

TonyRees · September 2017

RE the above: I also added my own photo of Ian with his group to the wikipedia page. For a full list of my photos (some GJ but by no means all) you can see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tony_1212 .

BillDaCostaWilliams · September 2017

A great tribute!
Many thanks, Tony, for bringing together all this information on Ian Cruickshank's contribution.

BillDaCostaWilliams · March 2021

I found an old cassette of Ian's Gypsy Jazz album at home. I've acquired a recorder to digitize cassettes so could share with anybody who's interested. In fact there are already 4 of the tracks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DjangoMan1963/videos

This all led me to delve more: @TonyRees your Wikipedia page on him is superb.

I hadn't realised he was a former bluesman playing under the name "Spit James" with Keith Hartley (veteran drummer who took over from Ringo Star in Rory Storm and the The Hurricanes who were big in Hamburg clubs in the early 60s, a path I trod myself in my abortive 60s rock guitar days). Hartley then played with John Mayall on a couple of albums until he was sacked for a “dress code violation". Hartley's Renegade album opens with "Sacked", a homage to this departure, and has some lively blues guitar from Ian Cruickshank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb-umMBViX8