Chris Barber on Desert Island Discs, late 1950s
Thanks to Ivan Spring of Oakville, Ontario, Canada, here is a set of low-resolution mp3 files of Chris's appearance on the BBC Radio programme, Desert Island Discs, some time in the late 1950s. The programme was recorded from the radio on to acetate by a friend of Ivan's, which accounts for the surface noise. Eventually we hope to have the sound re-mastered for clearer reproduction, but in the meantime it's hoped that Barber fans will enjoy this 45+-year-old snapshot of Chris's musical tastes. To conserve server space and avoid copyright violations, the actual musical selections are not included here, only the conversation between Chris Barber and the host of the programme, Roy Plomley.

Chris's music choices on the programme were:

  • Heavenly Sunshine - Laura Henton
  • Chicago Breakdown - Big Maceo Merryweather
  • Automobile - Lightning Hopkins
  • Saratoga Shout - Luis Russell Orchestra
  • Market Street Stomp - The Missourians
  • Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long - Biddle Hill Quintet
  • Hotter Than That - Louis Armstrong
  • Port De Versaille - Modern Jazz Quartet
"On The Road"
 

In this series of spoken excerpts from the mid-1980s DVD On The Road, Chris talks about the jazz life, leading a band, and the pros and cons of being almost constantly on the road.

Click here to listen.

The Great Chris Barber Interviews, 1989
  A video interview with Chris Barber, recorded in 1989, is available on YouTube in 9 parts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

 Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
An Interview on CBC Radio, June 2002

While in Vancouver, Canada, to play at a jazz festival with a local band, Sweet Papa Lowdown, Chris Barber was interviewed on the CBC Radio programme Roundup by host Bill Richardson. Here is a promotion for the show, plus the interview itself, in three parts:

Concert Introduction, 50th Anniversary Tour

During the 50th Anniversary Tour of the Big Chris Barber Band, Chris usually opened the second half of the concert by telling the audience, in a very entertaining way, a little about the history of the band -- a great "personal" perspective on an outsider's view as told elsewhere on this website in The Chris Barber Story. Here's the version of the story as he told it at The Anvil, Basingstoke, on June 11, 2003:

  • Part 1, Introduction (0:32; 451 Kb)
  • Part 2, How the band started: Monty Sunshine, Lonnie Donegan... (2:46; 2.3 Mb)
  • Part 3, Pat Halcox, 1952 (1:29; 1.2 Mb)
  • Part 4, Ken Colyer in New Orleans (1:48; 1.5 Mb)
  • Part 5, Ken Colyer's Jazzmen (0:51; 700 Kb)
  • Part 6, The split with Ken Colyer (1:15; 1 Mb)
  • Part 7, Pat Halcox returns (0:38; 528 Kb)
  • Part 8, Introduction of the new six-piece band (1:47; 1.5 Mb)

Concert Announcement, January 2005

In this announcement from the opening of the second part of a concert in Denmark in January, 2005, Chris reflects on playing the music from 1954 and introduces the 2005 version of the six-piece Chris Barber's Jazz Band.
Chris on BBC Radio Kent, November 14, 2007
Roger Day of BBC Radio Kent chats to guests from the last 50 years of popular music each evening. Here is an interview in which Chris talked to Roger. The interview is posted here by permission of BBC Radio Kent.
 
  		• Part 1   (2 minutes, 38 seconds; 1.87 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 2   (2 minutes, 27 seconds; 1.73 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 3   (3 minutes, 16 seconds; 2.30 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 4   (2 minutes, 44 seconds; 1.93 megabytes).
    Chris on BBC Radio Bristol, November 21, 2007
    Here is another radio interview, this time on BBC Radio Bristol, with DJ Keith Warmington. Reproduced by permission.
     
  		• Part 1   (43 seconds; 0.43 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 2   (3 minutes, 9 seconds; 1.85 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 3   (1 minute, 56 seconds; 1.14 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 4   (3 minutes, 31 seconds; 2.07 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 5   (3 minutes, 57 seconds; 2.32 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 6   (20 seconds; 0.20 megabytes).
    Chris on BBC Radio Worcester, November 24, 2007
    On November 24, Chris talked to John Hellings on BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester. A large part of this conversation covered the early days of the band, the split with Ken Colyer, and the beginnings of skiffle.
     
  		• Part 1   (1 minute, 32 seconds; 1.00 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 2   (3 minutes, 34 seconds; 2.10 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 3   (3 minutes, 21 seconds; 1.97 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 4   (2 minutes, 24 seconds; 1.41 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 5   (2 minutes, 51 seconds; 1.67 megabytes).
    Chris on BBC Radio Ulster, December 2, 2007
    Continuing his series of appearances on BBC regional radio stations, Chris joined Walter Love's show, Jazz Club, on BBC Radio Ulster on December 2, 2007. Reproduced by permission.
     
  		• Part 1   (36 seconds; 0.43 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 2   (3 minutes, 16 seconds; 2.30 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 3   (3 minutes, 20 seconds; 2.35 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 4   (2 minutes, 59 seconds; 2.11 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 5   (3 minutes, 24 seconds; 2.40 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 6   (59 seconds; 0.70 megabytes).
     
  		• Part 7   (26 seconds; 0.31 megabytes).
    Helen Mayhew's Show on Jazz Radio, December 2, 2007
    On December 2, Chris appeared on Helen Mayhew's show on theJazz, talking about his career and choosing representative recordings to play along with the conversation. Only the conversation is available on this page:
     
  		• Part 1 (2 minutes, 14 seconds; 1.58 megabytes)
     
  		• Part 2 (3 minutes, 26 seconds; 2.42 megabytes)
     
  		• Part 3 (2 minutes, 37 seconds; 1.85 megabytes)
     
  		• Part 4 (5 minutes, 27 seconds; 3.84 megabytes)
     
  		• Part 5 (4 minutes, 36 seconds; 3.25 megabytes)
     
  		• Part 6 (5 minutes, 2 seconds; 3.56 megabytes)
     
  		• Part 7 (3 minutes, 50 seconds; 2.70 megabytes)
     
  		• Part 8 (3 minutes, 38 seconds; 2.56 megabytes)
    Chris on Angel Radio, 6 August 2009
    On August 6, 2009, Chris took part in an hour-long phone interview on Angel Radio, a web-based radio station located in Havant and aimed at senior listeners in Britain and around the World. The programme is reproduced on the Barber website by permission of Angel Radio and presenter Pete Cross.
     
  		• Part 1   Promo earlier in the programme   (1 minute, 37 seconds; 1.15 Mb)
     
  		• Part 2   Early interest in jazz   (8 minutes, 7 seconds; 5.72 Mb)
     
  		• Part 3   Before Ken Colyer   (7 minutes, 53 seconds; 5.56 MB)
     
  		• Part 4   The Colyer and Barber Bands   (6 minutes, 13 seconds; 4.38 MB)
     
  		• Part 5   Skiffle, Lonnie Donegan, 6.5 Special   (6 minutes, 21 seconds; 4.47 MB)
     
  		• Part 6   Blues, The Marquee Club, "Petite Fleur"   (9 minutes, 46 seconds; 6.88 MB)
     
  		• Part 7   How "Petite Fleur" became a hit   (2 minutes, 46 seconds; 1.96 MB)
     
  		• Part 8   The band today, Louis Armstrong, Interview conclusion   (4 minutes, 39 seconds; 3.28 MB)
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