Bill Ball reminiscences

[Richard William Ineson]

I used to visit Bill, whenever I was down in Bristol, I had made contact with him many years previously after buying one of his banjo records and sending him my congratulations on his impeccable playing. Bill started corresponding with me regularly and when he found that he could trust me to keep my mouth shut, he confided  his innermost thoughts to me - mostly his opinions about other banjo players - these banjoists are mostly long gone, but I will still keep his comments to myself.

Bill was an outstanding classic banjo player, probably the best that I have ever heard, and that includes Parke Hunter, TB jnr. etc. unfortunately he was given to being rather abrupt in his dealings with fellow human beings, including me, but being from the north of England where we all tend to call a spade a f------ shovel, I did not mind his eccentricities in this department, in fact I found it all very amusing.

Bill was a perfectionist in all areas of his life, his house was kept in immaculate condition, the paintwork, in particular, I remember, was to the highest standards that even the most professional of painters could aspire. There was never a hint of dust in the house, or an unwashed cup in the sink, and naturally, he was always well dressed, cuff links and everything, even, I suspect, when he was just digging the garden over.

He did have a period when he abandoned the banjo in favour of the piano, selling his instrument and all of his music; Bill then put his heart and soul into mastering the piano and studied furiously, becoming an L.R.A.M. Fortunately for us all, he did find a renewed interest in the banjo and performed at several of the Reading Banjo Festivals.

I had the pleasure and privilege of being asked to accompany him on several of his banjo engagements and got through them without too many severe reprimands.

His crowning achievement as regards the banjo were probably his appearances on the T.V. talent show, 'Opportunity Knocks' where he won the show a couple of times and played a magnificent version of Morley's 'Zarana' with a full orchestral accompaniment arranged and conducted by Bob Sharples, I saw this performance which was truly memorable.

Bill was good bloke, rest in peace.

There is much to tell of Bill and his banjo, but time and space must 

 

[thereallyniceman]

Thank you Richard,

I never met Bill but bought his LPs in the 1970/80s. It will be great to hear stories about him as if they are not told they will be lost. Please make the time to post. I am sure that they would be of great interest to us all.

Also it is interesting to here that it not only we Blackpudlians who call a spade a 'kin shovel !

[Richard William Ineson]

Good morning RNM,

I got cut off short, I knocked a cup of tea into my lap, so this made me press the wrong button - more later.

Incidentally, Mike Redman used to call on Bill most weeks and he played the banjo with him regularly, so he might want to tell his stories too.

[marc dalmasso]

May be , he could tell us why BB plays " el contrabandista " like a machine gun , which is not the right tempo for a bolero ; better  slower than faster ( Maurice Ravel has defined the tempo  , his bolero beeing one of the tune the most played in the W ) ; Did Bill really played it like this Live or somebody , which knows nothing had  digitally speeded up the tempo on the record ?

[Mike Moss]

There's Ravel speed -- and then there's Morley speed ;-)

[Greg Adams]

Thank you, Richard, for your great post about William Ball. I look forward to reading your future posts.

[shirlee jacklin]

I have a  record of my dads showboat orchestra with bill ball as a guest artist playing pompadore in the 70s