Audio Tapes – An Interview of Norman Payne

Norman Payne was a British trumpet player who was strongly influenced, in his early career, by Bix Beiderbecke. Born in 1910, he started playing professionally in 1926. In 1928, he was a member of Fred Elizalde’s band at the Savoy Hotel.

There, he met the bass saxophone player Adrian Rollini and his two buddies, Bobby Davis and Chelsea Quealey. In the late 1920s, Norman Payne made recordings with Fred Elizalde, the New Mayfair Orchestra (Ray Noble), the Rhythm Maniacs, Spike Hughes, etc. British jazz researcher Nick Dellow interviewed Norman Payne around 1985. Nick kindly made portions of his interview available. Various segments of the interview can be heard by clicking on the following links.

Norman Payne on Bix

Norman Payne on Bill Challis

Norman Payne on Chelsea Quealey

Norman Payne on Fred Elizalde

Noman Payne on Adrian Rollini and Bix

To hear a couple of selections by Norman Payne, go to http://www.bixography.com/wbix1to50.html, scroll down, and click on the link to WBIX # 29. I am indebted to Nick Dellow for his gift of the mp3 files and for his permission to upload them here.