This is a clip of the world famous Chris Barber Jazz & Blues Band with my lifelong friend, (same school in Hornchurch), Russell Gilbrook on drums - long before he joined Uriah Heep. Russell was with Chris Barber from 1990-1994 and I travelled with the band throughout the U.K, Holland and Germany. I met and chatted with guest artists such as the U.S.A's Wendell Brunious and the great Monty Sunshine and Lonnie Donnegan. Vic Pitt, John Crocker, John Slaughter and Pat Halcox (one of the kindest men I have ever met) were my regular debaters on world affairs and all were fonts of wisdom. I even met Humphrey Lyttelton and spent 10 precious minutes alone talking to him in 1995 on a 'Best of British Jazz' tour. Kenny Ball too - what a generous soul! John Crocker as at 2021 is the only living member of that particular Chris Barber line-up still alive - along with Russell of course. Russell told me that Chris Barber even turned up at a Uriah Heep concert to ask Russell if he wanted to do some more guest appearances for Chris's band. Oh, how time flies! What will the next life bring for us ... we all wonder, do we not, in those lonely hours of contemplation when the lights are off?

Farid El Diwany on the left with his arm around the evergreen Chris Barber with the superman drummer Russell Gilbrook in 1992.