Once Upon A Time it came to pass that Muhammad Ali was honoured with a gala birthday dinner at The Grosvenor House Hotel. Not for nothing is its main function space known as The Great Room. It’s the largest event venue in London and, even if observing today’s guidelines, could probably seat many hundreds of socially distanced guests. It had been deemed appropriate that this glittering array of boxing aficionados, celebrity drinkers and hangers-on in need of a hip meal should be entertained at the conclusion of the formalities. As it transpired, that conclusion was to bear comparison with other astronomical measurements: ie, the nearer one travelled towards it, the further away it seemed to become.
Mitch recalls when Ollie Halsall sat in on second guitar
My bit part in proceedings was to provide Freddy Green stylings for a big band under the direction of Emmy Award winning composer, arranger and jazz saxophonist, John Altman. I would suggest that the fact that he went on to enjoy a career in music of any kind after the evening in question is testimony in itself to his talent. We were engaged primarily to accompany ‘The world’s greatest Nat King Cole stylist’. And in truth, the gentleman was not half bad at all.