Your memories

One hip person has responded so far. Add your thoughts...

1. Barry Beckett says...
   10 November, 2009

   I saw “Peter Chatman” in the winter of 1982-3 at a small club in Megéve in the French Alps, not far from my then home in Geneva. He took a fancy to a friend who had come with me and charmingly asked her to join him in his hotel, unaware of her eyes roaming the room for other women. So we chatted and agreed to meet next time I was in Paris to talk about a possible Blues documentary for television. Blues in the early 80’s was being passed over, often living legends could barely make a living.
   In the spring we met in a Paris, St Michel restaurant. After sizing me up a little he walked me to his brown Rolls Royce and we drove to the nearby apartment he shared with his French wife and teenage daughter. In his modest living room was a drop down portable record player and a stack of 45’s and a few 78’s. As we talked about what the Blues meant, current attitudes and what a film should reveal, he played his treasure of his old records. His charming, almost regal composure fell away revealing an almost childlike naivety as he played me record after record. He told me proudly that his mother was a Yemeni princess. After an hour or so we said our goodbyes, sharing information to stay in touch. As things turned out, getting the BBC or any other TV company at that time to finance a film of the Blues was near impossible. My own path led me to other films and projects. I called him in Paris to thank him. He toured a lot and we never spoke again. I was sad when he died, knowing an important opportunity had been missed. If only we had such a film now of those great Blues masters. Willie Dixon was a close friend of Peter’s ( actually his father’s name, his being John Len Chatman) and would have been a part of it. Tant pis.

   ---