Licorice Soul Records

Alan Randall started out as a pianist and vibraphone player and it was only in the second half of his career that he became known as the foremost George Formby revivalist there has ever been. He began his career with Gerry Allen's trio, and enjoyed stints in a number of notable jazz bands throughout the 1950s, before he started picking up the ukulele.

During a season as part of the band at the Windmill Theatre in London Alan also secured a solo slot playing a couple of comedy numbers in the review show. The ukulele set met with much acclaim and Alan's popularity over many years saw him appear on the bill at two Royal Variety Performances, make numerous television appearances, including shows such as the BBC's The Good Old Days and many more top-line engagements, including a stint in Las Vegas. Alan developed his own cabaret show, where he would mix George Formby numbers with his beloved jazz, switching from vibes to piano and also drums - often surprising audiences who would only be familiar with his ukulele numbers.

Alan made a number of albums for major labels, such as MAM and Decca that solely showcased the George Formby nostalgia side of his act. "The Alan Randall Souvenir Album" was recorded in 1979 at Grosvenor Studios in Birmingham - owners John and Jean Taylor being amongst his friends. Alan gathered a quintet of friends and colleagues from the jazz world and enlisting the talents to library music composer David Gold to assist him with the arrangement and production duties. Featured on the album was Colin Hodgkinson, fresh out of jazz-rockers Back Door, who was playing in the orchestra pit at Lowestoft where Alan was doing the summer season. Hodgkinson would go on to enjoy stints with Jan Hammer in Whitesnake.

Somewhere in excess of two thousand copies of the album were manufactured and sold to audiences at live performances for the remainder of Alan's career, which continued into the 1990s. In recent years a CD was produced featuring another collection of jazz numbers that Alan and his band had recorded especially for broadcast on the BBC - no other document of his talents in this area exists.

Sadly, Alan passed away in April 2005 after a long illness. He was very highly regarded as a vibes player throughout the jazz community, despite being more popularly known for his George Formby act.