Dick Cuthell

Dick Cuthell is a British musician. He plays flugelhorn, cornet, and trumpet,amongst a range of other brass instruments, including tenor horn and valve trombone. Cuthell is best known for his work with The Specials and Rico Rodriguez. He also collaborated with bands such as The Madness, Eurythmics, Fun Boy Three, XTC, and The Pogues. In addition to a range of horns, Cuthell also plays bass, keyboards and percussion and is a composer and arranger.

Dick Cuthell was part of the second wave of bands that developed in Liverpool, following the success of the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers and other bands referred to as 'Merseybeat'. This second wave looked to the United States and jazz and soul artists for their influences. The band with which Cuthell reached a national audience was the Washington Soul Band.

Once he was based in London, Dick Cuthell worked with a wider range of musicians, both as a horn player and a recording engineer at Island, and other studios.

As a horn player:

The Washington Soul Band changed its name to Selofane when it became based in London, and its repertoire became more pop-oriented. During the next few years Dick Cuthell was a member of a number of bands, including Rich, Grimes and Babylon and Trifle. Work at Island Studios in both Jamaica and London brought him into contact with reggae and ska musicians, and these became a constant theme in the music he played and produced. As the 2-Tone bands gained success in the United Kingdom Cuthell’s involvement with them grew. Despite this, his repertoire and range of playing encompassed an eclectic mix: pop, reggae, ska, 2-Tone and jazz.

Artists with whom he played were, in alphabetical order:

Agnes Bernelle, Amazulu, Aswad, Black Roots, Blancmange, Burning Spear, Buster Bloodvessel, Carol Grimes, Cedric Myton and the Congoes, Chaz Jankel, Chris Spedding, Chris Wood, Count Ozzie & The Mystical Revelation Of Jah Rastafari, Dean Garcia, DefDFires, Delroy Washington, Desi's Allstars, Eddie Quansah, Elvis Costello, Faithless, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Fun Boy Three, Hugh Masekela, Jade Warrior, Jimmy Haynes, Joan Armatrading, John Martyn, Julian Cope, Kirsty McColl, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Level 42, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Madness, Michael Smith, Nasty Pop, Orange Juice, Phil Collins, Reebop Kwaku Bah, Remi Kabaka, Rich, Grimes & Babylon, Rico Rodriguez, Sandy Denny, Selector, Selofane, Shane McGowan, Sir Coxone, Sly & Robbie, Startled Insects, Steel Pulse, Steve Winwood, Terrorvision, The Blockheads, The Boothill FootTappers, The Deltones, The Eurythmics, The Gibson Brothers, The Happy End, The Heptones, The Members, The Pogues, The Popes, The Potato Five, The Red Crayola, The Sessionmen, The Special AKA, The Specials, The Wailers, The Washington Soul Band, Toots & The Maytals, Tribesman, Trifle, Vic Goddard, Visionistics, Wailing Souls, White Door, XTC.

Work as a Sound Engineer

Cuthell worked with a number of these artists as an engineer in recording studios: Amazulu, Annette Peacock, Aswad, Bad Company, Black Roots, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Brian Eno, Brian Ferry, Burning Spear, Charlie Dore, Chris Rea, Chris Wood, Count Ozzie & The Mystical Revelation Of Jah Rastafari, Del Shannon, Delroy Washington, Donnie Elbert, Eddie Quansah, Fairport, Free, George Faith, Georgie Fame, Herbie Flowers, I Jah Man, Jade Warrior, Jess Roden, Jim Capaldi, Jimmy Cliff, John Martyn, Lee Perry, Millie, Nasty Pop, Pete Wingfield, Peter Skellern, Phil Collins, Reebop Kwaku Bah, Remi Kabaka, Rico Rodriguez, Robert Palmer, Roxy Music, S.A.H.B., Sandy Denny, Sir Coxone, Sly & Robbie, Speedy Keen, Sparks, Steve Winwood, The Boothill FootTappers, The Deltones, The Happy End, The Heptones, The Members, The Potato Five, The Special AKA, The Tearjerkers, The Wailers, Toots & The Maytals, Traffic, Ultravox, Visionistics and Wailing Souls.

He also engineered and produced Third World.

Production and Recording

His relationship with some bands was longer lasting. He played, engineered and produced tracks for Amazulu, China Street, Rico Rodriguez, The Boothill FootTappers, The Deltones, The Happy End, The Members, The Potato Five, The Special AKA, Visionistics. One iconic track by Special AKA was ‘Racist Friend’, which Dick Cuthell co-wrote and on which he played bass and piano, in addition to the usual range of horns. Cuthell also worked with Harry J and Jack Ruby.

Night Spirit The Visionistics This track was originally entitled ‘Night Shift’ but, Dick soon realised that there were a number of other tracks with that, or similar, titles. Night Spirit was recorded at the studios in which Dick had just finished laying down horn tracks for the Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’ album. Their producer Adam Williams asked Dick if he’d like to record some of his own tunes – Adam had previously played bass on ‘Rock Against Racism’ that Dick had produced.

The tune was recorded on 16-track tape: Adam played bass amd Dick played the rest of the instruments. Dick left the session with a rough mix on cassette, which was just as well: the master tape tape was lost, leaving the only surviving mix on cassette. It’s now been digitised.

Here it is. Media:Night Spirit.ogg ‘Night Spirit’ Visionistics Written and arranged by Dick Cuthell Recorded by Adam Williams at Chalk Farm Studios, London, 1982 Produced by Dick Cuthell for DC Productions. Publisher, Plangent Visions Dick Cuthell: Flugel Horn, Cornets, Keyboards, Percussion Adam Williams: Bass