No, really? "Jiggy" got physical? Temper at times though. So you say, what, and what?
Jiggy was an affectionate nickname bestowed upon Sir John Eliot Gardiner anonymously during his tenure as principal conductor of the CBC Vancouver Orchestra ((1980 to 1983).
I was the recording engineer for all his recordings with that orchestra. He has a good ear for audio quality and with me over a supper I cooked, we plotted to replace the terrible JBL bulk head mounted speakers in our studio. The head of the technical department had refused, so we went higher up. He threatened to not sign his contract unless we got a pair of B&W 801s. That did the trick.
Bit of justified temper? I think so. We were in a session with some baroque works destined for broadcast on the CBC's national FM network. The orchestra was tuned to baroque pitch and used baroque bows bought for them. We had just acquired 2 new cellists, Russian by birth. Jiggy called for no vibrato, however the 2 of them kept playing as if it were Tchaikovsky and were vibrating like crazy. He stopped the orchestra and repeated his request. Did not sink in yet. He threatened to fire them. So, he left the studio, the producer took him aside to calm him down. Then the 2 cellists were asked to leave the studio for another chat with the producer. Some kind of mutual understanding was reached. What was said? I was not present for the discussions. But the session continued senza vibrato.
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