As the Dead’s bassist Phil Lesh wrote in his autobiography Searching for the Sound (2005), it was “the greatest of all places of geomantic power and numinous mystery”. They obtained permission to play three benefits at the Great Pyramid of Giza that September.
The location was fit for purpose. In 1978, the Grateful Dead pulled off one of their most spectacular feats. Hamza El Din, oud and tar player, composer and engineer: born Wadi Halfa, Egypt 10 July 1929; married; died Berkeley, California 23 May 2006. The agency was very successful and in the Eighties Fallon specialised in booking piano vocalists in piano bars across the world.His bass playing continued to be in demand in the studios, on recordings, on television, but he continued his jazz work, accompanying visiting Americans and playing mostly with mainstream musicians like Digby Fairweather and Wally Fawkes into the middle of the Nineties.Steve Voce.

Fallon described the latter as “a very polite group of young lads” He also booked traditional jazz bands across Europe. They included, in their early years, Shirley Bassey, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He was one of the first to use the bass guitar, doubling on it and the acoustic instrument for the rest of his career.In 1952 Fallon founded the Cana agency and devoted much of his time to promoting the people on his books. He accompanied Lena Horne in 1955 and the leaders he worked for during the Fifties included Ralph Sharon, Humphrey Lyttelton, Harry Parry, Kenny Baker, Tony Crombie, Tubby Hayes and Tony Kinsey.

He worked often with the pianists Lennie Felix and Alan Clare and was the house bassist for the Lansdowne Studio’s record labels. He became friendly with the American singers Josh White and Big Bill Broonzy and separately made several tours with them.The regular groups he worked with included Johnny Duncan’s Blue Grass Boys and the Lennie Felix Trio and he played Latin and country music as well as jazz.Fallon crossed many musical boundaries, recording on violin with the Beatles in 1968, and playing a late- night session for Princess Margaret and her coterie. “See you on the bus on Monday,” was all he said after hearing Fallon play.The trio also accompanied the American singers Maxine Sullivan and Hoagy Carmichael and made an eight-week tour of Sweden with St?ane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, ending the year with a season in Nice.Fallon toured with both Mary Lou Williams and Sarah Vaughan in 1953 and was the first choice for any all-star jazz group. He was backed by Jack Fallon, the guitarist Malcolm Mitchell and the drummer Tony Crombie.Ellington was in his pyjamas on the Saturday night when Fallon arrived to audition for the job.