Another piece of nostalgia, with this poster from Hilary Say.
Billy Botto's Club in Byker was one Newcastle's foremost nightspots in the sixties' world of northeast entertainment with music by the Malcolm Saul Trio (Malcom on piano, Derek Dixon on bass and Scotty Adair on drums).
Away from the club, the band were first call accompanists when JNE booked visiting American artists.
However, I first heard Malcolm at Gateshead Town Hall under unusual circumstances. The Bill le Sage Trio had been booked to back Sonny Stitt but their car broke down in York and they weren't going to make the gig.
The hall was packed. Dave Bell suggested the audience adjourn to a nearby pub, which we did.
When we returned Malcolm and his trio were on stage with Sonny Stitt and you'd have thought they'd been playing together as a quartet for years - another memorable moment!
Thank you Hilary for prompting me to remember this and also for confiding that Billy Botto's was where you met your first husband Mike [Gilby] in 1966.
Thank you Hilary for prompting me to remember this and also for confiding that Billy Botto's was where you met your first husband Mike [Gilby] in 1966.
Lance
PS: It was also the first time I heard The Shadow of Your Smile which will help to date it.
5 comments :
What a fabulous tale, Lance! I bet the joint was jumping - and the chickens would've been shaking in their baskets. Or maybe it wasn't that posh? But with Sonny Stitt up there - what a night!
The chickens weren't shaking in their baskets because the concert was held at Gateshead Town Hall and the Saul Trio were commandeered to leave their residency for the greater cause - extra money! As it was a night club they no doubt returned and played till a little later!
I was one half of singing duo Shirley and Johnny in the 1960's and 1970's. We played at Billy Bottos in Byker. I remember the brilliant band who backed us! One of the best we ever worked with.They also had another club somewhere else (can't remember where it was). We played there also.
Johnny Wheeler
In 1967 I was with the Don Smith band at the Oxford Galleries, Bottos was a favourite haunt for us after working. Bunny girls too as I remember.
My sister was a bunny girl at Billy Bottos, and I was a croupier for the Bailey Bros. ..Cavendish , La Dolce Vita, and sometimes The Latino in South Shields, boy we had great times then, after work down to the Quay Club till the wee hours and then to have breakfast at Bowers restaurant,All the night staff and some of the artists too would all be there. Wonderful memories especially now I’m nearly 80 and 3000 miles away from home in Canada.
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