 |
| (Fred Rowe) |
Possibly the first ever jazz club I visited was the Wouldhave Restaurant on the sea front at South Shields. With the night club boom of the 1960s it became the Beach Club and then the Shoreline Club. It was the kind of place where even Hell's Angels feared to tread! However, back then, in the early 1950s, on a Sunday night it was a jazz club featuring the Rivermouth Jazzmen with Fred Rowe on trumpet, Bill Harper on piano as well as others whose names now escape me. Unfortunately, it didn't have a liquor licence so it was necessary to tank up beforehand then sprint across the road to the Sea Hotel for further sustenance during the interval.
 |
| (Ray Chester) |
The Bungalow Jazz Club was another long gone jazz watering hole in South Shields. During the week it was the Gilbert Daniels School of Ballroom Dancing situated behind the County Hotel but, on Friday nights it was anything but a ballroom. Among the musicians that I recall were Ray Chester, trombone, Eric Pollard, tenor sax and Dave Fox, drums. In the early days of BSH there were two lengthy pieces on the Bungalow by Jim McDowell and Ray Chester. Sadly, both are no longer with us.
 |
| (Sammy Rimington) |
Over the years, South Shields Jazz Club was housed in a variety of venues but, most notably, in the New Crown Hotel and, latterly, Westoe Rugby Club which, coincidentally, is but a few decibels distant (on a clear night) from the site of the old Bungalow Jazz Club. Most of the local, mainly trad, bands played both venues although occasionally, a national, even international star was booked to appear. Kenny Davern, Sammy Rimington, the Belgium gipsy band Waso were just some of the visitors.
 |
| (Bill Harper) |
Up on the Lawe top there were a couple of pubs one of which featured jazz. I can't remember if it was The Beacon or the Harbour Lights but there were some good sessions with, once more, Bill Harper on piano and Tommy Moran on alto. (Thanks to David Francis for pointing out it was actually the Turks Head!)
 |
| (Maine Street Jazzmen) |
For a couple of years, Rosie Malone's (since renamed The Address) in the Market Place had some great Thursday lunchtime sessions with the Maine Street Jazzmen led by Herbie Hudson on trombone, Ray Harley, trumpet, Jim McBriarty, clarinet, Alan Rudd, bass, Olive Rudd, vocals, George Richardson/Malcolm Armstrong, piano and Mike Humble/Tommy Graham, drums. It was at one of these sessions that I first met the great drummer Eric Delaney.
 |
| (George Laing) |
Apart from the recognised jazz gigs, in the 1950s/1960s there were a lot of fine piano, bass & drums trios and organ & drums duos playing in various bars and CIU clubs. These included George Laing at The Cyprus, Kenny Goodall at The Catholic Club, Chic Cole at The Kismet, Ronnie Callaghan at The Kings dance hall. There were many more. Callaghan formed a band that reached the final of the prestigious All-Britain Contest organised by the Melody Maker. At the Hedworth Hall the Johnny Openshaw Band played for dancing but it was also where future blues singing legend Sheila Giles made her debut.
 |
| (Customs House Big Band) |
Jazz is practically non-existent in South Shields these days save for occasional concerts at The Customs House and, of course, The Customs House Big Band, led over the years by Tommy Moran, Keith Robinson and, currently, Peter Morgan. Their annual concerts at their home base are always a big attraction as were their open rehearsals at the New Crown Hotel.
This is but a general picture as I remember it. I'm sure there are readers out there who can augment these memories - Lance
* Sand Dancers - a (usually) affectionate term for the residents of South Shields.
9 comments :
The Cellar Club hosted gigs in the 60s - Jimi Hendrix for one. Years later when the place reopened, an out-of-retirement Peter Green played his first indoor gig there. Two nights, sell outs in minutes of tickets going on sale. John Dankworth & Cleo Laine appeared at the Cellar Club, as did the West Jesmond Rhythm Kings. I recall the WJRKs outnumbering the audience!
I never went to the Cellar Club. Despite Dankworth, Cleo and WJRK, to me it wasn't a jazz club.
I think it might have been the (now demolished) Turks Head on the Lawe Top that did live jazz.
You're right David it was indeed the Turks Head!
Fred! Lovely man who knew so many tunes. Played in bands with him for years. Very expressive eyebrows which signalled if he was going for a high note!
Fred guested many times with us at the Porthole and the Jazz Esquires always a pleasure !
Fred was also a keen cycling fan and, when we weren't talking jazz we were talking bikes. I remember him telling me that for 'a significant birthday' present his family paid for him to go to a Six Day Race in Belgium. He loved the racing but wasn't so keen on being surrounded in the arena by chain-smoking Belgium fans!
I remember the Beach Club well. In the mid sixties I ran the Phoenix Jazzband, we had Derek Dalton on trumpet, Johnty Clegg clarinet, Jim Wilkinson banjo, Eddie Piper bass, Gordon Herrick drums with myself on trombone. We had a Monday residency at the New Orleans Club on Forth Banks in Newcastle which finished at 10.30 pm in those days. At the end of the session we used to throw everything into the cars and race down to the Beach Club for our second residency which started at 11.30 pm. and finished around 1.30 am. The resident band there was the excellent Scott Adair Trio, I can't recall the name of the keyboard player but Willie Payne was on guitar, it was worth all the effort just to listen to his solos. This arrangement lasted for about a year, after which the live music was replaced by the inevitable disco.
Such fun,
Gordon Solomon.
I remember playing in a pub called the Douglass Vaults around 1974 with the Vieux Carre. I even have some photos of the band taken there, including Gordon Solomon on trombone and Gassy on trumpet and comb-over! Much of my early playing "career" was in Eddie Tindle's dance band at the New Crown, the Hedworth Hall Masonic (run by ex-trumpet player Alfie Josephs) and over the road at the huge Londonderry Drill Hall, where our quartet would play, unamplified, between 8pm and 1am (or sometimes 2am!) with just one 20 minute break. I could crack walnuts with my embouchure in those days! In 1976, the Savannah Syncopators played for a few weeks in a basement jazz club (or maybe just a basement!) in a pub called the Ship and Royal on the junction of King St. and Mile End Road. One night someone turned the lights out by accident (?) but the band just carried on playing apart from the lead trumpet and the lead alto, both of whom were the only competent readers in the band! The last South Shields musical memory I have is of going with Brian Fisher on Saturdays mornings to a school (Stanhope St.?) to watch Stan Coates run big band workshops for young musicians with the able assistance of Ronnie Pipe on piano and arranging, and other fine musicians. Happy days!
Post a Comment