Trombonist and River City bandleader, Gordon Solomon, kindly sent me this cutting from one of the local newspapers about a long gone, but fondly remembered session at the Crowley in Swalwell led by 'Mighty' Joe Young. The Inland Revenue had, at the time, one of the band members in its sights hence les noms de plumes.
Now that most of the suspects have gone to a higher (or a lower) place, those who have served their sentences (six month's hard labour or a week of listening to Des O'Connor) or are no longer on the run can be revealed as: Derek Cogger (trumpet); Gordon Solomon (trombone); Ronnie Robinson (clarinet); Dave Rae (banjo); Mac Rae (drums) and John 'Mighty Joe' Young (bass).
Blaydon and its environs was a hot bed of jazz back then - and it still is now that (hopefully) the signs are that Blaydon Jazz Club's monthly sessions will soon be resuming at the Black Bull. Next year will be the club's 40th birthday. Watch this space. Lance
2 comments :
10p admission, that was a bit steep (for the time), wasn't it?!
Ah, Sir Ambrose Crowley III. Your readers who don't know may be interested to learn he came north (from Stourbridge) and opened his 'factory' (smithy work - nails, chains, tools) in 1690 extending soon from Winlaton to Winlaton Mill and then Swalwell. Within years it was said to be the biggest co-ordinated industrial facility in Europe with well over 1000 workers who received steady wages including sickness/pension/education benefits. Apparently the first example of a 'working class' society in the modern sense. The last chain maker, Nixon & Whitfield, closed it's doors in December 1966 bringing to an end 276 years of smithy type work in Winlaton. It is quite a story and still the subject of academic research.
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