Author Topic: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960  (Read 16047 times)

roystonp123

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #22 on: April 04, 2013, 04:50:53 PM »
 :-\ hi there
yes i remember the allnight jazz sessions at the town hall it was good to sit on the stage next to the band and
chat.I remember kenny ball chris barber does any body remember clyde valley stompers,bob wallis storyville jazzmen.i was reminiciusing with vic pitt and pat halcox at aberystwyth how we would struggle
to stay awake all through the night.who was it that marched round the town hall and then on to the stage
the atmosphere was wonderful.I saw louis armstrong at the odeon new street with my girlfriend who is
now my wife.I ran into trummy young as he was crossing the road to get a hamburger what a night
we missed the last bus and had to walk home along the coventry road to sheldon.

beatnick bo

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 39
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #23 on: April 04, 2013, 04:58:23 PM »
Hi all I remember many of the places and names I alwys liked Nick Williams at the Central I do remember going to see Chris Barber I know its not Jazz but the forerunner blues and seeing Sony Terry Brownie Magee and rev garry Davies at the town hall early 60's Also on a Saturday morning the Chape; jazz club in Livery st and on to the modern jazz in the Grotto great days

jennymoores

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #24 on: June 04, 2013, 11:06:46 AM »
Hi

I too went to the MJC.  My memory doesn't serve me well of late.  Was it Wednesday evening Modern Jazz and Friday night Trad or the other way round?  When I first heard Modern Jazz (Sombrero Coffee Bar, Bristol Street) that was it - my music.   I do enjoy all sorts of music, but Mod Jazz and the Jazz stylists are my first love.   I wish the BBC served us jazz fans better.  Saturday afternoons and very late some evenings on 3, and occasionally at 7pm on 2. I left Birmingham in 1963 and have lived in rural Scotland for many years.  Platform Jazz used to make regular visits to the Scottish Borders, but unfortunately they gave up through lack of attendance - I was gutted.  Luckily I have a son and daughter who eventually settled in Birmingham and I am still a regular visitor.  They too are jazz fans - it must be in their genes and Birmingham in their blood.   Always a Brummy - I've never lost that accent!  Coffee bars, Casino (Mecca Dance Hall), MJC, Kardoma Coffee Houses,  Corporation Street, New Street, the new Smallbrook ringway development,  BSofC, Waseley Hills School, etc. oh what memories they all evoke.  Writhing in nostalgia, better get on with 'now'. 

Boz

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 70
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #25 on: June 05, 2013, 10:13:15 AM »
Hi

I too went to the MJC.  My memory doesn't serve me well of late.  Was it Wednesday evening Modern Jazz and Friday night Trad or the other way round?  When I first heard Modern Jazz (Sombrero Coffee Bar, Bristol Street) that was it - my music.   I do enjoy all sorts of music, but Mod Jazz and the Jazz stylists are my first love.   I wish the BBC served us jazz fans better.  Saturday afternoons and very late some evenings on 3, and occasionally at 7pm on 2. I left Birmingham in 1963 and have lived in rural Scotland for many years.  Platform Jazz used to make regular visits to the Scottish Borders, but unfortunately they gave up through lack of attendance - I was gutted.  Luckily I have a son and daughter who eventually settled in Birmingham and I am still a regular visitor.  They too are jazz fans - it must be in their genes and Birmingham in their blood.   Always a Brummy - I've never lost that accent!  Coffee bars, Casino (Mecca Dance Hall), MJC, Kardoma Coffee Houses,  Corporation Street, New Street, the new Smallbrook ringway development,  BSofC, Waseley Hills School, etc. oh what memories they all evoke.  Writhing in nostalgia, better get on with 'now'.

Jenny,
 
Ah, the Sombrero coffee bar, spent many a happy hour in there after modern jazz concerts at the Town Hall.
 
Like you, left Brum a long time ago now for the South West, but also not lost my accent, no reason to.
 
I watch the BBC 3 or 4 TV Friday night music programmes when they feature jazz, both singers and musicians, but these are not as regular as I'd like, but grateful for small mercies.  8)
 
 

Spud

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 90267
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #26 on: June 05, 2013, 11:42:11 AM »
I have not always been a Jazz enthusiast but since I was very young my parents always had an interest in Music and always made a point of listening to the old Light Programme. Names like Henry Hall, Cyril Stapleton and of course Old Joe Loss were always popular in those days. Of course in the Mid Fifties Music took a big turn when the likes of Bill Haley and Elvis dominated the Music scene and for the first time young people had a Music of their own. I will be the first to admit I was caught up with the wave of Rock and Roll  and Pop Music. Real Rock and Pop Music not the rubbish of today where how you look is more important than what you sound like . Even in those far off days of the 50s occasionally a genuinely great song or artist still managed to squeeze in to the Top Ten wedged between Little Richard and Jerry Lee. The likes of Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Ella had their successes. It was probably in the late 50s that I began to listen to what today is termed easy listening or wrinkly rock as my Daughter would say. Listening to say Ella or Sinatra is almost impossible not to stray in to the world of Jazz. The Big Bands of Billy May Nelson Riddle and even the Great Late Glenn Miller all have some Jazz influence and their Bands always included some great Jazz musicians. I am told that I  mainstream Jazz is my bag or at least that is how I started out with the likes of Oscar Peterson but I still find that even mainstream overlaps. You begin to listen to the Great Louis Armstrong and before you know it Dixieland is on your playlist [there you see I'm up with the latest jargon]. I think it was our mate Phil who said he does not understand jazz . Phil there ain't anything to understand many of the greats could not even read a note of Music. Like the man said about striptease never mind how they do it just sit back and enjoy. The expanse of Jazz seems never ending from Billie Holiday to Ella from Peterson to Garner. Old works are still being un-earthed only this year an recording from 1962 of Dave Brubeck with Tony Bennett has been discovered never before released all but lost in the archives of Sony Music. And the music lives on still there are little pockets of enthusiasts who meet every month to listen to Jazz , Sinatra, Ella and the like it is such a pity that the likes of The BBC who must still have the most incredible Library of Jazz and Music from the Golden Days of Popular music,The 30s, The 40s , The 50s and even later choose to all but ignore this genre [ I hate that word] of  Music.   
The Only Free Cheese is in The Trap

jennymoores

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #27 on: June 06, 2013, 07:46:19 AM »
Hi Spud, I found your reply most informative and I so agree with your sentiments.  My father died many years ago, but about three years ago my sister came up with a tape which she said was my Dad's.  I played it and much to my surprise it was my kind of music.  I never knew we had that in common.  The tracks included Art Blakey, Chet Baker, Zoot Sims, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Thelonius Monk, Errol Garner, Paul Desmon & Jim Hall, Gerry Mulligan, Miles Davis, Bud Powell.  I so treasure this find and play it often.  :)

Spud

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 90267
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #28 on: June 06, 2013, 01:44:30 PM »
Hi Jenny
Jazz is a bottomless pit. Just as I think that I have found my niche something else pops up. Strangely the first couple of the  Jazz Albums which I bought were Andre Previn playing My Fair Lady and an obscure Album by Fred Astaire accompanied by Oscar Peterson and the likes of Joe Pass. My wife and I are big Sinatra fans, we once attended a concert at the London Palladium Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie were 'The Support Acts'  and the one and only Sinatra topped the bill.
I often think that many people listen to Jazz without really knowing that it is Jazz that they are listening to. I write and record a few programmes for some of the Local Music Societies and I have been working on a programme due to go out later this year.Fingers crossed it will be well received . Its difficult to know what people like and easy to include your own personal Favourites and you do have to get your facts right there is always someone in the audience who knows more than me. Thanks for your interest.   
 
The Only Free Cheese is in The Trap

wam

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 208
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #29 on: June 10, 2013, 10:51:38 AM »
Old works are still being un-earthed only this year an recording from 1962 of Dave Brubeck with Tony Bennett has been discovered never before released all but lost in the archives of Sony Music. And the music lives on still there are little pockets of enthusiasts who meet every month to listen to Jazz , Sinatra, Ella and the like it is such a pity that the likes of The BBC who must still have the most incredible Library of Jazz and Music from the Golden Days of Popular music,The 30s, The 40s , The 50s and even later choose to all but ignore this genre [ I hate that word] of  Music.


There's a lot here that I wouldn't be so sure of. Jazz was essentially an American thing. A lot of the older acts never played in this country and the BBC didn't record much outside their own studios for quite a while. It's even likely that most of the performances in studio weren't recorded. Despite his rise to power in the corporation, I'd be surprised if there was any archive of Bill Cotton's old shows - and this is the sort of thing that the BBC is likely to have had rights for.
As to other old material being re-released - a lot of that is going to be scraps and bad recordings (possibly enhanced). Some artists have been getting that treatment for years. Enhancement techniques will mean there's the odd good one but that will usually be the exception.
When the BBC changed the radio stations in the 60s Jazz wound up taking second place to classical on radio 3. There's still some there on a regular basis but you'd be lucky to get a couple of hours a day.

Spud

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 90267
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #30 on: June 10, 2013, 05:21:55 PM »
Wam.
 I am not really talking about BBC recordings but their Record Library Vinyl CD etc . But to be fair they put out an old Recording of Brubeck introduced by Steve Race on BBC 3 or 4 a couple of weeks ago it was so old it was in Black and White.  I appreciate what you are saying that some of the artists mentioned are not strictly speaking from the Jazz stable but my point is that many Singers such as Sinatra and say Bennett did venture into Jazz Sinatra did at least 3 Albums with Basie and toured with a small jazz group headed by Red Norvo. Like wise Bennett did albums with Basie and Brubeck, he also did an album accompanied by just Jazz percussion and a Billie Holiday 'Tribute' Album a few years ago . You could also argue that the likes of Ella and Sarah Vaughan crossed over into both Jazz and Easy listening the Famous Ella Song Books were accompanied by the likes of Riddle and May etc. Even Billie Holiday did an Album with Ray Ellis which could not really be construed as Jazz and yet she will be remembered as a Jazz singer.(I agree that the US was the origin for Jazz  King Oliver Hendricks even Louis himself but even Armstrong strayed into  Easy Listening .
As regards the quality of recent releases to  a degree I agree with you but the recent Bennett / Brubeck release is first class not so much as a hiss. I recently bought the Benny Goodman Carniege Hall Concert from 1938 and even that is really good as is Louis and the Dukes of Dixieland 
The Only Free Cheese is in The Trap

Laurie

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #31 on: July 17, 2013, 10:09:41 AM »
I remember the MJC in the 1950's and I even played clarinet there in the 1960s. The was also a Jazz club at a pub on the corner of Moor Street; I think it was the Birmingham Jazz Club. I played occasionally with Pete Rollason and Charlie Powell. I seem to remember a long running club in the Aston area as well. Does anyone remember the Shantysea Club in Sutton Coldfield?

Phil

  • Account Closed
  • *
  • Posts: 32653
Re: trad jazz clubs birmingham 1950-1960
« Reply #32 on: July 17, 2013, 10:52:36 AM »
Hi Laurie
 
Welcome to the forum, I'm not a jazz fan and I know next to nothing about it, but the jazz club at the pub on the corner of Moor St and Dale End was the Upstairs Club at the Stone Cross.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.


 

Terms of Use     Privacy Policy