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Birmingham Jazz Alive & Well

S

Shawcross

master brummie
The warm responses received by Norfolk Brummie to the fascinating stories of his eminent years as a jazz/swing/dance band drummer of repute has set me wondering about just how many survivors there are of the early post-war Trad Jazz boom in Britain.
Several have already recalled the Adam & Eve Dixieland nights in Bradford Street and in particular a young George Huxley and his band appearing regularly there.
My chief memories are of Freddie Randle and Humphrey Lyttleton at the Town Hall and dance bands such as Sonny Rose at the West End and many different ones at the Tower (before it became the New Gay Tower!) and Locarno Ballrooms.
Then, of course, there was the Waterworks Jazz Club by Edgbaston Reservoir before it moved on and the arrival of the annual Birmingham Jazz Festival with dozens of pubs, like the Fiddle and Bone staging acts that could have graced any stage in the world.
Birmingham always was a great jazz city...and it still is. I'm fortunate enough to visit the Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club at Walmley Social Club every Wednesday night (if possible) and for a mere fiver we get excellent jazz with a wide variety of bands throughout the year at a most comfortable and stylish venue with easy parking attached.
I would love to hear from vintage jazz lovers like my wife and myself with reminiscences about happy jazzin' occasions...and with thanks to Norfolk Brummie for tapping into the well of goodwill for 'our kind of music' that clearly still exists in abundance.
 
HAVING A DANCE...& ALL THAT JAZZ
Since my post of yesterday I've been asked if there is dancing at Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club and the answer is that Walmley Social Club has a sizeable dance floor in front of the stage and many of the regulars enjoy a dance as much as we all love listening to our favourite music.
The bands tend to play some slower, romantic numbers for the vintage smoochers and most of the bands have vocalists... not to mention the kind of sense of humour common to musicians of our era. The atmosphere of the evening is just lovely, (far better than at the care homes, of which there are many in the vicinity.)

One of our regular elderly ladies who must be heading towards the eighties had a nasty fall recently and cracked a knee cap...did that make her an invalid for the rest of her days? Not on your life...within a month she was back on the dance floor. That seems to prove that for people of a certain age Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club has health, as well as entertainment, benefits. Two mottos then....k-e-e-p Dancin' as well as k-e-e-p Jazzin'
 
I well remember the bands mentioned by Shawcross.

My memories of the late forties and fifties are of wonderful music of all types.

In those days clubs, pubs, dance halls, theatres & concert halls were awash with good live music. Big bands, dance bands, 'modern' jazz bands, traditional & Dixieland bands, and everything else in between.

Names that come to mind in the more traditionalist style are Ken Colyer; Mick Mulligan/George Melly; Sandy Brown; Bob Wallis; Alex Welsh; George Webb; Sid Phillips; Crane River Jazz Band; Saints Jazz Band; Christie Brothers; Swing College; Merseysippi Jazz Band; Beryl Bryden; Wally Fawkes; Brownie McGee/Sonny Terry. There was plenty of music, and all good to listen, to whether you were dancing or just sitting with a pint of beer, and you could hear yourself speak!!

Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club sounds like a great place for musicians to play and for the audience to listen to good music. It must bring back lots of memories for the older patrons, who no doubt appear to enjoy themselves, but it also sounds the right place for younger folk to enjoy good music. These type of clubs are so important as the 'keepers' of good, live music.
Long may Sutton Coldfield Jazz Club remain. Eddie
 
I used to enjoy most of the bands/groups mentioned above. Plus, don't forget Dick Charlesworth.
Great nights at the Midland Jazz Club, Piccadilly Jazz Club and the West End (with its springy dance floor).
Now wishing I lived nearer Sutton Coldfield!!!
 
We'd love to send a car for you Charlie...if only we had that sort of funding!!!!...all jazz/swing lovers are welcome at the Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz club so it's good to hear from you. Hopefully some jazz lovers from nearer to the Sutton/Walmley area will give it a try. No membership is needed. Just sign in, pay your fiver and find yourself a seat. Hot beverages as well as drinks are available at the bar. Let's keep jazz alive for ourselves and for future generations.
 
Trad Jazz I loved Humph and his group. A few years ago, My sister was married, before her husband died, they lived in a mansion in Clent. Up the street from them was a pub. 'The Lyttleton Arms' she thought that Humph owned it and that every Sunday a jazz group played there, A couple of years ago we went there for a meal and it was now a Carvery or some such. When we had the band and I am sure Eddie will agree, One of our most popular tunes was 'When the Saints go marching in' Eddie did a real good drum solo on that one.John Crump Parker, Colorado USA
 
I remember going to a couple of gigs arranged by the Birmingham Jazz Society in the 80s or 90s. I think their regular venue at the time was the Strathallan although one event was at the rep. I theink the society was responsible for the Jazz festival but that either doesn't happen or just doesn't get advertised so well. The society is still going and seem to be running weekly gigs https://www.birminghamjazz.co.uk/
 
Thanks for that Wam. Great to know that live jazz from any era is alive and well. From looking at the link you provided I would say that the Birmingham Jazz Society is based on what some would call 'modern jazz' that progressed from the 1960s...more about great musicians such as Miles Davies, Charlie Parker, JJ Johnston and many more. Regulars at the Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club are more into the sounds of the 1920s/30s/40s/50s....Joe King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, through the Trad Jazz Boom of the 1950s featuring Kenny Ball, Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and all those household names of the time.

Into this at the Walmley Social Club (where the SCTJC meets every Wednesday night), is mixed some swing numbers from the big band era of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, wonderful stuff for the dancers.

Re-the Birmingham Jazz Festival...it's still very much going strong each summer, Wam, and it covers 'trad' and 'modern' jazz wonderfully. Personally, though, I don't like the labels 'trad' and 'modern'. It's all 'jazz' and all 'jazz' is music. To each is own, I say...as long as just keep jazzin'.
 
MILLENNIUM EAGLE, one of the popular regular bands at the Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club, gave a rousing performance at Jazz-a-Matazz in Coventry yesterday. Real Jazz and Real Ale: what an ideal way to spend a Sunday lunchtime. Matt Palmer, a versatile reeds man and one of the younger generation of leading jazz musicians, formed the Midland-based band on the demise of the former Eagle jazz Band in 2005.
As when they play at Walmley Social Club they have a great repertoire of numbers made famous by the legendry exponents of the pre-WW2 era in New Orleans and Chicago together with popular favourite songs played in Dixieland style together with vocals of a sing-along nature like Baby Face and Your Made Me Love You. Perfect mix: Jazz for the purists seeking Joe King Oliver, Kid Ory or Duke Ellington sounds along with some aimed at the dancers and those who simply want to be entertained.
I was sorry when it was time to return home...fortunately we can enjoy them again at Walmley Social Club on Wednesday, March 18. Why not give it a try?
The full gig list can be found on https://www.suttoncoldfieldtradjazzclub.btik.com/
 
I thought I'd give the Brian Newton Big Band a plug. The band play at the Triplex Social Club, Eckersall Road, Kings Norton on the first Monday of every month, admission on the door is a fiver. Their website is here:- https://www.thecats-whiskers.org/bnbb/ where you can hear the band, check out the band members - mostly our age - and they play a wide variety of big band music. Brian knew Stan Kenton very well and has a number of arrangement given to him personally by Stan.

Maurice
 
Shawcross said:
Thanks for that Wam. Great to know that live jazz from any era is alive and well. From looking at the link you provided I would say that the Birmingham Jazz Society is based on what some would call 'modern jazz' that progressed from the 1960s...more about great musicians such as Miles Davies, Charlie Parker, JJ Johnston and many more. Regulars at the Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club are more into the sounds of the 1920s/30s/40s/50s....Joe King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, through the Trad Jazz Boom of the 1950s featuring Kenny Ball, Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and all those household names of the time. {cut}
Click to expand...
I'm not sure about the BJS having any special allegiance to one period/form or another. Checking the recent archive shows a couple of Jazz orchestras (big bands to you) appearing at the end of last year. They do seem to have a lot of small bands on their regular list but I expect that's from lack of space at a lot of venues.
 
Thanks for the input, sospiri...I love the big band sound....I guess, if he's a Stan Kenton man, he plays Peanut Vendor, does he? By all means give the Brian Newton band a plug... they're helping to keep real music alive. Part of Birmingham's history, after all..
 
Thanks to Journeyman Brummie for info about that excellent site...I'll be making use of it that's for sure. You'll see that Baby Jools is there listed as Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club...he's our next gig on Wednesday February 11. What a drummer he is and from the new wave of young jazz musicians, too. A big favourite at Walmley Social Club. I saw him yesterday (Sunday) playing for Millennium Eagle at Jazz-a-Matazz in Coventry.
 
Shawcross:

I last saw the Band in 2011 on one of my visits to the UK. They didn't play it that night, but you can always email the website with the request. I last worked with Brian in 1960 when he was still with Norman Dovey and I was arranging for a 16-piece rehearsal band.

Maurice
 
Only slightly adrift from this - back in the 90s I used to know a girl called Lin Grant. She said her dad (a local guy I never met) used to play sessions with Brubeck way back(Take 5 days?). She'd been surprised when Robert Plant turned up at her dad's second(?) wedding. Seems Plant had been a fan back in the 3i's days. I heard Lin moved to the Isle of Wight but know nothing of her dad.
 
Shawcross said:
Thanks to Journeyman Brummie for info about that excellent site...I'll be making use of it that's for sure. You'll see that Baby Jools is there listed as Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club...he's our next gig on Wednesday February 11. What a drummer he is and from the new wave of young jazz musicians, too. A big favourite at Walmley Social Club. I saw him yesterday (Sunday) playing for Millennium Eagle at Jazz-a-Matazz in Coventry.
Click to expand...
Where's Jazz - a - Matazz in Cov please?
 
What a thoroughly enjoyable night out at Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club last night!

Baby Jools' All-Stars were on stage at Walmley Social Club and an audience of more than a hundred were there to appreciate every moment of it, and why wouldn't we? Six star musicians playing two hours of foot-tapping, crowd-pleasing real live music for a fiver.

For that we heard the faithfully re-produced sound of classics from the like of Louis Armstrong to Kenny Ball and lots in-between, with plenty of either upbeat, or romantic beat, numbers for the dancers who sometimes flooded the large dance floor.

Along with the Real Music, Real Ale (Wadworth's 6X, no less) was available on hand pump.
Trad jazz lovers like we regulars at Walmley are fortunate indeed to have in our midst, for instance, one of the UK's finest trombonists, Mike Owen, who was one of last night all-stars along with Carl Herd (reeds), Dennt Illett (trumpet), Jim Swinnerton (double bass), Brian Mellors (banjo) and Baby Jools (drums).


Birmingham's No.1 trombone man, he of the luxurious hair and beard, topped by the perennial trilby hat, spent several years plying his trade in New Orleans with the one-and-only Kid Ory as his icon... and I, for one, wouldn't recognise any difference in the quality of his playing, not to mention his vocals.

Another great night in what must be one of the country's best jazz clubs.
 
Shawcross,

Delighted to read that you enjoyed your evening, with good music, good beer, and good company, in good surroundings.

Unfortunately, I live too far away to enjoy the benefits, but long may Sutton Coldfield Jazz Club reign.

Eddie
 
Multi-talented Walmley teenager KIERA BATTERSBY will be on stage a short distance from her home next Wednesday (February 18) when she will prove that, along with all else, she's a rising star of the jazz world.
The 17-year-old will be guesting for the Bank Street Syncopaters at Walmey Social Club, Fox Hollies Road, as part of Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club's weekly programme of leading bands.
Kiera, who was educated at Walmley's Shrubbery school before moving on to the prestigious King Edwards School, has already made her mark as a young actor, dancer and as a classical singer with the CBSO youth orchestra.
Now her remarkably mature voice will be put to the test singing standards from the Jazz Age as Kiera is assured of the warmest of Walmley welcomes from a gathering that is certain to contain family and friends from walking distance away!
Already, while still at school age, Kiera has appeared at the Alexandra Theatre in Santa Claus The Musical, with Anita Dobson and A Christmas Carol at the Birmingham Rep. Most recently Kiera took a leading in Youth Music Theatre UK's production of The Making of Ali and Nino in Guildford.
As a dancer, between all or other show business activities, and pursuing her education, she trained for six years as an Associate of the Royal Ballet School and has appeared strutting her stuff in pop music videos. Samples of Kiera's singing can be heard on
https://soundcloud.com/kiera-battersby/followers
 
As the Syncopaters syncopated...
KIERA IS A HIT AT SINGING GRANDAD'S MUSIC
A Kiera Battersby.jpg A Kiera Battersby.jpgB. KIERA.jpg

Local teenage singer KIERA BATTERSBY was given an enthusiastic thumbs up from an audience of mainly senior citizens when she guested for Bank Street Syncopters and Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club last night.
The Walmley girl of many talents went on stage to give her version of such swing and big band classics as Sunny Side of the Street, Misty, The Lady is a Tramp and Girl From Iponema. Not exactly from the typical modern teenager's repetoire, perhaps... but just right for lovers of what earlier generations would regard as 'real music'.
Asked why she chose to sing songs from long before she was born, the schoolgirl who has already made a mark in acting, classical singing and dancing said simply:"My grandad played in dance bands....". Well, good old grandad. What better reason could there be?
While much too early yet for the modest and grounded Kiera to know what course her career will eventually take, or for her to have the raw emotions and timing of a mature experienced jazz singer, she has a delighful pure and strong voice with clear diction that could keep her on stage and take her somewhere special.
Along with all else she revealed a quiet confidence, and was unfazed either by performing with little preparation for an improvising band, a mostly elderly audience or a momentary lapse when she got her words mixed up, said as much as she kept the rhythm going, and then picked up without a pause. Quite a trouper, too...
In the course of the evening, the Syncopaters syncopated with titles that were truer to the New Orleans and Dixieland genre to complete yet another enjoyable evening as Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club continued its success, at a fiver admission price, to keep the music of the 1920s and beyond alive and well.

　

　



 
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Sounds really great.Lots of young people are in to the oldies as I was. Now I am a grandad and my step daughter is singing. She was greatly iflluenced by Kathleen Ferrier, Ella Fitzgerald and Maria Callas - what a mix. She is currently performing as Luna Velvet .PLUG!
 
If it's jazz, especially original jazz, but whatever, keep plugging all you like Nico. In fact tell us more about Luna Velvet
 
No it's not Jazz, SHawcross, they say it's folk ish, I wouldn't say so myself though, but I like it. It has some subtle traditional instruments and professional videos. It is a 5 track EP called Closed Book available to buy or you can listen on the net. It is the forerunner for a CD. They have been performing as separate artists and in bands for a very long time. 2 members of the Waterboys play on it and Troy Donnachie, piper and flautist who played/plays for Barbara Dickson. THE LINK is as follows which you need to type in https://www.youtubr.com/user/lunavelvetofficial
They have sent it everywhere it should be on a local radio station at least so hopefully it might take off, fingers crossed.and would really appreciate some feedback.
What denotes Jazz, Shawcross? I know modern and traditional and New Orleans. I have been to Jazz clubs or venues which seem to encompass anything (which is OK in my book) but I expect not for the purists. Our friends run a folk club and they say anything goes. For me if I like a song I see if I can play it and sing it, like for example, Nature Boy which my guitar teacher tells me is jazz. (I am a late starter with the guitar.) I love live music and think it should be encouraged wherever possible as I think you do. Best wishes, Nico
 
SO WHAT IS JAZZ ?
Good to hear from you again, Nico. You obviously love your music and seem to be like me..in thinking 'who cares what label you stick on it as long as you enjoy it'. I think the purists who only like 'trad' jazz or whatever deny themselves some of the greatest musicians of all time. Louis Armstrong, for instance, would never have used the term 'trad jazz' in his life and he was the greatest of all and actually ended up as a world-renowned pop singer.
That phrase came from these shores immediately after WW2 but even then, if I have my facts right here, three of the most popular tracks from that early post-war boom years were Stranger on the Shore(Acker Bilk), Bad Penny Blues (Humphrey Lyttleton) and Midnight in Moscow (Kenny Ball)...were THEY Trad Jazz. Pass...
However, the kind of Dixieland, New Orleans, Kenny Ball, Chris Barber, Acker Bilk music that is mostly played at Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz Club is the sound that the purists love. So Do I. But I also love the Duke Ellington, County Basie big band sound, and Billie Holiday my greatest all time jazz singer, with terrific tenor sax players Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and many, many more. I recently read a wonderful 600-page book on Louis Armstrong and the word 'trad' never appeared once.
So what IS Jazz? I'm not qualified to give the definitive answer to that but in New Orleans, pre-war, I understand it was only called 'The Blues' by the black musicians who played it, not jazz. According to what I read when a group of white musicians formed what they wrongly and cheekily called 'The Original Dixieland Jazz Band' (Nick LaRocca) it was the first time it was used in that context...but don't hold me to that. I only know what I've read. I think the best description is that jazz certainly began as music improvised by players as they went along, rather than sticking to a particular notated theme, so no two versions of any tune were the same. I'll settle far that if nothing better comes along.
As for yourself you can clearly play musical instruments and boy do I envy you that. As for Folk Club music...sounds great to me, that....
 
Nico & Shawcross:

What is Jazz??

A difficult question to answer, so I am partly quoting from The Oxford Dictionary of Music:

Jazz: A term which came into general use circa 1913-15,for a type of music developed in the Southern States of the United States, and came into prominence at the turn of the century, in New Orleans, by chiefly, but not exclusively, black musicians. It was an instrumental style, highly syncopated.

The subsequent history of Jazz has embraced a diversity of styles, from Dixieland, Big Bands, Be-bop, and 'Cool'.

There is much more about the various musicians, and their styles, but the above is the 'bread & butter' of the word.

In my years in the music business, I have never met anyone who can explain it fully.

I love the old quote, offered to someone who asked "What is Jazz?"......the response was..."If you have to ask, you ain't got it"!!

Eddie
 
Shawcross:

Delighted to read that you had another great night at the Sutton Coldfield Jazz Club.

Kiera certainly looks the part, and wonderful to hear that a good, young singer, is keeping alive the great music of bygone jazz days.

Just one question: "Who is the drummer?"

Eddie
 
Thank you for explaining that Shawcross. The Curried Jazz album my partner has is Norah Jones's dad but it's about 40 years old. I might play, but not that good. My piano teacher gave up on me aged 11. Just started the guitar now in my middle to late 50's. Love it. Should have done it years ago, Lack of confidence I suppose. There are more musically gifted people on here than me Shawcross. I like Billy Holiday too I never heard a voice like it since. Madalyn (can't spell) Peyroux is a bit like her but not a lot. I like Caro Emerald as well also Eddie Reader who is traditionally a folk singer but I feel some of her stuff is Jazz ish. We had some re burns do they say?, of Old French songs popular Café de Paris. Some were quite Jazzy. I was surprised my parents knew them. At one jazz club I saw a couple of blokes who played When I'm Sixty Four on a banjo and a clarinet, it was brilliant and listening to the clarient it sounded jazzy to me especially whent the resident pianist and drummer joined in. I was in the market in Abergavenny 2 years ago and there is a music stall and a chap grabbed a guitar and started playing and passers by grabbed instruments and joined in. You can't beat it. My sort of son in laws are both good guitarists and always play for us and I try to chip in. Jazz must have been around a long time because Wilma Reading sang The Birth of The Blues on The Good Old Days.
Lead Belly I believe was a Blue Grass musicican but that would be Jazz too I think. I like unusual instruments too my teach plays a dulcimer. I love old pianos.Don't really like electronic music but there is a place for eveything/ I must make an effort to go to a club of some sorts when they start up again.
 
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