Not all the music in Digbeth was "trad". I often played the 57 Club with the Johhny Beck Six. We were an offshoot from the Birmingham School of Music.Very much "west coast" music. We were also resident at Aston Cross Jazz Studio One, and the Bournebrook Hotel in Selly Oak. We worked with guest musicians Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Don Rendell etc. Colin Willets (piano/vibes) started his first gigs with me when he was 16, and Colin invited me to his 65th birthday jazz reunion, with many of Birimingham's older jazz musicians attending. After two or three summer seasons with big bands, and a final few weeks at B'ham Casino I left the city for good and travelled the world working with, and meeting all the greats, from Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa through to Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald. I have lived a great life in the music business, but the roots grew Birmingham jazz clubs.