Jazz

Meeting Alan Robinson, Colin Martin and Co.

Very early in 1970 I was walking through the High Street, Rochester and passing the Eagle Tavern I heard again that unmistakable sound of trumpet and clarinet. I stopped in my tracks and went into the pub and bought a light ale. (I was never much of a drinker) In a room at the back of the bar were a gang of young people struggling with an arrangement of some kind. Colin was doing his best with a trumpet, although he was really the piano man! If my memory serves me rightly, Alan asked me if I played anything, and I answered that in the distant past I played trumpet. Colin was reinstated on piano and I did probably a blues or similar. I said I could borrow one maybe for next week, and Bill Owen who owned a pram shop in Gillingham lent me his cornet for the following week. I returned and the lads taught me the in's and out's of 'ole miss rag'. Standing at the entrance to the room as I did the week before was Dave Straker. He said he used to play the banjo with the Imperial jazzband in Nottingham, and could pop home a get his banjo. Well that made a world of difference straight away! Somehow there was mention of a gig at Cuxton working man's club and I enlisted the help of Bernie Cuckow, who played bass, amongst other things and Freddy Wright, a nice guitarist played drums, but Alan and I made the front line with maybe Ron Weller or Roy Burton (?). From that gig Bernie Smith joined us. He lived in Cuxton and had a drum kit. - He became our drummer and we went into serious practice mode, Dave Straker teaching me tunes by ear.- I can remember (and still do) struggling with some barbeque!
Tony Pink Jazz Band

Wainscott WMC
Talent Contest

Here you can see The fully fledged jazz band opening the 'Evening Post' talent spotting evening. We were paid for the job and not in the competition. One of the contestants - Trudie Neilson, said she had an audition with PYE records and would we be able to accompany her? Seemed a good bet. She was pretty so we suggested she came to Ralph Hayward's house one day next week for a run through. She wanted to do "Bei mer bist du sch�n". Well, we tried in g min she said it was too high, we tried again in D min but that was too high. We worked all the way down till we got to G min again and found she was a musical no no!


From there, Ralph and Terry Wells said they knew the steward at the 'Con' club - The constitutional Club in Military Road Chatham, where the Deep Bayou Band had played years before, and said they would approach him for an chance to play there. We started there on a Friday night, unpaid, but charging membership to the club on the door. 2/6d. a week membership. It went very well. There were one or two anecdotes to report from there. One was that never to play Eric Joyce, the Steward snooker for money. He was shit hot! and he also sang a fair vocal. One night we were playing and some geyser in a fur coat came up and asked for our autographs. I said we would do one more number then we would take a break, and would see him at the bar. We played the interval number and I went up to the bar and asked Eric if he had seen the guy in a fur coat. "yeah" he said "I chucked him out, we don't want that sort in here!" About a week later, standing at the bar was Roland Jones, the manager of the Central Hall. I clocked him and elected to play one of our more rehearsed numbers, then took an interval. He said he was looking for an act to open the Mike and Bernie Winter's show. Just seven minutes, and two houses could we do it? - How much said I - �30 said he, Done said I - and would you believe with that money I bought eight pairs of trousers, eight shirts and eight cravats (see the photo above)


Arthur Prosser's Cartoon

KEN MULLINS, ACE REPORTER

Ken Mullins used to write a weekly column in the Kent Evening Post. He seemed to favour our band a great deal and chose to write the most favourable columns about us. A colleague of his, Arthur Prosser drew strip stories for the KM and had produced a book about the history of the Medway. He also like a bit of jazz, and I suppose on a slack day decided to draw us. We used this as our logo from then on in..... Thanks Arthur. A real touch of genius!


George Melly Concerts

GEORGE MELLY with Tony Pink

The gamble that paid off was the one taken by Tony Pink and his Jazzmen when the Strood musicians booked the Central Hall, Chatham, for a jazz show last Friday.

They featured not only their own distinctive style, but also the music of John Mason's Jazzmen, Terry Treagus Jazz Sounds and the jazz singer George Melly, who is pictured here with trumpeter Tony Pink. More than 600 people turned up for the concert which provided a tremendous boost for jazz in the Medway area.

"We didn't make a lot of money" said Tony afterwards "but the reception was great and I am now booking the Central Hall for a similar show next Autumn." A week earlier the Strood jazzmen did extremely well at the London's Victoria Palace.

[Ken Mullins, Evening Post] c. Nov.1971

[picture by Kent Messenger & coloured by Daniel Rushton]


Concert Accounts

Alan Robinson unearthed this document in his loft 39 years later!





Getting Paid for Blowing!

Royal Marine's Dinner_Dance

One thing that never ceased to amaze me:- The Royal Marine Band booked us every year for their Annual Dinner and Dance. I told myself it couldn't be a flook, they had us back year after year. The same with the 100 Club in Oxford Street. We played there backing Humphrey Lyttleton, and were booked back there several times as a support group to various well known bands such as Terry Lightfoot, Acker Bilk and the Avon Cities Jazz Bands.

There was something magical about playing at the 100 Club. It was like the Mecca for English Jazz, and to appear there was the pinnacle of our career. Even more than that, our bass player, Dave Veryard who was at the same time playing with the Kent Youth Orchestra would play the 100 Club with us until 1.30 am on a Saturday night, come home about 3.00 in the morning and have to be back at the Royal Festival Hall for a Youth Concert the same afternoon!

About the same time we were offered a season at the Victoria Palace Theatre Having appeared there as an "opener" for a charity show for "OLD BEN" The News Trade's Charity with Leslie Crowther as top of the bill. We had to decline as we were all in full time employment and only played for the fun of it basically.