Big Bands

mich, Ronnie Scott was a member of Ted Heath's band in the early fifties, when they were around the Midlands, he didn't open his own club till the late fifties, same with Jack Parnell I believe, not so sure about him though.Yes, did visit his club once but they were the end days of the Kray bros and one kept well clear of the area. Lot of wide boys at that time, pickpockets, card sharps, con-men etc had their own coach to go to race meetings, I knew most of them, but I digress. Sid Phillips was my fav, loved the clarinet. time to go.

Kaga, it is funny but I had never heard of the Kray bros until I watched an episode of QI a couple of months ago lol. If I had known of them I would have been too scared to anywhere near the place, Oh my innocent youth

mich. In the fifties I was in London for a short time, big friends with a woman called Beryl Bryden, jazz singer, a lovely person, she taught me the people to know and who not to know. The Krays were taking over from Billy Hill and Jack Spot, notorious gangsters, it was one hell of a time, another club I visited was the Clermont club owned by the big time gambler John Aspinall, all known to the jazz people, the jazz scene was one of the biggest things that hit Britain, Coventry included in the fifties, altered fashion, styles, mood, a complete new era, well that's what I believe, the music's still around.

I remember seeing Ted Heath at the Hippodrome/Coventry Theatre probably in the late 50's I was puzzled why the first three or four rows of the stalls had been left vacant. Once the band started at full blast, I could see why this had been done.

Kaga, I remember Beryl Bryden but only by reputation, were/are you a musician by any chance, please ignore this if I am getting too personal

mich, no, I'm no musician, it so happened I had a girl-friend in London at that time who was a cousin of Beryl, and we went to her bed-sit often, I helped Beryl paint her kitchen one-time so I suppose you could say we were friends. Now maybe I might have missed some posts, but no one has mentioned Coventry Jazz Club in the fifties. There was a pub on the corner of Gosford Street next to the Gaumont cinema, that was the only Cov jazz club I knew, guy that ran it had a hardware shop in Ford Street, I believe.

Kaga have you seen the thread "Coventry Jazz Clubs" it may interest you. Cov Jazz Clubs

mich, hi, I had not seen that thread, I found it most interesting, Thanks for that. Feel I may have seen you a few times but can't say for definite. regards Kaga.