London Traditional Jazz Clubs in the 40s and 50s

My reminiscences of the traditional London Jazz scene

Here is a look at some of the other traditional London Jazz clubs that were around in the 40s and 50s. They are all central or north of the river, as I lived in North London, and had to get around by bus.

The most important one was at 10-11 Great Newport Street, It was known as The Studio and was the home of The Crane River Jazz Band, and on different nights various modern jazz groups. After 1954, when Ken Colyer arrived back from New Orleans, it became the Ken Colyer Jazz Club and was open four nights a week.

The Crane River Jazz Band played their version of New Orleans jazz, heavily influenced by the American Bunk Johnson band, with two trumpets, Ken Colyer and Sonny Morris, clarinet Monty Sunshine, and trombonist John R.T.Davis. Pat Hawes on piano, Ben Marshall banjo, Ron Bowden and Ben Harris, on bass and drums. Various skiffle groups played during the intervals, and one of them may have been an early version of the Rolling Stones.



The original Crane River Jazz Band

Another West End club featured the Mike Daniels Delta Jazz Band, but I need help remembering the location.

Daniels' aspired to reproduce the original styles of King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and others as authentically as possible

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The most important club in North London was the Wood Green Jazz Club. This was held in the Bourne Hall, and extension at the back of the Fishmongers Arms on High Road and Trinity Road.

The history of jazz at the Bourne Hall goes right back to the 1920s when it was a dance hall. It is rumored that the great French guitarist Django Reinhardt played there in 1938, but there is no written evidence of this happening.

However in the late 40’s Art and Vi Saunders opened the Wood Green Jazz Club, which became one of the principal centres for traditional jazz in London. As far as I can remember the house band was the Alex Welsh Band 

. However, all the major bands played there such as Humphrey Lyttelton, and Mick Mulligan featuring singer George Melly, and later the Chris Barber Band

In 1956 the B.F.I. filmed a short film there called “Mama Don’t Allow” featuring the original Barber band, which centered around a typical night there, with the audience arriving and dancing. It is really worth watching, as it gives a good idea of how youngsters behaved and dressed in those days.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-momma-dont-allow-1956-online

One of my favourite hangouts was Cooks Ferry Inn, in Edmonton. The resident band there was the Freddy Randall band.

Unlike most other clubs, there was no dancing, just a seated audience. Freddy Randall played Eddie Condon-style jazz, unlike most other traditional bands.

He also featured saxophonists. Amongst the musicians who played in the band were Bruce Turner (clarinet & alto) Eddie Harvey(trombone), Lennie Felix ( piano), George Chisholm (trombone), of the  and Ian Wheeler (clarinet). The band was a pick-up band with no regular players, except Freddie on trumpet and his drummer Harry Millar. The place was popular with pro and semi-pro musicians, and as I said the music was much more modern than in the majority of trad jazz clubs, and even modern musicians used to sit in.

It was probably one of the reasons that I moved over from being a trad fan to becoming a modernist, but more about that in a future article.