Any Jazz fans left in Sheffield?

[Jazzman 10]

Hello Jazzers,

Regarding Sheffield Jazz in Barkers Pool. It was started by a bloke called Collin Graham who was a reporter for The Star in about 1947. The Cambridge club was rather short lived and I only remember the Smokey City playing there once

[fleetwood 10]

I've just bought Miles Davis 'Kind of Blue', there has been quite a Buzz about this record/CD recently, so after all this time I got it. It was recorded in the late 50's and apparently innovating and exciting for musicians and fans alike. What a line up, Miles Davis tpt, Julan 'Cannonball' Adderly alto, John Coltrane tnr, Wynton Kelly pno, Bill Evans pno, Paul Chambers bass, Jimmy Cobb drs. An interesting point, if your copy is years old and does,nt have the 'alternate take' on 'Flamingo Sketches' (taken from the original session tapes), it 's probably flawed with the music sounding 'sharp', a transfer of tape to disc technicality was originally overlooked and apparently only came to light in recent years. What a great and enjoyable sounding piece of modern jazz it is and I am thoroughly enjoying it. A footnote to all of this, Jimmy Cobb drummer is the only surviving member of this historic recording and is presently on the Jazz festival circuit with his group which is named 'Kind of Blue'.

Edited April 18, 2009 by fleetwood

[sweetdexter 10]

Saw Miles music described as "The best music to commit suicide to "

My favorites are his Collaboration with Gil Evans-Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain.

Once read Miles was trying to find Gil Evans to get some arrangements.

He even toured the down and outs in NY city It seems when he was flush he would visit the homeless and get rid of his money then spend his time with them.

Even more eccentric than Miles

[Texas 10]

All the pundits reckon that 'Kind of Blue' is the most succesful album ever, deservedly so I think.

And now it's joketime.

Remember Frank Foster the tenor player with Basie. Well, It seems a while back he was doing this gig, a kind of open air concert, in New York. Anyhow, he had some young players on the stand with him, one of which, another tenor player, was playing really avant garde stuff. By that, I mean he didn't have any regard for anything going on around him. The stuff he was laying down didn't relate to a tune at all. Frank Foster listened for a bit then just before the next number, pulled the kid on one side and asked him what he was doing. The kid replied 'Just playing what I feel, man.' Frank Foster looked at him and said 'Well how about feeling something in Bflat mother******!'

[Corn2 10]

I bought "Kind Of Blue" back in about 1993/94 after hearing so much about it, I wasn't disappointed, great album.

 

Also enjoyed watching Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the Thelonious Monk Quartet in back to back programmes on Jazz 625 on BBC4 last Friday night. If anybody missed them they're still available to download on BBCi player.

[Texas 10]

Saw those programmes Corn2, some good stuff on there especially the Blakey group. It featured one of my favorits, Lee Morgan. I was lucky enough to see him at a pub gig back in the 60's. I think how it was that any musicians coming from the U.S to Ronnie Scotts, were fixed up with extra gigs within reasonable travelling distance to London. So that's how he got to play 'The Dolphin' at Botley near Southampton.

I was never the same again after seeing him, ruined my whole career.

And fleetwood, If ever you get the chance to listen to Miles's 'At the Blackhawk', do so. That also features Jimmy Cobb, great drummer.

[jackandclaud 10]

lol

a quick google and i just found the following

"Fats Waller was reincarnated in Sheffield in a big way. The programme notes reported he had been at the now non-existent Sheffield Empire Theatre and wandering in one of its many parks had heard a lively strain from the birds which inspired him to return to his hotel and finish off Honey Hush."

 

taken from http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/misbehavin-rev.htm

 

so thats :-

honey hush

rose garden

alligator crawl

 

Hi there!

 

Don't wish to hijack such a great thread but I have a little input to the above subject and (if at all possible) a question about a jazz club in Sheffield in the mid to late fifties.

 

I was doing some research at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City a couple of months ago on a subject only slightly related to jazz (I am a University lecturer and occasional journalist) when, with some time to waste, I had a casual look through the archive for any references to my home town, Sheffield. In a late 30's Jazz periodical I found an interview with Fats Waller in which the above subject was mentioned. In his words the tune was "Honey Hush" and he wasn't specific about the park, although I find it difficult to imagine it being anywhere other than the Botanical Gardens, it would be interesting to me (selfish!)to know where that reference came from.

 

(I took a copy of the Sheffield related part of the article and will contribute it here if anyone's interested)

 

The other reference I found related to I think, Big Bill Broonzy (the information was not complete). In a written record of a radio interview he gave, he stated that he had performed a couple of songs at a jazz club in a place called the 'Haig Tree Hotel' in Sheffield and slept on a bench in the bar on the same night. Subsequent digging around in Sheffield has revealed that a jazz club ran in the upstairs room at the 'HaighTree Inn on Bernard Street from 1954-ish to 1958-ish. I have found a reference to Barry Whitworth being a friend of the proprietor and a further reference to Terry Thornton, one time owner of The Esquire club, also being a friend of the proprietor. Now I'm interested, when time allows I'm going to do more research but it would be great to know if anyone on here knows anything about events at the Haigh Tree.

[Texas 10]

Are you kidding? Get it on jackandclaud, anything about the great man.

I mentioned Fats Waller's visit to Sheffield sometime ago. I'd read somewhere that he scribbled down the progressions of 'Alligator Crawl' while relaxing in the Botanical Gardens, some other contributors thought that it might be some other tune. I read about it in some bio' a long time ago, and there's been a few since.

I visited the jazz museum in Kansas City a few years ago myself. I suppose you saw Charlie Parker's plastic alto and all the other Parker memorabilia. I also went just around the corner to where he was born and his old school Lincoln High. It was slightly scary, lots of security people around the school area, no photographs, project housing boarded up, a couple of people selling stuff, one had to be careful. A lot of the old buildings had been torn down, where the clubs had been but not all.

[fleetwood 10]

Absolutely fascinating Texas, I remember your comments before on this subject, now jackandclaud (sounds like a double act) substantiates and adds more info on this subject and you both went to this Jazz Museum in Kansas City, how neat is that? Heres my little observation, why did Fats Waller choose the Botanical Gardens, which would have been a good 2to3 miles away, maybe more, from the 'Empire' (if we are talking about the same 'Gardens' on Ecclesall Rd). The 'Peace Gardens' would have been on the doorstep of the Empire, you see where I am going with this?

[jackandclaud 10]

The full Sheffield quote as printed in the magazine-

 

"I will never forget how on a tour through the English provinces we were playing at the Empire Theatre in Sheffield. After theater is our usual time for relaxation, and following dinner I roamed restlessly through the beautiful park there. At dawn the birds awakened, and out of their lively chirpings one short strain stood out. I went back to the hotel, and by ten o'clock that morning, with the aid of some delicious Amontillado Sherry, we had finished Honey Hush. You see, it's fifty per cent inspiration and fifty per cent perspiration"

 

Fats Waller

Spelling and italics as per the original.

 

 

I guess fleetwood,that in there is the answer to "why the Botanical Gardens?".

At the time, one of the large Victorian houses opposite the top entrance to the Botanical Gardens was an hotel, can't remember the name of it presently, but I guess it would be logical to assume that was the one Fats was staying in. The general area seemed to be where the "theatrical" digs were. I know of smaller digs or boarding houses used by musicians and performers from the thirties through to the end of the fifties on Broomgrove Road, Gloucester Street and Harcourt Road, and George Melly, in the first volume of his autobiography mentions staying in digs "near the University".

I have spoken to someone who remembers seeing a photograph of Fats being displayed amongst pictures of other famous guests in the foyer of the Grand Hotel next to the City Hall and very close to the Empire of course, but I can think of no way of confirming this.

 

The evidence remains circumstantial at best so the question remains whether it was actually the Botanical Gardens. It's no big deal whether it was there or some other park but I'd still like to know! One other thing that does count against it is that, in the thirties a bell was rung when the Gardens were due to shut and they were then locked for the night. The quote in the magazine is as close as you'd get to being concurrent with the actual event and unless Fats went into greater detail elsewhere I guess it is still a mystery.

 

Texas Yep, I saw all the Parker stuff and plenty more besides:). Things seem to have improved a little around the museum but it's still a tough district, "not one for a stranger to go walking around in" I was told by the museum staff.

[fleetwood 10]

Makes total sense to me jackandclaud, you've sold me, the 'Botanical Gardens' it is. I dont think one could have roamed through the Peace Gardens with birds chirping and singing.

[Texas 10]

So Barry Whitworth has made it to the AJM, in name at least. He'd have a laugh at that.

I had a look through a load of old photographs to see if I did take any during my visit and I found one. Standing on the corner of 18th and Vine. Now if that doesn't sound like a line from a blues, I don't know what does.

When I mentioned no photographs I meant in the vicinity of the school, Lincoln High.

Would it be too forward to ask, jackandclaud, what subject 'only slightly related to jazz' you were researching? If it's related at all, I'm interested.

The stuff on 'Fats' Waller though is fascinating. And Amontillado Sherry. Booze must make an appearance somewhere I suppose. It's strange but when jazzmen are dragged off the stand so to speak, the usual tenor is sadness and regret but with 'Fats's' life, although of course, there is sadness, it always finishes off with a smile.

Jazzman, did you know Colin Graham? You've got to admit, he looked like a cop.