Eel Pie Island Roll-call

The following ‘roll-call’ of performers at Eel Pie Island has been compiled mainly from the contracts held by the estate of Arthur Chisnall, who operated the club between 1956 and 1967. Whilst I have seen mentions of The Hugh Douglas Orchestra, a dance band very popular in the area, playing at such venues as St Mary’s Hall, and Twickenham Palais as well as Eel Pie Island Hotel during the 1940s and early 1950s, Brian Rutland’s Grove Jazz Band were the first band to play at the Island in the modern context, their appearances having outgrown The Barmy Arms, with Michael Snapper, the hotel/ballroom owner supplying the venue, only too happy to accommodate the extra custom. When Arthur Chisnall took on the booking of bands, John Winstone (working with Chisnall) wrote to local Student Unions notifying them that “the inevitable party will be held at Eel Pie Island this Friday 1/6/56, with the Terra Buona Jazz Band playing for dancing, followed by a Skiffle Group, who will play until their audience has fallen exhausted”, and advising of a 1/6 entrance fee, and 2/6 for a membership ‘Passport’, with the heavy hint that very soon entrance would soon be by Passport only due to the physical limitation of the venue, obviously expecting oversubscribed attendances by the near future. These fees were initially to provide the rent for the venue. After a short while, due to police pressure the venue became legitimised as a club “Eelpiland”, following the introduction of those memberships and entrance fees, which allowed for payment for the performers, rather than the previous crates of beer. It is from that point that records exist, in the form of contracts and flyers that have allowed the following roll-call to be compiled, though there are numerous gaps. Unlike similar pieces of work written about other venues, such The Cavern and The Marquee, as far as the Island is concerned, typically no adverts appeared in either the local or musical press, so that avenue for research is largely unavailable: publicity about forthcoming events was limited to word of mouth and some discreetly distributed flyers. Please note that the comments appearing in italics are no-one’s opinions but my own, though facts have been sourced from all over, and I apologise if any of said comments appear to be teaching any grannies to suck eggs, but I am aiming at a broad audience. Grateful thanks are due to Susanne Fischer for the kind use of Arthur’s ephemera.

1956

August 1956

Fri. Aug 10^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen
The first act to appear professionally at Eel Pie Island, on this, the official opening of the Eel Pie Island Jazz Club, or ‘Eelpiland’, and its ‘Guest Register’

From flyers:

1957

January 1957

Fri. Jan 4^th – Mick Mulligan
George Melly at Eel Pie? Probably, given he’d first been enticed to the Island to see Cy Laurie the previous year, with Melly equating ‘Eel Pie Island’ with ‘Honky Tonk’ and ‘Gut Bucket’ linguistically and thematically…
Fri. Jan 11^th – Crane River Jazz Band
A kind of ‘supergroup’ of their day, any number of performers listed below passed through the ranks of the Crane River Jazz Band, most notably Ken Colyer, Sonny Morris, and Monty Sunshine
Sat. Jan 12^th – Alex Welsh
Sat. Jan 19^th – Sandy Brown

During 1957, Sandy and old schoolmate Al Fairweather (who features later in his own right), both alumni of Edinburgh’s Royal High School, recorded and released the seminal “McJazz” album, which, as far as Melody Maker’s critic Steve Race was concerned, was “one of the twelve greatest Jazz recordings of all time” – heady praise indeed. Sandy went on to perform on the Island many times over the next few years, before leaving ‘trad’ for a more mainstream direction. He died in 1975 in front of his TV, watching Scotland lose to England at rugby, but with a whisky in his hand

February 1957

Fri. Feb 1^st – Crane River Jazz Band

Sat. Feb 2^nd – Omega Jazz Band

Arthur Chisnall’s choice won out in a stand-off with the Cy Laurie Agency’s preferred Alec Revell Band – see next entry

Sat. Feb 9^th – Cy Laurie, Bill Brunskill’s Jazzmen, The Alpha Jazzmen

Though Terry Lightfoot had been down to play, other accounts quote this evening as Eel Pie Island Jazz Club’s “Grand Gala Opening Night – A Three Band Session” with Cy Laurie as headline, together with Bill Brunskill’s Jazzmen, and The Alpha Jazzmen. This was, in fact, to mark the opening of the new footbridge over to the Island. Over and above this particular activity, there had been a power struggle going on between Arthur Chisnall and the Cy Laurie Agency surrounding the running of the club: whilst Chisnall ultimately won out, tonight had been promoted by the Cy Laurie Agency, hence Laurie’s appearance tonight – I guess Terry Lightfoot’s New Orleans Jazzmen had been Chisnall’s intended performers (for details of that power struggle, Michele Whitby describes the whole episode in full in her book “Eel Pie Island”)

Fri. Feb 15^th – Clyde Valley Stompers or Merseysippi (the flyer is hedging its bets)

Sat. Feb 16^th – Ian Bell
Fri. Feb 22^nd – Alex Welsh
Sat. Feb 23^rd – Piltdown Seven
Thu. Feb 28^th – Ken Colyer

March 1957

Sat. Mar 2^nd – Ian Bell
Fri. Mar 8^th – Crane River Jazz Band
Fri. Mar 15^th – Dave Carey
Sat. Mar 16^th – Sandy Brown
Fri. Mar 22^nd – Crane River Jazz Band
Sat. Mar 23^rd – Ian Bell
Fri. Mar 29^th – Crane River Jazz Band
Sat. Mar 30^th – Sandy Brown

April 1957

Fri. Apr 5^th – Ian Bell
Sat. Apr 6^th – Dick Bishop’s Skiffle Group & Omega

A rare concession to skiffle being the main musical action here: Dickie Bishop recorded with Chris Barber, and ‘Omega’ was the Omega Brass Band, a marching band at that, who used to feature Ken Colyer within its ranks, and whose elusive only recording of themselves was issued with Ken Colyer as “Colyer Plays Standards”

Fri. Apr 12^th – Ian Bell
Sat. Apr 13^th – Avon Cities
Fri. Apr 19^th– Sandy Brown or The Gateway Jazzmen from Carlisle
Who actually showed up to play tonight? It looks from the flyer that options were being kept open: perhaps Sandy Brown was on the subs bench in case the Gateway chaps couldn’t make it from the far North West, though they were able to make a TV appearance on “Six Five Special” the following year
Sat. Apr 20^th – Ian Bell
Fri. Apr 26^th – Rob Thornton
Sat. Apr 27^th – Alex Welsh

May 1957

Fri. May 3^rd – Crane River Jazz Band
Sat. May 4^th – Ian Bell
Fri. May 10^th – Rob Thornton
Sat. May 11^th – Acker Bilt [sic]
While they may have misspelt his name on the flyer, Mr Acker Bilk had his huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic some five years later with “Stranger On The Shore”, when he could also be found sharing the bill on an occasional ‘Riverboat Shuffle’, organised as an alternative night’s entertainment by Liverpool’s Cavern Club, with a bunch called The Beatles

Fri. May 17^th – Crane River
Sat. May 18^th – Sandy Brown
Fri. May 24^th – Casey Bottom
Sat. May 25^th – Purest In The West
Both Casey Bottom and Purest In The West are bracketed together on the flyer, so whether that meant both played on both days is unclear

Thu. May 30^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen

A live album was recorded tonight, and while, no doubt, the album itself is rare, the CD reissue is just as much so, being out of print at the moment. The CD, at least, is entitled “The Classic Years Volume 2”. The fact that tonight was recorded may explain why it was a Thursday night performance, which rather bucks the Friday / Saturday trend prevalent at this point

Fri. May 31^st – Alex Welsh

June 1957

Sat. Jun 1^st – Omega Jazz Band
Fri. Jun 7^th – Ian Bell
Sat. Jun 6^th – Alex Welsh

Fri. Jun 14^th – Terry Lightfoot
Sat. Jun 15^th – Ian Bell
Fri. Jun 21^st – Mike Peters
Sat. Jun 22^nd – Mitz Mitton

Responsible for the wonderfully titled read “Don’t take the pith (helmet): A safari through the jungles of jazz”, coming out in 2008, which draws on his years in the jazz business, with the likes of The Omega Jazz Band, and Alan Elsdon. In fact, proceeds from the book went to the Alzheimer’s Society in tribute to his erstwhile boss, Elsdon

Sat. Jun 29^th – Alex Welsh

July 1957

Fri. Jul 5^th – Alex Welsh
Sat. Jul 6^th – Mitz Mitton

August 1957

Fri. Aug 16^th – Graham Stewart
Sat. Aug 17^th – Merseysippi

Referred to in 1962 by John Lennon as “the old buggers” – Lennon’s Quarrymen supported Merseysippi in January 1958, in what was Paul McCartney’s Cavern debut – and a Liverpool institution since 1949, the Merseysippi Jazz Band headlined on the opening night of that city’s esteemed venue back in January, and performances proliferated thereafter, though not, it appears, in this neck of the woods

Fri. Aug 23^rd – The Storyville Jazz Band
The Storyville Jazz Band were still playing on the Island ten years after tonight, so some sort of long service award should be due. The band provided an early outlet for a young Peter Baker’s talents on drums: later, he would be known as Ginger, and people would learn to beware him!
Sat. Aug 24^th – Acker Bilk
Thu. Aug 29^th – Ken Colyer

Fri. Aug 30^th – The Storyville Jazz Band

Sat. Aug 31^st – Ian Bell

September 1957

Fri. Sep 6^th – The Storyville Jazz Band
Sat. Sep 7^th – Sandy Brown
Fri. Sep 13^th – Jubilee

October 1957

Fri. Oct 25^th – Jubilee
Sat. Oct 26^th – Ian Bell

November 1957

Fri. Nov 1^st – Sonny Morris
Sat. Nov 2^nd – Sandy Brown
Fri. Nov 8^th – Ian Bell
Sat. Nov 9^th – Alex Welsh
Fri. Nov 15^th – Temperance 7 and Jamaican Steel Band
Sat. Nov 16^th – Terry Lightfoot
Fri. Nov 22^nd – Mike Peters
Sat. Nov 23^rd – Bruce Turner

Having left Humphrey Lyttelton’s band, Bruce Turner formed his Jump Band, and as such represented a more swing/mainstream approach to jazz, as opposed to the Trad style which was prevalent in virtually every other act appearing at the Island at this point. On his debut with Lyttelton’s band in 1953, his alto sax work was unappreciated by the band’s fans, who unfurled a banner bearing the legend “Go Home Dirty Bopper” – he had developed a be-bop style during the Forties.

Fri. Nov 29^th – Don Steele’s Jazzmen

December 1957

Sun. Dec 1^st – “Grand Opening of the Hacienda Ballroom” (From invite)

The invite (from owner Michael Snapper, actually) only describes the performers as “A well known Dance Band” and “Also a celebrated Caribean [sic] Steel Band”. Who were these mystery bands? And how did this differ from the “Grand Opening” back in February?

1958

January 1958

Fri. Jan 17^th – Acker Bilk
Sat. Jan 18^th – Mick Mulligan
Fri. Jan 24^th – Mike Peters also Sandy Paton and Caroline (American Folk Singers)

This deviation from jazz featured Sandy and Caroline Paton who were indeed American folk singers: in his obituary appearing in The Guardian in 2009, Sandy was bracketed with Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan, as examples of US folk merchants breaking over here in the late 50s and early 60s. Sandy went on to co-found the influential Folk-Legacy record label in 1961. Incidentally, Sandy and Caroline’s first son was born during this year-long sojourn in the UK: “a free baby, courtesy of the National Health Service”, as Sandy put it. Thinking about it, as they had no work permits, it may have been a bit risky to have been advertised and they almost certainly would have been paid “under the table”

Sat. Jan 25^th – Sandy Brown

Back in December, Sandy Brown was augmented for a six month stint by a sax player who would become synonymous with saxophone in both jazz and R&B circles in the 60s, not to mention jazz-rock fusion even later. His name? Dick Heckstall-Smith, who was certainly the first fellow I saw who could play two saxes at the same time

Fri. Jan 31^st – Al Fairweather

Tonight, it appears Al Fairweather appeared without usual oppo Sandy Brown, with whom he’d started with back in Edinburgh as members of the Royal High School Gang: at one stage they played at Edinburgh’s Oddfellows Hall, where one of their buddies, one Tom Connery, was the bouncer – Tom went and changed his name to Sean, and look what that did for him!

February 1958

Sat. Feb 1^st – Les Six Orleanais

This predominantly French outfit (led by Claude Luter) had at some point featured the controversial figure of Sidney Bechet, who beat Louis Armstrong to the studio in the 20s, was jailed and deported from the UK in 1921, returned to France with the Revue Negre (featuring Josephine Baker) that got as far as Russia in 1926, jailed and deported from France in 1929, had a hit with “Summertime” in 1939, and, disillusioned by prospects in the US, eventually moved back to France in 1950. That French imprisonment followed the accidental wounding of a woman passer-by during a shootout which was apparently a duel called by Bechet after being accused by another musician/producer of playing the ‘wrong chord’. The challenge was accompanied by the assertion, by himself, that “Sidney Bechet does not play the wrong chord”. All very interesting, but I believe Bechet’s association with Luter ended in 1955, so it’s unlikely he was on show today, unfortunately

Fri. Feb 7^th – Dick Charlesworth
Sat. Feb 8^th – Acker Bilk
Fri. Feb 14^th – Trad & Folk Song
That’s all it says on the flyer. Maybe it was a return visit from Sandy and Caroline Paton, only this time discretion having led to some anonymity?

Sat. Feb 15^th – Sandy Brown
Fri. Feb 21^st – Ray Galliers Prelude Six
Sat. Feb 22^nd – Al Fairweather

March 1958

Mon. Mar 10th – Elesto Cortez and Robin Hall
This was Eelpiland branching out in a different direction: tonight is billed as “Eelpiland presents International Folk Music every Monday 8 to 10:30” and for tonight the aforementioned Sandy Paton “will be introducing ELESTO CORTEZ (Nigerian songs) and ROBIN HALL (Scottish songs) with visiting artists from floor”. Admission to what is billed as its opening night is free, with “Spiritual and Caffeic refreshment available”. While certainly Robin Hall became something of a household name due to his TV appearances in the 60s with Jimmy McGregor, it is not clear whether this folk venture endured much beyond tonight

May 1958

Fri. May 9^th – Ian Bell

Sat. May 10^th – Sandy Brown

Fri. May 16^th – Acker Bilk

Fri. May 16^th – Cy Laurie

Fri. May 16^th – Dave Carey

An unusually rich bill for a Friday: must have been something special about tonight

Sat. May 17^th – Bruce Turner

Fri. May 23^rd – Brian Taylor

Sat. May 24^th – Sonny Morris

Fri. May 30^th – Mike Peters

Sat. May 31^st – Brian Taylor

June 1958

Fri. Jun 6^th – Sonny Morris
Sat. Jun 7^th – Alex Welsh
Fri. Jun 13^th – Acker Bilk
Sat. Jun 14^th – Mick Mulligan
Fri. Jun 20^th – Brian Taylor
Sat. Jun 21^st – Terry Lightfoot
Fri. Jun 27^th – Sonny Morris
Sat. Jun 28^th – Sandy Brown

July 1958

Fri. Jul 4^th – Brian Taylor
Sat. Jul 5^th – Acker Bilk
Fri. Jul 11^th – Mike Peters
Sat. Jul 12^th – Bruce Turner
Fri. Jul 18^th – City Ramblers

The City Ramblers were a skiffle outfit who had not come through the ranks of trad jazz, but who were initially a barely proficient trio (after ditching early member John Pilgrim on washboard and pet monkey Saki(!?)), often found busking outside Charing Cross station. Two years before tonight, they had embarked on what appears to have been a fairly chaotic tour of Germany and Scandinavia with Woody Guthrie-inspired American ‘cowboy singer’, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and cutting an EP in Copenhagen, before cutting their losses and returning to London, with Elliott electing to stay in Germany with his wife June. A year later, and they were playing at the Moscow International Youth Festival, so they certainly put the miles in. Incredibly, the City Ramblers embarked on a revival recently, appearing at Herne Hill Music Festival, and are still gigging as City Ramblers Revival, featuring original member Hylda Sims, whose first guitar was gifted to her by Ivor Cutler when she was a teenager

Sat. Jul 19^th – Brian Woolley
Fri. Jul 25^th – Acker Bilk, Sonny Morris, Dixie’s Marching Band and The Riversiders
This was a ‘Jazz Parade’ (on behalf of the Borough of Twickenham Fair) starting at First Cross Road, Twickenham Green, according to the flyer. Seeing as there were a number of ‘Jazz Parades’ during this era, what my imagination is struggling to come to terms with is how was the inevitable bottleneck handled at the other side of Eel Pie Island’s bridge, when all (performers and acolytes) had to pay their toll to the little old ladies?

Sat. Jul 26^th – Al Fairweather

August 1958

Fri. Aug 1^st – Sonny Morris

September 1958

Fri. Sep 12^th – Don Steele
Sat. Sep 13^th – Micky Ashman

Double bass player Micky Ashman graduated through the ranks of Humphrey Lyttelton and Chris Barber before stepping out with his own band

Fri. Sep 19^th – Mike Peters (Esq.)
I don’t know how Mike Peters earned the “Esq” soubriquet for tonight particularly, as he was well known to the Eel Pie fraternity by now, but I do know he seems to have been the only person around with a camera in those black and white days, one of only a few to document Eel Pie Island photographically, so he gets my vote for that at least!
Sat. Sep 20^th – Acker Bilk
Fri. Sep 26^th – Dave Nelson
Sat. Sep 27^th – Graham Stewart

October 1958

Fri. Oct 3^rd – Terry Layton
Sat. Oct 4^th – Terry Lightfoot
Fri. Oct 10^th – Ian Bell
Sat. Oct 11^th – Alex Welsh

Sat. Oct 25^th – Graham Stewart
Fri. Oct 31^st – Dave Nelson

November 1958

Sat. Nov 1^st – Acker Bilk
Fri. Nov 7^th – Brian Taylor
Sat. Nov 8^th – Wally Fawkes
While clarinet is his instrument of choice for tonight, it was the pen for his other day job, as satirical cartoonist Trog, in creating “Flook”, which ran in the Daily Mail for 35 years. The pen-name ‘Trog’ came from his earlier jazz band, Wally Fawkes and The Troglodytes
Fri. Nov 14^th – Micky Ashman
Sat. Nov 15^th – Sandy Brown / Al Fairweather
Fri. Nov 21^st – Mole Ben
Sat. Nov 22^nd – Micky Ashman
Fri. Nov 28^th – Pete Wells Benefit

Sat. Nov 29th – Diz Disley & Brian Woolley

December 1958

Fri. Dec 5th – Dick Charlesworth
Sat. Dec 6th – Graham Stewart
Fri. Dec 12th – Brian Taylor
Sat. Dec 13th – Acker Bilk
Sat. Dec 13th – Riversiders
Sat. Dec 20th – Terry Lightfoot
Wed. Dec 24th – Graham Stewart (late night)
Fri. Dec 26th – “Members night”
Sat. Dec 27th – Micky Ashman
Wed. Dec 31st – Alex Welsh (late night)

1959

February 1959

Sat. Feb 7^th – Micky Ashman
Sun. Feb 8^th – Dis [sic] Disley
Described by George Melly as “having the face of a satyr, en route to a cheerful orgy”, Diz Disley was a comparative rarity, being a jazz guitarist in these times of trumpet, trombone and clarinet. Inspired by Django Reinhardt, he continued his fruitful career long after tonight, playing with such diverse musicians as Stephane Grappelli, Dave Swarbrick and Nigel Kennedy (must be something about violinists)
Sat. Feb 17^th – Graham Stewart
Sun. Feb 18^th – Dis Disley
Sat. Feb 21^st – Crane River Jazz Band
Sun. Feb 22^nd – Dis Disley
Sat. Feb 28^th – Bruce Turner

March 1959

Sun. Mar 1^st – Dis Disley
Sat. Mar 7^th – Micky Ashman
Sun. Mar 8^th – Dis Disley
Sat. Mar 14^th – Sandy Brown
Sun. Mar 15^th – Dis Disley
Sat. Mar 21^st – Mick Mulligan
Sun. Mar 22^nd – Dis Disley
Sat. Mar 28^th – Graham Stewart

April 1959

Fri. Apr 3^rd – Ken Colyer & Neil Millett (Celebration Dance)
Sat. Apr 4^th – Crane River Jazz Band
Sat. Apr 11^th – Micky Ashman
Sat. Apr 18^th – Brian Woolley
Sat. Apr 25^th – Mike Daniels

May 1959

Sat. May 2^nd – Terry Lightfoot

From this point (unless otherwise stated), the following entries are largely from contracts, together with the agreed fee, though it has been pointed out that during the purely jazz phase of Eelpiland, there was inevitably a skiffle act that would typically play during the main band’s break between sets, and of course these skifflers would be neither contracted nor advertised at all: they would quite often be members of the main band anyway.

Sat. May 9^th – The Graham Stewart Seven (£25)

Fri. May 15th – Terry Lightfoot’s Jazz Band
Fri. May 15th – Mike Daniel’s Delta Jazzmen
Fri. May 15th –Cy Laurie
All the above for this night appeared under the banner “SKINTS BALL”, whatever that was meant to mean, according to the flyer

Sat. May 16^th – Bill Brunskill’s Jazzband (£10)

Trumpeter Bill Brunskill first played with Cy Laurie, and up until the late 90s was still leading his band, usually at The Lord Napier in Thornton Heath. Back in 1957, in a date on the Island that I’ve been unable to trace, he was supported by the mighty First Molesey Skiffling Scouts, who featured a 13-year old Mick Avory on drums, who went on to the even mightier Kinks. In 1995, Bill was the subject of a TV documentary, “Whatever Happened To Bill Brunskill?”, presented by George Melly

Sat. May 16^th – The Kid Shillito Jazz Band (£15)
Fri. May 22^nd – Bob Wallis’ Storyville Jazzmen (£15)

Fri. May 22^nd – Mr. Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band (£25)

There is a clause on Bob Wallis’ contract (above) for tonight stating that “This is a shared session with Acker Bilk (Club Anniversary)” with Mr Bilk starting at 7:30 and Bob to start playing at “9:00 prompt”. This was the 3rd anniversary of the club, and advertised as such on the flyer

Sat. May 23^rd – Brian Woolley’s Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. May 30^th – Micky Ashman and his band (£25)

June 1959

Sat. Jun 6^th – The Kid Shillito Jazzband (£25)

Sounding like a middleweight boxing contender, Kid Shillito is still tooting his trumpet in John Shillito’s Select 4, or Select 6, all over the shop – mainly Devon – even now. Later in the year he would join Micky Ashman’s band, who have a number of credits here, both before and after tonight

Sat. Jun 13^th – Terry Lightfoot’s New Orleans Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Jun 20^th – Alex Welsh and his band (£25)
Fri. Jun 26^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen (£25) (Celebration Dance)
Fri. Jun 26^th – The Kid Shillito Jazzband (£15)(Celebration Dance)
Sat. Jun 27^th – Micky Ashman and his Jazzband (£25)

July 1959

Sat. Jul 4^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen featuring Doreen Beatty (£25)
Sat. Jul 11^th – The Graham Stewart Seven (£25)
Sat. Jul 18^th – Al Fairweather / Sandy Brown All Stars Band (£25)
Fri. Jul 24^th – Ian Bell’s Jazzmen (£25)
Fri. Jul 24^th – Bob Wallis’ Storyville Jazzmen (£25)
“Parade from Twickenham Green to Eel Pie Island”, with the club session starting at 8pm

Sat. Jul 25^th – Micky Ashman and his Jazzband (£25)

August 1959

Sat. Aug 1^st – Dick Charlesworth and his City Gents (£25)
Sat. Aug 8^th – Mr Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Aug 15^th – The Kenny Ball Jazzmen (£25)
Kenny Ball appears in his own right, having had previous with both Charlie Galbraith and Terry Lightfoot, both familiar to Eel Pie Island, and still two years away from his massive “Midnight In Moscow” hit
Sat. Aug 22^nd – Graham Stewart’s Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Aug 29^th – Micky Ashman and his Jazz Band (£25)

September 1959

Sat. Sep 5^th – Alex Welsh and his Band (£25)
Sat. Sep 12^th – Al Fairweather / Sandy Brown All Stars Band (£25)
Sat. Sep 19^th – Terry Lightfoot’s New Orleans Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Sep 26^th – Mr Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band (£25)

October 1959

Fri. Oct 2^nd – Bill Brunskill and his Band (£17)
Sat. Oct 3^rd – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen featuring Doreen Beatty (£25)
Sat. Oct 10^th – Ian Bell’s Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Oct 17^th – Brian Woolley’s Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Oct 24^th – The Storyville Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Oct 31^st – Micky Ashman and his Band (£25)

November 1959

Sat. Nov 7^th – Micky Ashman and his Band (£25)
Sat. Nov 14^th – Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen (£25)
Thu. Nov 19^th – ‘Jerks Jump’
“Dancing to four popular jazz bands, including The Bill Brunskill Group, and The Riversiders“, according to a flyer, the event having been organised by Kingston & District Student Charities Committee, hence the Thursday
Sat. Nov 21^st – Mr Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Nov 28^th – Sonny Morris and his Jazzmen (£25)

December 1959

Sat. Dec 5^th – Bill Brunskill and his Band (£25)
Sat. Dec 12^th – The Storyville Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Dec 19^th – Dick Charlesworth and his City Gents (£25)
Thu. Dec 24^th – Dave Nelson’s Marlborough Jazzband (£15)

According to the contract, this was a shared session, with Dave’s boys doing sets 1 and 3. Who played the second set?

Sat. Dec 26^th – Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen (£25)

1960

January 1960

Sat. Jan 2^nd – The Storyville Jazz Band (£25)
Sun. Jan 3^rd – Neil Millett Jazz Band (£5)

Neil Millett’s band had to start at 9:00 for only a half hour set (hence the paucity of the payment), and had to wear band uniforms. This suggests they were the half-time entertainment, but for whom?

Sat. Jan 9^th – Micky Ashman and his Band (£25)
Sat. Jan 16^th – Mr Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Jan 23^rd – The Riversiders (£11)
“Band uniformity of dress to be worn”. It seems that only The Riversiders, Neil Millett’s Jazz Band – above – and Dave Nelson’s Marlborough Jazz Band – below – warranted this particular sartorially threatening clause. In addition, The Riversiders (or more properly The Riverside Jazzmen) had a residency on the Island during the early 60s on Sundays. The fact that I’ve not been able to include any of these suggests either that residencies were not covered by contracts, or that’s another swath of contracts that have gone missing, but you’ll notice that Sundays are by and large bereft of documented gigs. Having said that, of course, there’s one for the night after this. Typical! Richard Quinnell, who played sousaphone with The Riversiders, got in touch to tell us that, over and above the multiplicity of gigs their residency gave them, he, together with two other members, morphed into the Riverside Washboard Serenaders, in a stripped down line-up: furthermore, they reformed over 40 years later without original clarinettist Alan, but with his children instead, producing a CD to go with one recorded years earlier in their original line-up

Sat. Jan 23^rd – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen featuring Doreen Beatty (£25)
Sun. Jan 24^th – Dave Nelson’s Marlborough Jazz Band (£11)
“Band uniforms to be worn”, and they played two sets, with the second scheduled for between “9:05 and 10:15-10:30, depending on popularity”
Sat. Jan 30^th – Graham Stewart’s New Orleans Jazz Band (£25)

February 1960

Sat. Feb 13^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen featuring Doreen Beatty (£25)

Fri. Feb 19th – Ken Colyer (£25)
Sat. Feb 20^th – The Storyville Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Feb 27^th – The Clyde Valley Stompers (£25)

March 1960

Sat. Mar 5^th – Sonny Morris’ Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Mar 12^th – Dick Charlesworth and his City Gents (£25)
Sat. Mar 19^th – Micky Ashman and his Band (£25)
Sun. Mar 20^th – Dave Nelson’s Marlborough Jazz Band (£8)
“Band uniforms to be worn”
Sat. Mar 26^th – The Storyville Jazz Band (£25)

April 1960

Sat. Apr 2^nd – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen featuring Doreen Beatty (£25)
Sat. Apr 9^th – Graham Stewart’s New Orleans Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Apr 16^th – Sonny Morris’ Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Apr 23rd – Terry Lightfoot’s New Orleans Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Apr 30^th – Eggy Lay’s Jazzmen (£25)
The curiously named Eggy Lay had played clarinet with Cy Laurie

May 1960

Sun. May 1^st – The Pete Ridge Jazzband (£15)
Sat. May 7^th – Micky Ashman and his Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. May 14^th – Sims / Wheeler Vintage Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. May 21^st – Mr Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. May 28^th – Terry Lightfoot’s New Orleans Jazzmen (£25)
Sun. May 29^th – Charlie Gall’s Jazzmen (£15)

Glaswegian Gall was a co-founder of the Clyde Valley Stompers, who appeared here in 1957, then his own Jazzmen when he came down to London, before heading over to Canada and forming the Toronto Metro Stompers. While with his Jazzmen, he was apparently supported at a gig at The Cavern by a bunch known as The Quarrymen

June 1960

Sat. Jun 4^th – The Storyville Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Jun 11^th – Sonny Morris’ Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Jun 18^th – Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen (£25)
Sun. Jun 19^th – Ian Bell’s Jazzmen (£10)
Sat. Jun 25^th – Mike Peters’ New Orleans Jazzband (£25)

July 1960

Sat. Jul 2^nd – Micky Ashman and his Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Jul 9^th – The Storyville Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Jul 16^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen featuring Doreen Beatty (£25)
Sat. Jul 23^rd – Sonny Morris’ Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Jul 30^th – Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen (£25)
Sun. Jul 31^st – The Pete Ridge Jazzband (£15)

August 1960

Sat. Aug 6^th – The Storyville Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Aug 13^th – Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Aug 20^th – Dick Charlesworth and his City Gents (£25)
Sat. Aug 27^th – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazzband (£25)

September 1960

Sat. Sep 3^rd – Sims / Wheeler Vintage Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Sep 10^th – Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen (£25)

Sat. Sep 17^th – The Cy Laurie Band (£35)

The influential self-taught clarinettist Cy Laurie, who started his own club in Ham Yard, which later became famous as The Scene, a Mod club of the 60s. Whilst Laurie had appeared at the Island on numerous occasions in its early days (providing George Melly with his singing debut on one occasion, probably back in 1956) this is the first documented performance here since the great ‘Bridge Opening Gala/Eelpiland Power Struggle’ of February 1957

Sat. Sep 24^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen featuring Doreen Beatty (£25)

October 1960

Sat. Oct 1^st – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazzband (£25)
Sat. Oct 8^th – Dick Charlesworth and his City Gents (£25)
Sat. Oct 15^th – The Cy Laurie Band (£25)

November 1960

Sat. Nov 5^th – The Cy Laurie Band (£25)

Sat. Nov 12^th – Dick Charlesworth and his City Gents (£25)
Sat. Nov 19^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen with Doreen Beatty (£25)
Sat. Nov 26^th – Trevor Jones’ Jazzmen (£25)

December 1960

Sat. Dec 3^rd – Terry Lightfoot’s New Orleans Jazzmen (£25)
Sat. Dec 10^th – Mike Peters’ New Orleans Jazzband (£25)
Sat. Dec 17^th – Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen (£50)
Sat. Dec 31^st – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen featuring Doreen Beatty (£60)

1961

January 1961

Sat. Jan 7^th – The Storyville Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. Jan 14^th – Sims / Wheeler Vintage Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. Jan 21^st – Micky Ashman and his Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. Jan 28^th – Dick Charlesworth and his City Gents (£50)
Dick Charlesworth would later embrace R&B with his Big Blues band, embarking on a series of dates at The Marquee in 1964. Strangely, he doesn’t seem to have brought that to the party at Eel Pie Island

February 1961

Sat. Feb 4^th – Terry Lightfoot’s New Orleans Jazz Band (£55)
One of the more familiar Jazz names on this roll-call, Terry Lightfoot’s band had a couple of minor hits during 1961

Sun. Feb 12^th – The Pete Ridge Jazzband with Little Mo (£20)

Trumpeter Mike Cotton would form his own ‘Jazzmen’ combo out of the ashes of Pete Ridge’s band, taking Little Mo (aka Maureen Parfitt) with him, before they morphed into The Mike Cotton Sound when they saw which way the R&B wind was blowing

Sat. Feb 18^th – Avon Cities Jazz Band (£40)

The Avon Cities Jazz Band came from, you guessed it, Bristol. Formed in 1949, they kept going until 2000. Trumpeter Geoff Nicholls and soprano sax player Mike Hitchings were ever-presents throughout that period. Not so much long service awards due, but lifetime achievements I would have thought

Sat. Feb 25^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£35)

March 1961

Sat. Mar 4^th – The Cy Laurie Band (£45)

Sat. Mar 11^th – The Temperance Seven (date supplied by John Gieves-Watson)

Sat. Mar 18^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£35)
Sat. Mar 25^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen with Doreen Beatty (£50)

April 1961

Sat. Apr 1^st – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£40)

Sat. Apr 8^th – The Temperance Seven (date supplied by John Gieves-Watson)

Sat. Apr 15^th – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazzband (£50)

Thu. Apr 20^th – Mr. Acker Bilk’s Paramount Jazz Band (£75)

This appears to be the last sighting of the soon to be huge Mr Bilk, and clearly he went out with a bang, eclipsing all previous payments
Sat. Apr 22^nd – Mike Peters’ Florida Jazz Band (£40)
Sat. Apr 29^th – Vintage Jazz Band (£50)

By this time, clarinettist Ian Wheeler had left for Chris Barber’s band, leaving Ken Sims in sole command. Sometime during 1960/61, Long John Baldry was lending his vocal talents to the Sims Vintage Jazz Band

May 1961

Thu. May 4^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen (£50)
Sat. May 13^th – Mac Duncan’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sat. May 20^th – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. May 27t^th– Mike Peters’ Florida Jazz Band with Johnny Silvo (£40)

June 1961

Sat. Jun 10^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£40)
Sun. Jun 11^th – The Temperance Seven Band (65 Guineas) (from letter of confirmation of verbal agreement from the band’s agents)

What a cultured payment style, one that would today be recognised as £68.25 (not taking inflation into account, clearly). Needless to say, these were the only performers paid in such a fashion: perhaps it helped that they’d been driven crazy by hitting the heady heights of number one in the hit parade earlier in the year, thus providing George Martin with his first such success as a producer, a while before some Liverpudlian moptops did. Incidentally, ‘Whispering’ Paul McDowell, responsible for the band’s ‘vocal refrains’ had to leave the Experimental Theatre Club revue, of which he was also a member, who had been performing “****” (Four Asterisks) at the Edinburgh Fringe, as a result of that chart success in order to tour with the band. His replacement in the revue was one Terry Jones, who would light up our lives as a Python much later

Sat. Jun 17^th – Ken Barton’s Oriole Jazz Band (£25)
Sat. Jun 24^th – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazz Band (£50)

July 1961

Sat. Jul 1^st – Bjorn Stokstad & his Norwegian Jazz Band (£65)
A true rarity: Bjorn was a clarinettist, and the band was what it said on the tin. “Bjørn Stokstad, norsk jazzmusiker og arkitekt; fra ca. 1960 ansett som Norges ledende klarinettist i tradisjonell stil. Startet sitt eget orkester i 1962.” See?

Sat. Jul 8^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen with Doreen Beatty (£50)
Sat. Jul 15^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£40)
Sun. Jul 16^th – The Temperance Seven Band (65 Guineas) (from letter of confirmation of verbal agreement from the band’s agents)

Sat. Jul 22^nd – Terry Pitts’ Jazz Band (£45)

Terry Pitts, as star trombonist, recorded with Cy Laurie in 1958, and again ten years later in 1968, but this year (1961) put out a single “A Drop Of The Hard Stuff” under his own name

Sat. Jul 29^th – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£40)
Alan Elsdon was a trumpeter and flugelhornist, no less, having also played with Cy Laurie, as well as with Terry Lightfoot. After this set tonight, Alan’s crew were due to hot-foot it up to Ken Colyer’s club for an all-night session

August 1961

Sat. Aug 5^th – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. Aug 12^th – Mike Peters’ Florida Jazz Band (£40)
Sat. Aug 19^th – Vintage Jazz Band led by Ken Sims (£50)
Sat. Aug 26^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£40)

September 1961

Sat. Sep 2^nd – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sat. Sep 9^th – Bob Wallis’ Storyville Jazzmen (£60)
Bob Wallis’ Storyville lads had just scraped into the Top 50 with “I’m Shy Mary Ellen I’m Shy” which doesn’t appear to sound like a jazz number so much as a music hall one. Mind you, they display remarkable longevity, being one of the last jazz bands to play on the Island, a month before its closure in 1967, though, tellingly, for half the fee paid tonight
Sat. Sep 16^th – Mike Peters’ Florida Jazz Band with Johnny Silvo (£40)
I remember Johnny Silvo as more of a folkie than anything, but I guess he was cutting his teeth on jazz/skiffle/blues at this point, and indeed guested with Dick Charlesworth and Monty Sunshine at various times
Sat. Sep 23^rd – Terry Pitts’ Jazz Band (£45)
Sat. Sep 30^th – Len Baldwin’s Dauphin Street Six (£35)

October 1961

Sat. Oct 7^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen with Doreen Beatty (£50)
Sat. Oct 14^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£45)
Sat. Oct 21^st – Melbourne New Orleans Jazz Band (£65)

These featured trombonist Max Collie, who, when the band returned to Australia, stayed on and joined the London City Stompers

Sat. Oct 28^th – Ken Sims’ Vintage Jazz Band (£50)

November 1961

Sat. Nov 4^th – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sat. Nov 11^th – Len Baldwin’s Dauphin Street Six (£35)
Sat. Nov 18^th – Terry Pitts’ Jazz Band (£45)
Sat. Nov 25^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£45)

December 1961

Sat. Dec 2^nd – The Clyde Valley Stompers Ltd (£55)
Sat. Dec 9^th – Ken Sims’ Vintage Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. Dec 16^th – Mike Peters’ Florida Jazzmen (£40)
Sat. Dec 23^rd – Len Baldwin’s Dauphin Street Six (£35)
Sat. Dec 30^th – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazz Band (£50)

1962

January 1962

Sat. Jan 6^th – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sat. Jan 13^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£45)
Sat. Jan 20^th – Len Baldwin’s Dauphin Street Six (£35)
Sat. Jan 27^th – Ken Sims’ Vintage Jazz Band (£50)

February 1962

Sat. Feb 3^rd – Terry Pitts’ Jazz Band (£45)
Sat. Feb 10^th – New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale (£45)
Sat. Feb 17^th – Forrie Cairns and the Clansmen (£40)
Forrie Cairns also played in The Clyde Valley Stompers
Sat. Feb 24^th – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazz Band (£50)

March 1962

Sat. Mar 3^rd – Ken Sims’ Vintage Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. Mar 10^th – Terry Pitts’ Jazz Band (£45)
Sat. Mar 17^th – Len Baldwin’s Dauphin Street Six (£35)

Sat. Mar 31^st – Eric Allandale’s New Orleans Knights (£45)

April 1962

Sat. Apr 7^th – Eric Silk and his Southern Jazz Band (£40)
Sat. Apr 14^th – Melbourne New Orleans Jazz Band (£65)
Sat. Apr 21^st – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sat. Apr 28^th – Terry Pitts’ Jazz Band (£45)

May 1962

Sat. May 5^th – Len Baldwin’s Dauphin Street Six (£35)
Sat. May 12^th – Ken Sims’ Vintage Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. May 19^th – Micky Ashman’s Ragtime Jazz Band (£50)
Sat. May 26^th – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£40)

June 1962

Sat. Jun 2^nd – Eric Allandale’s New Orleans Knights (£45)
Sat. Jun 9^th – Cyril Preston’s Excelsior Jazz Band (£35)
Sat. Jun 16^th – Charlie Galbraith’s Jazz Band (£35)
Sat. Jun 23^rd – Mike Cotton’s Jazzmen (£40)
Sat. Jun 30^th – Len Baldwin’s Dauphin Street Six (£40)

At this time, the Dauphin Street Six featured Viv Prince on drums, who went on to influence Keith Moon with both his drumming style and wild on-stage behaviour, generally misbehaving all over the place, eventually getting sacked by The Pretty Things for his unreliability, that after being thrown off a plane in New Zealand that was to take the band home following a tour there

July 1962

Sat. Jul 7^th – Eric Allandale’s New Orleans Knights (£45)
From being pretty much a regular at Eel Pie, trombonist Eric Allandale seems to have disappeared after tonight (gaps in documentation notwithstanding, as described below) until an unlikely re-emergence with The Foundations in 1967, though he did also play with Terry Lightfoot and Alex Welsh
Sat. Jul 14^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzmen with Doreen Beatty (£50)
Sat. Jul 21^st – The Clyde Valley Stompers (£50)
The Clyde Valley Stompers were shortly to bother the hit parade with “Peter And The Wolf”, which hit the heady heights of #25, and were later to guest on The Morecambe and Wise Show, before disbanding in 1963. As with Charlie Gall, mentioned back in May 1960, most of the band then seems to have emigrated to Canada

Sat. Jul 28^th – Eric Silk and his Southern Jazz Band (£40)

August 1962

Sat. Aug 4^th – Dave Keir’s Jazz Band (£35)
Sat. Aug 11^th – Eric Silk and his Southern Jazz Band (£40)

October 1962

Wed. Oct 17^th – Tony Holland and the Packabeats

It appears Beat Music has made an entry in the annals of Eel Pie Island, and though The Packabeats were primarily an instrumental outfit, they were always billed with their vocalist, Tony Holland. When The Packabeats appeared at the Pipeline Convention (dedicated to instrumental groups – Holland wasn’t allowed) in 2004, it was the first time they’d played onstage since 1964

Wed. Oct 17^th –Mike Berry and the Outlaws

Mike Berry’s “Tribute to Buddy Holly” was banned by the BBC for being too morbid! He had a couple of other hits before The Beatles rather consigned him and his ilk to musical history, though he stormed back with a No 9 chart hit in 1980, “The Sunshine Of Your Smile”. Berry then pursued an acting career, where he became a familiar face on TV’s “Are You Being Served”, and can still be seen on the small screen these days. He has also appeared at One Kew Road recently, site of the original Crawdaddy Club in Richmond

Wed. Oct 17^th – Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers

Cliff Bennett’s crew would enjoy chart success in 1966 with their version of Paul McCartney’s “Got To Get You Into My Life”, but even at this early stage had a few singles under their belt. They later featured Chas Hodges of 70s “Rockney” fame, but curiously tonight, he was still playing with Mike Berry’s Outlaws, but shared the stage, sort of, with future Chas’n’Dave drummer Mick Burt who was on duty with The Rebel Rousers tonight! Meanwhile, Bassist Frank Allen joined The Searchers in 1964, and has been with them ever since.

Wed. Oct 17^th – Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages (all Oct 17 entries from contemporary poster)

Always the eccentric, David Sutch mucked about on the fringes of music, commercially unsuccessfully for years, despite what sounds like an entertaining stage show, leaning heavily on Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ ‘shock-rock’ style: his Savages decamped to form Cyril Davies’ All Stars; he stood for Parliament as a representative of the National Teenage Party during the 60s, before famously forming The Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983 to most electioneers’ amusement; he recorded “Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends”, which a BBC poll in 1998 described as the worst album of all time, despite boasting the talents of Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck, Noel Redding and Nicky Hopkins

While there are obvious gaps between some dates, generally the evidence is fairly comprehensive, but there are a wholesale bunch of missing contracts for the next year or so, meaning the remainder of 1962, the majority of 1963 and a large chunk of 1964 is undocumented. As this is a particularly interesting period in the club’s, and the nation’s, musical development, with R&B starting to feature alongside jazz, perhaps someone got to these contracts before me. What is clear, however, is that at some point between August 1962 and April 1963, the club policy became one whereby regular Wednesday and Sunday performances were introduced, featuring R&B groups, with Saturdays remaining the province of the jazz bands: perhaps that October 17^th bill (above) represented the earliest use of a Wednesday for the ‘Rock and Twist Club’ as the poster proclaims, being a comparatively strong line-up. Unfortunately that lack of contracts means initially I could not directly reference The Tridents (who featured Jeff Beck within their ranks), The Muleskinners (with Ian McLagan in tow), The Birds (who included Ronnie Wood), The Others, David Bowie’s Manish Boys phase, and who knows how many others, including idiosyncratic Scotsman Ivor Cutler, of whom I’ve seen photographic evidence of an appearance. In 2015, Ronnie Wood published his diary from 1965, “How Can It Be?”, but while there are numerous entries concerning Eel Pie Island, none of them involve his lot The Birds playing, Ronnie only being there to watch brother Art – Ali McKenzie, however remembers their first Island date, then known as The Thunderbirds, being in late 1964, supporting Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, while their second was supporting Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds, thus necessitating a shortening of their own name to just The Birds. Fortunately, Nick Warburton has come to the rescue, not least from the Bowie perspective, with his own listing of dates on the Island for garage bands during the 60s, which you can find on www.garagehangover.com/eel-pie-island/: entries from that source are the ones below which do not quote a performance fee. Paul Lucas of The Tridents has come forward with his own diary entries for their dates, so that’s rectified too. Also, the emergence of letters confirming payments made by Arthur Chisnall, as well as some of his accounts, have helped confirm / confuse the issue! Thanks are also due to Christopher Hjort (author of “Strange Brew: Eric Clapton and the British Blues Boom 1965-1970”) for verification/second opinion on the John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers entries, as well as John H Warburg for his input on the same, additionally providing me with the source sites for a number of Strawberry Hill Boys appearances, as support to The Stones in 1963.

1963

April 1963

Wed. Apr 24^th – The Rolling Stones

Probably the first time The Stones played on the Island (certainly in their own right: recently reports have come to light of an interval appearance on a Back o’Town Syncopators date, which would almost certainly have been earlier than tonight, though this is doubtful, as there is no mention of such an event in Bill Wyman’s meticulous autobiography, “Stone Alone”, but Laura, whose Dad played in the BoTS, contacted us to say that he had told her that while they played one time, the Stones were collecting beer glasses, and did play during the interval – she even suggests it was Jagger – maybe it was ‘some’ Stones before they were Stones?). They would total some 24 appearances between now and September 25^th. Doorman Stan, who used to stamp people’s wrists on entry to the club (usually with names of obscure countries – he was a cartographer), visited the museum. He recalled how Arthur was wondering where the club’s clientele had disappeared to and so the two of them visited the Station Hotel in Richmond, and found the outfit that was drawing them in there. Thereafter, the Stones suddenly were granted a five month residency at Eel Pie Island. I guess that means that for a large part of 1963, you could see the Stones on a Wednesday at Eel Pie Island, and at the weekend at The Station Hotel, later the Crawdaddy, meaning you could get legitimately “Stoned” in the borough twice a week for that five months! A mere 46 years after tonight, this date was chosen for the unveiling of the “Music Legends of Eel Pie Island” heritage plaque on the riverside, overlooking the Island, outside The Barmy Arms.

May 1963

Wed. May 1^st – The Rolling Stones
Wed. May 8^th – The Rolling Stones
Wed. May 15^th – The Rolling Stones
Wed. May 22^nd – The Rolling Stones
Wed. May 29^th – The Rolling Stones

June 1963

Wed. Jun 5^th – The Rolling Stones
Wed. Jun 12^th – The Rolling Stones
Wed. Jun 19^th – The Rolling Stones (Rolling Stones dates from April 24^th to June 19^th from Bill Wyman’s “Stone Alone” and initially

http://www.tamworthbands.com/1963/rollingstones/1963gigs.htm )

My guess is that never in a million years would the Rolling Stones imagine that exactly 55 years after this appearance (their ninth at Eelpiland) they would still be active as a musical concern, never mind playing to an audience of 55,000 at the rather bigger venue in Twickenham that is the Rugby Stadium

Sat. Jun 22^nd – Mickey Ashman (from flyer)

Sun. Jun 23^rd – The Yardbirds

A still-at-schoolkid called Top Topham took to the stage as support with his band: they had settled on the name of The Yardbirds tonight in the dressing room above the stage, according to Topham – they had to be called something, deciding on Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker as inspiration (Keith Relf had been reading Kerouac‘s “On The Road“ at the time). The Yardbirds actually played the interval session between two Cyril Davies sets tonight, and Davies would continue to help The Yardbirds with both support gigs and the loan of equipment for the remainder of the year. Of course, come October, young Top had been packed off back to Epsom Art School, unable to persuade his parents that his future lay in music, and his place had been taken by a certain Eric Clapton. When the Stones relinquished their residency at The Craw Daddy (by now relocated to Richmond Athletic Ground) in September in order to go touring, The Yardbirds took their place

Sun. Jun 23^rd – Cyril Davies All Stars (from http://www.carlolittle.com/dates63.htm )

Tonight appears to be the beginning of Cyril’s association with the club. Legendary drummer Carlo Little was a founder member of The Savages who backed Screaming Lord Sutch, played in early incarnations of The Rolling Stones before Charlie Watts came on board, and is credited with influencing Keith Moon’s style, having given him lessons for the extra pin-money that would bring. Then he joined Cyril Davies’ outfit. Fortunately for us, he also kept a diary of his playing exploits which has yielded this entry, as well as a few others during this period (the above link will take you to these records). He continued to do session work and tour throughout the 60s and beyond before reforming the All Stars in 2000. Following his death in 2005, the current Eel Pie Club organised a Carlo Little benefit at York House in Twickenham the following year, which featured, amongst others, Phil May and Dick Taylor from The Pretty Things, and 50s survivors Vince Eager and Wee Willie Harris. As for the mighty Cyril Davies and his blues harp, he was an inspiration to R&B enthusiasts and converts far and wide. Future Downliners Sect’s Don Craine remembers how he turned up to see Screaming Lord Sutch, and noticed how, while The Savages were indeed present, the good Lord was not, and in his place was the bank-managerly figure of Cyril Davies, familiar to Don from the Ealing Club, and thus, apparently, Cyril’s Rhythm and Blues All Stars were born: a wee while earlier than tonight, obviously

Wed. Jun 26^th – The Rolling Stones (£45)

Sat. Jun 29^th – Doug Richford (from flyer)

Sun. Jun 30th – The Yardbirds

Sun. Jun 30^th – Cyril Davies All Stars (from http://www.carlolittle.com/dates63.htm )

July 1963

Wed. Jul 3^rd – The Rolling Stones (£45)

Sat. Jul 6^th – Back o’Town Syncopators (from flyer)

From north of the border and led by one Alexander Murray Smith, the Syncopators recorded a version of Ron Grainer’s “Steptoe & Son” theme, aka “Old Ned” (an undoubted inspiration for Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive”), as well as Rangers FC’s anthem “Follow Follow” in 1962, an iTunes version of which has found its way onto the internet

Wed. Jul 10^th – The Strawberry Hill Boys (from http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk/tline/1963.asp )

The Strawberry Hill Boys were local lads, led by Dave Cousins, who specialised in Bluegrass music at this point. They went on to shorten their name to The Strawbs in 1967, featuring Sandy Denny on their first album that same year, recruited Rick Wakeman in 1971, and became rather unlikely chart heroes in 1973, having further recruited Dave Lambert on guitar, and glamming up a bit

Wed. Jul 10^th – The Rolling Stones (£50)

Fri. Jul 12th – The Muleskinners

Fri. Jul 12^th – The Rolling Stones (£65 according to Stuart Thorpe who “co-made” the booking)

(from http://www.tamworthbands.com/1963/rollingstones/1963gigs.htm)
Subtitled “Twickenham Design College Dance”, so presumably this explains the ‘unusual’ Friday performance, as well as its absence from Eric Easton’s letter (see September 25^th below), as The Stones must had booked directly by the College. Future Small Face Ian McLagan relates how he booked the Stones for the Twickenham Art School [sic] dance after having seen them here (and helping them lug their gear back across the bridge), and that his band The Muleskinners supported them. Recently coming to light is the fact that the poster for tonight’s gig (intriguingly inviting punters to “Come to the Klondike”) was designed by Colin Fulcher, later known as Barney Bubbles, who, like McLagan, was also studying at Twickenham, and would go on to design a myriad album covers from 1970 onwards

Sat. Jul 13^th – Original Down Town Syncopators (from flyer)

Sun. Jul 14^th – The Yardbirds

Sun. Jul 14^th – Cyril Davies All Stars (both today’s entries listed as ‘unconfirmed’ by www.garagehangover.com but Cyril Davies verified by http://www.carlolittle.com/dates63.htm )

Wed. Jul 17^th – The Strawberry Hill Boys (from http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk/tline/1963.asp )

Wed. Jul 17^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)

Sat. Jul 20^th – Eric Silk (from flyer)

Sun. Jul 21^st – Cyril Davies All Stars (from http://www.carlolittle.com/dates63.htm )

Wed. Jul 24^th – The Strawberry Hill Boys (from http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk/tline/1963.asp )

Wed. Jul 24^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)

Sat. Jul 27^th – Dick Charlesworth (from flyer)

Sun. Jul 28^th – Cyril Davies All Stars (from http://www.carlolittle.com/dates63.htm )

This appears to be Carlo Little’s last appearance with Cyril Davies on the Island, as he returned to duties with Screaming Lord Sutch a couple of weeks after tonight

Wed. Jul 31^st – The Rolling Stones (£55)

August 1963

Wed. Aug 7^th – The Strawberry Hill Boys (from http://www.strawbsweb.co.uk/tline/1963.asp )

Wed. Aug 7^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)
Wed. Aug 14^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)

Sat. Aug 17^th – Mickey Ashman (from flyer)
Wed. Aug 21^st – The Rolling Stones (£55)

Sat. Aug 24^th – Original Downtown Syncopaters (from flyer)
Wed. Aug 28^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)

When we had a pop-up version of the Museum during 2015, Ken Wormald gifted us a shot he’d taken of the Stones at the Island, which we incorporated into the display. On confirming who was actually in the photo, with the suggestion that one character was Brian Jones, Ken scoffed “No, he wasn’t there that night: that happened a lot”. Bill Wyman’s “Stone Alone” backs this up, as he has “without Brian – ill” for tonight, as he has for the September 4^th date below “without Brian 2^nd set – ill”. According to Wyman, to compensate, they drafted in Ian Stewart and miked his piano, putting it through an amplifier to improve its sound

Sat. Aug 31^st – Dauphine Street Six [sic] (from flyer)

September 1963

Wed. Sep 4^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)

Sat. Sep 7^th – Eric Silk (from flyer)
Wed. Sep 11^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)

Sat. Sep 14^th – Back O’Town Syncopaters (from flyer)

Wed. Sep 18^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)

Sat. Sep 21^st – Alan Elsdon (from flyer)

Wed. Sep 25^th – The Rolling Stones (£55)
Rolling Stones dates between Jun 26 ^th and Sep 25^th are all from confirmation letter from their then manager, Eric Easton. Witnesses at this last Stones gig (where Arthur Chisnall maintained “never mind the ballroom, the whole bloody Island was overflowing“, with queues stretching back beyond the footbridge) remember how Mick told everyone that they were going on tour the following week, and if that didn’t work out, he’d see them soon: of course “that” did, and “he” didn’t: they never came back. This would be one of their last club gigs, or at least the last residency they played, with their immediate future on the ‘theatre/ballroom’ circuit, and a national tour with The Everly Brothers and hero Bo Diddley. To put the Stones’ tenure at the Island into context, by this point they had racked up 24 appearances during 1963, compared with 27 at the Station Hotel / Crawdaddy, 25 at Windsor’s Ricky Tick Club (over 1962 and 1963), 22 at Ealing Jazz Club (again over 1962 and 1963), but the total falls well short of that at Ken Colyer’s Studio 51 which comes in with a mighty 41 gigs

Sat. Sep 28^th – Original Downtown Syncopaters (from flyer)

Sun. Sep 29^th – Cyril Davies & The Velvetts [sic] (from flyer)
The Velvettes (Hazel Futa, Patience “Princess” Gowabe, and Eunice Mamsie Mthombeni, together initially with Peggy Phango who left to pursue a solo career) were three female singers who had come to England on tour performing in “King Kong”, a musical from South Africa, and stayed on after its completion, presumably preferring to remain rather than return to the apartheid at home. Not to be confused with Motown outfit, The Velvelettes, which I initially did when first getting involved in the Eel Pie Island Music project in 2013

October 1963

Wed. Oct 2^nd – The Temeraires

Temeraires’ drummer Nigel Ridgway contacted us to say his band supported Georgie Fame at the Island on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, this is the only date we’ve found so far for Mr Fame, and as Nigel reckons they would have been first on at this one, who am I to argue? For a fiver, recalls Nigel

Wed. Oct 2^nd – Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames (from flyer)

Georgie Fame swopped his piano for a Hammond organ when an American GI gave him “Green Onions” by Booker T & The MGs, and gained some sort of, ahem, fame by all his Top 10 hits becoming chart-toppers (“Yeh Yeh”, “Getaway” and “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde”). Subsequently, Georgie has played with loads of big names, and is still busy these days: with his sons in tow, he played at Twickenham Stadium’s Live Room in 2010 as part of the tenth birthday celebrations of the current Eel Pie Club

Sat. Oct 5^th – Back O’Town Syncopators (from flyer)

Sun. Oct 6^th – The Downliner Sect [sic] (from flyer)
Don Craine’s Downliners Sect, formed as an attempt to meld the music of Cyril Davies with the sex appeal of The Stones: his words, not mine. Still, while not achieving a great deal in this country, sales-wise, they did take their “Little Egypt” to the top of the Swedish charts
Wed. Oct 9^th – Student Grant Benefit: Cyril Davies with Long John & The Velvetts [sic], also The Road Runners (from flyer)
The ‘Long John’ is, of course, featured vocalist Baldry. The Road Runners were an early foray into R&B by the Shulman brothers from Portsmouth who would gain fame and fortune as Simon Dupree & The Big Sound with “Kites”, and become prog-rockers Gentle Giant. Then again, there were any number of groups known as The Roadrunners, and up in Liverpool, there was just such a bunch tearing up the boards there, who George Harrison reckoned The Stones weren’t as good as! So which Roadrunners tonight? I have no idea. And this just in…..Daryl T Allen contacted us to say that Derek Shulman told him he never played on the Island, so that rules out the Pompey outfit. With the Liverpool lot somewhat unlikely, Daryl further suggests it may have been the Bo Street Runners before they changed their name (like I said, there were lots of Roadrunners about that time), that option gaining credibility when I saw original Bo Street Runner vocalist John Dominic participate in a Cyril Davies Tribute Night at the current day Eel Pie Club in March 2018 – dozy sod that I am, it didn’t occur to me at the time to verify this. The Bo Street Runners were sort of notable, in that they won the TV ‘talent competition’ “Ready Steady Win!” in 1964. Winning got them a contract, which meant a record release, but that never translated into sales. Singer Mike Patto joined them later, but they ended up being wound up. Their story is continued on February 26^th 1967, when they played at the Island as the Chicago Line Blues Band

Sat. Oct 12^th – Clyde Valley Stompers (from flyer)

Sun. Oct 13^th – Cyril Davies (from flyer)
Wed. Oct 16^th – Jimmy Powell and The Dimensions (from flyer)

Sat. Oct 19^th – Bob Dwyer’s Hot Six (from flyer)

Trombonist Bob Dwyer later joined Steve Lane’s Southern Stompers, and was interviewed for the 2013 documentary, “Rock’n’Roll Island”

Sun. Oct 20^th – Cyril Davies (from flyer)

Sat. Oct 26^th – Original Downtown Syncopators (from flyer)

Wed. Oct 30^th – Jimmy Powell and The Five Dimensions (£30)
Early sightings of Rod Stewart on stage may have occurred at this point, as he was briefly employed as Powell’s harmonica player, until he started contributing backing vocals and got the sack. Was Jimmy scared of the competition? In any case, Jimmy and his Dimensions apparently backed Millie (Small) on her smash hit “My Boy Lollipop” the following year, which no doubt helped foster the urban myth that Rod Stewart provided the harmonica solo, but Dimension Peter Hogman claims that credit, while Jimmy Powell himself was responsible for the harmonica on PJ Proby’s “Hold Me”

November 1963

Sat. Nov 2^nd – Eric Silk (from flyer)

Sun. Nov 3^rd – Cyril Davies All Stars (£60)

Cyril (or ‘Squirrel’, as he was affectionately referred to by fans) Davies is still on a comparable fee to The Stones at this point

Sat. Nov 9^th – Charlie Galbraith (from flyer)

Sun. Nov 10^th – Cyril Davies All Stars (£60)

Wed. Nov 13^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£50)

Sun. Nov 17^th – Cyril Davies All Stars (£60)

Wed. Nov 27^th – John Mayall Blues Breakers (£25)

This would be the first incarnation of Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, featuring Bernie Watson on guitar, and John McVie, even then, on bass. Incidentally, the contract for tonight was made with Charlesworth Presentations, an agency run by Dick Charlesworth of City Gents frequency here, so clearly he had more strings to his bow than merely leading a jazz band. It’s likely that tonight featured the first appearance of local outfit The Others, as bassist Rob Tolchard recalls having blagged a support gig for this particular Mayall lineup

Sat. Nov 30^th – Eric Silk and his Southern Jazz Band (£35)

December 1963

Sun. Dec 8^th – Manfred Mann (date from “Mannerisms: The Five Phases of Manfred Mann” by Greg Russo)

Manfred Mann were shortly to become pop stars, when “5-4-3-2-1” stormed the charts after being adopted as the theme tune for Ready Steady Go, though it had been recorded back in August. Despite playing on the record, it was after playing at the Island, probably tonight, that bassist Dave Richmond was told his services would not be required the following night, at which point guitarist Tom McGuinness walked on stage at The Ealing Club with a bass for the first time. Dave Richmond went into session work, wielding his mighty Burns Bison Bass, and cropped up on “Je T’aime, Moi Non Plus” in 1969, as well as lots of other Serge Gainsbourg stuff

Fri. Dec 20^th – The Muleskinners (from ticket)

It’s another Twickenham College do tonight, and as in July, Ian McLagan’s Muleskinners are in attendance, seemingly the main attraction this time, and Colin Fulcher (aka Barney Bubbles) is again involved, at least in the design of the tickets. The theme for tonight is to “Come Cossack” according to Barney’s artwork, with the accompanying legend “Christmas Dance”, except in Cyrillic script

Tue. Dec 31^st  – Cyril Davies All Stars

Brian Corsie (currently with The PigsFoot Stringband) got in touch to fill in this little gap: he and his wife recall this New Year’s Eve date being one of their first together, and their first exposure to British R&B. While Davies was billed, his illness prevented his appearance, and, sadly, he was to die about a week later, but Long John Baldry led the band tonight, and Brian is fairly certain Charlie Watts was sitting in on drums, though as he was on duty with The Stones at Lincoln Drill Hall tonight, it seems unlikely

As for 1962/63, there is another significant gap in available documentation between this point and May 1^st 1964.

1964

January 1964

Wed. Jan 8^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men

On the death, on January 7^th, of Cyril Davies, Baldry assumed the mantle of leader of Davies’ All Stars, and renamed them The Hoochie Coochie Men, honouring a scheduled gig by Davies on this, the next day. Rod Stewart would become a regular participant in Hoochie Coochie Men gigs, having famously been recruited by Baldry on the strength of an impromptu harmonica session at Twickenham railway station, following tonight’s first Hoochie Coochie Men appearance on the Island. This was possibly not the first time Baldry had encountered Rod, as I’ve heard testimony of one night at the Island when there was a power cut, and my witness recalls seeing Cyril Davies, Long John and Rod doing an “unplugged” gig on the steps outside the club

Wed. Jan 15^th – The Downliners Sect
Wed. Jan 22^nd – The Downliners Sect

Wed. Jan 29^th – The Downliners Sect

February 1964

Wed. Feb 12^th – The Downliners Sect

Sat. Feb 22^nd – Original Downtown Syncopators (from Melody Maker ad)

Sun.Feb 23^rd – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (from Melody Maker ad)

Wed. Feb 26^th – The Downliners Sect

This was billed as a “CYRIL DAVIES BENEFIT”
Wed. Mar 11^th – The Downliners Sect

March 1964

Thu. Mar 19^th – The Downliners Sect

This rare Thursday operation was down to it having been organised by the Chiswick Polytechnic’s Student Union

Wed. Mar 25^th – The Downliners Sect

April 1964

Wed. Apr 8^th – The Downliners Sect
Wed. Apr 22^nd – The Downliners Sect
All above Downliners Sect dates between Jan 15^th and Apr 22^nd courtesy of Don Craine, even though Mar 19^th is a Thursday, which doesn’t sound right

May 1964

Fri. May 1^st – The Others (from ticket)
The lack of contracts over 1963/64 means that this is the only date I can verify for The Others, a local band from Hampton, who went down well with the locals. Had a solitary single, a cover of Bo Diddley’s “Oh Yeah” which sold zilch, but provided the template, arrangement-wise, for Chicago’s Shadows Of Knight to have a hit in the States with it two years later. This latter recording found its way onto Lenny Kaye’s legendary “Nuggets” compilation in 1972, and in a curious squaring of a circle, The Others had regrouped by 1968 as Sands, and recorded “Listen To The Sky” which found its way onto “Nuggets II” when that CD follow-up to its vinyl predecessor was released. A further incarnation as Sun Dragon resulted in an album, for which the boys were bulked up musically by Messrs Lord, Paice and Blackmore, who would appear on the Island in their own right as that Deep Purple pop group in 1970

Wed. May 6^th – Jimmy Page sat in on a jam session with Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman and Ian Stewart, together with Stu’s friends “Wint” on drums, and “Knocker” on harmonica

The advertised performers are not known at this time (from a Rolling Stones database, and quoted on a Led Zeppelin message forum, and not least from Bill Wyman’s autobiography “Stone Alone”: unfortunately, Jimmy Page denies he ever played on the Island)

Wed. May 20^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

This appears to be the first documented date on the Island for “art-school R&B terrorists”, The Tridents (that description was used by David Wells in his liner notes for a Jeff Beck retrospective CD, “Shapes Of Things” in 2003). Originally formed by the Lucas brothers from Chiswick, John (rhythm guitar) and Paul (bass), they had played at Eel Pie during 1963, and their line-up also included Lesley Jones on lead guitar, and Lindsay Bex on drums

Mon. May 25^th – Manish Boys (from www.bowiewonderworld.com )
A certain David Bowie, formerly Jones, has yet to join The Manish Boys, but would they be playing on a Monday?
Wed. May 27^th – The Downliners Sect (£30)
Sun. May 31^st – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Some time after being billed as Scotland’s answer to Tommy Steele, and light years before “The Faith Healer”, “Next”, and his Vambo character in the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Alex became a regular at Eel Pie dispensing his Soul stuff. Geoff Coxon, later with The Others, remembers his then outfit, The Smokestacks, supporting Alex: could it have been tonight?

June 1964

Wed. Jun 3^rd – The Downliners Sect (£30)
Sun. Jun 7^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£65)
Wed. Jun 17^th – The Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)

Thu. Jun 18^th – Manfred Mann (On a Thursday?) (from “Mannerisms: The Five Phases of Manfred Mann” by Greg Russo)

Sun. Jun 21^st – Manish Boys (from www.bowiewonderworld.com )
Sun. Jun 21^st – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£65)
Wed. Jun 24^th – The Downliners Sect (£30)
Sun. Jun 28^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£65)

July 1964

Wed. Jul 1^st – The Downliners Sect (£30)
Sat. Jul 4^th – Terry Lightfoot’s Jazzmen (£45)

Wed. Jul 8th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

According to Paul, this date may have been shared with Jeff Beck’s outfit at that time, The Nightshift, who themselves played at the 4^th National Jazz and Blues Festival at Richmond Athletic Ground on August 7^th, shortly before Beck joined The Tridents

Sat. Jul 11^th – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£45)
Wed. Jul 15^th – The Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Jul 18^th – The Original Downtown Syncopators(£35)

Formed in 1962, The Original Downtown Syncopators played regularly at Eel Pie Island, and originally featured Ron Geesin on piano, who would, amongst many other things, later collaborate on orchestrations with Pink Floyd on their “Atom Heart Mother” album

Wed. Jul 22^nd – The Downliners Sect (As per Don Craine)
Sat. Jul 25^th – Alex Welsh and his Band (£45)
Sun. Jul 26^th – Davie Jones & The Manish Boys (from www.bowiewonderworld.com )

With The Manish Boys having already played a number of gigs during the summer in their own right, David Bowie is now in tow, but has yet to change his name. Recently on Radio London (2020), Robert Elms posed the question as to how Bowie played here and also at the Finchley Jewish Boys Club on the same say (as the source site claims): I can only assume that the Boys Club was an afternoon affair!

August 1964

Sat. Aug 1^st – London City Stompers (£20)
Wed. Aug 5^th – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Aug 8^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£20)
Sun. Aug 9^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Sat. Aug 15^th – The Original Downtown Syncopators (£35)
Sun. Aug 16^th – The Artwoods (£40)
Art Wood maintained that his band played at Eel Pie Island more times than any other outfit. This appears to be true in terms of R&B bands, but some of the Jazz regulars may dispute that claim. Guitarist Derek Griffiths remembered how Arthur Chisnall informed them one night that they held the attendance record, which would stand for a while – not bad considering the earlier Stones appearances. In 2014, their collected recorded works were released, “Steady Getting’ It: The Complete Recordings 1964-67”. In 2019, “Art’s Gallery” was released, featuring long-deleted BBC sessions, which have been restored from a fan’s home taping of the session broadcasts!

Wed. Aug 19^th – Davie Jones & The Manish Boys (from www.bowiewonderworld.com )

Wed. Aug 19^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (from concerts/fandom/wiki/Long_John_Baldry)

Sat. Aug 22^nd – Alex Welsh and his Band (£30)
Sun. Aug 23^rd – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Aug 26^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£60)
Sat. Aug 29^th – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£30)

Sun. Aug 30^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)
Original guitarist Mike Jopp stood in on lead guitar until Jeff Beck was available, though Beck may have been on show tonight

September 1964

Wed. Sep 2^nd – Davie Jones & The Manish Boys (from www.bowiewonderworld.com )
Wed. Sep 2^nd – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Sep 5^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25)
Sun. Sep 6^th – The Artwoods (£40)
Wed. Sep 9^th – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Sep 12^th – Original Downtown Syncopators (£35)
Sun. Sep 13^th – Memphis Slim (Peter Chatman) (£40)

This is the legendary American blues artist, who by this time had permanently relocated to Paris. His compositions were published under the name Peter Chatman, hence that reference on the contract

Wed. Sep 16^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)
Jeff Beck is definitely in tonight’s line-up. On a recently unearthed interview from 1979, David Bowie revealed that it was The Tridents, with Jeff Beck, that he specifically came to see at the Island

Wed. Sep 16^th – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Sep 19^th – Charlie Galbraith All Stars (£35)
Sun. Sep 20^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Sep 23^rd – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)
Wed. Sep 23^rd – The Downliners Sect (£50)
Sun. Sep 27^th – The Barbarians Prince Khan (£5)
I have no idea either, but The Barbarians, with or without Prince Khan, had played at The Marquee two days earlier, supporting Gary Farr and the T-Bones
Sun. Sep 27^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Sep 30^th – Little Walter (£35)
The celebrated US blues harpist, this was during his first of two European tours
Wed. Sep 30^th – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)

October 1964

Sat. Oct 3^rd – Alex Welsh and his Band (£40)
Sun. Oct 4^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Oct 7^th – Davie Jones & the Manish Boys (from www.bowiewonderworld.com )

Wed. Oct 7^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (from concerts/fandom/wiki/Long_John_Baldry)

Sat. Oct 10^th – The Original Downtown Syncopators (£35)
Sun. Oct 11^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Oct 14^th – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)

Fri. Oct 16^th – Second Thoughts
Fri. Oct 16^th – The Tridents
Before Paul Lucas got in touch, thanks to Linda Smith and her diary, this was the first time I could finally place a Tridents’ gig! It was an Ealing College date, hence the Friday

Sat. Oct 17^th – Alex Welsh and his Band (£45)
Sun. Oct 18^th – The Bluesounds (£10)
Sun. Oct 18^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Oct 21^st – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)

Fri. Oct 23^rd – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Fri. Oct 23^rd – The Second Thoughts

(from http://thestrangebrew.co.uk/articles/the-second-thoughts )

The Second Thoughts spawned future “Rainbow Chaser” Patrick Campbell-Lyons of Nirvana and ‘Speedy’ Keen of Thunderclap Newman. The source site also quotes an appearance at Ealing Technical College on the same date, but while there are other instances of gigs on ‘non-Eelpiland’ days for college dances and so on, it’s most likely, given the previous week’s ‘Ealing College’ bash, that tonight is a repeat, and that both references relate to the same single performance.

Sat. Oct 24^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen (£35)
Sat. Oct 24^th – Terry Lightfoot’s Jazzmen (£45)

Sun. Oct 25^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries, though Paul says they were supporting Alex Harvey, who appeared here on Oct 28^th)

The BBC came down to Eel Pie Island to record The Tridents tonight, for German radio. According to Paul Lucas, the wrong bass amp was miked up. None of this material saw the light of day until it appeared on Jeff Beck’s “Beckology” career retrospective released in 1991

Sun. Oct 25^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)

This would be the last Hoochie Coochie Men gig with Rod Stewart in the line-up on the Island, as his own solo career was beginning to take shape, and the fact that the Hoochie Coochie Men were in terminal decline by this point, though they struggled on until at least April the following year

Wed. Oct 28^th – Alex Harvey and The Soul Band (£50)

November 1964

Sun. Nov 1^st – The Soul Agents (from http://www.mybestcv.co.il/TextPage_EN.aspx?ID=8303888 )

These guys were shortly to enlist the services of one Roderick Stewart, now presumably at a loose end

Wed. Nov 4^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Wed. Nov 4^th – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Nov 7^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£35)

Sun. Nov 8^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Sun. Nov 8^th – Davie Jones & The Manish Boys (from www.bowiewonderworld.com )

David Bowie (né Jones) was so enamoured with his Eel Pie Island experiences, he namechecked it on the cover of his 1973 album, “Pin Ups”

Sun. Nov 8^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Nov 11^th – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Nov 14^th – Original Downtown Syncopators (£35)
Sun. Nov 15^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Sat. Nov 21^st – London City Stompers (£35)
Sat. Nov 21^st – Dave Hunt’s R&B Band featuring Hamilton King
This is probably a dubious entry, given that Saturday was always given over to jazz, and unlikely to feature an R&B band alongside the London City Stompers. Dave Hunt’s R&B Band, incidentally, initially occupied the residency spot at The Station Hotel (soon to become The Crawdaddy) in Richmond, which was then famously taken by The Rolling Stones in 1963, and featured one Ray Davies within their ranks, for a spell, prior to him forming The Kinks

Sun. Nov 22^nd – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Sun. Nov 22^nd – The Art Woods (£40)

Sat. Nov 28^th – Howlin’ Wolf
Thanks to a lovely lady, Jennie Wyrill, who brought her diary into the museum, we have this entry. Whether it was this night or not, another visitor, Collin Flower, recalls seeing Howlin’ Wolf, with Bill Wyman in the audience: Bill was invited up on stage by the Wolf, and proceeded to join said blues man, despite manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s protestations that he couldn’t do so, as he wasn’t contracted to play!

Sun. Nov 29^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Sun. Nov 29^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)

December 1964

Sat. Dec 5^th – Alex Welsh and his Band (£45)

Sun. Dec 6^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries) played interval?

Sun. Dec 6^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Dec 9^th – The Downliners Sect (As per Don Craine)
Sat. Dec 12^th – London City Stompers (£35)
Sat. Dec 12^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£35)

Sun. Dec 13^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Wed. Dec 16^th – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Dec 19^th – Original Downtown Syncopators (£35)
Sun. Dec 20^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Dec 23^rd – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)

Thu. Dec 24^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Being Christmas Eve, this is likely to be the date that John Anderson, interviewed in 2013 for the “Rock’n’Roll Island” documentary, remembered as the one where the whole crowd tried to ‘cossack-dance’ to The Tridents’ rendition of “Hava-Nagila”, whereupon Jeff Beck kept playing ever-faster until everyone fell over, trying to keep up

Sat. Dec 26^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen (£35)
Sun. Dec 27^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£75)
Wed. Dec 30^th – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)

1965

January 1965

Sat. Jan 2^nd – Alex Welsh and his Band (£45)
Sun. Jan 3^rd – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£90)
Wed. Jan 6^th – The Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Jan 9^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sun. Jan 10^th – The Artwoods (£50)

Wed. Jan 13th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Sat. Jan 16^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen (£40)
Sun. Jan 17^th – Rod Stewart and The Soul Agents (£60)
The Soul Agents were a combo from Southampton. Their gimmick, apparently, was to perform in bare feet, a la Sandie Shaw: whether they dared that tonight is not known. Rod played with these guys over this winter, between his stint with Baldry’s Hoochie Coochie Men and Steampacket
Wed. Jan 20^th – The Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Jan 23^rd – London City Stompers (£35)

Sun. Jan 24^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Wed. Jan 27^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£40)
Roger Dean was now present on guitar, with Hughie Flint, later of the eponymous McGuinness Flint, on drums. Old stager John McVie was still the bassist
Sat. Jan 30^th – Original Downtown Syncopators (£35)

Sun. Jan 31^st – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

February 1965

Wed. Feb 3^rd – The Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Sat. Feb 6^th – Terry Lightfoot’s Jazzmen (£45)

Sun. Feb 7^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Sun. Feb 7^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£50)

Sun. Feb 14^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Sun. Feb 14^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£90)

Wed. Feb 17^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Wed. Feb 24^th – Buddy Guy with Rod Stewart and The Soul Agents (£90)
This was during US blues guitar legend Buddy Guy’s first visit to the UK. As I understand it, Rod would do a set with The Soul Agents, then vacate the stage for Buddy Guy, meaning the two did not actually perform together

Sun. Feb 28^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)
Sun. Feb 28^th – Jesse Fuller (from Tridents bassist Paul Lucas’ diary)

March 1965

Sun. Mar 7^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£90)

Wed. Mar 10^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)
Jeff Beck left the band in March to join The Yardbirds, probably making his debut with The Yardbirds on March 5^th: when Beck did leave, he didn’t bother telling the band, just failed to show up, according to Paul’s brother, rhythm guitarist John Lucas! So for tonight they either soldiered on as a 3-piece, or had Mike Jopp back on lead guitar

Wed. Mar 17^th – Alex Harvey and his Soul Band (£50)

Sun. Mar 21^st – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)
Mike Jopp would be back on lead guitar after Beck’s defection

Sun. Mar 27^th – Champion Jack Dupree (solo) (£45)
Another US blues legend, this time on piano, Dupree had settled in Europe by 1960, though that does not explain why he chose to live in Halifax during the 70s and 80s. The name came from his earlier boxing career, and his first recording “Warehouse Man Blues” was released in 1940. Interrupted by service in the US Navy during the war, and two years of incarceration by the Japanese as a POW, “She Makes Good Jelly” signalled his return in 1945. His biggest hit was “Walkin’ The Blues” in 1955 with Teddy McRae, which lead to national tours, and eventually a European one in 1959, where he played an unofficial (and unpaid) gig with Alexis Korner at the London School of Economics. He went on to record with all manner of younger British guitarists, such as Tony McPhee of Groundhogs fame (“Dupree’n’McPhee”), Mick Taylor, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, as well as The Band. His last release, appropriately entitled “One Last Time”, came out posthumously in 1993, a year after his death in Germany
Wed. Mar 31^st – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)

April 1965

Sun. Apr 4^th – Long John Baldry and The Hoochie Coochie Men (£90)

Sun. Apr 11^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Sun. Apr 11^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£50)
Apparently, this would have been five days after Eric Clapton’s first appearance in the Bluesbreakers, so it would be safe to say he’s onboard tonight. They were busy bees today, fulfilling a booking at the Blue Moon Club in Hayes for the same night
Wed. Apr 14^th – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)

Sun. Apr 18^th – The Artwoods (from Ronnie Wood’s diary )

Wed. Apr 21^st – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Wed. Apr 21^st – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£40)

Sun. Apr 25^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

May 1965

Sat. May 1^st – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen (£40) from AC’s accounts)

Sat. May 8^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25) (from AC’s accounts)

Sun. May 9^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

Wed. May 12^th – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Wed. May 12^th – Memphis Slim with Alex Harvey Soul Band (£90)
For tonight, Memphis Slim elects to be backed by Alex Harvey’s band, who also played a set in their own right

Sat. May 15^th – Original Downtown Syncopators (£35) from AC’s accounts

Sun. May 16^th – Rod Stewart and The Soul Agents (£40)

Sat. May 22^nd  – Alan Elsdon (£40) from AC’s accounts

Sun. May 23^rd – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)
Sun. May 23^rd – Graham Bond Organisation (from Tridents bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)

John Anderson (interviewed as part of the “Rock’n’Roll Island” documentary) had a band, The Traces, and got a slot for young unknowns, and he remembered backing Graham Bond. He did a Chuck Berry solo and got slapped on the back by a certain Eric, along with the accolade “Great solo kid”: whilst “all the guys were encouraging to us kids”, John remembers one particular musician who thought they had no talent, and were wasting their time – step forward Reginald Dwight. I have no idea whether that might have been tonight, but as John’s passing was revealed to us in October 2015 while the Museum was in full swing, I’d like to record this as a possible. RIP John

Fri. May 28^th – The Tridents (from bassist Paul Lucas’ diaries)
This is the last documented gig by The Tridents

Sat. May 29^th – Alex Welsh and his Band (£45) from AC’s accounts

Sun. May 30^th – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)
Sun. May 30^th – Memphis Slim with Alex Harvey Soul Band (£90)

June 1965

Sat. Jun 5^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£40) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Jun 6^th – John Lee and the Groundhogs (£50)
Tony McPhee formed The Groundhogs – named after the John Lee Hooker song, “Groundhog Blues” – and while the John Lee in question is not actually Hooker, but singer John Cruickshank’s stage name of John Lee, it was no disadvantage to be so named when they did appear as Hooker’s backing band, initially in 1964, and Hooker requested them thereafter. All of which means, however, that the bill does not necessarily mean John Lee Hooker was actually performing tonight

Sat. Jun 12^th – Colin Kingwell (£25) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Jun 13^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£40)
Wed. Jun 16^th – John Lee and the Groundhogs (£50)

Sat. Jun 19^th – Terry Lightfoot’s Jazzmen (£45) from AC’s accounts

Sat. Jun 26^th – London City Stompers (£35) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Jun 27^th – Alex Harvey Soul Band (£50)

July 1965

Sat. Jul 3^rd – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£35) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Jul 4^th – The Artwoods (from Ronnie Wood’s diary)

Fri. Jul 9^th – Rod Stewart and The Brian Auger Trinity (from http://thebritishsound.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/steam-packet-family-tree-performance.html )

Like the rogue Stones entry in 1963, tonight was organised by Twickenham Tech hence the Friday, and was their second ever outing. They were rather a prototype Steampacket, though they were billed as “Rod Stewart and The Brian Augers Trinity” on the flyer, similar to their first outing just over two weeks earlier at The Birdcage Club in Southsea, but by the time they played at Exeter a week after tonight, they would be billed as Steampacket, as the lineup would then be completed by the inclusion of Long John Baldry and Julie Driscoll. Barney Bubbles once again was on hand to design the tickets for tonight: attendees are exhorted to “Come dressed WHITER THAN WHITE for graphic design Twickenham summer dance with high active ROD STEWART and BRIAN AUGER’S TRINITY to force grey out and white in, Eel Pie Island Steam Laundry”: was this the inspiration for, or the origin of, the Steampacket monicker?

Sat. Jul 10^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Jul 11^th – John Lee and the Groundhogs (£50)

Sat. Jul 17^th – Climax Jazz Band (£35)

Wed. Jul 21^st – Beaux Oddlot (£10)
This lot came out of someone called The Strollers, who swopped red sharkskin-tooth suits and bow-ties for long hair, black polo-necked jumpers and boots, with a revamped style based on The Pretty Things, Kinks and Stones. Main man guitarist Vic Triggle is still active with Wirral-based fundraising organisation, The Cheshire Cats
Wed. Jul 21^st – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£50)
Sat. Jul 24^th – Alex Welsh Jazz Band (£45)
Sun. Jul 25^th – Alex Harvey with The Soul Band (£50)
Wed. Jul 28^th – The Billy Woods 5 (£30)
Sat. Jul 31^st – Alexander’s Jazzmen (£20)
Sat. Jul 31^st – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£20)

Cornetist Carl Spencer and his Washboard Kings clocked up a sizeable number of appearances from tonight up until the demise of Jazz on the Island. Following numerous radio appearances, and recordings, including one in 1967 with Bill Oddie on vocals, Carl called it a day in 1972, getting into the musical instrument distribution business. However, he got itchy fingers in 1997 and formed Spencer’s Nighthawks, featuring four of the original Washboard Kings. You can’t keep a good man down, clearly

August 1965

Sun. Aug 1^st – The Creed (£7.10.0d)
Sun. Aug 1^st – Steampacket (£100)
The contract’s worth to the performers hits £100 for the first time, as Steampacket take to the stage. Also, this appears to be the first time a woman had been named on a contract since Doreen Beatty with Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazz Band in 1962. While the contract was made with Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll as named individuals, the band name “Steampacket” is also referenced (“Please note billing Steam Packet”), so I guess that’s how they were billed
Wed. Aug 4^th – “The Fairies” [sic] (£10)
Featuring John ‘Twink’ Alder on drums, this outfit are not to be confused with the latter day Pink Fairies, though Twink did play with them as well, following stints with Tomorrow (who make an appearance here in 1967) and The Pretty Things

Sat. Aug 7^th – New Sedalia Jazz Band(£25) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Aug 8^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£50)
Wed. Aug 11^th – 5 Dimensions (£30)
Sat. Aug 14^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sun. Aug 15^th – The Billy Woods 5 (£40)
Wed. Aug 18^th – The Artwoods (£40)
Sat. Aug 21^st – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25)
Sun. Aug 22^nd –Steampacket (£100)

Though the contract is made out to the Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Brian Auger Trinity, Julie Driscoll named individuals again

Sat. Aug 28^th – Colin Kingwell (£25) from AC’s accounts

September 1965

Wed. Sep 1^st – The Micky Finn (£12.10.0d)
Guitarist Micky Waller and Danny Peyronel on keys would eventually surface as Heavy Metal Kids, backing Gary Holton, of TV’s “Auf Wiedersehen, Pet” semi-fame less than a decade after tonight
Wed. Sep 1^st – The Billy Woods 5 (£30)
Sat. Sep 4^th – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£35)

Sat. Sep 11^th – London City Stompers (£35)

Sat. Sep 18^th – Chris Barber (£100) from AC’s accounts

Whilst this is the only confirmed entry I can find for Chris Barber, I’ve no doubt he graced the Eel Pie Island Ballroom’s boards on many an occasion, and in any number of line-ups. One of the most influential musicians in the 50s and 60s, he straddled the musical worlds of jazz, skiffle, blues and R&B, helping the careers of Lonnie Donegan, and Ottilie Patterson (later his wife). He was influential in bringing over any number of legendary US blues artists, like Big Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters, to name just two, to play before an unexpectedly enthusiastic British audience, all of which helped kick-start the British Blues Boom

Sat. Sep 25^th – Charlie Galbraith’s All Stars (£35)
Sun. Sep 26^th – John Lee’s Groundhogs (£50)
Wed. Sep 29^th – John Lee’s Groundhogs (£50)

October 1965

Sat. Oct 2^nd – Temperance Seven (£60)

The Temperance Seven have obviously got over their guinea-related payment fixation (see Jun 11^th 1961). Art Wood’s (and Ronnie’s) eldest brother Ted was a later member of The Seven, so may have been on duty tonight, a day before young Art

Sun. Oct 3^rd – The Artwoods (£60)
Wed. Oct 6^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£15)

Dave Anthony was one Tony Head, who also had connections with a 1964 outfit called The League Of Gentlemen, who themselves featured a certain Robert Fripp on guitar, many years before Fripp reprised the name following a stint with someone called King Crimson. As for The Moods, following what looks to be a large number of appearances at Eel Pie, and presumably other mid-60s hotspots, they eventually relocated to Italy, surprisingly. Curiously, the contract for this and all other dates by The Moods quotes Dave Antony without the ‘h’, which was rather prescient as the band did drop the ‘h’ on that Italian relocation, as their Milan-based management thought the pronunciation would prove problematic for inhabitants of that land: this fact has been verified by The Moods’ guitarist Tim Large, who further underlines that this was against the band’s wishes, and who helpfully points out that Roger Peacock had replaced Tony Head as being Dave Anthony! The original Dave Anthony, or rather, Tony Head, ended up working with The Fleur de Lys, and recording with South African songstress, Sharon Tandy, as Tony And Tandy
Wed. Oct 6^th – Jimmy James & The Vagabonds (£30)
As well as numerous black American blues artists being presented to the Eel Pie fraternity, there was also a plethora of US soul singers, usually present on these shores courtesy of Uncle Sam’s armed forces, backed by more home-grown talent, such as Geno Washington et al. However, Jimmy James here bucked that trend and was actually from Jamaica, opting for a Soul oeuvre rather than his native Reggae, though he did get an early Ska recording out within weeks of relocating to these shores in 1964

Sat. Oct 9^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£40)

Wed. Oct 13^th – The Rick’n’beckers (£7.10.0d)
Wed. Oct 13^th – Herbie Goins & The Nightimers (£40)

Herbie Goins was one of those US soul merchants mentioned above, who, having previously been featured vocalist with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, took over as lead singer of The Nightimers when Ronnie Jones (featured later in this roll-call) left. Joe Moretti, supplier of the immortal guitar riff on Johnny Kidd & The Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over”, was a regular player with The Nightimers
Sat. Oct 16^th – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£35)
Sun. Oct 17^th – The Sidewinders (£10)
Wed. Oct 20^th – The Billy Woods Five (£30)
Sat. Oct 23^rd – Steve Lane’s Southern Stompers (£25)

Back in the 50s, Cyril Davies cut his teeth with these guys for about four years, before ploughing furrows further afield, musically speaking

Sat. Oct 23^rd – Alex Welsh Jazz Band (£45)

AC’s accounts do not mention the contracted Terry Lightfoot’s Jazz Band

Sun. Oct 24^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£30)
Sun. Oct 24^th – Jesse Fuller (£100)

American one-man band Jesse Fuller gets £100 all for himself, reflecting his popularity: apparently it was Fuller that broke The Artwoods’ attendance record at the Island: I assume the ‘fotdella’ – a foot-driven bass instrument, invented by himself (Google it if you don’t believe me) – was in evidence tonight
Wed. Oct 27^th – The Artwoods (£40)
Sat. Oct 30^th – Climax Jazzband (£35)
Sun. Oct 31^st – The Creed (£10)
Sun. Oct 31^st – John Lee & The Groundhogs (£50)

November 1965

Wed. Nov 3^rd – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (£45)
While Eric Clapton was getting as far as Greece on his projected ’round-the-world’ jaunt, Mayall used a whole bunch of stand-ins, including John Weider, John Slaughter, Geoff Krivit, and no less a guitar player than Peter Green, all for about five minutes each, and in fact Peter would appear to have been in tonight’s line-up, leaving the next day on the prodigal’s return. Not only that, but Jack Bruce is now in the line-up, adding his considerable bass and harmonica talents to The Bluesbreakers
Sat. Nov 6^th – New Sedalia Jazzband (£25)

Sat. Nov 6^th – Champion Jack Dupree (£35) from AC’s accounts

Unusually, this Saturday seemingly presents both jazz and blues on the same bill

Sun. Nov 7^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£40)
Wed. Nov 10^th – The Micky Finn (£35)
Sat. Nov 13^th – Terry Lightfoot’s Jazzband (£45)
Sun. Nov 14^th – The Worrying Kynde (£10)

‘Fig’ Fagan from the band got in touch (see ‘Memories’) recalling supporting The Artwoods and John Mayall on other occasions. Also, having to unload their equipment on the mainland and transporting it over to the Hotel in a handcart

Sun. Nov 14^th – Herbie Goins & The Nightimers (£50)
Wed. Nov 17^th – The Artwoods (£50)
Sat. Nov 20^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25)
Sun. Nov 21^st – The Creed (£10)
Sun. Nov 21^st – John Lee & The Groundhogs (£50)
Wed. Nov 24^th – The Right Track (£7.10.0d)
Wed. Nov 24^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£35)
Sat. Nov 27^th – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£35)
Sun. Nov 28^th – The Artwoods (£60)

December 1965

Wed. Dec 1^st – The Just Four (£7.10.0d)
Wed. Dec 1^st – The Herd (£35)
The original Herd, before wholesale changes to their line-up were made the following year: this was verified by original drummer Mick Underwood, who visited us at the Museum in 2015
Sat. Dec 4^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzband (£40)

Sat. Dec 11^th – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£35)
Sun. Dec 12^th – The Curfew (£7.10.0d)
Wed. Dec 15^th – John Dummer Blues Band (£7.10.0d)
Drummer Dummer patiently dragged his blues band around for years until hitting commercial paydirt with Darts over a dozen years after tonight
Wed. Dec 15^th – Stormsville Shakers (from http://www.stormsvilleshakers.com/bandhistory.html )

These featured Philip Goodhand-Tait, who would be marketed as a piano-playing singer / songwriter in the early 70s, rather like Elton John. When psychedelia hit town in summer ‘67, the Shakers became Circus

Wed. Dec 15^th – The Rick’n’beckers (£30)
Wed. Dec 15^th – The Vagabonds (£35)

Sat. Dec 18^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25) from AC’s accounts
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Fri. Dec 24^th – New Sedalia Jazz Band (£30) from AC’s accounts
Fri. Dec 24^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen (£60) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Dec 26^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
This gig was listed in Record Retailer (thanks to Christopher Hjort for that snippet), and is confirmed by Jennie Wyrill, who was there, though it may have been mis-sold as a Saturday gig

1966

January 1966

Sat. Jan 1^st – The Green Leaf Band (£20)

Sat. Jan 8^th – Alex Welsh Jazz Band (£45) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Jan 9^th – Herbie Goins and The Nightimers (from Jennie Wyrill’s diary)

Sat. Jan 15^th – Eric Silk and his Southern Jazz Band (£25) from AC’s accounts

Wed. Jan 19^th – Micky Finn (£35) from letter accompanying payment, though the date quoted is Wednesday 20th January

Sat. Jan 22^nd – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25) from AC’s accounts

Sat. Jan 29^th – Mike Daniels Delta Jazz Band (£40) from AC’s accounts

February 1966

Sat. Feb 5^th – New Sedalia Jazz Band (£25) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Feb 6^th – Jimmy James & The Vagabonds (£45)
Jimmy James and his cohorts were down for two separate sets tonight

Sat. Feb 12^th – Steve Lane’s Southern Stompers (£25) from AC’s accounts

Sat. Feb 19^th – Alan Elsdon (£40) from AC’s accounts

Sat. Feb 26^th – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£40) from AC’s accounts

March 1966

Wed. Mar 2^nd – The Train (£25) from AC’s accounts

Sat. Mar 5^th – TiaJuana Jazz Band (£25) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Mar 6^th – The Big T Soul Show feat. The Carols (£40)

Wed. Mar 9^th – Heart And Soul (£25) from letter accompanying payment

Sat. Mar 12^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£40)
Monty Sunshine replaces the contracted Ken Colyer’s Jazzband according to AC’s accounts
Sun. Mar 13^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£40)
Wed. Mar 16^th – The Artwoods (£60)

Art was only paid £40, plus £6 for ad to appear in Club Calendar Mar 19

Sat. Mar 19^th – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£40)
Sun. Mar 20^th – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (£55)
With Jack Bruce having hied it over to Manfred Mann, John McVie is back on bass, having initially been elbowed on account of his drinking habit. Apparently tonight’s gig merited a rare advert in the Melody Maker

Wed. Mar 23^rd – The Curfew ((£10) suggested by letter accompanying payment

Wed. Mar 23^rd – The Graham Bond Organisation (£75)

A stalwart of the British R&B/Jazz scene, Bond graduated from a brief stint in Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated before ultimately forming the Organization (such an appropriate, if obvious, name given his Hammond-based tendencies), initially with Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and John McLaughlin. By now, however, Bruce was long gone, and McLaughlin’s guitar had been replaced by Dick Heckstall-Smith’s sax, while Jon Hiseman came in for Ginger Baker, who had absconded with Bruce for pastures new. The fee paid tonight gives a clue as to how highly Bond was regarded

Sat. Mar 26^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzband (£40)
Ken Colyer’s Jazzband replaces the contracted Monty Sunshine from AC’s accounts: looks like a straight swop between tonight and two weeks earlier

Sun. Mar 27^th – Body And Soul (£10) from letter accompanying payment

Sun. Mar 27^th – The Artwoods (£40) £60 according to AC’s accounts

Wed. Mar 30^th – Mark Four (£25)
When bassist John Dalton later left to join the rather better known Kinks, The Mark Four themselves regrouped as the fondly referenced Creation, in which guitarist Eddie Phillips discovered the art of playing the guitar with a violin bow, long before Jimmy Page did the same trick. On the other hand, of course, he may have performed his party trick tonight

April 1966

Sat. Apr 2^nd – Steve Lane’s Southern Stompers (£25) from AC’s accounts

Sun. Apr 3^rd – John Lee & The Groundhogs (£50)
Wed. Apr 6^th – The Artwoods (£40)
Sat. Apr 9^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25)
Sun. Apr 10^th – The Jimmy Cliff Show (£50)
Having been signed by Chris Blackwell to his Island record label, strangely, given Blackwell’s own Jamaican roots and later promotion of Reggae as a musical genre, Jimmy Cliff was initially marketed for the ‘rock’, or more properly given the era, R&B audience, and thus was backed by the likes of The New Generation (featuring a young future Fairport mainstay, Dave Pegg), and The Sound System, who included a very young Ayshea in their ranks, some years before setting young lads’ pulses racing on TV’s “Lift Off”. Confusingly, I have seen references to The Soul System (precursors to The Attack) backing Cliff, but that appears to be someone getting their “Sound” and their “Soul” confused, as this is not so, having been repudiated by one of the band recently. As for Cliff, of course, Reggae indeed became the making of him in 1969/70 with “Many Rivers To Cross” and “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”, as well as a bunch of other hits, before becoming a Jamaican ‘superstar’ following his role in the movie “The Harder They Come” in 1972, and is still going strong today
Wed. Apr 13^th – Micky Finn (£25)

While this is confirmed by letter accompanying payment, unfortunately the letter goes on “Incidentally, I can’t give any further dates to Micky Finn since he was an hour late in starting”
Sat. Apr 16^th – Alan Elsdon’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sun. Apr 17^th – The Anzacs (£10)

Sun. Apr 17^th – Jimmy Witherspoon (£60) from AC’s accounts

Wed. Apr 20^th – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (£40)
Two nights before this, a callow youth called Mick Taylor got the courage to ask Mayall if he could stand in for an obviously no-showing Clapton at a gig in Welwyn Garden City. I doubt he got the same chance tonight, though, but his time would come. On another occasion, recalled by Top Topham, when Clapton was late in showing, Robin Trower (later guitarist with Procol Harum before becoming quite big in his own right) got up on stage until he arrived

Sat. Apr 23^rd – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£40)
Sun. Apr 24^th – Mike Stuart Span (£10)
Sun. Apr 24^th – The Herd (£40)
Wed. Apr 27^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£35)
Sat. Apr 30^th – Terry Lightfoot’s Jazzband (£45)

May 1966

Sun. May 1^st – A Q Blues Band (£10)
Sun. May 1^st – The Artwoods (£60)
Wed. May 4^th – The Alan Price Set (£50)
Was “Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear” in the Set’s set? I’m being flippant, but I’m sure “I Put A Spell On You” would have been

Fri. May 6^th – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£30)
Fri. May 6^th – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (£40)
This apparently is the day following the photoshoot that yielded the famous ‘Beano’ shot for the “John Mayall Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton” LP cover. However, the presence of The Artwoods on the bill the same night (see below) suggests one of the bands did not appear: my money would be on The Artwoods indeed getting paid their dues tonight, though all three contracts for tonight were dated February 9^th 1966, and it being a Friday, there may have been something special going on (there’s a mention on all three contracts of “Special Concession Fee”)

Fri. May 6^th – The Artwoods (£40)

Fri. May 6^th – Champion Jack Dupree (£25) from letter accompanying payment
According to the same letter, Jack’s backing band, The Vagabonds were paid £50 in cash. Obviously a big night!

Sat. May 7^th – Tia Juana Jazzband (£25) (See Sat May 21)

From letter accompanying payment and from AC’s accounts, with no mention of the contracted Steve Lane’s Southern Stompers (£25) nor Bill Nile’s Delta Jazz band (£25)

Sun. May 8^th – Deakin Lewis Band (£10)
Sun. May 8^th – The Vagabonds (£50) see above: also from AC’s accounts
Wed. May 11^th – Don Shinn’s Soul Agents (£25)
Rod Stewart having left the fold, organist Don Shinn steps up to the plate. Doesn’t carry the same gravitas, really, though, to be fair, Rod did rate him, according to his autobiography. He had a couple of albums out in his own right at the end of the 60s, and went on to feature in Dada (alongside Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer) and recorded with Renaissance. The letter accompanying payment by AC states “The Soul Agents seemed to have great difficulty in exceeding two three quarter hour spots with their programme. I think we ought to delete them from the list”!
Sat. May 14^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sun. May 15^th – The Seventh Sun (£10)
Sun. May 16^th [sic] – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers (£50)
Someone’s typing finger must have slipped when entering the date, clearly. At some stage this year, The Nightimers featured future jazz and fusion guitarist John McLaughlin
Wed. May 18^th – A Q Blues Band (£10)
Wed. May 18^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£35)
Wed. May 18^th – John Lee’s Groundhogs (£40)
Sat. May 21^st – Bill Nile’s Delta Jazzband (£25)

The Tia Juna [sic] Jazzband were contracted to play tonight, though the contract is annotated with “This cancels contract for Saturday May 7”, so must have swopped dates with Bill Nile’s Deltas from two weeks earlier who was paid: also from AC’s accounts
Sun. May 22^nd – The John Dummer Blues Band (£10)
Sun. May 22^nd – The Jimmy Cliff Show (£50)
Wed. May 25^th – Deakin Lewis Band (£10)
Wed. May 25^th – The Artwoods (£40)

Sat. May 28^th – Spencer’s Washboard Kings ((£40) (from payment letter)

Sun. May 29^th – The Foot Prints (£10)
Sun. May 29^th – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (£55)

Mon. May 30^th – Dave Anthony’s Moods

Mon. May 30^th – John Lee’s Groundhogs

The above two appearances come from Dave Anthony’s Moods Facebook page. The fact that it’s a Monday raises suspicions, but it might have been a Spring Bank Holiday “special”

June 1966

Wed. Jun 1^st – The Vibro (£10)
Wed. Jun 1^st – The Worrying Kynde (£25)
Sat. Jun 4^th – The Temperance Seven (£60)
Sun. Jun 5^th – Deakin Lewis Band (£10)
Sun. Jun 5^th – Champion Jack Dupree & The 5 Proud Walkers (£50)

The Walkers got £20 of this – from payment letter

Wed. Jun 8^th – A Q Blues Band (£10)

Wed. Jun 8^th – Jimmy Witherspoon (£50) – from payment letter and from AC’s accounts

Sat. Jun 11^th – Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazzband and his Big Band (£40)  (from payment letter)

Sun. Jun 12^th – The John Dummer Blues Band (£10)
Sun. Jun 12^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£40)

Though contracted to play, The Artwoods do not feature in AC’s accounts

Wed. Jun 15^th – The Seventh Sun (£10) from payment letter

Wed. Jun 15^th – The Herd (£35) from AC’s accounts

Sat. Jun 18^th – Steve Lane’s Southern Stompers (£25)

Back in the 50s, Cyril Davies cut his teeth with these guys for about four years, before ploughing furrows further afield, musically speaking
Sun. Jun 19^th – The Anzacs (£10)
Sun. Jun 19^th – The Jimmy Cliff Show (£50)
Wed. Jun 22^nd – The Kleek (£10)

Probably not to be confused with phonetically similar The Clique, who had two well-regarded singles the previous year, produced by Kinks manager Larry Page, and who could be seen as precursors to The Troggs. Which is a shame

Wed. Jun 22^nd – The Graham Bond Organisation (£80)
Sat. Jun 25^th – Mike Peter’s Jazzband (£25)
Sun. Jun 26^th – The Tea Set (£10)

Formed for a contest to write a song called “Join the Tea Set”, this outfit won, thus gaining the name and a recording contract, apparently. It may have been the presence of this group on a bill in 1965 that caused another lot due to play at the same event, also calling themselves The Tea Set, to change their name to Pink Floyd

Sun. Jun 26^th – The Artwoods (£65)
Wed. Jun 29^th – Nocturnal (£10)
Wed. Jun 29^th – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers (£50)

July 1966

Sat. Jul 2^nd – The Washboard Kings (£40)
Sun. Jul 3^rd – Saints and Sinners (£10)
Sun. Jul 3^rd – The Mark Leman [sic] Five (£50)

The Mark Leeman Five sadly lost their eponymous leader in a motor accident a year before tonight. Roger Peacock had come in from The Cheynes as vocalist, but he would depart the following year to join Eel Pie regulars Dave Anthony’s Moods. Drummer Brian Davison would reappear a couple of years later with The Nice. However, AC’s payment letter details only £30 paid for a “replacement band”, so it’s likely The Mark Leeman Five were not on view tonight, with Soul System being referred to in Arthur Chisnall’s accounts

Wed. Jul 6^th – Deakin Lewis Band (£10)
Wed. Jul 6^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£35)
Fri. Jul 8^th – The Stormsville Shakers (from http://www.stormsvilleshakers.com/bandhistory.html )
A Friday date is unlikely, as this was not the norm, unless it was one of those pesky college gigs

Sat. Jul 9^th – Monty Sunshine’s Jazz Band (£40)
Sun. Jul 10^th – The Seventh Sun (£10)
Sun. Jul 10^th – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (£60)
Wed. Jul 13^th – The Tea Set (£10)
Wed. Jul 13^th – The Worrying Kynde (£25)
Sat. Jul 16^th – Ken Colyer’s Jazzband (£40)
Sun. Jul 17^th – The Vibro (£10)
Sun. Jul 17^th – Champion Jack Dupree & The 5 Proud Walkers (£50)

AC’s payment letter makes no mention of The Artwoods, though they had been contracted to play. Given Champion Jack Dupree did play with the Walkers, they would have been the headline

Wed. Jul 20^th – A Q Blues Band (£10)
Wed. Jul 20^th – The Mike Cotton Sound & Lucas (£35)
Lucas was Bruce MacPherson Lucas, another US soul-merchant trying his luck over here. By this time, Mike Cotton had further moved on to a soul/Stax vibe, and at some stage, a certain Reginald Dwight failed an audition for the changed line-up as well as a Joe Cocker. A music mag described Lucas as “the nearest thing to James Brown to be seen in England”: praise indeed, but that seems to refer to his charismatic stage presence rather than his vocal abilities

Sat. Jul 23^rd – The London City Stompers (£25)
Sun. Jul 24^th – The Deakin Lewis Band (£10)
Sun. Jul 24^th – The Artwoods (£65)
Wed. Jul 27^th – The John Dummer Blues Band (£10)

Wed. Jul 27^th – The Herd (£35) from payment letter

Sat. Jul 30^th – Alex Welsh and his Band (£45)

On the day that England won football’s World Cup, I just wonder what the atmosphere was like later that night when Alex Welsh took to the stage on the Island

Sun. Jul 31^st – The Kleek (£10)
Sun. Jul 31^st – Dave Antony’s Moods (£40)

August 1966

Wed. Aug 3^rd – The Tea Set (£10)
Wed. Aug 3^rd – The Anzacs (£25)

Sat. Aug 6^th – Eric Silk (£25) from payment letter and from AC’s accounts

Sun. Aug 7^th – The Charge (£10) from payment letter

Sun. Aug 7^th – The Artwoods (£65)
Wed. Aug 10^th – Wynder K Frog (£10)
The curiously named Wynder K Frog was former Fairies’ (on view here a year earlier) keyboard player Mick Weaver’s brainchild, and he adopted the name as his own in numerous session-based instances. Alan Spenner and Neil Hubbard became sometime Greaseband members, and trod the Pub-Rock boards with Kokomo. Guitarist Hubbard was even involved in Kevin Rowland’s Dexys resurrection in 2013
Wed. Aug 10^th – The Graham Bond Organisation (£80)
Sat. Aug 13^th – Bill Nile’s Delta Jazzband (£25)

Sun. Aug 14^th – Soul System (£40)

AC’s payment letter for this gig details no fee payable to the contracted John Dummer Blues Band (£20) as they did not arrive, owing to “transport problems”, however Soul System were paid £40, presumably as replacement, as the contracted Jimmy Cliff (£50) also does not figure in the letter; also Soul System from AC’s accounts

Wed. Aug 17^th – The V.I.P.s (£10)
This outfit would later briefly include one Keith Emerson within their ranks the following year, before he went off and formed The Nice, appearing here with that band in 1968, and further created the prog-behemoth of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in 1970. Remaining VIPs later became Art, and further spawned Spooky Tooth, under which name they’d be back on the Island two years later. Whilst the contracts drawn up by Arthur Chisnall invariably quoted times that the band were expected to arrive at the venue, usually 7.00pm, and also “bands arriving late at venue will suffer a reduction of fee pro rata”, both tonight’s VIPs and Wynder K Frog a week earlier had additional clauses specifying that each “group [had] to be away by 10.30pm”. What did that say about them, I wonder. Also, it’s noticeable that the arrival time clause never seemed to feature in contracts for the Saturday Jazz bands….
Wed. Aug 17^th – Five Proud Walkers (£25)
The Five Proud Walkers in their own right, not backing Champion Jack Dupree tonight, only command half the fee as a result. Drummer Richard Hudson and bassist John Ford would later serve in The Strawbs, via Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera
Sat. Aug 20^th – The Washboard Kings (£40)
Sun. Aug 21^st – A Q Blues Band (£10)

Sun. Aug 21^st – The Jimmy Cliff Show (£50)
AC’s payment letter states that “Sunday 21st Jimmy Cliff did not arrive” but does feature in AC’s accounts, which is all very confusing
Wed. Aug 24^th – Seventh Sun [sic] (£10) from payment letter

These were apparently named Seventh Son. Blame Mr Chisnall for the spelling error!

Wed. Aug 24^th – The Cream (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Baker) [sic] (£60)
It’s not often that individual band members get an individual name-check on the contract: must have been something special about this lot. In reality, at the time the contract was drawn up, they hadn’t yet settled on a name, and at a number of their earlier gigs, they were billed as their respective names, sometimes prefixed as “The Cream”, referring to their reputational standing. And, in a self-fulfilling way, so they became. Tonight was only their 11^th gig, coming a mere 26 days after their debut

Sat. Aug 27^th – Collie’s Rhythm Aces (£25) from payment letter and from AC’s accounts

Sun. Aug 28^th – The Deakin Lewis Band (£10)
Sun. Aug 28^th – Jimmy Witherspoon & Dick Morrissey Qt (£80)
Jimmy Witherspoon was an American “jump blues singer” who came over, and while touring (just over three months before tonight, actually), recorded a live set at The Bull’s Head in Barnes,  with Dick Morrissey’s Quartet, “Spoon Sings and Swings”. I imagine that was tonight’s fare. As an eminent sax player, Dick Morrissey became a busy bee in jazz-fusion circles from the 70s onwards with If, and Morrissey-Mullen, and has probably played with more artists than I’ve had hot dinners

Wed. Aug 31^st – John Dummer Blues Band (£10) – from payment letter

Wed. Aug 31^st – Dave Antony’s Moods (£40)

September 1966

Sat. Sep 3^rd – The Bob Wallis Storyville Jazz Band (£30)
Sun. Sep 4^th – The Object (£10)
Sun. Sep 4^th – Sounds Unique (£40)
Sun. Sep 4^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£60)
By now, Clapton having jumped ship, Peter Green was filling his boots on guitar, but apparently John Mayall and chums fulfilled a date at The Marquee tonight, so, given there are two other acts booked, above, it’s likely this one didn’t take place: there is no mention of them in AC’s payment letter or in AC’s accounts

Wed. Sep 7^th – The Charge (£10)
Wed. Sep 7^th – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers (£50)

Sat. Sep 10^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25) from payment letter and from AC’s accounts

Sun. Sep 11^th – The Naz (£10)

Sun. Sep 11^th – The Artwoods (£65) from AC’s accounts
Wed. Sep 14^th – The Carpet Baggers (£10) from payment letter
Wed. Sep 14^th – The Herd (£35)
The future “Face of ’68” (courtesy “Rave” magazine) Peter Frampton is now in The Herd’s line-up at the precocious age of 16. While The Herd had played here before, and were cited by many as one of the best acts remembered, that was as a R&B outfit. With success eluding them, their label Fontana got rid of their manager and half the band, brought Frampton in, and co-opted songwriters / producers Howard and Blaikley, and the rest is pop history. Well, it was for a while

Sat. Sep 17^th – The Washboard Kings (£40)
Sun. Sep 18^th – A Q Blues Band (£10)

Sun. Sep 18^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£60)
With Jimmy Cliff also being contracted this would have meant two headline acts on the same night, which is unlikely, though the Mayall reference was obtained by Christopher Hjort from Micky Waller’ diary, and he was a sometime drummer in Mayall’s band. Fortunately, AC’s payment letter does include John Mayall, with no mention of Jimmy Cliff: also it’s John Mayall according to AC’s accounts

Wed. Sep 21^st – The Convention (£10)

Wed. Sep 21^st – Stormsville Shakers (£30) (from http://www.stormsvilleshakers.com/bandhistory.html )

Dave Antony’s Moods were contracted to play for £40, but must have pulled out, as AC’s payment letter does quote Stormsville, and not Dave Antony, as well as in AC’s accounts

Sat. Sep 24^th – New Sedalia Jazz Band (£25)
Sun. Sep 25^th – The Deakin Lewis Band (£10)
Sun. Sep 25^th – The Anzacs (£30)

Wed. Sep 28^th – The Objects (£10) from payment letter

Wed. Sep 28^th – The Artwoods (£45) from payment letter which implies that the contracted Coloured Raisins did not appear tonight, also Artwoods from AC’s accounts

October 1966

Sat. Oct 1^st – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£40) from payment letter and from AC’s accounts

Sun. Oct 2^nd – John Dummer Blues Band (£10)

Sun. Oct 2^nd – Dave Antony’s Moods (£45)
Wed. Oct 5^th – The Tea Set (£10)
Wed. Oct 5^th – Seventh Sun (£10) from payment letter with no mention of The Charge nor Graham Bond, both contracted to appear, implying they did not appear; also no Bond from AC’s accounts

Wed. Oct 5^th – A Q Blues Band (£25)
Sat. Oct 8^th – Mike Peters Jazzband (£25)
Sun. Oct 9^th – Soul System (£40)
Contemporary poster quotes Soul System playing rather than the contracted Artwoods: AC’s payment letter quotes Soul System rather than The Artwoods, for £40, and in AC’s accounts. The Soul System evolved into The Attack, who are rather better known, or not, as being purveyors of wedding reception staple “Hi Ho Silver Lining”, but being beaten to the punch chartwise by Jeff Beck’s purloined version. Guitarist Davey O’List went on to join Keith Emerson in The Nice and various subsequent projects, including being a founder member of Roxy Music, while drummer Alan Whitehead popped up in “Ob- La-Di, Ob-La-Da” merchants Marmalade
Wed. Oct 12^th – The Kleek (£10)

Wed. Oct 12^th – The Alan Bown Set (£30)
A contemporary poster quotes Alan Brown [sic] Set playing, which would have really been The Alan Bown Set, featuring the eponymous former John Barry Seven trumpeter, as well as Jess Roden on vocals, who would later be replaced by one Robert Palmer. The Set’s first album featured their take on “All Along The Watchtower” which apparently led to Jimi Hendrix deciding to record it for himself. Confusingly, the payment letter states that The Alan Bown did not arrive, so “no fee is due” but Alan Bown does appear in AC’s accounts

Sat. Oct 15^th – Alex Welsh Jazzband (£45)
Sun. Oct 16^th – Savoy Brown Blues Band (£10)
Sun. Oct 16^th – The Artwoods (£65)
Contemporary poster quotes The Artwoods playing instead of the contracted Soul System: it looks as if they swopped dates with Soul System for the previous Sunday. AC’s payment letter pays The Artwoods £65 so they must have played, also in AC’s accounts
Wed. Oct 19^th – The Deakin Lewis Band (£10)
Wed. Oct 19^th – Ronnie Jones and The Blue Jays (£40)
Ronnie Jones was another American soul-singer. Tonight he borrows The Blue Jays as backing band, rather than the usual Nightimers from Herbie Goins: Jones had been The Nightimers’ singer before leaving in 1965 and being replaced by Goins. The Graham Bond Organisation were contracted to appear for £80, but there is no mention in AC’s accounts, so presumably Ronnie Jones was a replacement. Meanwhile, in 2015, a CD compilation of Ronnie Jones was issued entitled “Satisfy My Soul: The Complete Recordings 1964-1968”

Sat. Oct 22^nd – London City Stompers (£30)
Sun. Oct 23^rd – The Scots of St. James (£10)
Scots indeed, as Onnie McIntyre and Allan Gorrie featured in this line-up, later to taste success in the Average White Band during the 70s
Sun. Oct 23^rd – Jack Dupree & The Five Proud Walkers (£60)
The Five Proud Walkers did a set on their own, before backing Mr Dupree on his, though a contemporary poster suggests it was solely the Walkers tonight
Wed. Oct 26^th – The After Eight Blues Band (£10)
Wed. Oct 26^th – The Artwoods (£50)
Sat. Oct 29^th – Bill Nile’s Deltas (£30)
Sun. Oct 30^th – Embers West (£10)
Sun. Oct 30^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£45)

November 1966

Wed. Nov 2^nd – The Coloured Raisins (£10)

Future billing as “Those great soul stars of TV and radio” and “straight from the Stevie Wonder Tour” but not for a couple of years after tonight. Intriguingly, the only references to The Coloured Raisins are either as a reggae band who went on to become Black Velvet, who themselves appear on the island during the Colonel Barefoot’s era in 1970, or as a band who seem to crop up in similar roll-calls to this one, but with little info. I have seen a reference to fearsome batsman Gordon Greenidge being involved with them at some time. I’ll continue searching…

Wed. Nov 2^nd – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers (£50)
Sat. Nov 5^th – Alan Elsdon’s Jazzband (£40)
Sun. Nov 6^th – Exile Blues (£10)

Sun. Nov 6^th – Free At Last feat. Alexis Korner & Cliff Barton & Hughie Flint (£40)

Hughie Flint was added in by biro on the contract

Wed. Nov 9^th – Rhythm and Soul Band (£10)
Wed. Nov 9^th – The Anzacs (£25)
Wed. Nov 9^th – Butterfield Blues Band (£120)
The payment ceiling is shattered for US blues harpist Paul Butterfield’s Blues Band, also featuring Mike Bloomfield on guitar. On this visit to the UK, Butterfield recorded with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, resulting in an EP
Sat. Nov 12^th – Ken Colyer Jazzmen (£40)
Sun. Nov 13^th – Syrian Blues Group (£10)
Sun. Nov 13^th – The Artwoods (£65)
Wed. Nov 16^th – Crimes People (£10)
Wed. Nov 16^th – A Q Blues Band (£25)
Wed. Nov 16^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£40)
Sat. Nov 19^th – The Gothics (£15)
Sat. Nov 19^th – Collie’s Rhythm Aces (£30)

Max Collie having assumed leadership, this is a renamed London City Stompers

Sun. Nov 20^th – Tea Set (£20)
Sun. Nov 20^th – Five Proud Walkers (£60)
Wed. Nov 23^rd – Fantastic Footprints (£10)
Wed. Nov 23^rd – The Artwoods (£45)
Sat. Nov 26^th – Steve Lane’s Southern Stompers (£25)
Sun. Nov 27^th – Savoy Brown’s [sic] Blues Band (£10)
While the contract gets the act’s name wrong, that’s understandable, unlike when a single of theirs cropped up on a jukebox in a pub in Isleworth that I frequented in the early 70s, credited to “Savory Brown”
Sun. Nov 27^th – John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (£60)
John Mayall’s revolving door has spun round once more, with Hughie Flint vacating the drummer’s stool, and being replaced by Aynsley Dunbar – who had previously worked with the Merseysippi Jazz Band, though I would hazard a guess not on their own entry in this list, as that was back in 1957 – with Flint having joined Alexis Korner’s Free At Last outfit
Wed. Nov 30^th – Something Else (£10)
Wed. Nov 30^th – The Graham Bond Organization (£80)

December 1966

Sat. Dec 3^rd – The Savoy Jazz Band (£30)
Sun. Dec 4^th – The Stalkers (£10)
First of a number of early outings for singer David Byron and guitarist Mick Box who evolved into Spice, who turn up on the island in 1968 and 1969, before becoming “Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble” hard rockers Uriah Heep
Sun. Dec 4^th – The Mike Stuart Span (£35)
There was no-one called Mike Stuart in this band
Wed. Dec 7^th – John Dummer Blues Band (£10)
Wed. Dec 7^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£40)
Sat. Dec 10^th – Mike Daniels Delta Jazz Band & Big Band (£40)
Sun. Dec 11^th – The Layman (£10)
Sun. Dec 11^th – The Artwoods (£65)
Wed. Dec 14^th – Savoy Brown Blues Band (£10)
Wed. Dec 14^th – John Mayall Bluesbreakers (£50)
Sat. Dec 17^th – Brian Green’s New Orleans Stompers (£25)
Sun. Dec 18^th – Exiled Blues (£10)
Sun. Dec 18^th – The Herd (£40)
Fri. Dec 23^rd – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£75)
Sat. Dec 24^th – A Q Blues Band (£40)
Sat. Dec 24^th – The Artwoods (£100)
Wed. Dec 28^th – Mike Cotton Band with Lucas (£40)
Sat. Dec 31^st – New Sedalia Jazz Band (£35)
Sat. Dec 31^st – Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen (£90)

1967

January 1967

Sun. Jan 1^st – Savoy Brown Blues Band (£10)
Sun. Jan 1^st – Mike Stuart Span (£35)
Wed. Jan 4^th – The Footprints (£10)
Wed. Jan 4^th – The Artwoods (£45)
Sat. Jan 7^th – The Gothics (£25)
Sun. Jan 8^th – The Black Cat Bones (£10)
Sun. Jan 8^th – Free At Last (£45)
A significant gig, given the two bands on show, though not necessarily unique, as Free At Last was Alexis Korner’s current blues-based outfit; Korner took the nascent Free under his wing, basically providing them with their name; support band Black Cat Bones featured future Free guitarist Paul Kossoff – and a year later, drummer Simon Kirke; and Free’s fifth studio album some six years later was called….”Free At Last”. Convoluted, but connected
Wed. Jan 11^th – John Bryan Fraternity (£10)
Wed. Jan 11^th – Herbie Goins and the Nightimers (£55)
Sat. Jan 14^th – Bill Nile’s Deltas (£30)
Sun. Jan 15^th – The Battery (£10)
Sun. Jan 15^th – The Artwoods (£45)
Wed. Jan 18^th – Dave Antony’s Moods (£40)
Sat. Jan 21^st – Spencer’s Washboard Kings (£40)
Sun. Jan 22^nd – The Stalkers (£10)
Sun. Jan 22^nd – Savoy Brown Blues Band (£25)
Wed. Jan 25^th – New Jump Band (£10)

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