50 years today....

Wohooooo

Listening to some Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys and other early stuff tonight
What an amazing ride it has been for them and it ain't over yet

Jan Richards

[www.stonesondecca.com]

As noted from Ian Stuart's recollections of the Flamingo Jazz Club, the place had a lot of smartly dressed people in "zoot suits", as the Flamingo eventually became a central London stronghold for British "Mod" culture and fashion. A Mod who frequented "the Mingo" remembers:

LONDON: THE FLAMINGO CLUB (source Mick Hall)
Rhythm, Blues and Anti Racism, Live at the Mingo

The Flamingo Jazz Club which operated out of a dingy basement in London's Wardor Street Soho in the late 1950s and the first half of the 1960s, has become legendary amongst cultural buffs of that city and was recently featured in the BBC2 documentary Soul Britannia, which looked at the history of Soul music in the United Kingdom. The Club is also a sweet memory of those of us who when teenagers spent our weekend's in its sweaty bowel's. Although if one reads the odd article on the Flamingo Club that appears these days, one may get the impression it was a Mod club,* which whilst half true is far from the actual story. It is true the more adventurous Mod's who inhabited London's West End back then, gradually became regulars at the club and by 1963 the music played within the Flamingo was entirely within the Mod tradition, but this is a chicken or egg conundrum as the claim could equally be made that the Flamingo was a major influence on the music that became inherent within Mod culture rather than the other way around. No, the Flamingo was much more than a club where members of the youth cult known as Mod's hanged out, it was the precursor of the ethnic melting pot London was to become and this was reflected in the sounds played within the club. Indeed ask any old Mingolian why their anti racist roots are so firm; and it is a fact few who were Mingo regulars ended up as racists, they would not reply with the names of the great men and women of the civil rights and anti racist movement, nor from having been racially abused themselves but because for a short period of time their roots lay within that grubby Wardor Street basement lovingly known to us all as, 'the Mingo'.

Taken from: jackthatcatwasclean.blogspot.com/2007/09/london-flamingo-club-source-mick-hall.html

A favorite of The Stones and Mods alike, Jimmy Reed was among the American R&B artists to appear at the Flamingo.

The Stones played the Marquee Club on Thursdays and played there five times from 3 to 31 January 1963. Ironically, they were fired after their 31 January gig by Cyril Davies, one of those who had promoted their presence on the London R&B scene to begin with. According to Bill Wyman, "Crowds at the club were reaching 600 a night and we asked for a little more money. Even back then, £16 a show was not a lot between six of us."


The original Marquee Jazz Club at 165 Oxford Street, London.

Set list for Stones gig at London's Flamingo Jazz Club on Monday 14 January 1963. Some of these songs appear to have no studio-recorded counterparts, while some others only have versions heard from BBC bootlegs.

1. Mona
(Bo Diddley cover)
2. Tiger in Your Tank
(Muddy Waters cover)
3. Cops and Robbers
(Bo Diddley cover)
4. No Money Down
(Chuck Berry cover)
5. Dimples
(John Lee Hooker cover)
6. Pretty Thing
(Bo Diddley cover)
7. Bright Lights, Big City
(Jimmy Reed cover)
8. Honest I Do
(Jimmy Reed cover)
9. Around and Around
(Chuck Berry cover)
10. Beautiful Delilah
(Chuck Berry cover)
11. Jaguar and Thunderbird
(Chuck Berry cover)

Recorded in 1964 but never officially released, a cover of Bo Diddley's Cops and Robbers.





A live version of John Lee Hooker's Dimples can be heard from the Steel Wheels tour with special guests John Lee Hooker and Eric Clapton.





From the 1963 IBC sessions, Bright Lights, Big City.





Chuck Berry's Beautiful Delilah in an early Stones recording.

Tommy Hare performs at Red Room Ealing Club May 2012, showing another view of the club's interior, the entrance, far wall in photo.

Quote
Jan Richards
50 years today....

Wohooooo

Listening to some Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys and other early stuff tonight
What an amazing ride it has been for them and it ain't over yet

Happy 50th + 6 months to The Rolling Stones!

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
Jan Richards
50 years today....

Wohooooo

Listening to some Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys and other early stuff tonight
What an amazing ride it has been for them and it ain't over yet

Happy 50th + 6 months to The Rolling Stones!

EXACTLY, January 12th 2013 was 50 years + 6 months for the first Stones gig ever and 50 years for the first Stones gig including Charlie

Jan Richards

[www.stonesondecca.com]

Another view of the street outside Red Room Ealing Club.

Flyer advertising The Ealing Club's Blue Plaque Fundraiser campaign from autumn 2011.



Clip featuring performances from the third night of the Blue Plaque Fundraiser, from Thursday 24 November 2011.

"Contepomi's dream" outside the site of Ealing Jazz Club.

Clip showing footage of the unveiling of the commemorative blue plaque at the site of Ealing Club on 17 March 2012, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Alexis Korner's and Cyril Davies' first appearance there. Footage shows the neighborhood around and leading up to the doorway of the Red Room [Ealing Club] and even takes the viewer inside. Charlie Watts can be seen just inside the entrance at 1:03. Footage of patrons in the bar area follows, then proceeds outside for the unveiling. Then it's back inside for blues jams by a series of live bands. One can get a sense of the excitement of seeing a live band like The Rolling Stones up close and personal in 1963. The clip closes with further views of the gathering outside, giving the precise location of the blue plaque.

Quote
stonehearted
Monday night gigs for The Rolling Stones in January 1963 were played in Soho's Flamingo Jazz Club, which opened in 1952 in the basement of Mapleton Restaurant on Coventry Street but from 1957 to 1967 was located at 33-37 Wardour Street. Pictured below in the doorway of the Flamingo is a 1965 photo of Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band. On the left is George "Zoot" Money and second from left is Andy Summers--yes that Andy Summers.


The Flamingo Jazz Club, 33-37 Wardour Street, Soho, London.

Isn't that Rod Stewart lighting the cigarette??? sure looks like ol'Rodders

Quote
SKILLS

Quote
stonehearted
Monday night gigs for The Rolling Stones in January 1963 were played in Soho's Flamingo Jazz Club, which opened in 1952 in the basement of Mapleton Restaurant on Coventry Street but from 1957 to 1967 was located at 33-37 Wardour Street. Pictured below in the doorway of the Flamingo is a 1965 photo of Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band. On the left is George "Zoot" Money and second from left is Andy Summers--yes that Andy Summers.


The Flamingo Jazz Club, 33-37 Wardour Street, Soho, London.

Isn't that Rod Stewart lighting the cigarette??? sure looks like ol'Rodders

That's Andy Summers, future guitarist for The Police.

Quote
stonehearted

Quote
SKILLS

Quote
stonehearted
Monday night gigs for The Rolling Stones in January 1963 were played in Soho's Flamingo Jazz Club, which opened in 1952 in the basement of Mapleton Restaurant on Coventry Street but from 1957 to 1967 was located at 33-37 Wardour Street. Pictured below in the doorway of the Flamingo is a 1965 photo of Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band. On the left is George "Zoot" Money and second from left is Andy Summers--yes that Andy Summers.


The Flamingo Jazz Club, 33-37 Wardour Street, Soho, London.

Isn't that Rod Stewart lighting the cigarette??? sure looks like ol'Rodders

That's Andy Summers, future guitarist for The Police.

Andy Summers is second from the right not left

Quote
Munichhilton

Quote
stonehearted

Quote
SKILLS

Quote
stonehearted
Monday night gigs for The Rolling Stones in January 1963 were played in Soho's Flamingo Jazz Club, which opened in 1952 in the basement of Mapleton Restaurant on Coventry Street but from 1957 to 1967 was located at 33-37 Wardour Street. Pictured below in the doorway of the Flamingo is a 1965 photo of Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band. On the left is George "Zoot" Money and second from left is Andy Summers--yes that Andy Summers.


The Flamingo Jazz Club, 33-37 Wardour Street, Soho, London.

Isn't that Rod Stewart lighting the cigarette??? sure looks like ol'Rodders

That's Andy Summers, future guitarist for The Police.

Andy Summers is second from the right not left

Thanks for correcting. The caption under the photo from the site I took it from was in error.



The one resembling Rod Stewart appears to have been one of the saxophonists [second from left in photo below, probably Nick Newell].



MUSICIANS
THE BIG ROLL BAND:
Zoot Money (Hammond organ, vocals)
Colin Allen (drums)
Nick Newell (flute, tenor sax)
Andy Summers (guitar)
Johnny Almond (baritone/tenor sax, flute)
Paul Williams (bass, vocals)

Another shot of Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band outside Flamingo Jazz Club.

A music fan visits the site of the Flamingo Jazz Club to share memories of London clubs in the swinging 60s and provides views of Wardour Street as it appeared in 2012.

The recent revival of The Ealing Club as a musical venue [now the Red Room] has come about through the dedicated work of local figures who formed The Ealing Club, a community interest company promoting the musical heritage of the area as well as regular gigs of blues and contemporary music. Since then, Creative Ealing has been formed, "a consortium of creative arts venues in Ealing working together to publicise and promote the work of the four founding local arts venues – The Questors Theatre, The Ealing Club, OPEN Ealing and The Drayton Court Hotel."





www.creativeealing.com/index.php/the-ealing-club/

www.westealingneighbours.org.uk/WEN-blog/2012/12/13/creative-ealing-launched-bringing-together-information-about-whats-happening-in-the-creative-arts-in-ealing/comment-page-1/

The UK band JOS were among the contemporary artists who helped support the launch of Creative Ealing at The Questors Theatre in December 2012. Here is JOS performing a December 2012 set at The Ealing Club.

UK singer Georgie Chapple performs her single Gone at The Ealing Club on 19 December 2012.

West London blues band Jump 66 are among the new generation of bands contributing to the recent blues music revival of The Ealing Club. The following clip is their set from the Ealing Blues Festival on 21 July 2012. jump66blues.com





1. Who Told You? [00:00]
2. Don't Do Me No Favours [4:30]
3. Walk Right In (The Walking Blues) [8:50]
4. You Call Everybody Sweetheart [12:15]
5. Feed That Baby [17:00]
6. You Hurt Me [20:40]
7. Shake Your Boogie [25:45]
8. Early In The Morning [28:40]
9. Love In Vain [33:00]


Jump 66 at The Ealing Club.

A few more images from The Ealing Club, then and now....


Alexis Korner (right) and Cyril Davies (left) founded the British R&B movement at Ealing Jazz Club in 1962.


Blues renaissance at The Ealing Club: Paul King of Jump 66 gets down for some low notes on the double bass.


Third Cortez perform at The Ealing Club on 26 April 2012.


The bar area at The Ealing Club at the Red Room today.

Quote
stonehearted

Alexis Korner (right) and Cyril Davies (left) founded the British R&B movement at Ealing Jazz Club in 1962.

Don't forget that is Charlie in the background.

Quote
Edith Grove

Quote
stonehearted

Alexis Korner (right) and Cyril Davies (left) founded the British R&B movement at Ealing Jazz Club in 1962.

Don't forget that is Charlie in the background.

Thanks for pointing that out EG, I wanted to see if anyone would notice.

Fifty years ago today, on 23 January 1963, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts became full and permanent members with their gig at the Red Lion Pub in Sutton, Surrey. The Stones themselves tell of how Bill and Charlie first came to join the band.

Keith Richards & Bill Wyman: Bill and the Stones
Keith: Dick Taylor had left. Stu drifted with us for some reason... (So one day we said to Tony Chapman), Hey, Tony, d'y'know any bass players? He said, I do know one. Tell him to come to next rehearsal. So we all turned up and in walks... Bill Wyman, ladies and gentleman.... So onto the scene comes Bill... and we can't believe him. He's a real London Ernie, Brylcreamed hair and 11-inch cuffs on his pants and huge blue suede shoes with rubber soles... He had the bass together already. He'd been playing in rock bands for 3 or 4 years. He's older than us. He knows how to play. But he doesn't want to play with these shitty rock bands anymore because they're all terrible. They're all doing that Shadows trip, all those instrumental numbers, Duane Eddy, Rebel Rouser.

Bill: I wasn't quite the same sort of person as (the rest of the Stones). I was a straight working-class type. I thought they were a bunch of layabouts but very dedicated to their music. THAT I could appreciate, but I couldn't appreciate the way they lived... (Chuck Berry) was the one artist I was able to be on par with. When the Stones talked music I knew Chuck Berry, but I'd never heard Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters. The music seemed to be very simple but later you learned that it was quite hard to be simple.

Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts & Ian Stewart: Charlie in the Stones
Keith: The R&B thing started to blossom and we had Charlie playing on the bill with us in a club, there were two bands on. Charlie was in the other band. He'd left Korner and was with the same cats Brian had said @#$%& off to about 6 months before. We did our set and Charlie was knocked out by it. You,re great man, he says, but you need a @#$%& good drummer. So we said, Charlie, we can't afford you, man. Because Charlie had a job and just wanted to do weekend gigs... So he said, OK, and told the other band to @#$%& off, I'm gonna play with these guys.

Mick: We all thought Charlie was very kind of hip, because of his jackets and shirts. Because he was working in an advertising agency, he was very different. It was good for the band to have someone who was sort of sharp.. We must have convinced him that what we played wasn't rock and roll.

Charlie: I practiced at home to jazz records all the time. The only rock and roll I ever listened to was after the Stones turned me on to it. I used to like Jimmy Reed and Bo Diddley and from there I went on to, who's that guy (Roy Orbison), Ooh Poo Pah Doo, and slowly I got on to hearing how good the early Elvis records were... When I joined the Rolling Stones I used to sit around, and Keith and Brian taught me Jimmy Reed. They used to play it all the time; we used to do a lot of those numbers. So I learned it through them... If you're talking about sort of rural blues, Chicago blues, no, I didn't know any of them, really... Without Chuck Berry I don't think music would be where it is today. That's how great he is, but I owe that all to Keith. He taught me to appreciate something like Havana Moon more than Johnny B. Goode.

Ian: With Charlie we were thinking about the atmosphere in the band. In the early days I thought Keith might be an awkward person to get to know. I'd watch Keith with other people, and he always seemed to back away a bit. But he and Charlie were a @#$%&' comedy team. They had a dual sense of humor.

Mick: We had the advantage that Keith and I both get along very well with Charlie. The fact that there's three of us who get along so well is very important.

Charlie: When Mick was at school, Keith and Brian would always play... I was living (with them) at this rent-free house, just hanging out. But I was lucky because I had somewhere to go. Twice a week I'd go home. But they really were amazing days. Brian and Keith would sit and play Jimmy Reed all day long. I knew it BACKWARD.

Taken from: www.timeisonourside.com/

While The Stones were celebrating the 50th anniversary of their first gig at the Marquee Club on 12 July 2012 with the red carpet premiere of their photo exhibit at Somerset House, the curiously named band Paint It Blue were playing at an old Stones venue, The Ealing Club.

Quote
Edith Grove
Has the interior of the club changed much since '63 ?

I don't think you make much in the waqy of major changes - it's basically like an 'L' shaped room. maybe change the layout of the stage as they seems to have happened in the above pix. From what I can see from the pix above - The band above appear to have been moved forward and are now standing on what was the dance floor in front of the stage. There was originally a step up to the stage which which was flush with the front of that alcove. They seem to have installed a false wall or mirror across the back of the original stage.

The guy playing the headless bass is roughly where Keith would have been.Keith's amp would have been on a chair on the stage - and keith would lean against that pillar. Behimd that at the back sideways on - was an upright piano tgheat Stu played. There was barely enough room for Stu between the drums and the piano - on a beer crate as I recall.

Here is a '60's pix fron their site - I think the band maybe a version of the Downliners Sect.

[www.ealing-club.com]

This original pix is where the band would have been and the space available - don't forget to add a piano.

Those showbz spotlighs weren't there. The photo session shows the band are on the dance floor. There was alos a step up to get off the dance floor to the bar - you can see a girl standing half way on a step.

Some better pix would be better, if anyone is planning a vist...

Thanks for the info!

Quote
stonehearted

Quote
Edith Grove

Quote
stonehearted

Alexis Korner (right) and Cyril Davies (left) founded the British R&B movement at Ealing Jazz Club in 1962.

Don't forget that is Charlie in the background.

Thanks for pointing that out EG, I wanted to see if anyone would notice.

Seems the pic is from Eel Pie.

Quote
His Majesty

Quote
stonehearted

Quote
Edith Grove

Quote
stonehearted

Alexis Korner (right) and Cyril Davies (left) founded the British R&B movement at Ealing Jazz Club in 1962.

Don't forget that is Charlie in the background.

Thanks for pointing that out EG, I wanted to see if anyone would notice.

Seems the pic is from Eel Pie.

fantastic pic.