SANDS ADS - 1977

Those of you who liked to boogie on down at the Sands, had this typical disco action to choose from back in 1977.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights were straight forward disco stints.
You may recall that you got in at half price on Sundays if you reached the doors before 8:30 - an offer we often took advantage of regularly!
Not sure what the Wednesday event in the top ad was though - Discorama with DJ Charlie Chuckles? Sounds more like a circus act than a night of clubbing!
The other ad mentions a new Friday resident - DJ Alex Soutar, with regular, DJ Ed Sweeney, doing Sunday nights.
And of course, Saturday lunchtimes had the jazz sessions in full flow with Jimmy Deuchar.

These changed in the late 70's to Sunday lunchtime sessions.

For the more serious jazz fan, the Sands was the chosen venue for a performance by legendary saxophonist, Dexter Gordon.

This gig was on 28 Feb 1977.

JIMMY DEUCHAR - IN HIS OWN WORDS - 1987

I do enjoy a bit of name-dropping now & again, and this article here is loaded!

The piece on Dundee jazz trumpeter, Jimmy Deuchar, comes from a June 1987 issue of Jazz Journal, and has Jimmy giving a short, but detailed account of his career. It's in chronological order too so it's easy to follow his history from the time he was a young lad in the Air Force when Johnny Dankworth asked him to join his band in 1950, right up to the 80's when Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts wanted Jimmy in his jazz band.

Some of the names in between are - Ronnie Scott, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack Parnell, Oscar Rabin, Stan Tracey, Benny Golson, Francy Boland, Tubby Hayes, Jack Sharpe, and the list goes on & on, throughout his many ventures around the world.

One thing he didn't mention, was his recreational project back home, the Sunday Jazz Sessions down at the Sands (70's/80's), many of which I went to. Another name-drop from then was the time when members of the audience used to join in the jam session, and on one particular occasion a guy sat down at the piano and played along. Jimmy, after it, complimented him on his playing, and the guy explained it was his sons who were the real musicians in the family. The piano player turned out to be Mr Brecker, father of Randy and Michael!

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THE SANDS INTERIOR

Here's an excellent colour shot of the interior of The Sands in Broughty Ferry... and a great reminder of how it looked in the late 70's before a couple tweaks to its décor took place in the 80's.

Now for a quick guided tour - you'll see in the centre of the picture the yellow coloured doors with what looks like a "T" on them, that was the only entrance to the disco. These doors were at the end of a wee corridor just off the main outside entrance area and opposite to where you'd hand your coats in.

There is a serving hatch next to the doors where they'd put on hot snacks halfway through the evening - lots of paper plates involved!

On the right hand side of the photo, out of view, was the main bar, that is also where the windows onto the Esplanade were.

To the left, just off of shot, if you went down a couple of steps, that would take you to the dancefloor and the DJ's corner area.

Behind where the photographer took the picture was a seating area on a raised floor in the corner.

They also laid on a bus back into Dundee city centre at the end of the night.

If I was asked to name 1 track that summed up The Sands on a Sunday, it would have to be the track "Shante" by Mass Production.

There are other images of The Sands to be found in my September 2008 Archives.

Photograph by Nicoll Russell Studios.

THE SANDS AND STEVIE WONDER - 1980

As I've mentioned on Retro before, Sunday nights for my mob was "Sands" night, where we'd go to get our weekly dose of funk and soul.

Here's a wee story to accompany one such visit in September 1980.

Every Thursday I used to get 4 music papers - the NME, Sounds, Black Echoes and Melody Maker. This particular Thursday I read in all 4, brilliant reviews on Stevie Wonder's shows at Wembley Arena. He was playing 6 shows there and this very same weekend was to be his finale. However, it also stated elsewhere in the papers that the shows were sold out.

When I got my wages next day on Friday, these reviews were still running around in my mind, and so on the spur of the moment I made a decision to hop on a train to London that night. Keeping in mind that the shows were sold out, I opted for a single fare to the capital with intent to hitch-hike back because I thought I'd need all the dosh I had to purchase a ticket from a tout. So, when I arrived in London I thought I'd try my luck at the ticket agencies first just in case someone had a spare, and after searching all day, I did indeed eventually get one from an agent who had a ticket returned that day. Delighted at having beaten the touts, I made my way to Wembley Arena for the show. It really was as brilliant as the reviews had said it was.

After the show, my mind then turned to the Sands. I now had spare cash because I didn't splash out on tout prices and I discovered I had enough to get back to Dundee. However, that was going to leave me skint, so what I did was keep a bit of Sands money aside and got the train only to Newcastle. I arrived in Newcastle mid morning and then hitched back from there. Did it in 3 lifts. Got back into Dundee late afternoon, had a bite to eat, a quick wash & brush up then off to the Ferry to meet up with my mob at Brookes. When they asked where I had been all weekend, and I told them, they just burst out laughing. I did that kind of thing regularly back then!

Anyway, made it to the Sands that Sunday as normal. To top it off, they played "Masterblaster" that night, and so obviously I had to get up to dance to it, just 24 hours after watching it live!

Incidentally, I've still got my ticket, programme and the original cuttings that triggered the weekend. One of the reviews had the amusing headline "Rockin Stevie plays a blinder", so thought I'd include it here.

Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG

JIMMY DEUCHAR - JAZZ MUSICIAN

 

Regarded by many jazz aficionados as one of the best trumpeters Britain has ever produced, the career of Jimmy Deuchar spanned more decades than is covered on Retro Dundee.

He began trumpeting professionally in the 1950's and kept it going right up until his death in the 90's.

Jimmy was also a composer & arranger who went on to record numerous albums and singles under his own name, and many as guest on other performers recordings.

Although he mainly played on the UK circuit, he has also spent a fair bit of time playing in Europe and USA too, not to mention occasional TV appearances.

Dundee was Jimmy's home base though, and during the late 70's - early 80's he organised jazz jam sessions down at The Sands in Broughty Ferry every Sunday lunchtime. I remember going to many of these. He would start off with a basic quartet, and if anyone fancied joining in, then they did so. Sometimes there would end up being about 8 on stage. All good fun, and a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. He also used to invite some of his jazz friends to visit and perform. One I recall was a gig at The Sands by his long time buddy from London, Ronnie Scott.

The photo above is Jimmy playing in the City Square. Perhaps the City Council should rename the square "Deuch's Place" (sorry, just a wee jazz joke there!). The local talent with him in the picture are - Frank Rossiter on trombone - John Whyte on guitar - (unknown hidden guitarist) - Jimmy on trumpet and Jim Mckenzie double bass.

Below is a wee tribute video I made as a reminder of his good work. The track is taken from a 1955 7inch e.p. called "Don't dance, dig" and the tune is a be bop version of "Dancing in the dark"....no, not Springsteens!!

BROOKES - BROUGHTY FERRY - 1980's

This picture of Brookes in Brook Street, Broughty Ferry, was taken in October 1980.

It's a pub I remember visiting only on Sunday evenings. Sunday back then was our funky nights at the "Sands" so we'd all usually meet here to have a couple of pints first before nipping along to spend the rest of the night at the disco.

It always make me recall those warm, lighty summer evenings.

Photo by DC Thomson.

THE SANDS - BROUGHTY FERRY

Sunday nights were the best nights to pop along to Broughty Ferry hotspot "The Sands" in the late 70's & early 80's musically speaking, because their choice of sounds on Sundays were of a more specialist variety.

So being black based music in the main meant there was a lot of serious funk going down, plenty of hot soul imports spinning and a fair amount of Northern Soul belted out too. They did drop a dollop of chart pop stuff along the way but it was in much smaller portions than you'd get on Fridays & Saturdays.
The atmosphere was better on Sundays too which made it a great way to finish off a weekend's clubbing.

As well as DJ's blasting out the latest dancefloor goodies, The Sands also hosted jazz events on Sunday afternoons and anyone wanting to jam alongside Dundee's top jazz musician, Jimmy Deuchar, were welcome to.

The photos above show The Sands in 2 different phases - the first 2 are its late 70's look with a circular dancefloor - the other 2 are from the early 80's when they extended the dancefloor out to the seating areas and added more lights around the joint.

Combining both the dancefloor and jazz elements of The Sands, below is a track I always associate with my Sunday's spent there. Its a great jazz-funk groove that dates back to 1980 - and I still have my original 12 inch copy of it too!

Photos by DC Thomson.