4 MYSTERY ACTS - 1980's

Here we have a sequence of photos that were taken at various venues in town around the mid/late 80's period, the acts of which managed to slip through the net undocumented. So I thought I'd throw this one open to you lot out there to see if you can identify any of the above - whether from memory or by research.

The top one featuring somebody sporting the cowgirl look - both the act and the venue needs to be known. Any ideas?

Next one down with the female trio, was taken at Sessions. Were they backing singers or the main act?

Third image is also at Sessions, this time featuring a jazz quartet. Recognise any of the musicians?

Lastly, this picture of another group of jazz musicians was snapped at The Rep. Difficult to tell from the back but I was wondering if the saxophonist on the left might be a young Tommy Smith? Can't say for certain though because of the camera position. Do you know who's in the line-up?

See how you get on anyway.

Photos by The Bear.

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.

ANDY LOTHIAN ORCHESTRA - LIVE - 1960'S

In March 2009, I put a record up on Retro Dundee by Andy Lothian. This was a traditional Scottish tune that featured his violin skills.

Andy, however, was equally known for his big band sound, his orchestra being the resident band at the Palais for over 3 decades. In fact, he ended up owning the venue!

We are talking ballroom dancing music styles here, the orchestra supplying the tempo for the dancefloor with a mixture of latin, jazz and pop.

In 1946, his band was heard all around the UK when his orchestra was broadcast live from the Palais on BBC radio a few times.

Andy kept the big band going in the Palais up to around 1970, then bowed out to make way for the start of the disco era.

Below is a rare recording live at the Palais itself, from the mid 60's and showcasing the full orchestra sound - no lead violin.

The line-up includes - J. Couper - D. Gold - J. Croft - R. Bronson - G. Cully - B. Cooper - C. Fotheringham and C. Coats.

So go grab your partner and swirl around the room to this track below - Duke's classic..."The A Train".

Many thanks to Carolyn.

CITY CENTRE BALLOONS - 1980'S

A glimpse along the High Street on 25th July 1985 caught this wee lad in the top picture carrying a couple of large balloons.

They don't appear to have cheered him up any mind you. Still girnie!

And a glimpse along Reform Street in the mid/late 80's caught these 2 characters carrying a heap load of balloons.

The balloons were used to advertise McEwans Ale who were sponsoring the Jazz Festival, the balloons being placed around all the venues where the gigs were taking place. So being snapped in Reform Street means they had just dropped a few balloons off at the Old Bank Bar. You can also see a jazz banner hanging above the duo in the middle image.

Colour photo by Neale Elder.

B&W photos by The Bear.

B.G. FORBES IN COMMERCIAL STREET



Here's some ads pertaining to BG Forbes, a shop that sold records and musical instruments.

First though, the photo is a good wee reminder of its location - right on the corner of Commercial Street and Dock Street.

I shopped in here quite a lot in the 70's because it had a really cool selection of jazz vinyl that other record shops in Dundee didn't have - a fine array of ECM albums for example. Some I recall buying were - Terje Rypdal, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Eberhard Weber, these kind of acts, although I must admit I also came home with a heap of pretty obscure albums from this place too. Names that spring to mind are Pacific Eardrum, Opa, Stomu Yamashta, Passport, Brand X, Casiopea, Shakti, Turning Point, PFM, Milton Nascimento, Nucleus, Marscape, Solution, Azymuth, UK, Nana Vasconcelos, White Noise, Isotope....and plenty others of this variety.

Why they stocked records such as these was probably down to the fact that the guy who ran the shop, Rob Adams, was himself a bit of a jazz-rock aficionado. In fact he was also in a couple of local bands called Europe and Head, acts influenced by the likes of Weather Report.

Anyway, getting back to the above items - the first ad that's making a "note" of the name, dates from 1978.

The small ad under it is from a 1972 Telegraph and the next one is from a 1977 Telegraph - both displaying albums that were more commercial than the kind I usually bought from there.

The 2 yellow items date from 1980 and were adverts that cropped up on the reverse side of tickets for gigs on at the University. The idea being that if you took the ticket stubs into Forbes you got £1 knocked off the price of the related albums - these here being for Peter Gabriel and Mike Oldfield.

We'll just have to ignore the fact that the Uni got the address wrong on one of them!!

Top photo by Neale Elder.

TOMB JAZZ CELLAR - 1961



 

The top article reveals the moment the opening of Dundee's Tomb Jazz Cellar was announced - the item dating from August 1961.

It sounds like a place I'd have liked to have hung out had I been around, but being only 3 years old at the time means I wasn't quite ready to wear a beret and black polo-neck like the rest of the cool beatniks back then!

Main man, Andy Lothian, had the residency spot with his East Coast Jazzmen, while the Forrie Cairns Band were the first act to kick-start the guest sessions on 6 Aug 1961.

The second item dates from October 1961, and now the Tomb Jazz Cellar is in full flow with a number of guest appearances in the line-up to fill October's programme.

HAVANA & DEUCHAR AT McGONAGALL'S - 80'S

This top notch image features the guitarists of Dundee jazz outfit, Havana Swing and local legend, Jimmy Deuchar on trumpet.

Havana Swing started off as a guitar trio in 1986 - Alain Legrand, John Whyte and Kevin Murray.

By 1987, the band had added Calum McKenzie on double bass and Walter Smith on clarinet.

However, also around 1986, story has it that during one of Havana Swing's gigs in Dundee, Jimmy was in the audience (he had his trumpet with him) and was so smitten with their performance that he leapt out of the crowd and joined them centre stage for a bit of the action!

After that impromptu introduction, he actually went on to play regularly with them.

Just wondering if this photo was that actual gig's "spontaneous moment" or whether this was taken later when they were all together as a unit?

The venue was that well known pub along Perth Road, McGonagall's.

The pub started jam session twice a week in 1986, and as you can see on this particular advert dated March 1986, Havana Swing were the band leading the jam.

So there could be a connection to the photo.

By the way, in the 50's, Jimmy released an album called "Pub Crawling" - so the Perth Road the perfect place for him to be!

Photo by The Bear.

LIVE...FROM THE INVERCARSE - 1973

In May 2010 I posted a feature on the East Coast Jazz Band which included a recording of them playing at the Invercarse Hotel in 1973.
That one back then was a funky little number by Stevie Wonder - so this time out I thought I'd have the band doing a song in a slightly different style, a rock-pop crossover which was a chart hit in 1971 for Ashton, Gardner & Dyke - a track called "Resurrection Shuffle". A tune that was sure to get everybody tapping their toes underneath the dining tables!
Same line-up as before, except it's Brian Rose doing the vocals on this occasion. So... Les Cameron, keyboards - Dave Fimster, trumpet - Jim Wallace, trombone - Doug Gow, clarinet/sax - Harry Morrison, drums - Ron Elder, bass and Brian Rose, guitar & vocal.
A nice sound coming out of the Farfisa Compact Deluxe too!

DUNDEE JAZZ FESTIVAL - SUMMER 1988

July 1988 saw another installment of the annual Dundee Jazz Festival.
Here is the events list published in Street Life magazine.
There were 3 parts to the festival - the main big acts with the likes of Remmy Ongala, Donald Byrd, Humphrey Lyttleton etc. Then there was a secondary late night line up featuring local acts such as Dougie Martin and Jimmy Deuchar. Finally there was the Jazz Village which was basically lots of gigs taking place around the city pubs.
Being spoilt for choice was courtesy of the reliable Platform Jazz team.
If I was still in Dundee back then, I'd have been along to the Rep like a shot to catch Donald Byrd!

DUKE ELLINGTON - CAIRD HALL - 1967

Duke Ellington and his Orchestra played at the Caird Hall on 15th February 1967.

This is him at rehearsals in Dundee with local jazz enthusiast, Alf Anderson, who himself was a dance band drummer.

The Duke chatted away while knocking out a few tunes. He explained that the reason for him wearing 2 cashmere sweaters and an overcoat at the time was because the hall was so cold.

He then asked if Dundee made their own brand of whisky as he wanted to buy some to take back to his friends and surprise them with a new label!

Not sure if he ended up in a nearby off license!!

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!

Click on items > right click to download > zoom in to read.

DON CHERRY - WHITEHALL THEATRE - 1987

From Street Life magazine, here's a review of Don Cherry's NU gig at the Whitehall Theatre on 22nd October 1987, organised by Dundee jazz promoters, Platform.

Although Cherry's mainstay was jazz, having worked with big hitters like Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler and many others, his lifelong global travels with his wee pocket trumpet saw him become one of the innovators of World Music, fusing various cultures along the way, and so this show had a bit of both.

His band in Dundee were - Mark Helias, bass - Ed Blackwell, drums - Carlos Ward, sax and the peerless percussionist Nana Vasconcelos.

My brother was at this gig and managed to get a signed copy of a cassette called "Garden Of Music" - that's Don Cherry's autograph in gold ink!

As well as being a highly regarded trumpeter, Don was also genuinely "cool", and remained young and hip to new musical trends right up to his death in the mid 90's.

Click the review to read the large version.

JOHN HUBAND TRIO - TANGERINE - 1973

Dundee accordionist, John Huband, was highly regarded on the folk circuit, a reputation which was enhanced when he teamed up with the illustrious, Jim Reid, also from Dundee.
However, it's not just folk music John had on his CV. In the mid 60's he released a couple of singles on Andy Lothian's ALP record label - these were traditional Scottish dance band tunes, one of which became famous for being the theme tune jingle to the newly established broadcaster, Radio Scotland.
On the "Live From Invercarse Hotel" LP recorded in 1973, the John Huband Trio, play a variety of musical styles - a touch of Bob Dylan, some Scottish reels, a bit of blues, a movie soundtrack, a dash of country & western, an Irish jig, and this one here, a jazz standard from the 1940's "Tangerine". Although it's a short track, it certainly showcases John's considerable accordion technique. The amount of activity he can squeeze in, in such a short space of time, is quite amazing! Accompanying him are Jim Cruickshank and Joe Mackay, who just manage to keep pace!
It is definitely more, hot club gypsy jazz, than folk!

INVERCARSE HOTEL ALBUM - 1973

No, you're not imagining it! It is indeed an album called "Music Live From Invercarse Hotel", released in 1973.
The LP is shared by 2 acts - the A-side has the East Coast Jazz Band, and the B-side has the John Huband Trio.
I'll touch on the B-side a little later, but for now, following on from the previous post, here is a sample of the East Coast Jazz Band in action.
Don't let their formal dress fool you as they get decidedly funky on this track, a version of the Stevie Wonder hit "Superstition". Giving AWB a good run for their money too!
The line-up is the 73 one as listed earlier, with the addition of George Cabrelli on vocal.

 

EAST COAST JAZZMEN v EAST COAST JAZZ BAND

I'm gonna need a bit of help sorting out this muddle with names!

The top picture is documented as being the East Coast Jazzmen, taken in 1968.

The picture below it is documented as being the East Coast Jazz Band, taken in 1973.

That was the easy bit!

From this, I deduced that, probably after a change in line-up, they just changed their name from Jazzmen to Jazz Band. Seemed logical to me.

However, after a wee bit of homework, I discovered that it was Andy Lothian who first formed the East Coast Jazz Band in 1958. The East Coast Jazzmen had a residency at the Invercarse in the 60's and the East Coast Jazz Band had a residency there too, in the 70's.

When I put both versions into Google for more info, both names crop up in equal measure and both appear to still be on the go!

So, are they the same outfit, who choose to change their name according to which style of music they play - ie, Jazzmen = "Trad jazz", Jazz Band = "Modern jazz"?

Are they 2 separate entities?

Are they perhaps just called East Coast Jazz, with the "Men" and "Band" an irrelevant addition?

If someone can supply the answer to that, it would be much appreciated, as I'm starting to develop a nervous twitch and may need to book myself into Liff soon!!

Anyway, both pictures were taken at the same spot in the Invercarse.

Top, 1968 line-up is - Jimmy Wallace - Ron Elder - Dave Fimister - Andy Tully - Harry Morrison - Les Cameron - Dave Moodie.

Below, 1973 line-up is - Jimmy Wallace - Dave Fimister - Doug Gow - Les Cameron - Ron Elder - Harry Morrison - Brian Rose.

Thanks to Mike Gallacher for the top photo.

DESPERATE DAN x JAMES BROWN - 1984

It's Desperate Dan again, this time with a front row seat at a gig.
Others in the crowd are members of The Broons, Oor Wullie and funky legend, James Brown, who is doing his thang in the aisle.
This is the album cover artwork of a recording by Dundee musician, Ken Hyder.
The LP is called "Under The Influence" and was released in 1984.

DUNDEE JAZZ FESTIVAL - 1987

This review of the Dundee Jazz Festival at the Rep, comes from an NME dated June 1987.
The acts mentioned are - TOMMY SMITH'S FORWARD MOTION - COURTNEY PINE - TAM WHITE - TED HAWKINS - STAN TRACEY - and Dundee's own, HAVANA SWING.
Plenty well known names on the bill that year.
The piece was written by local music journalist, Bob Flynn.
I think you should be able to read it ok as it is, but anyone struggling can click onto the image to view the large version.

JOHN McLEVY ON TRUMPET

Although Dundee trumpeter, John McLevy, was of the older generation, he was still very much active in the 60's, 70's & 80's, a period I'll get back to shortly.

Before that, he first began playing trumpet as a teenager, soon finding work locally, and around other parts of UK. His early work consisted mostly of hotel bands, and mostly in London. He did venture back home to play too, teaming up with the local Joe Gibson Band, then nipping over to Glasgow for some casino work.

London called again though and not before long he was in the line-up of the BBC Show Band lead by Cyril Stapleton. Included in his London years was a lengthy stint at the Savoy Hotel with bandleader, Francisco Cavez. JM also found time to record numerous albums with Max Bygraves...well they do say he did have a good sense of humour!!

The 70's was probably John at his peak, an era that had him play alongside jazz legend, Benny Goodman, and tour all over Europe.

He still continued playing right through the 80's, albeit in smaller bands and smaller venues, but eventually deciding to retire in the 90's.

John McLevy died in 2002.

Here is a link to one of his performances with Benny Goodman, taken from one of the 70's European tours

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNo1N88ougE

The track is called "My Dear Mr Shane", a number which, after many decades, Dundee's present top jazz outfit, Havana Swing, play as part of their repertoire!!

WHAT'S ON IN DUNDEE - 1988

Rewinding back to October 1988, and a little glimpse into what was on offer in town music-wise. This schedule is taken from Street Life magazine, the local what's on guide for then.
Venues listed are - Fat Sams - Bonar Hall - Cafe Club - Chamber Music Club - Bar Chevrolet - Caird Hall and De Stihl's.
Music provided by - The Silencers - Frank Chickens - Pasadena Roof Orchestra - Love & The Gun - Hanson String Quartet - Quad - Le Hot Club - Barbara Dickson - Deacon Blue - Beaver Sisters and New Tinian.
Spark any memories?
Incidentally, I put "plop plop dada" into Google search and got nowt!
Click image to enlarge if blind as a bat!

JACK HUTTON'S MUSIC MAGAZINES

Dundonian, Jack Hutton, came into music journalism by combining his 2 interests - music & journalism - as simple as that.
Jack worked at DC Thomson's, and during this period developed an enthusiasm for jazz. After taking up the trumpet as a pastime he went on to form the Dundee Jazz Club around 1950. He moved to London in 1953 and got work with music paper, Melody Maker, which eventually lead to him becoming Editor in 1962. Needless to say, his time at MM had him rub shoulders with everyone from Miles Davis to The Beatles. He was even with the Rolling Stones on their 1964 USA tour, in which he was present at their famous "Chess" recording session. Jack also managed to sneak the underage Stones into a few jazz clubs along the way!
JH was also involved in another music paper called, Disc, near the end of the 60's, but while at the top of his profession he decided to quit MM and start all afresh with his own publishing company. Around 1970, he started up, Sounds, a youthful rival to Melody Maker. Another mag he launched was, Popswop, catching the pop & glam rock scene in the early 70's. Lastly there was Kerrang!, a magazine specialising in rock & heavy metal, which actually started off as a free supplement in Sounds around the early 80's.
Out of all those music publications JH has been with, only Kerrang! survives today.
I've included here an example of Jack's journalism - a review he did in May 1967 when jazz legend, Count Basie, played at the Caird Hall.
(click on to enlarge)
JH retired in 1987, having a big do at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London, with Jack ending up jamming on stage!
After a 5 year illness, JH died in August 2008.