IN THE Fifties, popular music, like thejet engine which revolutionised flying and
shrank the globe - took, off with unstoppable
force. The pace of develoment was astounding.
Standards of living rose in dramatic fashion, creating
a vast consumer society with increased time for leisure and a greater appetite 'for entertainment.
The concept of the " teenager " emerged, free of responsibilities and becoming frequently bored and prone to identity crisis as a result.
They could celebrate their freedom however and identify
themselves with new crazes in pop music.
Just as " flappers " outraged society in the Twenties
with The Charleston and syncopated dance music, so
teenagers were to cause despair in the Fifties, as they
became first " hipsters " then " beatniks," or just " crazy
mixed up kids," enamoured of progressive jazz, rock 'n'
roll and hillbilly music.
The post-war boom took even record companies by surprise. As they ploughed ahead with crooners and big bands,
so independent record companies were seeking out black
R&B performers.
It wasn't long before white kids in America were turned
on to the sounds they heard on black radio stations. The
Chess label recorded artists like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy
Waters and Bo Diddley, while in Britain teenagers were
making do with one pop record show a week, Sunday's
Two-Way Family Favourites, an Armed Forces request
show, which featured hits
like Anne Shelton's "Lay
Down Your Arms."
But the roots of the rock 'n'roll revolution were
stealthily being put down,
to explode on a disbelieving
world.
Music grew at a faster
pace in America because of
the huge network of commercial radio stations. The
deejay was king, and his
power eventually lead to
corruption and the great
payola scandal of the late
Fifties, when it was revealed deejays took bribes
to play certain records.
Despite the corruption
inherent in the system,
listeners got the kind of
music they liked, whether it
was R&B (on the black
stations), country and western, hillbilly, jazz or pop.
From the tangled skein of
parallel developments it is
evident that country music,
founded on Nashville and
the Grand Ol 'Opry and its
stars, was one of the major
"take-off" industries of the
late Forties and Fifties.
Roy Acuff was the inspiration, while the music
spilled over into pop, with
artists like Patti Page
scoring a world-wide hit
with "Tennessee Waltz."
In the South, down in
New Orleans, blues pianist
Fats Domino was creating a
sound just as unique and
personal as " The Glenn
Miller Sound," but based on
a rolling, tumbling boogie
backbeat, with Fats' cool,
but funky, vocals backed up
by rasping, riffy tenor
saxophone.
Just as Symphony Sid, a
New York deejay, had
boosted jazz, so rock and
roll was to find its voice
and mentor in Alan Freed.
Freed was a Midwest
deejay who was credited
with popularising the term
"rock 'n' roll," although the
term had cropped up in
blues and jazz lyrics in
previous decades.
He began a "Rock And
Roll Party" radio show
which attracted huge listening figures, and carried
away by the success began
organising concerts in
Cleveland featuring "rock 'n' roll."
The key words "rock"
and "rolling," often cropped
up in R&B lyrics with
obvious sexual connotations.
For the first time white
audiences could see black
acts like the Drifters and
Fats Domino.
Freed's career was to
come to a sticky end in the
payola scandal, but he had
set the ball of white
appreciation for black R&B
rolling.
And those small independent record labels like
Sam Phillips' Sun label in
Memphis began to look for
white artists who could
combine the blues roots
with perhaps a dash of
more wholesome and palatable country.
The Sun label found Elvis
Presley, Roy Orbison and
Jerry Lee Lewis, And
another country-style bandleader, Bill Haley, switched
from the Saddlemen to the
Comets to introduce a
brand of driving instrumental rock that was to result
in a staggering deluge of
hits.
ROCK 'n' roll was resented , resisted,
sneered at and attacked by
musicians and artists of the
old school, who saw their
livelihoods threatened and
standards eroded, and by
those of the Establishment
and in authority, who saw
morals undermined and discipline thwarted.
They were quite right of
course. Rock 'n' roll was a
liberating forte and helped
to break down social and
racial barriers.
At the same time, great
technical advances were
being made. The long established 78 rpm disc was
finally coming to the end of
an honourable reign.
The First LP microgroove
discs-had appeared in 1950.
By the mid-Fifties, the
microgroove 45 rpm single
disc and Extended Play disc
(four tracks), was beginning
to edge out and finally
annihilate the 78.
At the same time hifidelity playback equipment
was being developed and
the refinements of pioneer
hi-fi were being incorporated into record
players which had a sapphire or diamond stylus,
lightweight pick-ups, , automatic record changers and
three-speed turntables with
their own built-in amplifiers.
Stereophonic sound
emerged at the end of the
Fifties and the next revolution came when the transistor replaced the valve.
Elvis fulfilled Sam Phillips' dream of a white kid
who could sing hillbilly
music and the blues.
He made a private record
at the Sun Studios in
Memphis and a year went
by before proprietor Phillips
decided he could use Presley on a session, backed
up by the studio band.
They recorded "That's
Alright Mama," a hit for
Big Boy Arthur Crudup, and
it was released in 1954. It
was a local hit, and more
records followed, drawing
racial protests from those
who condemned black style
music. In 1955 he hit with
"Baby Let's Play House" in
the country chart.
As Elvis grew in popularity, the Sun label ac-
quired other talents, like
Johnny, Cash and Carl
Perkins, and the three went
on tour, with dates set by
Colonel Tom Parker, an ex-circus and carnival man
who later became Elvis's
manager.
Elvis's sexual appeal to
young white audiences
swiftly became obvious as
he came on with blatantly
provocative stage movements.
TV and radio established
Elvis as a phenomena, and
his records like "Blue
Suede Shoes" and "Heartbreak Hotel" sent a shiver
of excitement into rock that
has barely ceased in its
accumulative effects for 20
years.
Bill Haley was the other
great King of rock 'n' roll,
a mild-mannered, avuncular
figure who seemed stunned
by his own success and the
wild scenes that his band's
performances unleashed.
Surprisingly, as far back
as 1953 Haley hit in the
States with "Crazy Man
Crazy," and he had already
recorded "Rock The Joint"
as a B side, which was a
forerunner of "Rock Around
The Clock," his huge 1955
hit.
Bill had a fantastic run of
hits from "Shake, Rattle
And Roll," to "Rockin' Thru
The Rye," "ABC Boogie,"
"See You Later Alligator"
and "Razzle Dazzle."
His anthem, "Clock," had
been featured as the theme
music for a Teenaged deliquent movie called Blackboard Jungle, screened in
1955.
A year later the tune
gave the title to a harmless
musical movie starring Bill
Haley & The Comets. Rock
Around The Clock sparked
off a furore, and led to
riots in cinemas in England,
although the much-publicised riots were more due
to press incitement than a
nationwide desire to rip up
cinema seats.
The effect upon the
teenaged (and adult) British
public of all these events in
America was cataclysmic.
Without any indigenous
black sub-culture, and with
the only broadcasting outlet
firmly controlled by the
conservative BBC, rock 'n'
roll broke like a bombshell.
PURE pop music consisted
of hits like Les Paul
& Mary Ford's "How High
The Moon," "Wheel Of
Fortune" by Kay Starr,
"Shotgun Boogie," by Tennessee Ernie Ford, "Dream Boat," by Alma Cogan,
"Sixteen Tons," also by
Tennessee Ernie, while the
teen idols were Frankie
Laine, who specialised in
chest-beating ballads and
sagas of the Wild West,
and Johnnie Ray, who sang
"Cry" and actually cried on
stage, to the accompaniment
of frenzied screams from
his devoted fans.
Frank Sinatra was "The
Voice," in the Forties, but
by the Fifties was becoming
a much more sophisticated
swinger, backed by Nelson
Riddle and Billy May.
The ballrooms of Britain
were kept jumping by the
sound of modern big bands,
which rapidly gained confidence, ability and prestige
until the birth of rock 'n'
roll sounded their death
knell.
Ted Heath, the brightest
jewel in the British big
band crown, began his
career as a busker, playing
the trombone outside posh
hotels where later he was
to front the resident bands.
In 1945 he formed his
own modern jazz big band
and it became an immediate
success. Never before had a
British band achieved such
precision or featured such
strong soloists like Don
Lusher (trombone) and Jack
Parnell (drums).
From the ranks of the
Heath sidemen came other
prospective bandleaders:
tenor saxophonist Ronnie
Scott, altoist Johnny Dankworth and drummer Jack
Parnell.
Dankworth rapidly gained
popularity with his wife
Cleo Laine as vocalist, and
even gained a chart hit
with the original and amusing "Experiments With
Mice" in 1956.
Eric Delaney was one of
the early extroverts of the
local music scene, specialising in drum solos inspired
by his idol Louis Benson
(drummer with the Duke
Ellington Orchestra), jumping on his array of tympani
drums in the grand finale.
Concurrent with the
bands - Ken Mackintosh,
Vic Lewis, Joe Loss, Eric
Winstone, Victor Silvester,
Ray Ellington - who
played the dance halls and
late-night radio broadcasts,
there was a thriving underground traditional jazz
scene that climaxed and
almost asphyxiated in the
trad boom of the early
Sixties.
In the Fifties trad was
the music of the colleges,
beatniks, poets, left-wingers,
Ban the Bombers, and any
number of mild English
eccentrics.
Trad, so legend says,
began not in New Orleans
but the Red Barn, Barnehurst, where George Webb
led his Dixielanders in the
early Forties.
Humphrey Lyttelton, the
trumpeter and later jazz
critic and broadcaster, was
one of the key figures in
its development along with
Ken Colyer and Chris
Barber.
THE roots of the Sixties'
rock revolution are
to be found in the skiffle
boom of 1956.
For it was then that
British teenagers found they
could make music of their
own, as well as listen to it.
It was a marvellous time
for participants. The songs
they chose were from the
American folk blues heritage, 'copied off American
records, or the successful
British skiffle groups.
Schoolboys all over the
country could bang out
"Wreck Of The Old '97,"
" Wabash Cannonball,"
"Streamline Train," "Ella
Speed" and "Goodnight
Irene," on instruments ranging from cheap acoustic
guitars to washboards and
tea chest basses.
Hardware shops sold- out
of the old-fashioned washboards, which were scraped
with thimbles, and up in
the attics and bedrooms the
boys learned a few chords
and the basis of rhythm.
Practically every British
rock musician of the next
decade gained his training
in a skiffle group.
Lonnie Donegan gave
birth to the boom with one
record, the historic "Rock
Island Line."
It was an enormous hit
when played on the radio.
Few people had heard
anything like it before, and,
wonder of wonders, it was
a hit even in America,
where Lonnie was hailed
somewhat confusedly as the
"Irish Hillbilly."
Oddly, Americans never
seem to have heard of
"skiffle."
In Britain the skiffle
boom resulted in unprecedented sales in guitars, and
more hits like "Don't You
Rock Me Daddy-O,' 'by the
Vipers Skiffle Group, and
"Freight Train" by Chas
McDevitt. '
Trad bands boomed as
well. Humphrey Lyttelton
hit with the fast boogie
"Bad Penny Blues" and
was chased in popularity
by the Saints Jazz Band
and Chris Barber, who hit
with tunes like "Bobby
Shafto" and "Ice Cream."
But the boys in the lofts
began to seek ways to
amplify their acoustic
skiffle guitars as their
flagging enthusiasm was
fired anew by the tidal
wave of electric rock and
roll.
Among them were young
Harry Webb, who became
Cliff Richard, and Terry
Nelhams, then of the Worried Men skiffle group, who
was to become Adam Faith.
But the first British rock
star was Bermondsey's
Tommy Steele (real name
Tommy Hicks), who hit
with "Rock With The Cave
man" in 1956, the first
successful British attempt
at producing a rock and roll
sound.
Like Lonnie Donegan,
Tommy was eventually to
part company with rock and
roll and consolidate his
success by becoming a
music hall style entertainer.
Donegan went in for hits
like "Does Your Chewing
Gum Lose It's Flavour,"
and "My Old Man's A
Dustman," while Tommy
went into movies and the
theatre. But for a while the
latter was hailed as Britain's
answer to Elvis Presley.
Our next answer was
slightly more ' convincing.
The sultry good looks of
Cliff Richard, who had
come to Britain from India
as a child, and his sex
appeal were put to good
purpose in his first hit, a
powerful rave-up, "Move
It," (1958).
Cliff joined a whole
gamut of British rockers, Marty Wilde, Joe Brown,
Billy Fury, who toured
the ballrooms and provided
some in-person excitement.
It was thought after the
first flush of enthusiasm
that rock 'n' roll would
quickly die, and for a while
it seemed that way.
Bill Haley, after sometimes getting three simul-
taneous chart hits, was
unable to repeat his 1957
run of luck, and plunged in
popularity.
Elvis became more and
more commercial,, his
recordings losing their
earthiness and R&B roots,
as Col. Tom Parker
groomed him for a long-lasting career in showbusiness.
The tremendous excitement of the real R&B
players like Little Richard
and Fats Domino seemed to
wane, Artists like Chuck
Berry and Bo Diddley
remained unknown, except
to specialist collectors in
Britain.
The British teenager,
unless he had access to
imports, was not to know
of the far-reaching spread
of rhythm and blues which
had thrown up dozens of
solo singers and vocal
groups in America, who were not to achieve
recognition in Britain until
several years into the
Sixties.
Then they might become
aware of the black movement. Acts like the Clovers,
the Diamonds, the Drifters
and Clyde McPhatter had
hits in America which
passed undetected in
Britain, like the Drifters'
"Money Honey," or were
covered by local singers like "Sh'Boom" originally
the work of the Chords.
There was La Vern
Baker's "Tweedle Dee," Ray
Charles' "I've Got A
Woman," "Smokey Joe's
Cafe," by The Robins,
"Searchin'," "Young Blood,"
"Yakety Yak," and "Poison
Ivy" by the Coasters.
Artists like Ray Charles,
Ben E. King. and Carla
Thomas were laying the
foundations of soul. Rock
'n' roll was not dead. It
was only just coming alive.
THE world of modern jazz
was feeling threatened and eclipsed during this
period, and never again
enjoyed the mass acceptance that the pre-war dance
band and wartime swing
era provided.
Whereas jazz musicians
then could work and pass
themselves off as part of
the general entertainment
sphere, as jazz became
more an intellectual pursuit,
and shut itself off from the
grassroots by going into the
concert halls, the musicians
found themselves in a
rarefied strata that was to
cause pain, frustration and
bitterness.
There were exceptions.
Lionel Hampton's big band
music retained its closeness
to the blues and was even
blamed by some critics for
inspiring rock and roll in
the first place.
The early part of the
Fifties was marked by the
growth of American college
appreciation for the white
artists spearheading the so-called "cool" school.
Pianist Dave Brubeck
achieved national fame with
his quartet, which featured
altoist Paul Desmond, and
in later years, drummer Joe
Morello.
Gerry Mulligan, a brilliant
baritone saxist and arranger, formed his own
original piano-less quartet,
featuring trumpeter Chet
Baker, whose cool tone and
romantic appeal seemed to
qualify him for the role as
successor to Bix Beiderbecke.
The Quartet, formed in
1952, created such memorable performances as "My
Funny Valentine," "Soft
Shoes," "Bernie's Tune,"
"Moonlight In Vermont,"
and "Bark For Barksdale."
Mulligan and Brubeck
epitomised the cool white
jazz of the period, and the
West Coast of America
provided a sunny home for
the lightly swinging sounds
of Shorty Rogers, Art
Pepper, Jimmy Giuffre,
Shelly Marine, Bob Cooper,
and Stan Getz.
But the most significant
innovations in jazz were
made by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Lennie Tris-
tano and Charles Mingus.
As the stars of modern American music sold out
concerts and recorded pacesetting new sounds, many
older jazz musicians found
their careers threatened,
just as all jazz was to be
threatened by rock 'n' roll.
Promoter Norman Granz
banded together his favourite musicians, many of
whom were in danger of
being neglected or simply
could not find a role in a
rapidly changing musical
climate, and took out a
unique touring package Jazz
At The Philharmonic, named
after the first venue they
played in Los Angeles.
JATP, as it became known
featured swing and mainstream stars like Gene Krupa,
Buddy Rich, Roy Eldridge,
Ella Fitzerald, Charlie
Shavers, Ben , Webster,
Lester Young, Count Basie,
Flip Phillips, Illinois Jacquet
and even took in bop
musicians Parker and Gillespie.
In contrast to the Dixieland revival jazz of Turk
Murphy, the mainstream
swing, of JATP and the
delicate experiments of
Mulligan and Brubeck, the
post-boppers developed a
kind of free swinging,
thoroughly modern, jazz
variously termed "hard
bop" and eventually "soul
jazz."
Pianist Thelonious Monk
worked in his own eccentric
fashion, recording with
Blakey or Max Roach many
historic and influential compositions. John Coltrane
began to emerge, with
Sonny Rollins as new titans
of the tenor sax.
Big bands, too, made
musical progress in the
Fifties, with Stan Kenton
inspiring fanatical dedication. Duke Ellington hired
white drummer Louis Bellson, which led to many
classics.
The new verve and excitement of Ellington's men
was matched by the return
of Count Basie, who reformed in 1952. By 1954 it
was hailed by Metronome
as "The Band Of The
Year."
IN retrospect, the Fifties,
despite the grumbles
of musicians, were a golden
age for jazz, when all
aspects of the various
schools could be heard and
many of the greatest names
of jazz were still alive and
blowing.
But all the while, hidden
unseen forces were at work
in the great heartland of
American music which
rarely had any exposure on
the media, whether it was
Britain's hearty and enthusiastic TV show 6.5 Special
or AFN's Grand Ol' Opry.
A man called Woody
Guthrie, wracked by illness,
was singing and writing
modern American folk
tunes. Raised in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl he con-
demned the plight of
workers, like the migratory
fruit pickers, and cursed
the capitalists whose exploitation tactics caused so
much misery.
As Pete Seeger was to
write: "A generation of
songwriters have learned
from him - Bob Dylan,
Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs and
I guess many more to
come." Another revolution
was in store for the new
decade.
,p>
1950
JANUARY: Nat Allen brings
star modern-style musi-
cians into his band for regular
TV and extended resident en-
gagement at Wimbledon Palais
Death of Golden Age drum
veteran 49-year-old Stan King
and former Duke Ellington
vocalist Ivie Anderson
Britain's Vic Lewis Orchestra
and Holland's Skyrnasters for
9-day exchange visit Melody Maker
contest discovery 22-year-old
altoist Alan Mercer joins Harry
Leader at Charing Cross Road
Astoria Trumpet star Leslie
" Hutchinson gives up band-
leading to rejoin Geraldo.
FEBRUARY: Mecca sign Harry
Roy with 15-piece band
for resident job at London's
Lyceum Ballroom. Exciting
new singer Lita Roza is found
by Ted Heath Ham-
mersmith Palais and NFJO will
stage Jazz Band gall on March
6 to commemorate historic
appearance there in 1920 of
Original Dixieland Jazzband
BBC extends Jazz Club
from 30 to 45 minutes with 15
minutes vocal recital Car
crash in New Mexico kills 27-
year-old bop vocal creator
Buddy Stewart.
MARCH: American impresario
Norman Granz plans Continental tour for his all-star
Jazz at the Philharmonic
Special musical preview for
long-awaited Bix Beiderbecke film Young Man With A Horn
British bassist Charlie
Short will join Benny Goodman,
including trumpeter Roy Eldridge, for extensive tour of
Europe.
APRIL: Glenn Miller revival
sweeps America with
bands led by Tex Beneke,
Jerry Gray and Ralph Flanagan
Tenor-sexist Kenny
Graham forms his distinctive
Afro-Cubists and opens at Wimbledon Palais French jazz
Fans give Duke Ellington Orchestra a mixed reception and
silence singer Kay Davis at
opening concert of European
tour in Paris Five
musicians are arrested and
fined for possessing marijuana
after police raid London's bop
centre the Club Eleven.
MAY: Jack Smith, famous
"whispering baritone",
who introduced the art of
crooning, dies aged 51 Decca launch long-playing
microgroove records in UK .
British pianist-leader George
Shearing adopts US nationality
as his quintet reaches 2,000
dollars a week and sells 100,000
copies of "September In The
Rain" 'Roy Fox leaves
Dublin's Theatre Royal at end
of June after seven months as
MD Death of US veteran
blues singer Bertha "Chippy"
Hill John E. Dallas
produce a plastic saxophone for
British Industries Fair.
JUNE: Vic Lewis and Johnny
Dankworth find modern
jazz doesn't pay in Britain and
switch to commercial policy
Trombonist George Chisholm,
f o u n d e r-member of the
Squadronaires, leaves after 10
years to freelance and teach.
Blues singer Josh White starts
variety tour at Manchester Hippodrome on July 10- . Ted
Heath plans Sunday concerts
covering every type of dance
music from Dixieland to Bop.
HMV produce bigger screen 9 x
7 inch TV at just over E50.
Dizzy Gillespie breaks up his
big band and fronts a sextet,
meeting a similar fate to Count
Basle, Woody Herman and
Charlie Barnet Death of 52-year-old Leo Watson, first-ever
scat singer.
JULY: Frank Sinatra is
mobbed by hysterical
fans at London Palladium and
signs El million CBS radio and
TV contract, making him highest paid singer in world. Death of ace bop trumpeter
26-year-old Theodore (Fats) Navarro Decca's first LPs
feature Bob Farnon, Stanley
Black, Ronnie Munro, Edmundo
Ros and Troise. Stan
Kenton breaks up his 40-piece
band and forms 20-piece for
weekends at Balboa Beach,
California.
AUGUST: Brilliant Jazz and
ballad alto-saxist Freddy
Gardner dies aged 39.
Pianist-leader Ralph Sharon,
forbidden to play bop, terminates resident engagement at
Southend's Olympic Ballroom.
Kenny Graham and his Afro-Cubists open London's celebrated Club Flamingo.
Beverley Sisters, who were
spotted and publicised by the
Melody Maker in 1945, return home after
two years in America and open
at Bagatelle. John Foreman,
taking over production of BBC
Jazz Club, warns "there will be
no more bop or progressive
music."
SEPTEMBER: London concerts for Hat King Cole
Trio in October. Singer
Penny Nicholas leaves Henry
Hall to start double act with
her original discoverer, bandleader Billy Merrin. Jimmy
Miller, saying "my presence is
no longer required", resigns
leadership of the Squadronaires
after ten and half years. American
modern-style trumpeter Miles
Davis and drummer Art Blakey
are arrested on narcotics
charge in Los Angeles. First
recording by singer Frankie
Vaughan, who achieved overnight theatre fame in June.
OCTOBER: Printing dispute
stops production of Melody Maker
throughout October. Here are
some stories which should have
appeared: Death of 45-year-old
trumpeter Chelsea Quealey, who
was notably with Fred Elizalde,
Jan Garber, Paul Whiteman
and Isham Jones. Hot Club
of France outlaws bop. Al
Collins, who retired in 1945
after 25 years with Savoy and
Berkeley Hotels, takes over
leadership of Maurice Winnick's
Band at Ciros from pianist
Ronnie Odell, who returns to
Spider's Web. Jack Hylton
revives his world-famous band
for surprise one-night comeback
in Royal Variety Show, which
also features Billy Cotton,
Gracie Fields, Dinah. Shore and
Merry Macs.
NOVEMBER: Duke Ellington
meets President Truman
at White House and presents
him with manuscript of "Portrait Of A New York suite,"
commissioned by Arturo Toscanini for NBC Symphony Ork.
New record label Polygon
starts with veteran trumpet-leader Louis 'Prima and teenage
vocalist Petula Clark, who is
destined for international stardom. Selmer introduce
small amplified paino-attachment keyboard the clavioline.
Decca will launch Britain's
first jazz- LPs in December.
DECEMBER: Embassy Club
pianist-Ieader Don Carlos
is attacked and robbed in West
End of London. Famous
composer-arranger-conductor
Percival Mackey who first used
jazz musicians in theatre pit,
dies aged 56. Scottish tenor-saxist Benny Winstone is jailed
for six months on marijuana
charge while playing for trumpet-leader Louis Metcalf in
Canada. Bop altoist Charlie
Parker flies home to States
without explanation after promising to play at Paris jazz
festival. Introduction of
illustrated, gramophone records.
1951
JANUARY: Trumpet , star
Miles Davis is acquitted
on dope charge. Death of
US trumpeters Dave Page and
Joe Keyes. Drummer Eric
Delaney joins Geraldo
Ralph Sharon brings in a flute
for new music called Flubop. Red Ingle and his Frantic
Four booked for Britain.
MU denies "suppression of
discs on BBC" allegation in
Beveridge Report. Blues
singer Josh White comes over
for 28 concerts in 30 days.
FEBRUARY: Johnny Dankworth has treble win in
Melody Maker 1951 Poll, carrying off
awards as Best Altoist, Musician of the Year and Best Small
Group. Esquire records the
victors, who will be presented
by Melody Maker in mammoth concert at
Empress Hall in April.
Norman Granz fixes tour of
Europe for his all-star Jazz At
The Philharmonic, but cancels
it owing to personal problems
of artists involved. Trumpet
ace Kenny Baker forms his own
sextet to "return to jazz".
Ralph Sharon says "I must
eat" and changes to a more
commercial sound. American "society style" bandleader
Eddie Duchin dies aged 41.
MARCH: Jazz drum giant
Big Sid Catlett dies of
heart attack aged 41 during Al
Benson Jazz Festival in Chicago. Tenor-saxist Kathy Stobart
joins Vic Lewis Ork
Johnny Dankworth cuts out all
jazz airings with his Seven,
saying "it's the only way to
survive". Jazz pianist Art
Tatum and the complete Les
Brown Band will play UK if
AFM and MU agree on reciprocal deal.
APRIL: Drum star Jack Parnell leaves Ted Heath to
form 14-piece band for Fancy
Free at Prince of Wales Theatre
and is replaced by Ronnie
Verrall from Cyril Stapleton
Ork. Glasgow CID seeks
bogus Dick James.
of Labour lifts 16-year-old ban
on American musicians for
Festival of Britain. Jan
Wildeman and Nat Allen will be
resident leaders at specially-built ballroom in Festival Plea-
sure Gardens at Battersea Park
Singer-compere Harry
Davis breaks 27-year partnership with bandleader Oscar
Rabin to settle in the States.
MAY: Carroll Gibbons makes
bandleading comeback at
Savoy Hotel with 15-piece band,
incIuding ex-Squadronaire
Jimmy Miller as deputy leader. Les Brown and his 17-piece
Band of Renown play for US
troops at Burtonwood on way to
18-day tour of Europe.
Geraldo opens Festival of
Britain with concert at Royal Festival Hall. Cleo Laine
joins Dankworth Seven and
becomes featured singer and
wife of saxist-leader Johnny
Dankworth. Melody Maker South
London Championship discovers
saxist-leader Bob Miller, who
achieves popularity with his
swinging Millermen.
JUNE: Harold "Doc" West,
36-year-old drummer with
trumpet-leader Roy Eldridge,
collapses and dies while the
band is playing at Cleveland's
Sky Bar. Birdland is named
as US dope den. French
swing violinist Stephane Grappelly takes band into L'Escale
Club at St Tropez using electric
fiddle for first time.
JULY: Louis Armstrong
refuses £3,500-a-week as
solo attraction in variety, preferring to wait until he can
come over with his band. NFJO abandons plans to book
US jazzmen -for Festival of
Britain in view of expense
involved and hostility of MU. David Hughes, who was
given one broadcast in Henry
Hall's Guest Night and stayed
14 weeks, makes his recording
debut on HMV and becomes
singing star of pop and opera
Roy Fox forms new 11-piece band, with accent on
strings, called Whispering
Rhythm.
AUGUST: Ray Whetzol, erst
while lead trumpet and gag
man with Stan Kenton Ork, is
killed in car accident
Eccentric bop pianist Thelonious Monk is arrested on
heroin charge in New York.
Individual award with Stan Fry
and his Band in Melody Maker Souh
Coast Championship proves
stepping stone to leadership for
trumpet player Kenny Ball.
SEPTEMBER: Death of veteran boogie-woogie pianist
53-year-old Jimmy Yancey in
Chicago Southern Ireland
tour by Felix Mendelssohn and
Hawaiian Serenaders cancelled
because clergymen object to
scantily-clad hula-hula girl
dancers. Nat Gonella takes
over at Festival Gardens from
Nat Allen, who goes into
Streatham Locarno Nat
King Cole gives up his trio for
big band recordings US
clarinet leader Artie Shaw
comes to London to record 18
titles for American Decca with
a big British band After
nine years at Bagatelle, Edmundo Ros is all set to leave,
but is tempted to stay by new
two-band contract doubling
Coconut Grove Roy Fox
signs his 1949 singer discovery
Tony Mercer who progresses to
Billy Ternent and solo spot with
Black and White Minstrel Show.
OCTOBER : Founder-member
Bonnie Aldrich gives up
playing piano to lead Squadronaires, taking over from singer
Roy Ed ward s, who has fronted
band since departure of Jimmy
Miller Tubby Hayes starts
career as 16-year-old with
Kenny Baker Band Harry
Roy refuses to broadcast when
offered "mere pittance" of £190
for sixx three-hour rehearsals
and the actual sessions with his
15-piece band Bandleader
Ray McKinley joins the Tommy
Dorsey Ork Ambrose
revives his pre-war Octet for
variety tour fronted by compere-vocalist Paul Carpenter
Pianist Earl Hines is
leaving Louis Armstrong to
record with his own band.
NOVEMBER: Death of popular drummer-vocalist-comedian Jackie Hunter, who
was chiefly associated with
Jack Jackson and Geraldo.
AFM bans British sessions
under American leaders, so
Artie Shaw gives up his current
project and returns home, but
is due back in January to make
series of short musical and
documentary films Modern
jazz trumpeter Hank Shaw
arrested and fined £5 for
possession of Indian hemp in
police raid on London's A to Z
Club Suez Canal crisis
prevents Tito Burns Sextet
playing Egypt on tour of Middle
East .
DECEMBER: Folk singer Josh
White refuses to appear
in same show as blacked-up Al
Jolson impersonator at Kilburn
Gaumont State Tommy
Dorsey flies his 21-piece band
to Brazil for nine weeks of
radio and TV worth 200,000
dollars Death of US
violinist and conductor Nat
Brusiloff, a big radio and
recordingMusical Directortwo decades ago
"I offered JATP free to MU
and heard no more," says
Norman Granz Death of
world-famous jazz singer 48-year-old Mild red Bailey Vic
Lewis and Ralph Sharon dispense with big bands and
revert to small groups Melody Maker
attacks use of drugs and insists
"our music must be freed from
this menace."
1952
JANUARY: First commercial
television films are being
made in an experimental studio
in West London Patti
Andrews, of the Andrews
Sisters, weds her MD, Wally
Weschler MU bans
percentage-only dates, insisting
bookers must pay minimum
rate and accommodation cost
Tenor-sexist Johnnie Gray
makes bandleading debut at
Churchill's.
FEBRUARY: Dance music
hushed as nation mourns
death of King George VI .
American bandleader Oscar Pettiford and his guitarist Skeeter
Best are involved in scrap
which abruptly ends their tour
of Japan Lack of right men
causes disbandment of the
Afro-Cubists and tenor-leader
Kenny Graham joins Eric Winstone. Paris fans boo Sidney
Bechet at his return concert at
Salle Pleyel.
MARCH: Cyril Stapleton does
secret radio audition with
30-piece all-star orchestra which
develops into BBC Showband
Mantovani starts air series
with 40-piece orchestra featuring his new-sound "cascading
strings" introduced on his hit
record "Charmaine" Oscar
Rabin signs £55,000 contract to
stay in Lyceum Ballroom until
at least July 1953. Dizzy
Gillespie cancels all other bookings to play at Paris J.F.,
where Britain will be represented by all-star quintet headed by
Bonnie Scott and Victor Feldman Melody Maker Poll winners,
including Ted Heath, Geraldo,
Edmundo Ros, Humphrey
Lyttelton, Lita Roza and Alan
Dean, will record for Esquire
and play big concert at
Empress Hall Melody Maker singing
discovery Shani Wallis gets star
role in Call Me Madam at
London Coliseum.
APRIL: Jazz trumpeter Kenny
Baker to lead all-star
Dozen in no-pop radio series. Blizzard prevents tenorist
Bonnie Scott reaching Paris
festival on time and fans boo
his leaderless All Stars.
Charles Chilton to edit new
style Jazz Club, alternating
records with live shows
EMI will start issuing LPs in
October Singer Eve
Lombard leaves Harry Roy after
eight years to freelance
Singing star Steve Conway dies
aged 31.
MAY: Young singing sensation from Oregon, Johnnie Ray, whose first LP has
sold almost 250,000 copies, with
his earnings rocketing to 5,000
dollars a week, needs six-man
police bodyguard for appearance at New York's Copacabana
Death of veteran bandleader Debroy Somers, founder
of the Savoy Orpheans in 1924,
and old-time jazz pianist 43-year-old Zinky Cohn
Teenage jazz tenorist Tubby
Hayes joins Tito Burns Sextet
US bandleader Cab Calloway will play lead role of
Sporting Life in West End production of Porgy And Bess.
Action to stop issue of Glenn
Miller AFN recordings
Pianist-leader Ralph Sharon,
sick of brick walls,"
accepts big recording offer
in States Sultry-voiced
singing discovery 19-year-old
Alma Cogan hits the headlines
with first records for HMV.
JUNE: MU warns British musicians and leaders not to
appear with American and Continental guests at NFJO con-
certs at Festival Hall Death
of American bassist 43-year-old
John Kirby and 62-year-old
British bandleader Bertini,
famous for his long run at
Blackpool Tower Court
order closes Churchills and
ends resident job for Johnnie
Gray and Conde-Tyree bands.
Promoter Maurice Kinn stops
his 15-band shows at Empress
Hall because some leaders
abuse tight schedule
London Palladium chief books
Johnnie Ray and Guy Mitchell
but says Louis Armstrong, Duke
EIIington and Benny Goodman
are not box office attractions.
JULY: Cyril Stapleton will
disband on September 7
to start new job as conductor
of BBC Show Band.
Guitarist Ivor Mairants leaves
Geraldo after eleven and a half years to
freelance and concentrate on
his Central School of Dance
Music. Nine star musicians
combine to present British
JATP organised by jazz promoter Bix Curtis. Icelandic
MU chief comes over to book
British bands. MU expels
seven star musicians for playing Festival Hall jazz concert in
defiance of their orders.
AFM bans US bands from
recording for European labels
after Gene Krupa refuses to
record and film while in
Sweden.
AUGUST: Car crash kills veteran jazz trombonist 44-
year-old Joe Harris. US
Government embargo caused by
his tax arrears stops British
tour by singer-actor Dick
Haymes. Ministry of Labour
kills variety tour worth £19,000
by Louis Armstrong and Velma Middleton. EMI all set to issue 45 and 33 rpm discs.
OCTOBER: SOS to President
Truman as MU objects to
employment of AmericanMusical Director
Alexander Smallens for Porgy
And Bess in London. Singer
Alma Cogan tops meteoric rise
to fame with music hall tour
MU representative watches
as Cab Calloway crashes British
jazz package.
NOVEMBER: American singer
Pearl Bailey comes over
for West End cabaret and
marriage to drummer Louis
Bellson at Caxton Hall
Drugs Squad frisk musicians in
Archer Street and jazz tenorist
Jimmy Skidmore is fined £50
for possessing Indian hemp.
MU vetos Anglo-French band
exchange between Peanuts
Hucko, now playing in Paris,
and Leslie Hutchinson, who is
leaving Geraldo to tour with
Mary Lou Williams. Death
of 51-year-old pianist-arranger
Bob Busby, conductor of BBC
Revue Orchestra Louis
Armstrong tells noisy Paris jazz
fans to shut up.
DECEMBER: Saxist-leader
Johnny Dankworth joins
bloc to fight "new dealers" in
MU elections. Geraldo
Orchestra and solo singer Gary
Miller are first signings by
Philips. Paramount offer
Ted Heath vocalist Lita Roza
film test in Hollywood.
Death of veteran commercial
bandleader 59-year-old Met Hallett, who employed Jack Tea-
garden, Gene Krupa and Toots Mondello. Stan Kenton may
tour Britain as solo pianist in
variety. BBC will restore
pre-war regular late-night
dance band broadcasts on
January 1. Duke Ellington
celebrates Silver Jubilee.
MU investigates "hooligan" allegations against personnel at
American camps in Britain.
1953
JANUARY: American pianist-arranger-leader Fletcher
Henderson, the pioneer of
swing, dies aged 54. MPs
seek to repel ancient Sunday
Observance Bill. backed by
MU. Four musicians quit
Jack Parnell after tenor-saxist
Pete King is dismissed to
accommodate vocalist Marion
Davis's reedist husband Ronnie
Keene. Ronnie Scott increases his quintet to nine for big
new venture. Cowboy actor
James Stewart will play Glenn
MiIIer in film life
story.
FEBRUARY: British cornettist Ken Colyer spends
38 days in New Orleans jail for
overstaying visitor's
permit. JATP will play two
concerts in London on March 8
in aid of flood victims - first
relaxation of MU and Ministry
of Labour ban in 18
years. Ronnie Scott starts
countrywide tour and recording
contract for Esquire with his
modern jazz orchestra in
March , Drum star Louie
Bellsen quits Duke Ellington
and may come over to Britain
with his singer wife Pearl
Bailey .
MARCH: Fans beseige Kilburn Gaumont State for
Anglo-American jazz show featuring JATP staged by Melody Maker and
impresario Harold Fielding
which raises E4,000 for flood
disaster fund. Bandleader
Eric Winstone launches holidaycamp kitchen-boy singer
Michael Holliday on his hit
record career. Tenorist
Kenny Graham leaves Jack
Parnell to re-form his Afro-Cubists. Cornettist Ken
Colyer forms his famous Jazzmen, which includes budding
celebrities Chris Barber (trombone) and Lonnie Donegan
(banjo and guitar). Ted Heath offers to fly his entire
band to the States to do two
charity shows at Carnegie
Hall.
APRIL: Death of Joe Ferrie,
trombone star with Billy
Cotton, Lew Stone, Jack Jackson and Geraldo . . Blind
pianist George Shearing turns
down offer of a convict's
eyes. Cheaper jazz as budget
cuts tax on records and musical
instruments. American bassist Major Holly, backing singer
Rose Murphy at Astor and
Colony, is withdrawn by order
of MU and replaced by resident
bassist Bernie
Woods. Beverley Sisters start
work on Britain's first 3-D
musical film, Harmony Lane.
MAY: Coronation of Queen
Elizabeth brings work for
every band in Britain.
Guitar genius Django Reinhardt
dies at 43. Poll-topping
pianist Ralph Sharon quits UK
for USA . Frank Sinatra
to guest with BBC Show
Band on June 11. AFM and
MU agree Anglo-US band
exchange between Sid Phillips and Sharkey Bonano
and Ted Heath concert at
Carnegie Hall.
JUNE: Frank Sinatra flops
and walks off stage in
Sweden. Paul, Whiteman
makes temporary comeback
with 25-piece band at Frontier
Hotel, Las Vagas. BBC axes
Geraldo's seven and a half year-old radio show
Tip Top Tunes. JATP may
return to Britain in exchange
for Ted Heath Band. BBC
resurrects Jazz Club. Johnny
Dankworth breaks up three-year-old Seven to form all-star
20-piece band with new
sound. Melody Maker contests bring
professional opportunity with
resident job at Leeds Locarno
for saxist-leader Bob
Miller. Ballet troupe will
dance to Stan Kenton's progressive jazz music at Sadlers
Wells. Mary Lou Williams
refuses offer to join Louis
Armstrong All Stars to form
band in Britain.
JULY: GeraIdo rejects
175,000 dollar one-year
offer to lead all-star band in
USA. Pianist Bud Howell
sues Norman Grand for 50,000
dollars in record dispute. Pioneer plectrum gui-
tarist Len Fillip dies aged 50 in
his native South Africa. Trumpeter-leader Humphrey Lyttelton gives up trying
to convert the public to
jazz and goes back to sparetime playing as a semi-pro. BBC describes Ronnie
Scott Band as "unsuitable for
broadcasts."
AUGUST: Earl Hines dis-
penses with his band and
forms a quartet
Band leader Fred Hedley
achieves his 36th success in 43
Melody Maker contests by winning Middlesex District Champion-
ship. Dickie Valentine plans
solo career when five-year contract with Ted Heath ends next
April. Singer June Christy
joins Stan Kenton
Band. Pianist-arranger Steve
Race conducts first-ever jazz
series on BBC-TV.
SEPTEMBER: Artie Shaw
comes out of retirement to
front 8-piece band at the
Embers in New York. Dublin
goes wild for 15 hours as 7,000
fans attend Stan Kenton concerts at Theatre Royal. BBC
takes over Shepherds Bush
Empire as its television
theatre. Pye Radio enter
record market but do not at
present contemplate jazz
Marion Ryan, 22-year-old red-head singer from
Middlesbrough, joins Ray Ellington Quartet and in due
course becomes mother of pop
star twins Paul and Barry
Ryan.
OCTOBER: Lionel Hampton
fires British singer Annie
Ross and pianist George Washington leaves in protest after
tour of Europe Dutch
pianist Rob Pronk, who disappeared 10 months ago,
returns to Holland, after playing in Sweden. Ace baritone-saxist Gerry Mulligan is sentenced to six months in jail for
possessing heroin. Mantavani
offered six-month US tour with
selected cornermen as nucleus
of big American orchestra. BBC restore Kenny
Baker's Dozen and Geraldo's
Tip Top Tunes.
NOVEMBER: Mantovani
signs £10,000 contract
with impresario Harold
Fielding for worldwide conducting activities
US singer Anita O'Day gets 5 months jail sentence for possessing drugs. Death of 52 year old
banjoist "Howdy" Quicksell
familiar for his work with Bix
and 60-year-old Larry Shields clarinettist with the ODJB.
MU says not to free-for-all offer by AFM and stops Dutch tour by Mike Daniels Band.
Ronnie Scott passes second BBC audition. Phenomenal trumpeter
Chet Baker says: " I'm through
with jazz.
DECEMBER: Ted Heath singer Lita Roza nets £12,000
a-week 10-month.variety tour of USA as solo star. Biackpool
recording studio owner Jack
Michael fined £8 for illegally taping BBC Northern Regional
programme Holiday Night.
Melody Maker Contest discovery semi-pro
trumpeter Kenny Ball gives up
£8-a-week fan salesman job to
join saxist-leader Sid Phillips
at £3,500-a-year on way to fame
with his own Jazzmen.
1954
JANUARY: Mary Lou Williams and Taps Miller
refused entry to Britain at
Dover Vocalist Jo Lennard
critically ill after Mick Mulligan
band coach crashes over bridge
parapet at Boston Rosemary Clooney to sing with BBC
Showband . New Years Eve
deadline in US disc strike
Dickse Valentine - booked for
American TV Woody
Herman Herd fixed for big Melody Maker
concerts in Dublin Eddie
Calvert gets £7,000 20-week
summer season to Blackpool
Victor Feldman joins
Ronnie Scott Band London
premiere of The Glenn Miller
Story. Bandleader Alan
Kane loses job as Cafe Anglais
closes.
FEBRUARY: Startling victory
for trumpeter Chet Baker
In Metronome Poll Geraldo
signs Australian Aborigine
singer Georgia Lee. Billie
Holiday says " Lester Young
named me Lady Day"
Tenor-saxist Stan Getz arrested
after attempted hold-up in
Seattle drug store. Promoter
Harold Fielding In last-minute
battle with MU and AFM to
bring over Oscar Peterson Trio
and Ella Fitzgerald. MU lift
ban on Irish tours by Ken
Mackintosh, Stanley Black and
Freddy Randall. British
clarinettist Wally Fawkes plays
season In Geneva with Sidney
Bechet.
MARCH: MU fails in zero-hour
attempt to prevent resident Skyrockets playing with
Nat King Cole Trio at London
Palladium after Ministry of
Labour issue permit because
his accompanying jazzmen constitute a variety act. Ciro's
Club, home of famous bands,
closes after 50-year existence
Johnny Dankworth voted
Top Musician and Ronnie Scott
Best Small Band in Melody Maker Poll.
Annie Ross will Join Jack
Parnell. AFM will now
permit Oscar and Ella to tour
Britain US radio and TV
studio musicians get new deal
guaranteeing £70 a week.
Columbia and HMV introduce
7-minute 7-inch EPs at 4s 3}d.
Death of Victoria Palace
MD 45-year-aid Freddy Bretherton and 44-year-old Thirties
trumpet ace Frankie Newton.
APRIL: Britain resounds to
the Herman Herd and Woody
asks Ronnie Scott drummer
Tony Crombie to write some of
his scores. Hollywood plans
film life story of Benny Goodman. Norman Granz offers
London Palladium chief Vat
Parnell Oscar Peterson Trio and
Ella Fitzgerald free If he can
get their permits Death of
pianist-composer 41-year-old
Carl Fisher, long-term accompanist to singer Frankie Laine
Ted Heath refuses to
appear In TV until his band is
properly balanced Drummer
Eric Delaney Leaves Geraldo to
form his own band Newcastle City Hall turns down Nat
King Cole and Dankworth Ork
because "Jazz fans are rowdy"
Vic Lewis to play for
Frankie Larne and Teddy Foster
for Lena Horne.
MAY: Death of 51-year-old
Carroll Gibbons, pianist-leader at the Savoy Hotel,
where singer and deputy-leader
Jimmy Miller is now appointed MD. Gerry Mulligan Quartet
and Tony Kinsey Trio for Paris
Jazziest Melody Maker pianist discovery Derek Smith Joins Dankworth Seven British jazzmen improvise when Woody
Herman plane is delayed by
gales on way to Dublin
Malcolm Mitchell breaks up his
six-year-old trio to go solo.
Harry Roy takes over Cafe
Anglais in £250,000 scheme for
chain of ballrooms employing
300 musicians in London
First big break for Irish singer
18-year-old- Ruby Murray replacing Joan Regan on TV's Quite
Contrary Ken Colyer quits
his Jazzmen and trombonist
Chris Barber takes over leadership.
JUNE: Death of pianist Garland Wilson casts shadow
over Paris Jazz Fair.
Liberate does sell-out concert
for 16,000 at Madison Square
Garden Staggering bill for
first-ever jazz festivall at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 17-18. Singer Ronnie Hilton
is discovered and promoted as
hit soloist by HMV. Ken
Colyer gets going with new
Jazzmen. Motorcycle crash
kills 26-year-old ex-Kenton vocalist Jay Johnson in Hollywood
MU's Anglo-French ban
could prevent Edmundo Ross
five-week summer in Monte
Carlo Death of 71-year-old
Jazz composer-pianist-publisher
Dave Comer.
JULY: Trombonist Bob
Brookmeyer leaves Gerry
Mulligan Quartet. Tito Burns
tells BBC "isolated broadcasts
are useless" Jack Parnell,
who plans 8-week tour of South
Africa, bids for Ted Heath
trumpeter Star. Reynolds and
Oscar Rabin drummer Kenny
Clare. Jack Payne exposes
DJ phony-request racket.
Famous band haunt, the Embassy Club, closes.
AUGUST: Accordionist-leader
Tito Burns breaks up his
band after eight years. AFM
boss James Petrillo rejects
booking of Ken Colyer Jazzmen
at jazz festival in New Orleans. Ministry of labour refuses
permit for US trumpeter Jimmy
McPartland to play at Albert
Hall Capitol Records make
big offer to Johnny Dankworth
First tape records, which
could supersede discs, will be
issued by EMI, starting with Joe
Loss and George Melachrino, on
September 3. Harry Roy
abandons ballroom chain project.
SEPTEMBER: Charlie Parker
attempts suicide by swallowing iodine and is replaced
by Coleman Hawkins in Jazz
Parade show scheduled for tour
of Europe Jump saxist
Rudy Williams, who toured
Japan with Oscar Pettiford,
commits suicide in New York
Singer Annie Ross leaves
Jack Parnell for Tony Crombie
Ten big showmen plan
commercial TV combine
Decca put up prices and plan
to Issue 45s.
OCTOBER: Canadian singer,
20-year-old Stephanie
Wise, gets job with Oscar Rabin
24 hours after arriving in
Britain but leaves after four
weeks to join Ronnie Scott.
Royal Variety Show Features
Jack Hylton, Ted Heath, Jack
Parnell, Eric Robinson, Dickie
Valentine, Eddie Calvert, Frankie Laine and Guy Mitchell
Death of Boss (Memphis Blues)
Crump, aged 80 Melody Maker vocal
discovery Valerie Kleiner joins
Ken Moule Band Eric
Delaney gets Silver Record for
his first band record, "Delaney's Delight" and "Oranges
and Lemons". Trumpet-leader Kenny Baker makes
history as first jazz musician to
appear in Daily Herald. Brass
Band Contest Saxist-leader
Billy Sproud reopens Embassy
Club after three month closure.
NOVEMBER: Death of 49-year-old pianist-arranger
Clem Barnard, general factotum
for. 29 years with Billy Cotton
Five-year contract with
Capitol for Johnny Dankworth
AFM president Petrillo
rejects end-the-ban plea from
Ted Heath Parlophone
record the Kirchin Band led by
Ivor and his drummer son
Basil, who leave Mecca for
countrywide tour. Lionel
Hampton band sweeps Europe
like a tornado. Jazz tenorist
Tubby Hayes and his wife
found guilty and fined on drug
charge in Blackpool. Pianist
Bill McGuffie, one of the
originals, leaves BBC Show
Band Death of US trumpeter-vocalist 46-year-old Oran "Hot Lips" Page.
DECEMBER: Ted Heath does
Christmas and New Year's
Eve coast-to-coast broadcast for
200 NBC stations in States and
considers film story of his life
Singer Marion Williams
leaves Oscar Robin to join Eric
Delaney, whose new band makes
radio debut Don Rendell
Sextet goes commercial because
Jazz in ballrooms doesn't pay
Paramount screen test for
Ted Heath singer Dennis Lotis
Beginning of the end for
78s in the States Guitarist-vocalist Malcolm Mitchell forms
all-star modern jazz band costing £10,000 for one-night-stands
and contract with Decca
London's oldest jazz club, Feldmans, closes after 13 years.
1955
JANUARY: BBC sponsors Festival of Dance Music at
Albert Hall, notably featuring
Ted Heath Impresario
Henry Hall makes band-business comeback asMusical Directorat
Mayfair Hotel, supplying seven-piece band led by pianist Bert
Marland Eric Delaney
signs gipsy "street singer"
Danny Porches Oscar Peterson and Ella start concert
tour of Britain on February 22
Death of Twenties blues
singer Lee Morse and band-leader-composer Gus Arnheim,
who was associated with Bing
Crosby in 1930-31 EMI in
£3 million deal to take over
Capitol Closure of Wood
Green and Kingston Empires
Kenny Baker re-forms his
Dozen.
FEBRUARY: Johnny Dankworth refuses £10,000 tour
of South Africa because of
segregation. Chain-store
issue of cut-price records offering 12 tunes on 10 inch LP at
9s. 6d.. Drummer-leader Tony
Kinsey and bassist Sammy
Stakes accompany Peterson-Fitzgerald tour, which has to be
cut short because Ella is
needed in Hollywood to film
Pete Kelly's Blues Pianist
Buck Washington, of song and
dance team Buck and Bubbles,
dies aged 48 in New York
Melody Maker contest drum discovery
Jackie Dougan joins trumpet-leader Don Smith Swing
accordionist Tito Burns
becomes an agent and signs
jazz tenorist Tubby Hayes for
tour and record with 9-piece
band.
MARCH: Ted Heath beats
Johnny Dankworth by 132
votes and Eric Delaney Is Top
Musician in Melody Maker Poll.
Variety debut of singer Ronnie
Hilton Tenor-saxist-leader
Don Rendell disbands and joins
Tony Crombie Ork, which disappoints fans in chaotic performance at big Paris jazz show
after 36 hours without sleep
Ronnie Aldrich puts
Squadronaires on R and B kick
and picks hospital laboratory
singer 19-year-old Jackie Lee to
replace Margaret Bond, who
goes solo. Dennis Lotis
leaves Ted Heath in April for
music-hall and film offers.
Music world Is shocked by
sudden death of jazz alto-saxist
celebrity 35-year-old Charlie
Parker. Duke Ellington Ork
booked for Britain, but only at
US bases.
APRIL: Record revolution
heralded by EMI - 3D Sound. MU and Ministry of
Labour do an "about turn" and
stop Irving Fields Trio appearance at London Palladium.
After internal disagreement,
pianist Ken Moule quits leadership of his Seven, which is
taken over by bassist Arthur
Watts. Kenny Baker Band
for first Pye-Polygon LPs and
EPs. Mufti-instrumentalist
Victor Feldman settles in the
States. George Shearing
flies in on holiday and says:
"Quintet cannot play here, so
neither will I."
MAY: Sir John Barbirolli
picks pianist-arranger and
Melody Maker columnist Steve Race as his
Director of Light Music.
Johnnie Ray booked for Sunday
Night at London Palladium.
Latest proteges of Philadelphia
music publisher Jimmy Myers
are rock originators Bill Haley
and his Comets BBC bans
Lena Horne's torrid record "I
Love To Love" British tour
for Tony Bennett In July
American agents make offers
worth £20.000 for Tony Crombie
Band.
JUNE: Police drop murder
charge against jazz
dancer Teddy Hale when death
of tenor-saxist Ward ell Gray
curing narcotics binge in Las
Vegas is declared to have been
an accident Hollywood
makes film offer to singer
David Whitfield The show
goes on despite countrywide
rail strike which could cause
cuts in touring bands AFM
official says "little hope of Stan
Kenton-Ted Heath exchange"
Irish singer Ruby Murray
will receive £500 a week for a
Norman Wisdom Show at
London Palladium MU
opposes concert tour by US
pianist Art Tatum BBC
starts new name-band radio
series Swing Session.
JULY: MPs may probe dance
band business, with approval of MU Janie Marden
21-year-old telephone operator
from Bristol, joins BBC Showband as resident singer
Jazz guitarist Chuck Wayne
comes over to tour with Tony
Bennett American stage
and television offers for Ruby
Murray MU nears agreement with ITV Ted Heath
loses singer Kathy Lloyd, gains
tenorist Don Rendell and plans
all-star finale for his Swing
Sessions before TV takes over
London Palladium, where new
pit orchestra will be conducted
by resident Musical Director Eric Rogers
ATV Is closing the
theatres," warns Jack Payne.
AUGUST: Pianist Dill Jones,
puzzled and disappointed,
is barred from US by American
Embassy Big Bill Broonzy
may play Britain in October. Amazing alto saxist discovery from Florida, Julian
"Cannonball" Adderley, is
hailed as the new Charlie
Parker BBC gives peak air
spot to World of Jazz Ted
Heath offers £10,000-a-year to
any girl singer who comes up
to his expectations Ambrose returns to West End with
14-piece all-star band at Cafe
de Paris on September 19.
SEPTEMBER: Bristol vocalist,
27-year-old Rosemary
Squires, unsettled by wide-spread publicity after secret
audition, declines offer from
Ted Heath and will try to
"make it alone" After five-month wrangle, MU and ITV
reach agreement a few days
before start of commercial
television Dancers weep as
Harry Leader ends 15-year run
at Charing Cross Road Astoria
to start countrywide tour.
OCTOBER: AFM lifts 20-year
Anglo-US ban and agrees
exchange between Ted Heath
and Stan Kenton Toni
Eden, 16-year-old daughter of
saxist Chips Chippindale, joins
Ted Heath for concerts, radio
and TV Wedding of film
Star Debbie Reynolds and
singer Eddie Fisher.
NOVEMBER: Atlantic band
exchange takes Ted Heath
to States in April and Stan
Kenton to UK in March.
Eric Delaney offered four figure
contract for big West End
musical built around his band
Big Bill Broonzy accuses
Nottingham hotel of racial
discrimination Ivy Benson
All Girls Band for Labrador
Frankie Vaughan gets his
own show on TV and donates
his record proceeds to Boys
Clubs Norman Granz wins
dismissal of gambling charges
against JATP artists in Texas.
DECEMBER: Blind Pianist Joe
Saye leaves with his
family to settle in America. Melody Maker's Song For Lita Roza
contest is won by "I'll Be Near
To You" which is published by
Berry Music and recorded by
Decca. Victor Feldman admitted to AFM, cuts first US LP
for Keynote and may arrange
for Kenton. Michael Holliday, whose first record "Yellow
Rose of Texas" has sold 50,000
copies, leaves Eric Winstone, for
profitable solo career. Count
Basle beats Stan Kenton in
Down Beat Poll. MU asks
BBC for statement after house
musicians are told "get modern
or get out"
1956
JANUARY: Woody Herman
signs British in multi-instrumentalist Victor Feldman to
join the Herd as a special act
Norman Granz starts the
year with his biggest-ever capture, Ella Fitzgerald, for his
Jazz at the Philharmonic and
his Verve & Clef labels Eve
Boswell and Jill Day, who both
started as singers with Geraldo,
signed to star in Blackpool
summer shows. Musicians Union planning action to raise BBC-TV
rates for musicians Alma
Cogan signs for weekly TV
show.
FEBRUARY: Vic Lewis returns
from South Africa following tour with Johnnie Ray .
Billy Cotton signs three-year
contract with BBC Television BBC signs Stan
Kenton for at least two broadcasts during forthcoming tour
Duke Ellington tops
French Radio poll Count
Basle signs for autumn tour of
Britain Pianist Ralph Dollimore wins Ivor Novello award.
MARCH: No Melody Maker due to
nationwide printing dispute.
APRIL: Louis Armstrong signs
for British tour - Bing
Crosby also due here, to play
in Open Golf Championship at
Hoylake Harry Klein, Don
Rendell and Tommy Whittle
play with the Stan Kenton
Orchestra on tour Lita
Roza will marry Geraldo trumpeter Ronnie Hughes. Duke
Ellington, Art Tatum and Dave
Brubeck for Shakespearean Festival in Stratford - Ontario. Ted Heath and his Music a
smash hit on U.S. debut at
Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio. Nat King Cole beaten
up by 'black-bashers' in Birmingham, Alabama. Frankie
Vaughan signs a six-film contract.
MAY: Louis Armstrong and
his All-Stars open at the
Empress Hall, Earls Court.
Oscar Rabin signs modernists
Jimmy Deuchar (trumpet),
Derek Humble, Joe Temperley,
Roy Sidwell (saxes) Singers
Diana Coupland and Monty
Norman announce their forthcoming marriage Own TV
series (BBC) for Joan Regan
Musicians Union vetoes plan to record
Louis Armstrong in London
Adrian Rollini, bass-sax star
and inventor of the Goofus,
dies in Florida aged 52
Eddie Duchin film premiered in
Blackpool Lonnie Donegan
a big hit on American television
Whites boo Freddy Randall's " jungle music " in
Birmingham, Alabama
British government backs jazz
package, for tour of forces'
bases in Germany.
JUNE: Stan Kenton ballet a
hit at Sadlers Wells
Ruby Murray signs for British
film Bomb threat empties
Freddy Randall concert in
Greenville, S. Carolina.
Trumpeter/singer and star of
the Forties, Valaida Snow, dies
in New York aged 41. Tex
Ritter arrives in London
Frankie Trumbauer dies in Kansas City aged 54 New Lew
Stone Band opens in Manchester
Rock-'n'-roll comes under
attack from American censorship bodies Frank Sinatra
wants to record in Britain with
Cyril Stapleton's Orchestra.
JULY: Vic Lewis and his
Orchestra set for Stateside
tour in exchange -for Lionel
Hampton Band Gene Vincent tipped as biggest threat
to Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. Eve Boswell classed as
" the complete entertainer " on
her opening in summer show at
the Opera House, Blackpool.
Despite press criticism rock'n'roll clubs and records becoming
a craze Glenn Miller
Orchestra directed by Ray
McKinley booms in US " I
will only yo to the States if
American dancers want my
band - not just to enable U.S.bands to visit Britain." says
Joe Loss. Mel Torme in
Britain for radio dates and
variety tour. Wally Fawkes
A leaves Humphrey Lyttelton after nine years.
AUGUST: Tony Crombie forms
rock'n'roll group for
nationwide tour. Bands of
Edmundo Ros Geraldo, Johnny
Dankworth, Jack Parnell signed
for peak-hour ITV shows.
Stan Tracey joins Ivor Kirchin's.
Band. Mel Torme appears
with Ted Heath's Band in concert at the Stoll Theatre, Kingsway. Acker Bilk tours
Poland. Louis Armstrong invited to appear with a London
symphony orchestra. Jack
Parnell Orchestra offered five
ITV Saturday programmes.
BBC plans a jazz promenade
concert. Al Martino touring
in variety. Carl Barriteau
featuring a rock'n'roll sextet "within the band".
SEPTEMBER: Jazz saxist Ronnie Scott receives an offer
to join Woody Herman. Eve
Boswell asked to follow Lena
Horne, Eartha Kitt and Maurice
Chevalier in cabaret at Burns
Restaurant, Stockholm.
Teddy Boys riot at London
cinemas showing Bill Haley's
Rock Around The Clock film.
Now Nat Gonella forms a rock
outfit . BBC cuts radio jazz and gives late-night series to
Ronnie Aldrich and the Squadronaires . . New rock singer
Tommy Steele records for
Decca.
OCTOBER: Humphrey Lyttelton and his Band invited
to play in Moscow. Attempts
to arrange exchange between
Duke Ellington and Johnny
Dankworth fall through.
Basie-Heath exchange planned. Eric Delaney chosen for
Royal Variety Performance.
American pioneer bandleader
Isham Jones, dies in Hollywood. Gerry Mulligan Quartet to
tour Britain. Reportedly,
Lionel Hampton's Orchestra for
this month's tour "will be on
a rock'n'roll kick."
NOVEMBER: Singer Jimmy
Young signs £15,000 contract. Louis Armstrong coming to
London next month to play a
concert for the Hungarian
Relief Fund. Rumoured that
Elvis Presley MAY play the
London Palladium next year.
Decca Records sign a bus driver
on the London No. 27 route - singer Matt Monro. Ted
Heath says no to proposed
swap with Count Basie. Art
Tatum dies in Los Angeles aged
46. Glasgow City Fathers
have banned rock'n'roll from 20 public halls. Royal
Variety Performance cancelled
due to international situation.
DECEMBER: Musicians Union gives permission for BBC to televise
concert starring Louis Armstrong in aid of Hungarian
Relief. Mystery death of
Tommy Dorsey (51) in locked
room of his 25,000-dollar home
at Greenwich, Connecticut. Pat Boone makes his British
debut at Granada, Tooting, on
Boxing Day. Tommy Steele
to be paid £200 for a cabaret
appearance at a debutante's
ball at Claridges. Lonnie
Donegan - Bill Haley transatlantic swap. Petrol
rationed here - touring bands
may fold.
1957JANUARY: The long-awaited
tour by Bill Haley and
the Comets is finalised Pat
Boone returning to Britain for
tour Melody Maker reproduces weekly
list of Retail Disc Best Sellers
as compiled by American
Variety BBC bans Cyril
Stapleton LP as "Hotted-up
versions of classical pieces".
"Rock-'n'-roll isn't bad - nor is it unimportant," says Buddy
de Franco Tommy Steele
nets his own BBC-TV series.
Eddie London hits London
Don Rendell forms a mainstream band . Top stars sign
to appear in BBC-TV's Second
Festival Of British Popular
Songs - the winning compositon to enter for the Euro-
pean Song Competition All-night queue for Haley seats.
FEBRUARY: Miles Davis tops
U.S. Metronome poll.
Louis not in first ten Bill
Haley admits that original riots
were a stunt - they just got
out of hand No riots at
British opening at Dominion
Theatre, London - tour to be
extended by 12 days - but
Comets banned in Copenhagen
Platters sign for tour with
Vic Lewis band Derry
Mulligan Quartet opens at
Royal Festival Hall. Peak-hour radio series planned for
singer Jimmy Young. Phil
Seamen held on drugs charge
fined £80. British film
Rock You Sinners completed.
Rock-'n'-roll records swamp the
pops. Stan Getz announces
his retirement - to become a
doctor.
MARCH: Britain's top jazzmen to visit RussiaBill Haley signs for London
Palladium appearance Eric
Winstone's Band is awarded an
18-week ITV series Eric
Delaney's Band - first British
band to tour East Germany
since World War Two - goes
on a skiffle kick Joan
Began signs for six-month Palladium season Little
Richard coming to Britain. Cyril Stapleton's BBC Show
Band is given notice to end its
4 and a half year run Ray McKinley's
Glenn Miller Orchestra opens at
Margate on short tour
Skiffle invades BBC Festival Of
Dance Music Humphrey
Lyttelton Band and Chas.
McDevitt's Skiffle Group signed
for Tommy Steele film as Bruce
Turner quits Humph Cyril
Ornadel new London Palladium
Musical Director 14-year-old Frankie Lymon mobbed at
Liverpool Empire stage door.
APRIL: Count Basle's opening
at Royal Festival Hall a
smash hit Tony Crombie to
rock around Europe Ken
Colyer in exchange deal with
New Orleans clarinettist George
Lewis Bonnie Scott and
Tubby Hayes form new joint
jazz group for the Flamingo.
Duke Ellington to tour in
September in exchange for
Johnny Dankworth Eddie
Fisher to follow Palladium
season with one-nighters at
Rank cinemas New
emphasis on pop music announced by BBC Marion
Ryan leaves Ray Ellington to go
solo Jimmy Rushing signs
for tour with Humphrey Lyttelton Entertainment tax on
live shows ends.
MAY: Only 200 fans turn out
for Gerry Mulligan's first-house Glasgow concert
"The public no longer wants
rock - at least in the
theatres," says singer Lee Lawrence. Star soloists
spotlighted on new Ted Heath
LP "Meet The Band"
America wants Shirley Bassey
for six months Lita Roza
signs for pantomime debut - as Aladdin. Hollywood bids
for Tommy Steele, Frankie
Vaughan Cyril Stapleton
plans road show Dickie
Valentine signs for his own TV
series Frankie Laine, Hazel
Scott, Rosemary Clooney - all
in London. New American
Singer zooms into hit parade
prominence - Andy Williams.
JUNE: Million-dollar film bid
for Tommy Steele
Chas. McDevitt Skiffle Group to
play New York's Carnegie Hall
Henry Hall makes
recording comeback with tunes
from the Thirties Clara
Ward Singers to tour Britain. Jimmy Dorsey dies in New
York - only six months after
brother Tommy Kirchin
Band break up Shirley
Bassey tops her first West End
bill - at the London Hippodrome Newcomer Terry
Dene breaks into variety at a
reported £200 per week
Little Richard planning to
become an evangelist.
JULY: Terry Dene tipped as
"boy with a big future"
- his "Lucky, Lucky Bobby"
single to be released in US .
British tour for Charlie Gracie;
Les Brown here for GIs only,
Patti Page on holiday in London Ten encores for Ella
at Newport Jazz Festival
Tommy Steele sings own composition "Shiralee" on sound-
track of MGM film of same name
More jazz on BBC Light
programme " Freight
Train " partners Nancy Whiskey
and Chas. McDevitt split on return from US tour.
AUGUST: At last, it's Judy
Garland - for four weeks
at the Dominion Theatre,
London Presley hoax at
three Scottish halls Russ
Hamilton hits it big in America. Cyril Stapleton's BBC Show
Band to tour Customs
officials seize American records
en route for Dobell's Brighton
shop Geraldo joins new
Scottish commercial television
contractor Tony Crombie
disbands rock group saying:
" Rock 'n' Roll is finished! "
Louis Armstrong off to
Russia "Judy Garland tour
definitely off" says Rank
spokesman.
SEPTEMBER: Geraldo to accompany Judy Garland at
Dominion Theatre - which is
now on again Colin Hicks
follows brother Tommy (Steele)
into showbiz Roy Fox turns
music publisher Young
Canadian Paul Anka is latest
teenage star Dickie
Valentine asked to compere
four Sunday Night At The
London Palladium TV shows.
OCTOBER: Melody Maker readers vote
Count Basle world's
number one jazzman - top
band and musician of the year. Lionel Hampton to make
second tour of Britain. Judy
Garland opens at Dominion
Theatre and will record here.
Russ Hamilton sells a million
of "We Will Make
Love/Rainbow" record
Kenny Baker's Dozen becomes
sixteen Teagarden-Hines
mobbed by Glasgow fans
Iceland wants Tommy Steele.
Ted Heath barred from US TV
Basle tour dates fixed -
band insured for £25,000 against
Asian flu Six Five Special
becomes a film Disc revival
for Ding Crosby - heading for
US top ten A star is born
- saxist Tony Coe hits the
headlines.
NOVEMBER: Basle chosen for
Royal Variety Performance - also Mario Lanza,
making British debut Alma
Cog an sings for Prime Minister
Harold Macmillan Ted
Heath / Hi-Lo's / Carmen McRae
package pulls-in 3000 at Dayton,
Ohio - opposition (Duke Ellington and Woody Herman)
only 300 Dickie Valentine
and Don Lang sign for Six Five
Special film Tour promoters the National Jazz Federation ban Dave Brubeck from
appearing at rival Jeff Kruger's
Flamingo Club. In New York
Kruger slams high charges for
US jazz stars to visit Britain.
DECEMBER: Paul Whiteman
and Dizzy Gillespie among
guests at New York birthday
party for W. C. Handy
Bruce Turner's Band fails BBC
audition At Chiswick
Empire, Sister Rosetta Tharpe
makes flying start to tour. Stephane Grappelly signed for
six Five Special Sinatra
U S-TV series "a disappointment!" Harry
Belafonte's "Mary's Boy Child"
hits the Christmas jackpot
Elvis is US top seller of 1957
with 18 records selling at the
same time Pat Boone
second with 17.
1958
JANUARY: "The band exchange system is a
farce,'' says Johnny Dankworth
as he turns down an offer to
tour America in exchange for
the Glenn Miller Ork. Elvis
Presley's call-up deferred by 60
days to complete King Creole
film. Dizzy Gillespie breaks
up his big band. Tony
Bennett to fly from New York
for Sunday Night at the London
Palladium - says he wants to
be an actor. Cy Laurie
Club raided. Sam Cooke -
a man to watch, says
Melody Maker. Sinatra clicks in Pal
Joey film
FEBRUARY: Tours lined up
for AI Hibbler, Sarah
Vaughan and Marvin Rainwater. Mantovani presented
with Gold Disc at Waldorf
Astoria, New York, reception. Terry Dene "too
busy" to make a second
film. Marty Wilde has
£4,800 variety tour. Wally
Fawkes' Band fails BBC audition. Freddy Randall ordered to quit blowing trumpet . Benefit concerts at
London's Coliseum and Dominion Theatres for Big Bill
Broonzy, recovering after major
operation.
MARCH: Buddy Holly and
the Crickets are
here. Frankie Vaughan
criticises the "flabby surrender
of people over here to American
leadership in popular
music. Horror themes a
current record craze. Billie
Holiday's Easter date at Royal
Festival Hall cancelled. 100,000 advance
sales for Tommy Steele's "Nairobi". Charlie Gracie signs
for return visit . "One day
I'll come to Britain," says Fats
Domino. America's Steve
Allen TV show flops over
here. Andre Previn plays
piano on Shelly Manne
record. Johnny Dankworth
weds Cleo Laine - Cleo debuts
as straight actress.
APRIL: W. C. Handy (84)
dies in New
York. Ronnie Ross chosen
for Newport International
Band. NJF takes over Mar-
quee Jazz Club, in
London. Jerry Lee Lewis
starts 35-town British tour
which is cancelled after three
days following. adverse publicity
about his teenage
bride. Bradford (Yorks)
teenagers scream for Jim
Dale.
MAY: JATP flies into London
with Ella, Dizzy, Oscar
Peterson, Stan Getz, Coleman
Hawkins. Gospel singer
Marie Knight arrives for three-week tour with Humphrey Lyttelton. "My Fair Lady - and Julie Andrews - restore
our faith in US musicals," says Melody Maker. Stereo records
are a fact - but not available
yet in record shops
here. Cleo Laine may leave
Johnny Dankworth Band for
stage. Eric Delaney plans
to emigrate. Girls riot over
Ricky Nelson in America. Tommy Steele resting
after fan maul in Dundee - rumoured he is to wed dancer
Anne Donoghue. Billie Holiday to make single afternoon
appearance at Royal Festival
Hall in June. 700 musicians
will cost Billy Butlin £80,000 at
holiday camps this
summer. Pye Records to go
stereo on June 2.
JUNE: 3-D (stereo) discs
are uncanny," says Mantovani. Platters have a hit
record ("Twilight Time") and a
300,000-dollar tour of
Europe. Deep South tour
fixed for Laurie London - then
cancelled - then on
again. Beaulieu Jazzfest to
have radio and TV coverage. Wally Fawkes' Troglodytes make first stereo jazz
LP for Decca."Name bands
are finished," says Mecca
spokesman. Chas. McDevitt
to introduce the new Kwela
music into his act. MU
threatens to withdraw members
from Midland ballrooms operating colour bar - Union accused
of conspiracy.
JULY: "I love the Blues,"
says Pat Boone. Lita
Roza demands star billing for
US tour. Expresso Bongo
voted best British musical of
1957/58. Tommy Steele is
writing a symphony. Ted
Heath records 1953 Palladium
Swing Session hits in
stereo. Mecca impose a
"partners only" partial colour
bar at their Midland ballrooms.
AUGUST: "I do not plan to
retire," says singer Joan
Regan, in reply to
rumours. Marion Ryan nets
own Granada TV
series. Tommy Steele turns
down third film script.
Thames riverboat reception for
Connie Francis. Chas McDevitt announces engagement
to his singer Shirley Douglas. Jimmy Rushing to tour
with Humphrey Lyttelton.
Tommy Whittle takes over
as leader' at Dorchester Hotel. Muddy Waters added to
Leeds Festival bill. Terry
Dene waits for National Service
call-up. Marty Wilde sacks
his Wildcats. Big Bill
Broonzy dies in Chicago -
British benefit proceeds
frozen. MU expels three
Wolverhampton bandleaders for
ignoring "no colour bar"
ruling.
SEPTEMBER: Marion Ryan's
"World Goes Around And
Around," written by Tolchard
Evans, the first stereo single
released in Britain, is to be
issued in US. Paul Robeson
starts 20-concert tour at Odeon,
Blackpool. Hi-Lo's start 22-day tour. Jazz At Carnegie
Hall package attracts 9,000 to
two Sunday shows at New
Victoria Theatre.
OCTOBER: Chris Barber
Band in screen version of
Look Back In Anger. Cha-
cha beat is born. John
Kennedy tells "the truth about
showbiz" in his book titled
Tommy Steele. Parlophone
release LP of Oh! Boy, for
which stage tour is also
planned. Harry Belafonte
concludes multi-million dollar
deal with United Artists for six
films in the next seven
years.
NOVEMBER: Dickie Valentine
blasts Decca for "almost
non-existent exploitation - a
year's delay in releasing LP -
and non-release of
singles". Bernard Bresslaw
in Top Twenty. Sam Woodyard (with Duke Ellington)
buys British Premier drum
kit. Bill Haley leaving a
trail of riots across Germany. Cha-cha becomes a
craze.
DECEMBER: Booker Leslie
Grade claims managers
asking "impossible fees" for US
star artists. Cinema tour
planned for Oh! Boy. " Rock can be good
and bad," says Perry
Como. Russ Conway signs
as resident guest on Billy
Cotton's Wakey-Wakey BBC-TV
show. French musicians on
recording strike. Dig This
to replace Six Five Special on
BBC-TV in January. Will showcase Bob Miller's Millermen and
Polka Dots.
1959
JANUARY: Noel Harrison, guitarist son of Rex Harrison,
opens at Quaglino's, London.
Saturday Club to be broadcast
in stereo sound. Edmundo
Ros to compere Housewives
Choice for two weeks. Radio's Guitar Club may be seen
on BBC television. Musicians' Union doubles subscriptions Melody Maker readers vote
Duke Ellington World Musician
or the Year, and Count Basic
World Top Bandleader.
Stage musical Expresso Bongo
to tour. Norman Granz
wants Johnny Dankworth Band
for Stateside tour. BBC dry
run a new programme called
Juke Box Jury.
FEBRUARY: Count Basic arrives for tour. "You can
be sure we'll swing," he says. Mantovani conducts, 60-
piece orchestra in Royal Albert
Hall concert. George Lewis
Band hit by flu epidemic.
Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and
Ritchie Valens killed in Iowa
plane crash. Mick Mulligan
Band in BBC's Mid-Day Music
Hall. Alma Cogan offered
starring season at Paris Olympia.
MARCH
Saxist-leader Tubby Hayes blows his top and
is sacked by owner Jeff Kruger
after flare-up at Flamingo Jazz
Club. Lambert, Hendricks
and Ross here for concert date. Louis Armstrong plans to
visit Russia. Paul Anka set
for third British tour. " I
haven't yet been able to tune in
to Thelonious Monk " says Satchmo's pianist Billy Kyle.
Jeff Mudd leaves Mudlarks when
called-up for National Service - David Lane replaces.
EMI end manufacture of 78s.
Cliff Richard to star in Expresso Bongo film. Perry
Como signs £9,000,000 TV contract.
APRIL: Woody Herman here
to lead Anglo-American
Band. Janet Munro to star
opposite Tommy Steele in film
Tommy The Toreador. Ink
Spots lead tenor Bill Kenny
plans solo tour of Britain.
Frankie Vaughan makes London
Palladium debut as top-of-the-
bill - introduces street buskers, the Happy Wanderers.
Piano syncopation pioneer Billy
Mayerl (56) dies at his Beaconsfield home. Marty Wilde
dubs session musicians "corny
and square - they can't feel
rock". Clara Ward Singers
arrive in London. Nine
Academy Awards (Oscars) to
film Gigi - including one to
Andre Previn for musical arrangements Ministry of
Labour refuse work permit to
Stan Getz - no reason given.
MAY: TV's Cool For Cats
transfers to stage at Chiswick Empire. Musicians
Union lifts ban on Victor Silvester's Dutch tour. Dick
Katz opens his own agency.
Rock 'n' roll shows scare
theatre staffs - easily turn to
riots. Mecca announce decision to spend E1,000,000 on
dance halls. Actor Anthony
Newley sings in film Idle On
Parade, becomes reluctant pop
star, signs for Sunday Night at
the London Palladium TV show. Steve Race to conduct the
Halle Orchestra. Bandleader Hal Mclntyre dies ... JATP
tickets stolen - fans warned. Acker Bilk follows Chris
Barber from Pye to EMI label.
JUNE: Louis's clarinettist Edmond Hall to settle in Ghana. Post-skiffle groups keeping folk music alive. Dinah
Washington cancels out of Bath
Jazzfest. Johnny Mathis,
Nat King Cole and Jimmie Rodgers all refuse British offers.
MJQ autumn tour to open at
Royal Festival Hall. Humphrey Lyttelton and Band, and
the modern Jazzmakers, to make
US debut in the autumn.
Row blows-up over anti-juke box
prejudice. Terry Dene called up for National Service, then
discharged. Three TV networks bidding for Russ Conway. Joe Loss to open new
Ulster Ballroom. National
Youth Jazz Orchestra planned
by Ivor Mairants. Jo Stafford and Paul Weston in Lon-
don.
JULY: Melody Maker halted by strike.
A UGUST: Billie Holiday diesin hospital in New York. Beaulieu Jazzfest breaks
all records - 12,000 attendance, and seen and heard by
millions on 138C radio and TV. Kid Dry to tour Britain -
with Henry Red Allen on trumpet. Birdland welcomes Johnny Dankworth Band.
Helen Merrill here for TV, radio and club appearances.
Songwriters to be limited to one
nom-de-plume. Pye records spending £30,000 to launch Golden Guinea label.
America's ABC-TV wanmts Frankie Vaughn.
ATV plan to air-lift Johnny Mathis, Kay Starr, Lena Horne, Pat Boone, Nat King Cole
Billy Eckstine for Palladium Sunday TV.
Bobby Darin and
Frankie Avalon sign Hollywood film contracts . Chris Barber
to appear at Monterey Jazzfest.
SEPTEMBER: Miles Davis,
beaten-up by Broadway cops.
New York Police Commissioner to probe. Pete Murray refuses terms for new Juke Box
Jury Top Twenty jackpot.
Stars, stunts and name bands
promised in Tommy Steele's TV
spectaculars. Top jazz names promised in Granada TV's Bandstand programme. Boy Meets
Girl - Jack Good's ABC-TV successor to Oh! Boy starring Marty
Wilde - is launched. Radio's Guitar Club back on the air .
Lena Horne here for Savoy Hotel cabaret. Tommy Steele signs
£100,000 contract- for 10-week
Australian tour. Johnny Cash in Boy Meets Girl.
OCTOBER: Humph seen and
heard in Labour Party election programme . . Geraldo,
with singers Rosemary Squires
and Don Rennie to record radio
series aboard the Queen Mary
at sea. Tony Crombie forms
8-piece band for Flamingo Club. Ted Heath refuses dates in
" frozen north " for 1960 U.S.
tour - will play Southern States
only. Johnny Dankworth
signs for American jazz label
Roulette. Mario Lanza dies
in Rome. Lou Preager to
leave Hammersmith Palais after
18 years - signs five-year contract at the Lyceum Ballroom. Champion Jack Dupree flies
into London. Ronnie Scott
opens Jazz Club. Humphrey
Lyttelton's Labour Party TV appearance costs him a concert at
Bristol - cancelled by promoter. Kid Dry here.
NOVEMBER: Lord Mayor of
Bristol reinstates Humphrey Lyttelton's cancelled concert at Colston Hall. Gold
Disc for Cliff Richard's " Living
Doll " presented on Palladium
TV show. Marion Keene succeeds Shirley Bassey in Blue
Magic at the Prince of Wales
Theatre. Marty Wilde and
Vince Eager feuding. Chris
Barber weds singer Ottilie Patterson . . Johnny Dankworth
signs new pianist, a Bachelor of
Science from Oxford named
Dudley Moore. Leslie Jiver
Hutchinson dies in car crash.
DECEMBER: Marty Wilde weds
Vernon Girl Joyce Baker. Emile Ford hits. No. 1 with
"What Do You Want To Make
Those Eyes At Me For? "
Bobby Darin's " Mack The
Knife " is U.S. Disc of the Year. Miles Davis, beaten up by
the police, cleared of disorderly
conduct and is to sue police in
New York for one million dollars. Platters cleared of vice
charges. Australian Maggie
Fitzgibbon cuts two sides for
Pye accompanied by Reg Owen
Orchestra. Stan Kenton out
of Jazz Band section of Down
Beat poll - Gil Evans voted No.
1 composer. Joe Loss celebrates 30th anniversary as band-
leader - signs five-year
£250,000 Hammersmith Palais
contract.
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