The Dancing Slipper in Nottingham was once a key jazz venue. M.P. Ken Clarke, who grew up in Nottingham, said in an interview with Harkit Records:
‘There was a big jazz following and there were some jazz record shops. There were quite a lot of places you could go listening to jazz in Nottingham. The Dancing Slipper was one of my regular places. I mean, every Saturday night I used to be at the Dancing Slipper, and it was a base from where my particular set of friends operated and anybody who wanted to look for me on a Saturday night knew they’d find me at the Dancing Slipper. The jazz policy was every Saturday night, but usually trad. I don’t think I ever saw Tubby Hayes there. It was the British trad bands that came through and that was what I liked at first. And because I liked it I decided to go and buy jazz records.’
On the website nottstalgia.com there is a picture of the Dancing Slipper building in Central Avenue, West Bridgford as it was in 2007. It is now the West End Restaurant and Cabaret, above a confectioner’s shop. In October 2009, the Nottingham Evening Post said:
‘Next Thursday we have the opportunity to hear jazz again at this venue, now known as the West End Cabaret Club, when the Nottingham Rhythm Club holds its annual jazz dinner, with music provided by the Antique Six Jazz Band, which will play for diners, dancers and listeners.’
In his 2004 ‘homily to Lake Records’ on the website SingSong PR, Ralph Laing wrote:
‘The dancing Slipper in Nottingham was one of the principal Midlands venues for touring bands. Run by an enthusiastic, one-armed promoter called Bill Kinnell (known to us all affectionately as Foo), the Slipper was a permanent fixture throughout the entire trad revival, and only finally closed in the early 1970s. The sound system at the Slipper was provided by an electronics enthusiast called Allan Gilmour. He was a delightful man with a large moustache and he adored jazz. With the permission of the bands (and I never heard of one refusing) he recorded every session at the Slipper from the early 1960s onwards. Covering every band which ever played the club circuit, this treasure trove of over 1000 hours of well-balanced material was kept private for 35 years. Sadly Allen died recently and LAKE has entered into an arrangement with the estate to issue the best of the library’.
As well as audio recordings made at the Dancing Slipper, there are a number of videos made at the club in 1959 with the Mike Daniels band (click here). Click here to listen to samples of the Tubby Hayes Quintet playing live at the Slipper in 1963.
Derek Tomlinson writes:
'I remember Saturday nights at the 'Dancing Slipper' in the early 60s seeing such as Terry Lightfoot, Ken Colyer and the Dutch Swing College. The one thing that sticks in my mind is going outside for a breather and seeing the garage door down below thumping to the rhythm of the dancers above. I heard a story that Bill Kinnell had a record shop in a Nottingham arcade off Parliament St. He had a false arm and used to take out a spare and chew it if anyone came into his shop to buy anything other then jazz records. True? No idea. Happy Days!'
November 2010 - Ivor James writes:
'Wow - what memories! I knew "Lefty" Kinnell. He once went on stage at Derby Jazz Club (The Corporation Hotel) to be met by a chorus of jazz fans chanting "'Kinell, 'Kinell"! He took it in good part though! In those days I used to play guitar and banjo with the house band at Derby Jazz Club, more particularly after they moved to The Duke Of York on Burton Road. Then a change of job and shift work prevented me, and I'm afraid that after I left Derby in 1969, I got out of touch with the jazz scene.'
'As an aside, many years later, living in rural Suffolk (I'm now back in Burton-on-Trent!) I played with a little 3 piece ensemble - piano, guitar and drums (we couldn't find a bass player!). We played in a pub one Sunday afternoon. The pianist could put out a reasonable version of "Bad Penny Blues". There were only a few people in the pub, two of which turned out to be Humph and Chris Barber! I don't think Brian has ever recovered! But the two gents were complimentary!'
January 2011
Bass player Ron Drakeford recalls the Dancing Slipper:
'The articles about the Dancing Slipper bring back a few memories. Colyer, Lewis, Daniels etc. I did a few gigs in the Nottingham/Derby area for Kinnell with a band called Phil Boyd's Ragtime Band with Diane Seagrave, Nottingham's answer to Doreen Beatty.'
Ron says that the link we have included for Mike Daniels playing A Good Man Is Hard To Find on the Dancing Slipper page has a photograph that was actually taken at the Thames Hotel in Hampton Court where Mike was resident on Friday nights. 'This Daniels band was probably one of my favourites,' says Ron, 'I had the good fortune to play with them at the Thames Hotel when Don Smith was unexpectedly not available. I lived a mile away so could pop home, get my bass and only miss the first couple of numbers.'
Do you remember the Dancing Slipper? Please contact us if you do.
© Sandy Brown Jazz 2010 - 2011