(from John Cox, January 2008)
I worked at Wood Green Jazz Club from about 1962 to 1968'ish. I helped Viv and Art run the club, cleaned up, picked up glasses, repaired their car and hopefully advised on bands and helped with bookings. I know I am a bit later than the period you are looking for (see previous correspondence), but it was a fantastic club and allegedly the oldest 'hot rhythm'club in the UK, with posters advertising appearances by Django Reinhardt and many others. When I first became involved with the club it was strictly Trad on Sundays and Tuesdays and the first band I saw was Freddy Randall in about 1962. The regular Sunday band was Alex Welsh, and Tuesdays were an assortment of bands that slowly metamorphed from Trad to R&B, the main instigator of this being Mike Cotton. Tuesdays from then on became one of the hottest places to be in town with all the best new wave of music that was sweeping the country. John Mayall, Zoot Money, Mike Cotton Sound, Graham Bond, Brian Auger Trinity with Julie Driscoll, Long John Baldry and 'Rod The Mod', the Artwoods, the Kinks, the list was endless. Being a bit more of a modernist, I persuaded Viv and Art to book some of the more adventurous bands on the Sundays and so we were fortunate to see Mike Westbrook's Concert Big Band featuring the likes of John Surman, Alan Skidmore, and the very underrated, late Mike Osborne. On several occasions I got to book my own favourite, the Tubby Hayes Quartet, of which I must confess I have a bootleg recording. Of course I do remember appearances by the Fairweather-Brown ensemble. Wood Green Jazz Club was a fantastic place and memories I will always treasure.
In August, we mentioned a letter from Frank Harrison to Jazz Journal magazine where Frank was enquiring about a privately made LP of the Sandy Brown Band at Wood Green Jazz Club in 1955. No-one has responded to say that they have any information about this, but Mike Ricketts has brought to our attention a British Film Institute three DVD set called 'Free Cinema' (£21.45 from Amazon or used copies cheaper) that contains a 22 minute documentary called 'Momma Don't Allow' recorded at the Wood Green Jazz Club in 1956 by the Chris Barber Band. Mike found it 'evocative of a Britain long gone...' If you are interested, you can go to the Amazon site and search their DVD page for 'bfi Free Cinema'. Mike wondered whether we had any more information about Wood Green Jazz Club. Can anyone remember anything about it? (if so, please contact us). See the Forum's Sandy Brown page for more information.