Home

Written by Alan, Thorley u3a

Fancy playing double bass then?...

...this was the question posed to me one day by my brother. We had been chatting about the seven piece dance band that had appeared on the local scene a year or so earlier and in which he played tenor saxophone. It seemed that the rhythm section was lacking a beat.

          That was the start of a special period of my life which, although much too short in duration, is still remembered with great affection.

          I bought a second hand double bass and started lessons with a well known local bass player. It didn't seem too long before I was joining rehearsals and then soon playing in local gigs at weddings and works' dances, etc;  In those days(late 1950's) virtually every town had it's Saturday night hops at the local dance hall. In the Atherton/Leigh area of Lancashire we had six dance venues with a big band at most every week ( Where have they gone?)   

          We became quite a proficient band and within a year or so expanded into a semi-professional fourteen piece dance 'orchestra' (with vocalist) playing at local Mecca ballrooms among others. Included within our repertoire of the necessary traditional quickstep, foxtrot and waltz music we played some exciting bigband swing/jazz pieces arranged by a very  gifted trumpet player in the band. This, usually, was when jiving, bop and the twist broke out.

          Within a year or so we became quite a proficient band expanding into a semi-professional fourteen piece dance 'orchestra' ( with vocalist) playing at local Mecca ballrooms amongst others. Within our repertoire of the essential foxtrot, quickstep and waltz

music we played some exciting bigband swing/jazz pieces arranged by our own very gifted trumpet player in the band. This usually was the start of  jive, bop and twist breaking out within a section of the dancers.

          I recall that in the the earlier days of this period we each received the princely sum of £1guinnea for an evening's work. The problem was that on most evenings I usually managed to break one of my strings which cost £1.2s.6d to replace. Nonetheless, I loved every moment of it.

          Shortly after pub opening on Saturday night would see the assembling of many of the different band musicians meeting for a pint and a chat before dispersing to our various respective venues. We made a colourful group each in our different uniforms ( ours was electric blue jackets with roll collars, black dickie bows and trousers). Almost by definition, bandsmen were a very gregarious lot, enjoying a laugh and a joke, sharing their talesof whatever happenings at their dance halls, some no doubt greatly elaborated upon.  

          We were resident at a large venue (a converted hangar type building) in the Wigan area which attracted lots of youngsters, sometimes between 900 and 1000 dancers. Often this  including teddy boys & girls who travelled in from Warrington & Liverpool and who often caused mass disturbances in the middle of the dance floor. The band had to stop playing and threaten to walk off the stage which usually raised cheers rather than the intended action. I particularly remember one evening when a teddy boy was sobbing on the benches around the perimeter of the place and when I approached him to ask what the problem was, he said that 'The  bouncer has taken my bicycle chain off me'.

           Early Saturday nights saw many of the different band musicians meeting for a pint and a chat in a local pub before we all dispersed to our various respective venues. We made a colourful group each in our different uniforms (ours was electric blue roll-collared jackets and dickie-bows & black trousers. Almost by definition, bandsmen were a very gregarious lot, enjoying a laugh and a joke, sharing their tales of whatever happenings at their dance halls. Some, no doubt greatly elaborated upon. We were all encouraged to join the Musicians Union and our local secretary had an unfortunate speech impediment which, of course, was often the butt of jokes which were usually taken in good spirit. On union meeting days, inevitably held in a pub, he would circulate with a pint in one hand and our contributions in the other.

          I also recall that at one of our particular venues a barrel of beer was kindly provided in the bandroom every week which we, of course, made it our duty to empty,  However, at the end of our  contract we received the bill and had to do a further three or four stints to pay for it.

          We were fortunate to play at several university Rag Balls, including Leeds and Manchester, which went on through the whole night and meant that we shared the bills with the likes of Frankie Vaughan, Sid Philips and Ray Ellington although, I recall, we did the more unsociable hours.

          This was also the time when we could listen to Steve Race and John Peel hosting numerous jazz programmes on the radio and I could go to Bolton Town Hall/Manchester's Free Trade Hall to witness wonderful Count Basie and Duke Ellington concerts. It was also the time when we couldn't wait for our weekly Melody Maker newspaper to come out informing us of recent local and national jazz events.

          How I remember those magical nights at Blackpool's Tower Ballroom or Winter Gardens when we danced to the Ted Heath Band with singers Dickie Valentine, Lita Roza & Dennis Lotis, or the Johnny Dankworth Orchestra with Cleo Lane ( again- all seemingly, disappeared without trace)

         Regrettably, this was also the time when my professional studies became more intense and I had to make the decision to give up the band which was then taking up a couple of nights per week together with band rehearsals.  However, the love of big band swing music and modern jazz has never left me nor my recollections of exciting and amusing days past.

          In the mid 1960's, the relative costs of engaging a big band as opposed to the smaller, and ultimately, much more popular skiffle and pop bands, became too much and quite rapidly large bands disappeared from the dancehall scene. In the intervening seventy years or so, today's  youngsters  have, unfortunately, seem to have lost all contact with the dance halls and big bands of yesteryear to which their grandparents loved to dance & jive away the Saturday nights of their younger days.