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Albrighton Sports & Social Club, Cross Road, Albrighton, Shropshire. WV7 3QT Every Sunday 1.00-3.00 pm |
Jazz Club 90
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email: Contact John or Marie on 01902 756158 or 07947668750 Admission £6.00 |
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The club opens at mid-day and all gigs will be from 1.00 pm - 3.00 pm. Marie's rolls will be available for your Sunday lunch! The club phone number if you need it is 01902 372523
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******************************************* Stop Press
Unfortunately, due to the
current situation with the Corona virus, we have decided to cancel all
jazz sessions until the end of June.
We think it is unlikely but if things change we will start again in July, obviously we will keep you informed as time goes on. So that you don't get withdrawal symptoms you could spend your Sunday lunchtimes watching some of the 560+ videos on YouTube, then again you might decide to have a nice Sunday lunch at the right time!
In case you are already experiencing jazz withdrawal symptoms you might like to see this by Alice, who first came to us in 2010 as the 17 year old grand-daughter of “Big Eric” (Old Comrades JB) singing Bessie Smith numbers and who proved to be very popular at both the Harp and the Club. Sadly for us Alice moved to Tasmania to live, she couldn’t get much further away, but her Mom has sent this link to a song she recorded recently: Enjoy. Proud Mom’s comment... "I think Alice has got better. Needs a trad jazz band to sing with in Tasmania!"
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Links to Alex Clarke and TJ Johnson are now on YouTube...click "Videos" link above Here a a couple of links to videos of the celebrations ofAlf's 100th birthday: https://youtu.be/-w_40VqRSLo Wolves surprise https://youtu.be/zNZHwR6ggxE Part of his "do" at the jazz.
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Use the links above to keep track of our plans and programme for jazz in Albrighton. On the "Programme" page you can now click on the band name to link with their website Click the "Videos" link above to find videos of bands who have played at the Club and also the many filmed at the Harp since 2007. We now have a total of 568 videos on YouTube. New videos are added regularly, the latest are of Eagle Jazz Band and the Sopranos ************************************************************************************************ The links below are to pages from our days at the Harp...seems like the dim and distant past now!
**************************************************************** Our First Gig Sunday, October 25th. 2015 was our first gig at the Social Club and it turned out to be even better than we expected.....an almost full house with many friendly faces from our days at the Harp, it was so good to see everyone. The music provided by the Carl Sinclair Trio was ideally suited to an occasion which celebrated both the 25th. anniversary of jazz in Albrighton and the re-birth of Jazz Club 90....it covered everything from Fats Waller to Winifred Atwell , Jools Holland, Elvis, Fats Domino and more, not jazz for the purist but highly entertaining. Carl is a superbly talented pianist and singer with a great rapport with a mostly more senior audience, Howard Smith on drums complements him perfectly and Kenny his dad, on guitar, brought back many rock and roll memories.
Click to enlarge George Sims, one of the founders of Jazz Club 90, and original raffle ticket seller was there with his wife, Joan, and duly sold raffle tickets again, even though he is now in his 90s! Totally out of the blue was a presentation to Marie and myself, and George and Joan, of an engraved glass plaque in recognition of our contribution to jazz in Albrighton....many thanks to Terry Taylor, John Bosworth, John Hill and every one else involved in this lovely idea. Any misgivings we may have had about the suitability of the Sports and Social Club as a venue were soon forgotten as it is a warm, welcoming, comfortable place with very friendly, helpful staff, we look forward to future gigs with a growing amount of confidence. ******************************************* Great music, excellent beers, friendly welcome....why not give us a try, you might even win the superb wine and other prizes in the raffle? ************************************* |
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The final gig at the Harp On May 17th 2015 Brian Turnock's brilliant New Orleans Z'Hulus brought the curtain down on Jazz Club 90 at the Harp with a session which reminded us of how much we will be missing. The Harp was packed with many sitting in the bar where they could just hear the band. We went back in time a little when George, one of the originators of Jazz Club 90 ( and now 90 years old himself!) sold the raffle tickets and managed to extract more money from the audience than Marie did! John Hill read out a message from Bev Pegg which went : "Dear John, Marie, and all of the Harp Jazz Regulars.
I’m so sad to hear of this great jazz club finishing. I just want to thank John & Marie for organising what has been a great little club with a wonderful homely atmosphere. I have always loved playing here, and having a bit of a laugh, in front of such a lovely warm welcoming crowd. You will all remain in my mind for the rest of my days. Thank you all for the happy memories. Bev Pegg"
I think that sums up everything about the Harp, with the addition of all the wonderful bands who have entertained us so brilliantly and helped create that atmosphere.
Marie and I would like to thank everyone for their support over the years and for the many cards and gifts which we have received....but more especially for the many friends we have made and hope to keep in touch with in the future.
The final act was to remove the photos from the "bandstand"....the walls look very bare now! |
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Updated May 16th 2015 Please read this regarding the future of Jazz Club 90 at the Harp....the short answer is there isn't one! The longer answer is that the HopBack Brewery, the new owners of the Harp, met with Marie and myself yesterday (28th April) to say that the jazz was not making enough money and they proposed that we should stop the Tuesday gigs, with almost immediate effect, and do only two Sunday lunchtime gigs a month which would be reviewed in two month's time, also we would have to stop supplying Marie's renowned rolls as the pub did not have catering licence which could lead to health and safety issues should anyone have problem with food poisoning in the future. We reluctantly accepted this the only way we could continue some form of jazz and spent the rest of the day contacting bandleaders with the news. This was followed by an emotional session with New Orleans Heat when everyone expressed their dismay at the turn of events. Early this morning I was awake and wondering how we could make it work and together with Marie decided that we can't...losing the income from the sale of rolls and from 6 or 7 gigs each month meant it would be very difficult to run on our already very tight (but controllable budget), and only two Sunday gigs at irregular times during the month would mean loss of continuity and loss of some of our audience. I contacted Peter Greenwood from the brewery to tell him our decision which he accepted with the agreement we would go ahead with some of the early May gigs because it was too late to cancel them. Marie and I would like to thank all the musicians who have entertained us so brilliantly over the years and all the fans who have come through the doors of the Harp, some for more than 20 years, to regularly support us...we have made many friends and hope we will keep in touch through various means. Before then let's pack the pub, especially for the last session and give the jazz a great send off! John and Marie. ************************************************************************
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