Post 406: RECOMMENDED - LUNCHES WITH JAZZ

The Bell Inn
Historic Pub in Nottingham City Centre

Regular readers will know that I strongly recommend putting on traditional jazz performances in pubs during lunch hours.

My reasons are these. Most traditional jazz fans are elderly people who have the time and appetite (in all senses) to go out for some music, a drink and perhaps a meal at lunchtime. Many of them have told me they much prefer this to going to jazz clubs in the evenings. They candidly say they simply do not like to be out late at night, especially if there is a tricky journey home. And, of course, admission is free at these pub lunchtime concerts.

Also, most members of our bands are themselves elderly and no longer have day jobs, so they too are available to play at lunchtime. What could be better for them than to go and give some entertainment, keeping in practice and sharing their joy in the music? In addition, there's always a good chance of getting younger people interested in the music - those who casually pop into the pub for a drink and are pleasantly surprised by what they hear.

I am speaking of course of the situation here in England but I guess the same is true in many other countries.

So let me renew my appeal to managers of bands and pubs to get together to see what can be arranged.

If a pub manager can make some kind of offer, such as a free drink for the band and a small donation towards their expenses, a tips jar can also be passed round among the audience, who, if they wish, may contribute a coin or two. In this way, the musicians should at least cover their travelling expenses. That is how the system successfully operates at the pubs where I have been present at such performances in recent weeks.

I have observed with pleasure that in my part of Central England there has been a welcome increase in pub lunchtime jazz over the last couple of years. There are at least six pubs within twenty miles of my house where I can confirm the music is being regularly offered at the time of typing.

Lunchtime Pub Jazz

Post 389: LUNCHTIME JAZZ WITH 'THE SECRET JAZZ BAND'

Alan Cole - a very special percussionist

Regular readers will know I'm strongly in favour of having jazz performances at lunchtimes, especially in pubs here in England, because the elderly folk who make up most of the audience prefer to go out for a leisurely pub lunch and hear some good music, rather than be out late at night, having to make their way home from a jazz club at 11pm. Many of them have told me so. Another reason is that the music gets heard by some younger people too, and that is surely important.

Good news is that yet another pub in the English Midlands chose to have traditional jazz in the lunchtimes. The pub is The Boathouse at Barrow-on-Soar (beautifully situated on the river bank between Loughborough and Leicester). The Secret Jazz Band played there every second and fourth Monday of the month from May 2016, between 12.30pm and 2.30pm.

Some of the boating people moored up and stopped to have a lunch and hear the jazz, too.

(Note added later: These gigs came to an end three years later, because the premises underwent massive refurbishment and had a new management with different policies.) 

The Secret Jazz Band was formed in June 2014. The percussionist Alan Cole had been invited to provide a six-piece traditional jazz band for a once-a-month Thursday lunchtime session at another public house - The Dog and Gun in Syston, Leicester. He agreed to do this - and then set about forming a band.

Alan gave the band the working title of The Secret Jazz Band (secret because he did not know who the musicians would be) – and the name has stuck.

Alan did not have much difficulty in finding players who said they would be happy to spend a lunchtime, at least occasionally, taking part in a relaxed jam session. They knew it would provide a good opportunity to have fun and keep in practice.

Since then, The Secret Jazz Band has played every month at The Dog and Gun. The pub belongs to the 'Steamin' Billy' chain, whose management team are keen supporters of live music.

It is a pub that looks after its customers well, with a cosy log fire:

And if offers a good lunch:

With such a pool of musicians, the fans never know who will be in the 'secret' band.

Pete Crebbin often turns up and plays trombone.

The band does not get together to rehearse, so it wisely sticks to familiar, uncomplicated numbers – tunes such as Make Me A Pallet on the Floor, Running Wild, Alexander's Ragtime Band, When You're Smiling, The Girls Go Crazy, Hindustan, Careless Love.

The audience grew over the months and reached a peak of 45 on one Thursday in the summer of 2018, so the bar was crowded.

Band manager Alan eventually had some business cards printed. He became ambitious enough to hope The Secret Jazz Band might attract bookings beyond the confines of the pubs!

The secret is out.
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FOOTNOTE
Sadly, as from February 2020 the performances at The Dog and Gun have been discontinued. Ill health and mortality had reduced the audience to a size at which the concerts were no longer viable. But the band continues and accepts gigs elsewhere.