Don.

AND HERE IS A STORY FROM THE BACK OF MY OWN SUB CONSCIOUS

How many Enfield Ravers remember the night we went to the St. Albans Jazz Club in a hired furniture van to watch the Dauphin Street Six?

It must have been around 1958-9 and we had a full complement of about twenty ravers all attired in our Bohemian garb.  Met as usual at the door by the smiling Ken Lindsey, we clambered onto the floor and started jiving almost immediately.

It was a great evening I recall, with us and the band swinging along with all the energy we could muster.  We had energy in those days: If only it could have been harnessed and hooked into the national grid, - it would have kept Enfield alight for a fortnight!

We had our renegades even in those halcyon days and there was one amongst us that evening.

The interval was over and the band was into its second or third piece, which, as it happened, turned out to be most appropriate - ‘Running Wild’. Suddenly, the doors flew open and in marched a half dozen uniformed police. The band continued playing as the officers went around the room eyeing each and everybody up.

One stood by the door and was asking questions, obviously offering a description of the person they were looking for.  After a good half hour, during which the band managed to fit in a few more appropriate pieces, they left.

Suddenly there was an enormous clump. It was the coppers’ ’target’ dropping from the rafters. He had seen the ’cops’ coming and climbed up into the roof beams and witnessed everything going on, below as he sat there, swinging his legs. He was covered in thick dust but smiling his head off at having got one over on those ‘cops’, who, for some implausible reason, didn’t think to look up!

What he had done to deserve all the police attention, we never found out. I have often wondered, if after all these years, there’s still a warrant out for his arrest.

Needless to say, we all enjoyed the band and the wonderful sounds of early New Orleans jazz, but that evening’s cabaret was unforgettable.

DON JUDD

Stumbling on your site, being an habitué of Wood Green Jazz Club in the mid fifties, ( yes, I remember Art Sanders, lovely bloke as you say)
I saw a reference to Dave Gillard of the Bourbon Street Ramblers. Some time in the summer of 1956, I sat in with this band (I played a fair trumpet/cornet in those days) at a Sunday lunch time gig in pub just the Tottenham side of the Edmonton boundary on the High Street -The Girls Go Crazy was the number.
A few weeks later, I sat in with another band whose name I can't recall at a hall off the High Street in Edmonton - My bucket's got a hole in it this time (funnily enough, the same chords). Afterwards, a bloke came up to me and said he was from the Bourbons, and asked me if I would like to come to a rehearsal of the band (somewhere in Bush Hill Park).
I went along and played through some of their numbers, and heard no more. I think I rather peeved the pianist when I told him he was playing some of the numbers in concert B flat, which puts everything in C for the trumpet).
I moved on from the New Orleans style (which I still love when properly played and not commercialised) to Be Bop and am still playing now (with my son Andrew) though in a different style again.
The band's name is Gyratory System  and we are doing rather well. But I almost certainly wouldn't have got into playing without the inspiration that those wonderful venues provided back in the Fifties.
Best Wishes,
Robin Blick
Thanks Robin - Another voice from the fifties  - made good - Don

I recall my earliest experience of listening to "live" jazz - I was about 11 or 12 & was smuggled into the Hop Poles in Enfield (co-incidentally one of our Dad's locals!) one Sunday lunchtime. The Peters brothers were in the group & I think that at that tender age I was more impressed by the pianist sitting there with his calabash pipe emitting clouds of smoke than I was with his, upon reflection, excellent playing.

I also recall regularly visiting Enfield Market on a Saturday morning & making a bee-line for one particular vendor who sold second-hand 78's. He was very thin-faced, with a pale complexion & always wore a beret. He sported a perpetual dew-drop dangling for the tip of his rather skeletal nose. We nick-named him, very appropriately, "Pasty" & he became a well-known source of some classic old records that would now probably fetch a fortune had they not, in the meantime, got broken, warped of misplaced into someone else's possession!

Then it hit me! I heard Lonnie Donnegan on the radio singing "The Rock Island Line" & felt a tingle down the back of my neck. From then on, I was determined to be involved in the action. I acquired (for 10 shillings) a tenor guitar - just 4 strings instead of the normal 6 - & learned the usual 3 chords. My Enfield Central school-mate, Roy Underwood, had told me that he had played the ukulele when he was about 6 or 7 so he, also being stung with the same skiffle bug, acquired a guitar & we spent many an hour together attempting to emulate the many skiffle tunes that, by this time, had been hits on the radio. We then got hold of a G-banjo that my brother Don learned to play & thus another embryonic skiffle group was born! (Click here to see an early picture of us practising in our front room with our sole fan ‘Sparky’)

Roy Underwood eventually joined the Bourbon Street Ramblers on banjo & he & I and Don, plus the rhythm section (that included Jimmy Garforth - another school mate - on drums) played skiffle in the interval at The Barn in Ponders End. By this time I had also acquired a tenor banjo and, after some months was approached by another school friend, Keith Rollason, who asked me if I fancied joining a new band being formed by some chaps in Edmonton. I leapt at the opportunity & joined Lenny Baldwin (tbn), Dave Barrett (tpt), "Butch" Holden (clt) & Keith (drs) to form, after much discussion, The Dauphin Street Six (where the hell was Dauphin Street!? - since visited in person by me!).

Meanwhile, as well as visiting "Pasty" in the market, my Saturday mornings would include cruising in my newly-acquired 1929 Austin Seven "Special" (£17 10s purchased from Dave Gillard) up & down Enfield High Street. This was generally followed by a "milk & a dash" (sixpence!) very slowly consumed upstairs in the ABC. This is where I believe the birth of the Enfield Ravers took place.

Many of the folk featured in the picture of the River Boat Shuffle on this website would recall being asked by the ABC manageress to either buy another drink or vacate the premises! At this point we would arrange to meet in the evening at Hennekeys where we would check where a "rave" might be that evening, upon confirmation of which we would pop next door to the off-licence to buy a "Party Seven" can of bitter or a half bottle of VP wine & off we'd go to gate-crash the party. If the Dauphin Street were not otherwise engaged, it would be our passport to entry! In the absence of any party, however, Wood Green Jazz Club would be the very acceptable alternative venue.

Developing on from that were the numerous "removal van" trips to all sorts of venues - & the rest, as they say, is history.

After hanging up my jazz-playing shoes in the early 60's but continuing to enjoy listening, I have now, after 50 years, dusted off my banjo and am enjoying playing again with a local group here in North Devon. Great fun and fortunately doesn't incur too many late nights!! We have a web site - Alan Lewis All Stars & clicking on "About Us" will show  the personnel (including me!) However, as I only joined at the start of this year, I plead "not guilty" to yet being included in any of the recorded music!

Robin Judd (Spud)

I remember old Pasty only too well bruv.  Most of my collection came from his stall. It now sits in my loft..
Don’t forget to read all about the Enfield bands.


HERE’S YET  ANOTHER LETTER FROM E-RAVER SPIKE GARRETT - DRUMMER EXTRA-ORDINAIRE

Just been perusing the Bay web site and spotted mystery photo of riverboat shuffle - this could be the one I erroneously referred to in my last missive. Two band session, organised by Peter Ward, to Hampton Court on the May bank holiday. Dauphin Street Six and Stu Carter’s band with the usual suspects making the boat captain's life hell - (Ted Strohm jumping into every lock just one sin that springs to mind).

Other memories of Wood Green - I only played there three times. First was an interval session on a Sunday evening when we were launching Stu's mainstream band.  As I was about to set up my kit, Lennie Hastings offered me the chance to play his drums. I was already terrified about playing before Lennie but I'm happy to recall that I acquitted myself, well - mind you, I put it down to the excellence of Lennie's kit! Later, I was booked by Art (Sanders) to play an early session with Lennie Felix to fill in for the Alan Elsdon band who were going to be late due to broadcasting. The conversation during an hour's gig I had with Lennie ran to five words, Hi - Stick to brushes - Thanks. (Taciturn springs to mind).

The last occasion was playing actually above the Fishmongers Arms at a short-lived modern club (? Art inspired). Benny Brice (piano), Clive Felton (bass) and myself were booked to play a two band gig with Ian Carr's Nucleus, a very innovative band at the time blending rock and contemporary jazz. They had lost their bass player for the evening and had managed to book a temp, (friend of Ian), who turned out to be Jack Bruce of Cream.

Jack by this time had made several millions, - lived in Regent's Park, had recently bought an island in Scotland and turned up in a Roller, played beautifully, spent the interval talking bass to Clive and then, at the end of the evening very carefully counted the £9 fee that we all received from the bookers!

Millions maybe, - but for Jack £9 was £9!

Thanks for that Spike.

He probably framed the 9 quid because of where it came from - the famous Fishmongers’ Arms!

I remember the great Lennie Hastings.  He was the first drummer I saw who ended a drum riff with a verbal ‘Oooyah - oooyah - oooyah: Indeed, I think he invented it.

Don

DAVE LORKING SENT THIS ON 24th. FEBRUARY 2014

I came across your web site recently and was instantly taken back to 50+ years ago. I knew most of the guys that Spike mentions as I was at Enfield Central school, a year ahead of Keith Rollason, Spud Judd, Roy James etc. Like everyone I was bitten by the skiffle bug, getting my first guitar at 17 and going to all the jazz clubs to see Lonnie Donegan, Ken Colyer etc. I played in various skiffle groups for a bit, then started the Dave Kenny Combo with Clive Felton and Ronnie Jouseffe. I knew the Almond brothers well as we used to gig together sometimes and Del played tenor sax with us quite a lot. Happy Days!!

If you see Spike you can tell him to add my surname on his remembered list of muso's, he's got me down as Dave? guitar. I'm attaching a couple of pics of the Dave Kenny Combo I think 1963ish.

THIS LATEST CONTACT CAME FROM TODD ALLEN (CANADA) AT THE BEGINNING OF APRIL

Hi Don,

I came across your site while surfing the Internet.

Your members may be sad to learn that Enfield guitarist Geoff Bradford passed away last week.

Geoff was born in Islington and went to school in East Barnet. Here is the web page that I worked on with Geoff -  http://www.cyrildavies.com/Bradford.html

This was / is Geoff’s site (we’re helping to update that now): http://www.geoff-bradford.co.uk/  

Geoff lived in Enfield. In the mid 50’s and played in a skiffle group in the Enfield area called the ‘Sunrisers’. They played at the Rising Sun in New Southgate.

Geoff went on to play in the electric band ‘Blues by Six’ with Charlie Watts (drums), Brian Knight (vocals / harp), Peter Andrews (bass), Keith Scott (piano), & Art Themen and Dave Gelly on saxes.

He then joined Cyril Davies’s R&B All Stars which became ‘The Hoochie Coochie Men’, when Cyril died. Long John Baldry was at the helm and Rod Stewart was 2nd vocalist.

He left the music biz in the mid sixties but returned somewhat over the years and released four LP’s between 1975-95.

You can see him playing here with Mick Moody (hat):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBDo1WW4EDE  

Regards

Todd Allen


All fascinating stuff and thanks so much for contacting us Todd. We wish you well with your work.

And R.I.P. Geoff Bradford.

Don

John Bennett, Trombonist with Kenny Ball, Found our web site and sent in some pictures of, and information about the Stu Carter band. Here is an edited version of it and our subsequent cyber discussions:-

Re the picture of Mike Barry and Stu Carter - the banjoist in the picture is Bill Dixon, who joined the Kenny Ball Band in around 1960 and is, if my memory serves me right - the banjoist on Kenny Ball‘s early recording of Samantha. He is now living in Canada.

By chance I did a gig with Mike (Barry) only last night!  I‘m enclosing some pictures of Stu‘s band taken at the Jolly Farmers in 1953. My mate Colin Smith took me there in his old jalopy: a rare MG that sported a pre-selected gearbox (whatever that is!) This, incidentally, was the very first time I sat in and played with a real band! Up till then I used to play along with Kid Ory records, and annoyed the neighbours in the flat upstairs.
John Bennett

I e-mailed back to thank him for the pictures and asked him if he is the John Bennett, trombonist with Kenny Ball

Yes I am that same John Bennett, still with the Kenny Ball band for the last 54 years! I must say I enjoyed coming across your web site - at the time I was trying to find a photo of the old Cooks Ferry Inn and the Ravers’ web site was an added bonus. As I mentioned in my email, by coincidence I had a gig that night with Mike Barry's band at Waltham Cross so I gave him a copy of that old photo. Pete Lay was on drums and I passed on to him the details of the web site as he was keen to know about it.

I'm still in touch with Les Buddle who's now in Australia. When our band tours Oz (not so often these days) he always comes along to gigs in Sydney with his wife Alice. In turn he put me in touch with Stu Carter (sadly no longer with us) and I saw him a few times when our band was in the Liverpool area. He invited me to play on some of his gigs but unfortunately I could never get there at the right time.

I have some more pic’s of those early days, and later ones, and I'll dig them out and send them to you.

All the best,
John

And so he did, along with accompanying notes.

On behalf of everyone here at the Bay, many thanks John.