The finals of the North of England juvenile jazz band championships at Brough Park Byker 1972 If the pop soundtrack of the 1970s was made up by the likes of Slade, David Bowie and Abba, a more surprising source of music came from rather closer to home. Come the long, hot summer days of that unique decade, the streets and playing fields of North East housing estates would often resound to the unmistakable sound of kazoos and drums. This was the golden age of the juvenile marching jazz band when songs like When The Saints Go Marching In and the theme tune to Z-Cars were high on the repertoire list of any self-respecting band. Mick Reed, who today lives in Cambridge, was a drummer in Newcastle West End Juvenile Jazz Band in the early 1970s. He said: “The hey-day of the jazz bands was definitely between 1972 and 1976. After that, they tailed off a bit.” And why did they come about in the first place? Mick said: “Well, they come from the pit village tradition. Obviously, most of these villages had their own bands – but, in the early ‘60s many kids decided they wanted to be in a band, as well. They also sprang up on council estates where often there wasn’t much to do. The jazz band craze really took off in the North East, Wales and the Midlands.” At one jazz band competition at Newcastle’s Brough Park in 1972, for example, more than 8,000 people turned up to take in the sight and sounds of marching bands and kazoos. Mick added: “We played every weekend during the summer months, travelling around the North East on a trip bus to play in competitions. All the parents would help out with the fundraising. We would play in working men’s clubs, marching with our collection tins.”
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 13:22:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015