MUSIC HISTORY 101 JULY 12, 1962 - The Rolling Stones made their live debut at the Marquee Jazz Club in London, with Dick Taylor on bass (later of The Pretty Things), Mick Avory on drums, (later of The Kinks), and Ian Stewart on piano. Some fans contend that early drummer Tony Chapman (who also played drums with future Stones bassist Bill Wyman in The Cliftons during that period) was there instead, but Richards insists in his 2010 memoir LIFE that it was his friend Avory. Billed as The Rollin’ Stones, they were paid £20 ($34.25) for the gig, the equivalent of £330 ($566) in 2010. During the late spring and early summer of 1962 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards would catch the train from Dartford to London, where they nurtured dreams of forming a blues band. They always visited the Marquee Club on Oxford Street where Mick, on a few occasions, sat in to sing a few blues songs with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated. Playing drums with Alexis was one Charlie Watts. Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Mick and Keith along with whoever else they could find to play some Rhythm & Blues were soon rehearsing a set of favorites at The Bricklayers Arms Pub in Soho’s Broadwick Street, just a stone’s throw away from Oxford Street. Their luck changed when The Blues Incorporated were offered a slot on BBC Radio’s Jazz Club program on July 12, 1962, so the Marquee’s owner, Harold Pendleton booked this new four piece band to deputize for Korner’s group on this historic night. Needing a name, quickly, so the club could advertise their appearance they came up with The Rollin’ Stones, lifted from a song by their hero Muddy Waters. Jazz News carried the band’s line up for their first show: Mick Jagger (vocals harmonica), Keith Richards (guitars) Elmo Lewis a.k.a. Brian Jones (guitars), Dick Taylor (bass), Ian Stu Stewart (piano), & Mick Avory (drums). Brian Jones was calling himself Elmo Lewis, Elmo, after his hero Elmore James, and Lewis being his first name: Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones. The band were officially billed as Mick Jagger and the Rollin Stones, although the lead vocalist was by no means their most compelling personality. Jagger, his Dartford Grammar schoolfriend Keith Richards, and the self-styled Cheltenham Shagger Brian Jones (who had recently come up with the groups name) were the front line. Jagger, who was still a student at the London School of Economics, wore a striped sweater and corduroys; Richards a funereally dark suit; while Jones pogoed up and down, leering at the women. Behind them was the already comically deadpan rhythm section, which for now comprised Richards art-school friend Dick Taylor on bass and the future Kinks drummer Mick Avory, who sat in for the night. Jagger and Richards were 18 and living at home; Jones was 20. Ian Stewart, a 23-year-old shipping clerk, stood off to the side, eating a pork pie with one hand and playing piano in a loping, barrel-house style with the other. According to the band’s handwritten set list for that first gig (penned by Stewart in his appointment diary) they played songs by their heroes Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. SETLIST: 1) Kansas City (Little Willie Littlefield) 2) Baby Whats Wrong (Jimmy Reed) 3) Confessin the Blues (Jay McShann) 4) Bright Lights, Big City (Jimmy Reed) 5) I Believe Ill Dust My Broom (Robert Johnson) 6) Down the Road a Piece (Will Bradley) 7) I Want You to Love Me (Muddy Waters) 8) Bad Boy (Eddie Taylor cover) 9) I Aint Got YoU (Billy Boy Arnold) 10) Hush Hush (Jimmy Reed) 11) Ride Em on Down (Jimmy Reed) 12) Back in the U.S.A. (Chuck Berry) 13) Kind of Lonesome (Jimmy Reed) 14) Blues Before Sunrise (Leroy Carr) 15) Big Boss Man (Jimmy Reed ) 16) Dont Stay Out All Night (Billy Boy Arnold) 17) Tell Me That You Love Me (Paul Anka) 18) Happy Home (Elmore James) READ MORE: rollingstone/music/news/50-years-ago-today-the-rolling-stones-played-their-first-gig-20120712 hollywoodreporter/earshot/rolling-stones-marquee-club-photo-348095
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 20:00:27 +0000
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