Redcar Jazz Club

I spotted this book online a few days ago and decided I needed to have a copy.  For those who don't know about it, Redcar Jazz Club was the place to go to see live music in the North East of England in the 60's and 70's.  It started in 1958 as a Jazz Club attracting the likes of Terry Lightfoot, Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine.  By the mid-60's it was attracting all of the big names in pop and rock music at the time; people like Spencer Davis, Manfred Mann, The Flowerpot Men, Long John Baldry and John Lee Hooker.  By the end of the decade the bands playing there included Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Status Quo, Fairport Convention, Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Strawbs, Free, Yes and many, many more.  Sadly, due to the restrictions of the amount of pocket money available when I was at school and moving out of the vicinity when I started work I only ever went once, to see Taste with the late, great, Rory Gallagher, and thanks to this book I now know that was on the 2nd August 1970 and the band were paid £350 for the show!

For anyone from the area with an interest in the music of the day I would thoroughly recommend this; it has details of every band that played there along with the date of the performance and their fee, lots of great photos and a lot to read, which I intend to start on very soon.