The Manchester Sports Guild (M.S.G.)
By Jack Swinnerton
Reproduced by kind permission of Jack Swinnerton & Just Jazz Magazine

Jack Swinnerton died peacefully on 30th June 2008

Part 4 Red’s Final Night.. .and the Aftermath

by Jack B. Swinnerton  

At the conclusion of the Red Allen Tour, he and the Welsh band returned to the MSG for a final appearance. On behalf of the MSG, he was presented with a silver tea set for Mrs. Allen, inscribed ‘To Pearly May from the Manchester Sports Guild in appreciation of the great pleasure which your husband gave to us when he played here in 1964’ This was Jenks’ idea, I believe, inspired by Red’s devoted phoning home to his wife throughout the tour. Alex Welsh then made a further presentation of a pewter tankard on behalf of the band (I had got Henry hooked on Youngers No. 3 beer by then - he would even shout to passing punters, in mid-number, ‘a pint of No. 3 for my man Jack and I' and so he immediately filled up his tankard). He has even written the same comment on some of my record covers, which occasionally puzzles someone  browsing through them. The background to Red Allen, on the above photograph, of his joyful display of these warm gifts depicts the well-remembered portrait of himself with the Welsh hand. There were actually two in the lounge bar, although neither John Pye nor myself now know if they survived elsewhere. Both were painted by my advertising colleague and jazz enthusiast Frank Fawcett, whom I last located in the Leicester area. Should anyone reading this know of his present whereabouts, please ask him to regain contact. Allen remarked to Sinclair Traill that the final evening had been the most moving thing to have ever happened to him and, quoting Eddie Lambert, ‘The real human communication and affection which has been present on these evenings between Henry, the bands and the audience is something unique in my experience'.

Chatting with Allen on his final night with us, my mind not unnaturally wandered to the future, and the possibility of bringing him back. ‘Should we manage to arrange things again for nest year or, say, in eighteen months or so, and we tried for a double then, who would you nominate to come with you?’ was my query, or words to that effect. No hesitation - ‘Higgy’ (iC. Higginbotham), was the immediate response. He said that he would like me to write a book, with his assistance, on his life and music - it didn’t come to anything, of course, and I had no intention of pursuing something that I was not ready to do justice to - but it was a memorable and rather flattering occasion for a young follower.

Everyone now seemed to notice what had happened. Indeed, somewhat overwhelmed by all the clamour and publicity, we needed a short breathing space to take stock, but the jazz press had other ideas. Suspecting that we might regard it as just a one-off (and we would let them believe that, briefly, until the strain became too much) out came a deluge of comprehensive reviews and glowing tributes, ‘Jazz Beat’ (a sign of changing times - grown out of ‘Jazz News', and, as its new title suggests, now featuring articles on such as the Rolling Stones) gave reviews by both Peter Clayton and George Ellis, whilst ‘Jazz Journal’ really went to town with no less than three reviews in one single issue. Sinclair Traill, Steve Voce and Eddie Lambert all came out with great acclaim. Yes, one can see a great big genuine thank you, but also I feel there was some encouragement as to suggest that we carry on the good work should we want some of that level of publicity again. Lambert’s review, of course, contained his criticism of the Lyttelton band, as mentioned last month. The following month, Humph tore into Eddie in response. Well, there’s nothing like publicity and it was now becoming certain that we would bridge the planned gap between Alien and our next promotion in the full glare of attention.

Unfortunately, Red Allen was reading all this at home and took great exception. Although I never did get around to asking him and, as he appeared to be the best of friends with Humphrey Lyttelton and his band members in the end, something else would appear to have been the cause of his anger. I have long suspected that the title and accompanying photograph to Humph’s article stirred the real offence. Only the length of a long letter, really, editor Traill had blown it up into a double page spread, including a two-thirds page, squared- up, half-tone photograph of the back of Allen’s head. A one-third page title cried out, ‘The back of his head'. It seems quite likely that Allen saw this as a criticism of himself,  i. e. ‘glad to see the back of you', when the comment quite clearly refers to the back of Ed Harvey’s head. Allen’s stung response to Jazz Journal a hurried and somewhat ill thought-out effort, suggested that Humph be wise enough to disband and consult various people - including an excruciatingly embarrassed Jack Swinnerton about a suitable replacement personnel.

Eddie Lambert and I were enjoying a quiet but somewhat uneasy beer as Humphrey Lyttelton, un the next of his frequent engagements, came walking into the lounge. Kind enough not to immediately probe me for tips about replacement musicians, a quick smile to a hesitant Eddie, and it was back to business as usual.

Red Alien had replaced Welsh as leader of his own band during much of the recent tour, and I was well aware of Alex’s subsidiary role in the circumstances. His style was also primarily of the Wild Bill/Muggsy school and was not as naturally complementary to Allen as that of some of his band. It was therefore time to attempt to reward Alex with a tour, which would probably delight him, and as a thank you for his superb efforts on the Alien nights. Following the end of an evening by the band, and whilst staff drinks were on in the lounge bar, I called Jenks, John and Alex into the now deserted, cool and quiet jazz cellar for a quick discussion. It would be a double tour in the Autumn of 1964, all being well, and I presented the idea to an ecstatic Alex: ‘I’m going to attempt to get Muggsy Spanier and Pee Wee Russell'.

It didn’t occur until somewhat later on that this could have been a touch of nostalgia and perhaps a mistaken ambition. Like most of us at that time, I only had records to guide me and, so far from the source, it would be easy to get a distorted impression of the day-to- day activities of a musician in this way. I was imagining musical evenings like the Commodore records of 1944, with Muggsy and Pee Wee backed by the Welsh band - a mouth watering feast of driving Chicago/Dixieland music was anticipated. It was not an immediate consideration that these sessions were twenty years previously and that we all change in that time.

If indeed it was a mistake to try, it was never put to the test. Firstly, I located Muggsy in semi-retirement in Sausalito, California, and in our files there was a long letter from him expressing great interest in the idea. (Whilst many photographs have survived of this period, thanks to John Pye, all the correspondence seems to have been lost when the premises closed. Ibis is something of a tragedy - it was a treasure trove of interesting jazz material). Like a good many of my age group, and mentioned earlier, Muggsy Spanier’s Ragtime Band had been an early eye-opener on the way to jazz appreciation, and I was extremely keen tn present him at the MSG. As things were progressing, hints started to come through about his precarious health, and the idea was reluctantly dropped. There would never be any questiun of us knowingly bringing across anyone in very poor health, regarding it as our responsibility to prevent good reputations being marred by exposure beyond the capable years.

By coincidence, I think, Pee Wee Russell, along with Ruby Braff, Bud Freeman and George Wein, were doing a three-week European tour. Flying in to London to record a ‘Jazz 625’ programme, the others were then to leave for home, leaving Pee Wee to join us at the MSG for our autumn promotion. The programme was all arranged, and press reception for Thursday 15, October. With two or three days to spare, Jenks went down to London to meet Pee Wee, and I have never forgotten his eleventh hour call back to base: ‘Jack, do you realise this man is ill?’ Horrors! The very thing that we were at such pains to avoid. That we ever got Pee Wee on stage at all, let alone the huge success of it, was due to Jenks’ considerable efforts down in London at that time. I have no medical knowledge (unless my
1958 RAF First-Aid certificate is still valid) but the complaint was apparently a serious stomach disorder, brought on by a lifetime of hard living. A doctor confined him to his room for three days and it was a case of hiding all the hard stuff, light and frequent meals washed down with large glasses of milk. That Jenks succeeded so well in reviving him for the tour is a tribute to a man remarkable in many ways. He gave us fans the opportunity to indulge in all this jazz and, when necessary as now, was the right man to make it come to fruition.

There was still a slight doubt Pee Wee being quite fit enough by the night of the press reception, but the Art Taylor All Stars opened up, as they had some months before for Red Allen. It was quite a disturbing night in many respects. Not only the health of Pee Wee, but half the Alex Welsh band were stuck on the road somewhere. Nationally, the Conservative Party were busy losing the General Election to Labour’s Harold Wilson, and even the Soviet Union was disposing of leader Kruschev. A hastily assembled Roy Crimmins Quintet (John Barnes was now on reeds) and Jim Douglas (guitar) from the Welsh band was supplemented by rhythm from the Art Taylor band. It was this amalgamation that Pee Wee first joined with a chorus or two on Confessin during which period Alex and the rest of his band arrived and stood quietly by the bandstand with the rest of us.

The selection of bands and guests for the introductory weekend was a result, as last time, of deliberation and the unforesneable. From the beginning, Alex Welsh was booked for the main tour. A discreet word with him some months before had determined his attitude on one point. His erstwhile clarinet player, Archie Semple, whilst no slavish copier of Pee Wee, was very much of the same school, and one of the obvious joys of these promotions to me was to delight the disciples, where possible, with a chance to play with the gods. It was none of my business to enquire into Alex’s personnel and, on my tentative suggestion that we, not Alex, pay for Archie to come along for a first night special and sit-in, Alex was adamant. ‘No he said, ‘and he won’t in the foreseeable future'.

That was the end of the matter, but then came the problem of Bruce Turner. Bruce had actually left his own jump band, although several of us had done our impertinent best to persuade him not to do so. Following his stimulating performance with Red Allen and his subsequent visits, we not only wanted to hear him with Pee Wee, but his original band, too. Drummer Johnny Armatage had assumed control of the group, but engagements were rare. Nevertheless, I felt that a chance to back Pee Wee was deserved. And now another point was solved. Johnny was more than happy to come along and vary the texture of the session, immediately intrigued by my suggestion that Archie Semple would be booked separately as a one-off to join them.

Freddy Randall had been a prominent figure in the Traditional jazz revival of the 40s and 50s. Known on the London scene long before Alex moved down from Scotland, he was also influenced by a Davison/Spanier-type of lead. He had retired from the scene some years previously but had recently returned, looking youthful for his years. He recruited a new band, including his former clarinettist - Bruce Turner.

That was to be the line-up for the three-day weekend, and it seemed potentially exciting. Then we came up with a first for us - a souvenir programme. Costing a reasonable sixpence and supported by three full-page advertisements (‘Melody Maker William Younger Ales and Doug Dobell’s Record Shop) it carried a Pee Wee Russell anticipations by Jack Hutton
(‘Melody Maker’ editor) and Eddie Lambert. Jenks and I concocted a small article about the MSG and its role. The passing years make our effort seem somewhat naive now, but it probably illustrates our ambitions then, so to quote:

‘In April, 1964, The Manchester Sports Guild celebrated its 10th anniversary. How it came about that we brought over the great New Orleans trumpeter Henry ‘Red’ Allen, his subsequent enormous impression of the musicians who played with him and fans who applauded his fine efforts, has been recorded elsewhere. That is now an important page in British jazz history.

What has not yet been noted is the ensuing re-awakening of the British fans for quality jazz. We had thought rather vaguely that Henry Allen would put some ‘zing’ back into the British scene. A trifle arrogantly, perhaps, we hoped to undo some of the harm inflicted on our music by the recent mauling by Tin Pan Alley and cash conscious promoters. Just how this has come true is now quite evident. The number of great jazz artists appearing in British clubs over recent months is quite staggering and would not have been thought possible 12 months ago.

The MSG proposes to keep its role in this field, subject only to the difficulties regarding exchange regulations governing overseas musicians. Tonight, you are hearing the great clarinettist Pee Wee Russell, a musician who for years has wanted to play in Britain. Others will follow and, looking ahead for the next 12 months, we hope to include tours by George Lewis, Mezz Mezzrow, Ruby Braff, Vic Dickenson etc. We plan not only to feature these stars at the MSG but to have them play in clubs throughout the country, whose organisers feel, like us, that there isa point and a purpose in sponsoring such tours, for the sheer pleasure of hearing in the flesh artists whose music is normally only available to us on record. Further, we are always eager - as has been shown in the past - to co-operate and support others whose plans include such ideas

Just how well Jenks had revived our celebrated guest was not fully apparent at the press reception, but was to become clear on that memorable opening night with the Alex Welsh Band. 

Part Three...
Tenth Anniversary.