Back at the end of June Fred passed on to me an enquiry he'd had from Carol Inskip who was the daughter of George Williams, a clarinet player from the Potteries. It came to me because she'd mentioned me as someone who her dad had played with. The confusing thing for both of us was that she mentioned the Smoky City Jazzband which we both naturally associated with Manchester and neither of us thought that he'd ever played with it. Along with names that I knew, and who, with George, used to play with my band, The Five Towns Footwarmers, in the 1960s was Freddie Wilcox whose name I didn't know and I didn't find anyone else who remembered him. I was able to meet up with Carol recently when she came back to visit friends and family. She referred me to the article which Fred has now put up and which explains a lot about his friendship with George and their band which really was called The Smoky City Jazzband.

Before the Clean Air Act came into force - in 1956 I believe - Stoke had a terrible reputation for air pollution. It had dozens of potbanks - the local name for pottery factories - virtually all of which had coal-fired kilns. You could even buy souvenir postcards showing a pall of smoke blotting out almost everything except the factory chimneys which were causing it. These had titles like "When Stoke Smokes", so the choice of Smoky City as a band name was probably even more appropriate than it would have been in Manchester in those days.

The other thing I was reminded of was how different things were back in the days before the development of discotheques and the rise of the DJ. Music for functions was predominantly live - whether that involved a lone pianist or a band of some sort - and there were a good number of opportunities for musicians. The Potteries had several dance venues, each with its regular band and backing them up were a number of arrangers ensuring that people could dance to the current hits. I didn't start out in jazz until 1957. The first band I played with included some who'd already been playing for some time - one of them I remember knew George Williams. We used to practice in a pub in Cobridge and would normally end up at The Vine on Hanley where The Crescent City Stompers used to play to a full house. At the same time The Gloryland Jazzband was being formed by a group of sixth formers. So, although The Ceramic City Stompers are, quite rightly the best remembered band from that time of revival, I've just mentioned three other bands who were also around at the time and I'm sure there will have been others I didn't know about.

I was sorry to find out about George's passing, but it was good to meet his daughter - who I had last seen when she was about seven - and to find out a few things I didn't know about the local jazz scene.

Keith Garner

Now read the article from the Stoke Sentinel