As the Sixties progressed, the National Jazz and Blues Festival started featuring more and more rock bands. I’d seen Cream doing their very first rehearsal in a church hall and then I went to see them at Klooks Kleek at the Station Hotel in West Hampstead, and they were fantastic. The big premiere for the [...]
Tag Archives: Chris Welch
Chris Welch’s Memories, Part 5
1 May, 2009 – 11:42 am
There were two sorts of clubs: the rock clubs that the public went to and the night-clubs that all the stars went to. The nice thing was the bands all lived in London then - they would have moved down from Liverpool or Manchester or Cardiff or Newcastle. Usually in the evenings, the last thing [...]
Chris Welch’s Memories, Part 4
26 April, 2009 – 3:09 pm
Originally, there was no licensed bar in the Marquee and during the intermission or before their set, all the bands would rush out and have a drink at the Ship, which was just down the road. So if you wanted an interview, you’d just go into the Ship and I’d find, say, Jeff Beck standing [...]
Chris Welch’s Memories, Part 3
24 April, 2009 – 3:08 pm
I joined ‘Melody Maker’ in 1964, but before that I used to go to the old Marquee when it was in Oxford Street, which had a bit of a plush jazz vibe, to see people like Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine. Then the club moved round the corner into Wardour Street and it became much [...]