Downbeat Jazz Club, Newcastle
Here are details of the Downbeat Jazz Club which featured in the early British blues Scene, including the artists and bands that performed there and some details on ‘whatever happened to …’, plus readers memories of attending the club. Please note this page is currently being developed and will be updated soon.
History of the Downbeat Jazz Club
The Sixties began to swing in Newcastle at a former school building on Carliol Square, home of the Downbeat. Its clientele considered themselves a completely different species to the regulars at the dancehalls in town, who no doubt regarded these art students, beatniks and Bohemians with the same disdain. They came for the jazz and bebop, provided by world class residents the EmcCee 5, as well as the late bar, and many famous musicians called in to wet their whistles and jam with the band.
The club opened in 1960 and ran for around 4 years. Initially the Downbeat was a jazz venue but towards the end of its life it featured mainly Rhythm & Blues bands. The club was a very basic upstairs room, the walls festooned with posters and a tiny stage at one end. Saturday was the highlight of the week, when the sessions went on all night, earning it a reputation as a den of iniquity. This broadened its appeal to the city’s young sensation seekers, and so the jazz quintet was replaced by the more rebellious sounds of The Animals. But it failed to keep up to speed with Newcastle’ fast developing nightlife and closed in the mid-Sixties. The building was demolished and replaced by the slow lane of the Central Motorway East.
Artists and Bands
The Animals
Memorabilia
Memories
If you have memories of the Downbeat Jazz Club and would like to share them here, please email alan@earlyblues.com .
Reunions
Further Reading and Reference
Internet references:
more soon …