Jazz Pilgrims         Bands from the past and present

                           The Mister Jelly Story  1985

                          The Mister Jelly line-up formed by:

                          Pianist Colin Martin and his vocalist wife Jill Martin with Trevor Whiting reeds, Nick Stevenson tpt,
                                                             Mick Durell bass and Roger Mullen gtr.

    
                                                                   
                                                                        
                                                                    Jill Martin now Jill Grant   taken at Pissarro’s, Hastings.by Ray Boldon

              my  story - Jill
                  

I came back to live in Kent with my parents in 1976, having been a student in Birmingham.  It was in
Birmingham that I began singing in jazz bands,at a club called the Salutation which was then meeting
in a club owned by Ian Campbell of folk fame.  A super venue – a cellar bar but bigger than Jerry’s and
with black walls, ceilings (and probably floors!) a stage and spotlights.  I joined the house band which
was called the Salutation Stompers, led by John Minnion who became a good friend.  Alan Robinson
tells me John still remembers me!
              When I came back to Kent I soon got involved with the local scene, firstly with Malcolm Walton’s
New Jazz Bandits that used to play at the Sun Inn, Bredgar.  At the time I joined, the lineup was Malcolm,
John Rangecroft on reeds, Rod Hayes on trombone, Humph Mays on bass, Brian Kemp on drums and
Mike Jefferson on piano.  Later John was replaced by Alan Robinson, whom I had met while he was depping
for John earlier.  We became fast friends and are to this day.  I met Colin at Bredgar and he invited me to
go over to Ryarsh and sit in with Terry’s band, the Terry Treagus Jazzsounds  – I did and Terry asked me
to join on the spot!  At the time, the band had a male singer too, called Barry Fisher.  I got on very well with
Barry and we each had our feature numbers.  He was also an ace jazz jiver and I loved to watch him dance
with my friend Maggie Stone, a keen follower of the local trad scene.  I would have loved to join in, but I
have two left feet so was consigned to the role of spectator.
             I had so much fun in that band.  Terry got loads of really good function gigs, including posh venues
in London and he had a minibus (known as the Band Wagon) that he used to get us there.  He’d come round
and pick each person up and I remember having a fluttery feeling of excitement when Terry tooted the horn
outside my house.  Off to another fun gig!  On the way back there was always a lot of mucking about, joke
telling and general silliness, most of it emanating from Barney Smith who was a riot on legs.  The band was always well received and for some reason, one of my clearest memories is of Terry playing “Ciribiribin”. 
I sang with Terry’s band from 1977 to its breakup (I can’t now recall exactly when that was).  Two bands
formed from the ashes of the Jazzsounds – the Seven Aces and Doctor Jazz.  Incidentally, that band name
was my idea, and Keith Blundell designed the very clever band logo.  I sang regularly with Doctor Jazz
and my own band, Mister Jelly, until the demands of my day job amongst other things prompted my temporary retirement from singing, except for the occasional guest spot
            As most people know my marriage to Colin ended but we remained friends.  I picked up the threads
of singing again and moved towards singing a broad repertoire of standards and contemporary jazz songs
by people like Dave Frishberg, but retaining my love of earlier jazz (after all, I grew up listening to it!).   I
still pop over to the Duke at Ryarsh from time to time and have a sit in with my old friends. Check out my
website :          www.grantidge.com                                                                                                                                                               Jill Grant

                The Bourbon Street Ramblers  1983 - 1985

                   This band is the forerunner of    'The Original New Orleans Jazz Band'   click on title for more info
                   The band members:

                   Alex Holt piano, Geoff Brown tpt, Ivan Gandon reeds, Sam Weller tmb, Paul Baker drms,
                                                 Pete Drage bass and Peter Bert bnj.

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