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NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2004
For reservations & all enquiries
Telephone 020 7352 5953 Fax 020 7349 0655
Email: [email protected]; Web: www.606club.co.uk
90 Lots Road, London, SW10 0QD
Well, Post Office willing (asking a lot, I know!), this letter and gig-guide should be with you before Xmas (efficient,
huh!). So I still have time to remind you about our great Xmas party on the 23rd, and of course the now famous New
Year’s Eve night. A leaflet detailing what’s on is enclosed. It’s great value at £90/head for members and their guests,
especially when you think what you get for that - a 3 course Brian Turner designed menu prepared by our French Chefs
Philippe and Jean Damonte, dinner music, a 9 piece band playing for dancing until 2:00am, a brilliant atmosphere great
service and more fun than you can cope with(!). Go on, treat yourself! And don’t forget 606 Club Xmas gifts. We have
Gift Vouchers and some seriously happening new design T-Shirts. Call the office for details.
GIGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
When I booked Gwyn & Will the truth is I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. What I got was a very polished band
featuring an excellent singer performing a mix of straight ahead Jazz standards and
some very good originals, mostly penned by Will (Rutter) the guitarist. Gwyn
Herbert is unquestionably talented, reminding me at times of a young Claire Martin.
They are currently supporting Jamie Cullum (remember him!) but I hope to get
them back some time early in the New Year. Keep an eye out, definitely worth
checking. Talking of Jamie, incidentally, there is talk of him playing here again
sometime around June/July, when he gets back from his world tour. I’ll keep you
posted. Daniela Clynes had a lot of fun with her CD launch the other night. She
invited a whole bunch of guys down who appeared on her excellent album, which
meant that we not only had various horn sections, but also some very good backing vocalists popped up as well. It really
was fun seeing her “mix and match” the musicians, and of course the grand finale featured everyone, which involved
around 10 musicians and singers. Great stuff. And then, on Sunday 7th, we had our Gospel Experience! This was a gig
organised by regular pianist, and good friend of the Club, Miko Giedroyc, who works with an outfit called “GGG”
(don’t ask, no idea!). He rang me one day and said how would I feel about them doing a Sunday Lunch at the Club? My
first reaction was “Well, we’re not exactly a Baptist Church!”, but on reflection it sounded like a cool idea. So 10 singers
and musicians turned up to “rock the house”. And rock it certainly did. One of the seminal British gospel singers, Hildia
Campbell, turned up to belt out some amazing classic gospel. Quite brilliant. And
also our very own Victoria Newton was on hand, to demonstrate that the jazzers can
do this too! The place was packed, the roof was raised, and the atmosphere was just
amazing. You could have been forgiven for thinking that we were somewhere south
of the Mason/Dixon line! We are now planning to run this Gospel brunch (one of
only two in London) on the first Sunday of every month. Put it in your diary,
and if the last one is anything to go by, booking is definitely recommended. And
singer Reg Webb once again proved that he’s one of the most underrated
performers around. This is a fabulous gig. Try to catch him, it’s well worth the
effort.
COMING UP THIS MONTH
Sunday 4th, singer Rachael Calladine, with special guest saxophonist Dave O’Higgins, starts off the 2004 Sunday
nights for us. With no less than 3 singles and two albums out at the moment, Rachael is
very much the singer of the moment. A fabulous performer this is a terrific gig of Jazz
standards and funky/groove originals, with Dave’s searing saxophone adding to the
enormously high standards that Rachael sets for herself and the band.
Monday 5th we have a “double header”. The early set features one of the longest
serving musicians at the Club, Russ Henderson, one of the country’s finest
mainstream pianists who has been playing here since the old Club (around 25 years).
Which is particularly impressive as he will be celebrating his 79th birthday on this gig!
Expect plenty of guests, some cake and a lot of fun. And then the second set will feature
his regular bass player, Mick Hutton (one of the great British players, now with
Humphrey Littleton) in a quartet with one of Russ’s regular guests, Mark Cherry, on
steel pan. Mark is one of the country’s leading steel pan players, and this promises to
be a quite unique experience. The music is primarily groove orientated originals, and
will also feature one of the icons of the contemporary “groove” scene, “Incognito”
drummer Richard Bailey. Fascinating stuff.
Ex-pat Canadian singer Tammy Weis appears for the first time at the Club on
11th. This excellent vocalists brings that very particular North American “swing” and elegance to the classic Jazz
standard songbook. Ably supported by Claire Martin’s pianist Gareth Williams (no mean singer himself) this promises to
be a feast of great songs performed in the Billy Holiday/Ella Fitzgerald style. If you liked Robbie Williams’ big band
album, you’ll love this.
Polly Gibbons and Symeon Cosgrave are back on Monday 12th. Unlike the usual two band nights, we alternate
these guys, which means that we get really fine singing right through the evening. It will start with Symeon’s
sophisticated interpretations of the Jazz standards and then move on to Polly’s remarkable
powerhouse singing. Only just turned 20 Polly, with a remarkable natural talent and a voice
to die for, is clearly destined for great things. Forget about TV manufactured artists, if you
want to know where the young talent in this country really is, check out this girl.
The Cotton Club Singers from Hungary turn up on Wednesday 14th promoting their
new album “The Spirit of Sinatra” on 33 records. No prizes for guessing what they do!
An excellent four voice group they will be performing with a wonderful British rhythm
section led by the marvellous Jack Honeybourne on piano. A real feast of singing.
Some quickies: The remarkable Tony O’Malley is back with his unique brand of
R&B/Groove on Sunday 18th, and his, and our, great friend Hamish Stuart appears the following night, Monday
19th. And a couple more great singers to look out for; Wednesday 21st ex-pat West Indian Vanessa Haynes returns
with her take on Jazz standards and Soul. She is really very, very good. And the lovely Belle Erskin returns on Monday
26th with “Guest”, a mix of Blues, Groove, Country Rock and Soul. Tiny person, huge voice, wonderful stuff!
NEW YEAR’S EVE AT THE 606 CLUB
As I mentioned above, we still have availability for New Year’s Eve, although it is
booking pretty quickly now. Celebrity Chef Brian Turner has written a mouth watering
menu which will be prepared by our resident French Chefs Philippe and Jean Damonte,
and the music is being provided by a specially extended version of my band, “Samara”,
featuring the fiery vocal talent of our regular singer Guida de Palma. We did this last
year, and it sounded so good and we had so much fun that once
again I’ve drafted in two of the very finest British saxophonists
around, Mornington Locket and Tim Whitehead. They
augment what is already a marvellous band to make a kicking 9 piece with a three horn front
line to play for dancing in to the early hours. The music will be a mixture of classic
Soul and R&B with a bit of Latin thrown in for good measure, and I defy you not to dance
once we start! The tickets are on sale now and it’s strictly booking in advance, with deposits
payable on booking and the full amount before the night. It’s amazing value at £90/head for
members and their guests, and I would strongly recommend that you book asap. As I said, you
will find a flier with more details and the menu enclosed. I still have people coming up to me
to talk about New Year’s Eve gigs from 3 and 4 years ago! Take my advice and don’t miss out
on the best party in town.
SUNDAY 25th LUNCH TIME with THE WINSTON ROLLINS BIG
BAND
This is a new band for our Sunday Lunch Big Band slot, and it promises to be quite a gig.
Led by Jules Holland’s regular trombonist, Winston Rollins, this Big band has been around
for some time now, and has quite a reputation. Featuring a number of Winston’s friends
from the JH band, this 16 piece big band, performing a classic modern jazz repertoire, is,
like Winston, great fun. This is very much our “family” gig and children of all ages are
welcome. The atmosphere is marvellous, and the food, of course, is excellent. Great way to
spend a cold, wet January afternoon!
BAR 606 – CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL, BLACKFRIARS
You may remember that a while back I mentioned that we had hooked up with the Crowne
Plaza Hotel at the NEC in Birmingham to promote Jazz in the bar there, aptly named “Bar
606”. Well, we’ve opened another one now much closer to home. Bar 606 at the Crowne Plaza, Blackfriars is now putting
on Jazz duos three nights a week, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6:30pm to around 9:00pm. I have to say
it’s a really cool bar, so if you’re around that part of the world do drop in. The entrance is in Kinscote street, right by the
Bridge, and it’s free. For more details go to our web site and click on “Bar 606”.
LAST WORD….
“There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2020,
there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and active members, and absolutely no recollection of what to
do with them!”

Source: ftp://606club.co.uk/Newsletters/Jan2004_membersLetter.pdf