A Brief History
The Redcar Jazz Club started as one of many such clubs founded during the jazz boom between the end of the second world war and the 60s. Having started out in a local pub, after a succession of venues it found its final home in the shape of the ballroom at the Coatham Hotel in Redcar, where it stayed until its demise in 1973.
In the 60s, the music promoted, gradually changed to what became known as 'progressive rock' and began to feature bands from the rapidly expanding rock genre. Many, many bands that were eventually to become rock music icons played there, and it was well known that bands WANTED to play the venue, as the audiences were so good. Many of the biggest household names in the music business have all performed at the club such as Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Marc Bolan, Eric Clapton, Ozzy Osbourne, Stevie Winwood and Robert Plant as well as almost all the major bands from the 60s & 70s such as The Bee Gees, Moody Blues,Yes, Jethroe Tull, Genesis, Fleetwood Mac, The Who and Status Quo. Local singer Paul Rodgers from Middlesbrough cited the club as one of his favourites and his band 'Free' really made a name for themselves here. He later formed 'Bad Company' and went on to sing with Queen. Another local hero is David Coverdale who was born in Saltburn-by-the Sea but worked in a clothes boutique called “Gentry” 22A Coatham Road in Redcar and sang for numerous local bands such as Goverment, Rivers Invitation and the Fabulosa Brothers. When the former manager of Goverment and Jazz Club secretary Roger Barker heard of the departure of singer Ian Gillan from rock super group Deep Purple, he sent a tape to their record company and after a hastly arranged audition in Scorpio Studios in London, Coverdale got the job. He later went on to form Whitesnake and cut an album with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page as well as many successful solo albums in his own right. Coverdale features in this November’s Classic Rock magazine, about how he wrote “You keep on Moving” with Glenn Hughes when he came up to stay in Redcar for a weekend. It was written when David was living above a wimpy bar and the song featured on the 1974 Deep Purple album “Burn”. In 2007, the home of the Redcar Jazz Club came to prominence when the Coatham Hotel building was featured in the film Atonement. In October 2010 after 27 years the Redcar Jazz Club was reborn with the help of the Ray Dales Quartet, Gene Jarred, organiser Frankie Wales and Ian Luck. |