Night to remember with Ian Christie

Published: 4 February 2010

• A SADNESS came over me when I read of the death of Ian Christie (New Journal, January 21) but he and his brother, Keith, have left me with a wonderful memory of an evening at Mack’s Restaurant, Oxford Street (now the 100 Club) in the early 1950s.
The Christie Brothers’ Stompers played there and their guest was Big Bill Broonzy, a genuine performer of the Blues from the USA, playing in an easy-going jazz club rather than a formal concert;
Bill Broonzy played both solo and with the band – a tremendous night.
It is worth remembering that at that time, for example, there was no jazz or blues heard on the BBC, apart from the occasional Mark White’s Jazz Club, (5pm on Saturday) which could be dropped if it interfered with cricket.
The leading music weekly, the Melody Maker, did not care too much about jazz or the blues either. Those people around Britain who had a deep interest in jazz, both ancient and modern, or the blues, relied on 78s, specialist shops, magazines, clubs and word of mouth to keep up with what was  going on.
There was an embargo in place here which meant that jazz musicians from the USA were not allowed to play in Britain – if you wanted to listen to Sidney Bechet or Dizzy Gillespie you had to travel to Paris or Stockholm. So when the Christie Brothers’ Stompers presented Big Bill Broonzy at the London Jazz Club it became an important statement way beyond just booking a guest for the evening.
For those of us who were there that evening it was a fantastic experience listening to Bill Broonzy’s songs and, then, when he joined the band, dancing to a swinging Christie Brothers’ Stompers.
Bob Davenport
WC1