British bebop
The club was so named because it was a musicians cooperative with 11 founders – business manager Harry Morris along with ten British bebop players: Lennie Bush, Leon Calvert, Tony Crombie, Bernie Fenton (1921-2001, piano), Laurie Morgan (1926-2020, drums), Joe Mudele, double bass), Johnny Rogers (1926-2016, saxophone), Tommy Pollard (1923-1960, piano and vibes), Ronnie Scott, and Hank Shaw. Many of them had been influenced by hearing early bebop pioneers such as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie during New York stopovers while they performed as ship musicians on the Atlantic-going liners. [1] But it was the first chance UK audiences had to hear the new bebop music, and was later viewed as "one of the most important milestones in the development of modern jazz in post-war Britain". [2] However, as Ray Kinsella has pointed out, interest in bebop began developing a little earlier (from 1945 until 1947) at the Fullado Club in New Compton Street, where many of the musicians who were associated with the Club Eleven also played. [3]
Club Eleven first opened at 41 Great Windmill Street in 1948, and had two house bands, one led by Ronnie Scott and the other by John Dankworth. Scott's sidemen included Bush, Crombie, Pollard and Shaw, while Dankworth's included Calvert, Fenton, Mudele and Morgan. [4] When Scott toured the US, Don Rendell filled his spot. Denis Rose organised many of the activities at the club.
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster in the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
Ronnie Scott OBE was a British jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner. He co-founded Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London's Soho district, one of the world's most popular jazz clubs, in 1959.
Donald Percy Rendell was an English jazz musician and arranger. Mainly active as a tenor saxophonist, he also played soprano saxophone, flute, and clarinet.
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Anthony John Kronenberg, known professionally as Tony Crombie, was an English jazz drummer, pianist, bandleader, and composer. He was regarded as one of the finest English jazz drummers and bandleaders, an occasional but capable pianist and vibraphonist, and an energizing influence on the British jazz scene over six decades.
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Henry Shalofsky, better known as Hank Shaw was an English bebop jazz trumpeter.
Great Windmill Street is a thoroughfare running north–south in Soho, London, crossed by Shaftesbury Avenue. The street has had a long association with music and entertainment, most notably the Windmill Theatre, and is now home to the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum and the Trocadero shopping centre.
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The Flamingo Club was a jazz nightclub in Soho, London, between 1952 and 1969. It was located at 33–37 Wardour Street from 1957 onwards and played an important role in the development of British rhythm and blues and modern jazz. During the 1960s, the Flamingo was one of the first clubs to employ fully amplified stage sound and it used sound systems provided by ska musicians from the Caribbean. The club had a wide social appeal and was a favourite haunt for musicians, including The Who.
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Frank Holder was a Guyanese jazz singer and percussionist. He was a member of bands led by Jiver Hutchinson, Johnny Dankworth and Joe Harriott.
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Kenneth Napper is an English jazz double-bassist.
Leon Calvert was a British bebop jazz trumpeter, one of the co-founders of Club Eleven. He was the nephew of Eddie Calvert.
Joseph C Mudele, known as Joe Mudele and sometimes as Joe Muddel or Muddell), was a British jazz double bass player, one of the Club Eleven collective, where he first played with John Dankworth.
