Southall Swing Club
Posted on 11th Mar 2019 by John Dale
Southall Swing Club - 1948
In January 2014 Jo Blyghton, a NJA Project Archivist at the time, was searching for potential materials to add to our digitised collections. While handling the Kenneth Pitt collection, a great picture came to light. Pitt was a leading publicist/press agent and manager to significant popular music artists. The client files that Pitt donated to us includes files on musicians such as Ted Heath, Cleo Laine, Gerry Mulligan, Mel Torme, Stan Kenton, Ted Heath, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie and Louis Armstrong. (Collection catalogue reference: NJA/C/PIT).
This picture shows the Southall Swing Club visiting a Ted Heath concert at the London Palladium in 1948. Ted Heath and his Orchestra hosted Sunday Night Swing Sessions at the Palladium for a number of years. The smiling faces of the Swing Club members here give an indication of the popularity of this incredibly successful big band leader. If anyone reading this is in this picture, or recognises someone they know.