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Arthur Chisnall: Eel Pie Island promoter
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| Arthur Chisnal |
Before Arthur Chisnall arrived as its promoter, the Eel Pie Island Hotel was a dilapidated structure, better known for the sprung dance floor and tea dances of its heyday, writes Lisa Williams.
But in 1956 the Kingston junk-shop owner hosted a trad-jazz night in the weathered hotel, and the musical legend of the Eel Pie Island Jazz Club was started.
Arthur's idea was to bring the sound of rhythm and blues from the black American South to the suburbs of London, and while he started off hosting free "private" parties, within time it became an established club and musicians such as George Melly and Ken Colyer were regulars.
George Melly describes his first inkling of the club in his autobiography Owning Up.
He says: "Grand Jazz Band Ball' said the Melody Maker's advertising column. Fully Licensed - Cy Laurie's Jazz Band - Eel Pie Island.' I hadn't heard Cy Laurie at the time, but I liked the sound of Eel Pie Island. It seemed to go with Gut Bucket' or Honky Tonk'. It had the right feel to it. It not only sounded right. It looked right too."
R n' B got a rock n' roll edge when the Rolling Stones took up a Wednesday night residency at the club. Week-on-week the group attracted London's hip young things to the area, who paid the sixpenny toll to cross the footbridge from the mainland.
Aware of the trend to issue gimmicky membership cards, Arthur produced membership cards in the shape of Passport to Eelpisland'.
This would grant you entrance to see the Yardbirds who frequently dropped in to gig at the jazz club. Jeff Beck recalls in his memoirs a night when the Yardbirds jammed with the Stones at Eel Pie Island, back in the day when Ian "Stu" Stuart was still in the line up.
The Eel Pie Island Jazz Club was not the first music club Arthur had turned his hand to. Serving in the army in World War II he had organised a few jazz concerts to lift spirits.
Neither was music his only passion.
He was fascinated by social trends, and the club and the junk shop gave him ample opportunity to watch the habits of the young. This led eventually to his working with journalists and sociologists to study "youth culture", as it emerged after the war.
Having been offered a hardship bursary at Coleg Harlech University in Wales, Arthur went on to help a crop of young people, disillusioned with education and stifled by a conservative background, to better themselves and access further education and employment. He is described by many as being a "social outreach worker" before such a job was officially recognised.
Arthur died on Thursday, December 28, at the Princess Alice Hospice in Esher. His funeral is at Mortlake Crematorium on Friday, January 12, at 2pm.
It has been requested that no flowers are bought, but donations to The Princess Alice Hospice can be made in his name.
Arthur Chisnall, club and concert promoter: Born Kingston June 3, 1925, died Esher December 28, 2006.
4:38pm Wednesday 10th January 2007
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