The Fairfield Halls in Croydon was, in the early 60s, one of
the venues that the American Negro Blues tour visited. I was lucky to see
fables like Muddy Waters, Lightning Hopkins, Memphis Slim and Howling
Wolf; there were others whose names I
(temporarily, I hope) forget. It was an exciting time to be around and the raw
energy of that music hit us like a hurricane.
It was at the same place, though obviously a different concert, that I saw Segovia, a master Spanish classical
guitarist and went to meet him backstage where I shared him with an extremely
enthusiastic John Williams (guitarist, not the composer) who had been sitting
behind me during the concert. Great days.
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As well as the above mentioned, I can also remember seeing Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie (I think) or it may have been Duke Ellington. In 1965 I was at the first European concert of Ornette Coleman, we had seats at the rear of the stage, fantastic, the show started, much to everyone's surprise with a string quartet, written by Coleman and then continued with his regular quartet. I used to have the double LP of the show, but that has, alas, long since disappeared. Also saw an excellent show by the Incredible String Band, a great evening of entertainment.
Many others too, whom I can no longer remember.
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