Eric Allandale


Eric Allandale was a trombonist, songwriter, and bandleader. During the 1960s, he was in number of bands in various genres which included jazz pop and soul.

Background

Early life

A native of Dominica, West Indies, he moved to the U.K. in 1954 to complete his education. He joined the Hammersmith Borough Brass Band as a trumpeter while working as its council surveyor. He later switched to trombone and formed an amateur band playing jazz.

Musical and other

Beginning 1958 he performed at the Cellar Club in Soho, then joined bands led by Teddy Layton and Sonny Morris. During the 1960s, he was a member of the Terry Lightfoot and Alex Welsh bands and played with Edmundo Ros. He played trombone and sang in the blues band Dillingers with saxophonist Don Mackrill and bassist Ronnie Shapiro, the brother of Helen Shapiro. He also led his band, The New Orleans Knights and was a member of Romeo Z, and The Foundations during the 1960s.
Allandale also had a period in the 1960s where he found work acting. He appeared in two films and a television show.
Allandale was one of the musicians that Brian Jones would persuade to come back to his flat when he ventured out to catch the jazz shows.

Eric Allandale Jazz band etc.

As advertised in the 19 July 1958 issue of Melody Maker, on the Tuesday, he was appearing at the Star & Garter in Putney and billed as Eric Allandale, his band and guests, and on the Wednesday, his outfit billed as The Eric Allandale Jazz band was appearing at The Cellar. As advertised in the following week issue of Melody Maker, they appeared to be appearing at Star & Garter again on the Tuesday, and on the Wednesday at The Cellar. and apparently again on the Wednesday at The Cellar. As advertised in the 6 September issue of Melody Maker, on the Friday, Eric Allandale's Jazz Band was appearing at the Bull Hotel, and on the Wednesday at The Cellar. On Friday, 4 October they were appearing at the Co-Op Hall in Gravesend.

New Orleans Knights

;New Orleans Knights members
In the early 1960s Allandale led the New Orleans Knights, who were regulars on the trad jazz circuit. The New Orleans Knights lineups included drummer Colin Miller who, years later, joined the Chris Barber Band; banjo player Eddie Edwards; and drummer Laurie Chescoe. They have been billed as both Eric Allandale's New Orleans Knights and The New Orleans Knights Led by Eric Allandale.
They played a lot of original material and if they felt that a number was not pleasing the crowd, they would drop it. Allandale was quoted by Crescendo in the July 1962 issue saying that they could not play Acker or Kenny if they tried and he would not attempt it for all the money in the world. They also included rare Duke Ellington works in their repertoire as well as arrangements by Kenny Graham.
They recorded for the Columbia label, releasing two singles and were represented by Lyn Dutton Agency.

1961

;Eric Allandale's New Orleans Knights
The 28 January 1961 issue of Disc referred to Allandale as the latest addition on the trad Jazz scene. The magazine said that he was the colored trombonist who had featured with the Sonny Morris Band for a long time and now he was leading his own band, The New Orleans Knights. The magazine also noted that he had been in Düsseldorf for the last three months. The line up at the time also included Will Hastie, Geoff Brown, Jim Goudie, Eddie Edwards and Laurie Chescoe.
On Saturday, 25 February, the New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allandale were appearing at the Eel Pie Island Hotel, and they were appearing there on Saturday 25 March and they were appearing again on Saturday April, 1st. They would appear at the venue again at least ten more times.
As of April, 1961, the line up comprised Eric Allandale, Will Hastie, Geoff Brown, Jim Goudie, Eddie Edwards and Laurie Chescoe. That month they were appearing at the jazz club in Wood Green on Saturday 15th, West end Ballroom in Birmingham on Sunday 16th, the Marlborough Hall in Wimbledon on Monday 17th, Railway Hotel in Crawley on Wednesday 19th, the jazz club in Swindon on Thursday 20 April, and J. C in Picadilly on Friday 21st.
Making their television debut, group appeared on the TV show, The Sunday Break which was broadcast on ABC on Sunday 3 December 1961.
On Sunday, 24 December 1961, Eric Allandale's New Orleans Knights played at the Cavern. Other groups that played on that date were, The Swinging Blue Jeans and Johnny Sandon and The Searchers.

1962

The group would have two singles released on Columbia's Landsdowne Jazz Series in the UK in 1962. One of the singles, "Little Hans", had Allandale credited as the new music arranger. The 30 December 1961 issue of Cash Box, had mentioned that the group made their disc debut with "Dominican Carnival" on the Columbia Records Landsdowne Series. It was due for release on 19 January 1962. When the single was released, "Little Hans " was the A side and "Dominican Carnival" was on the B side. It was also released in Germany on Metronome label, catalogue no. B 1521.
Along with The Confederates Jazz band, they appeared on Discs-A-Gogo which was aired on 8 February 1962.
On 6 March Eric Allandale and his New Orleans Knights were appearing at the Jazzshows Jazz Club.
Allandale was pictured on the front cover of the 14 March 1962 issue of Jazz News.
On 22 April, Allandale and group were appearing at the Brighton Chinese Jazz Club for an All Night Rave with Len Baldwin and the Dauphin Street Six, and the New City Jazzmen. On the 24th of that month they were appearing at the Aylesbury Social Club.
On 1 June, Eric Allandale and the New Orleans Knights were broadcasting on EMI's Friday Spectacular which would be heard on Radio Luxembourg. The writer for Disc, Owen Bryce said in the 26 May issue that the group was well worth a listen for their special arrangements.
It was noted in the 22 September 1962 issue of Disc that Laurie Chescoe had left the New Orleans Knights to join Monty Sunshine's Jazz Band where he was replacing Ron Darby. According to the 29 September issue of Disc, Mike Wallace was one of the drummers filling in the spot since the departure of Chescoe. He had previously been with Nat Gonella and Sonny Morris. It was also reported in the issue that Allandale was giving a free show to the inmates at Wandsworth jail on the Wednesday.
Allandale's group was appearing at The Corn Exchange in Bristol on 5 October with the Clyde Valley Stompers for an all-night gig.

1963

Billed as Eric Allendale and his New Orleans Knights, they were appearing at the Jazzshows Jazz Club at 100 Oxford Street in London on 21 January 1963. Another scheduled appearance for the group at the Jazzshows Jazz Club was on 28 May.
;New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allendale
Appearing at the Jazzshows Jazz Club on 4 July, they were now billed as New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allendale. They were still billed as New Orleans Knights led by Eric Allendale and still appearing at the club on 13 August.
By June 1963, the line up comprised Eric Allandale, Ken Simms, Will Hastie, Eddie Edwards, Leslie Harper and Dick Thing. This line up of the group was appearing at the 3rd Northern Jazz Festival at Redcar Racecourse. The group was starting off the evening in the 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm slot followed by Al Fairweather - Sandy Brown All Stars with Tony Coe in the 8:30 pm slot. Chris Barber was also appearing that evening. The New Orleans Knights had one more gig with the 10:30 pm to 11:30 pm slot.
The group was appearing at the Redcar Jazz Club at Coatham Hotel with The Swinging Blue Jeans on 5 August.

Break up

It was after his group broke up that he played with Terry Lightfoot and Alex Welsh.

Line ups

; Line up as of April, 1961
  • Eric Allandale
  • Geoff Brown
  • Laurie Chescoe
  • Eddie Edwards
  • Jim Goudie
  • Will Hastie
; Line up as of June, 1963
  • Eric Allandale
  • Eddie Edwards
  • Leslie Harper
  • Will Hastie
  • Ken Simms
  • Dick Thing

    Later years

Their track "Enjoy Yourself " was included on the 2022 compilation, Gotta Get a Good Thing Goin': The Music of Black Britain in the Sixties. Music magazine Uncut referred to their performance of the song as a rambunctious version.

Romeo Z

In the mid-1960s, Allandale was a member of a group called Romeo Z. The group was led by Stan Chaman. Other members included Stan's brother Clive Chaman on Bass, Eddie Cuansa on trumpet, Allandale on trombone, Erwin Clement on drums and Jerry Elboz on conga and vocals. It was noted by Barry Dawson in the July, 1967 issue of Crescendo that Jerry Day, guitarist Stan Chaman, Allandale, and Clive Chaman were the nucleus of the group with other members as required.
They were discovered by Stanley Myers and Barry Fantoni who spotted them playing at the Chi-Chi club one night. Myers and Fantoni had stopped in to the club and were discussing the kind of switched on song they needed for a switched-on intense movie. There they saw Romeo Z performing and subsequently enlisted the band to record the song "Kaleidoscope" which was used in the film, Kaleidoscope. A single-sided promo 45 of the track was released on KAL 1. The song also appeared on the soundtrack that was released in October that year.
They recorded a single "Come Back, Baby Come Back" bw "Since My Baby Said Goodbye" which was produced by Irving Martin. It was released on CBS 202645 in 1967. It was listed in the CB New Hit Singles selection in the 1 April issue of Melody Maker. It got a brief review in the Shop Window section of the 8 April 1967 issue of New Musical Express. The raw vibrant excitement, Latin and R&B influences, congas and brass were noted.