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Juvenile jazz band
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Juvenile jazz bands are organized groups of children, almost exclusively girls but quite a few had boys as well, who present uniformed marching displays.
The instruments used are usually kazoos, glockenspiel and drums, and old time jazz standards, such as "The Saints" are favored.
The earliest bands started in the late 1950s , enjoyed a heyday in the 70s and 80s and had virtually died-out by the turn of the century.
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Juvenile jazz bands are organized groups of children, almost exclusively girls but quite a few had boys as well, who present uniformed marching displays.
The instruments used are usually kazoos, glockenspiel and drums, and old time jazz standards, such as "The Saints" are favored.
The earliest bands started in the late 1950s , enjoyed a heyday in the 70s and 80s and had virtually died-out by the turn of the century. But some still exsist today even though the mining communities of England and Wales have largely died out with the demise of the coal industry in the UK
Geographically, Juvenile jazz bands were confined almost exclusively to working-class mining areas in the North of England and the Midlands, although there were quite a few bands in the mining areas of Wales. Historically, the bands originated in the tradition of coal miners' union marches and colliery brass bands. It was felt that the children should be allowed to participate and the earliest bands were the children's section of trade union parades.
The juvenile jazz band the Pelaw Hussars famously appeared in the film Get Carter.
Jazz bands still exist today of course but nowhere near in the numbers that they once did, especially in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which was their heyday. Back then it appeared that every event, from the Cleveland Show down to your local church garden fete was invaded by girls in military style uniforms, marching in formation playing, “When The Saints Go Marching In?? on massed kazoos.
Juvenile Jazz Bands were apparently largely confined to the industrial areas of England and Wales, concentrated mainly in the North East and the Welsh valleys but were virtually unknown in the South of England. There is still an organisation named the Jazz Band Federation, which oversees and organises competitions between the various bands at a national level. Apparently the competition is still intense and was most likely to have been even fiercer, back in the good old days of the 70s and 80s.
But why did so many young girls flock in their thousands to join these bands? Who made the uniforms, which were in a lot of cases very elaborate? Who organised the bands and trained them? Who were the elite bands in the Teesside region and why? What was the competitive spirit like and how was one band judged to be better than another? And did they ever play anything other than, “When The Saints Go Marching In???
So many questions, but only you out there have the answers. This is a part of Teesside history that has nearly disappeared so if you were in a Juvenile Jazz Band we want to hear from you, so let’s relive the past together and let everyone know what it was like.
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