The Concorde Club was launched in 1957 in Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

 by jazz aficionado Cole Mathieson, and is the oldest jazz club under the same management in the United Kingdom and possibly the world. Its standing in the UK jazz world has been recognised by the August 2009 award of the inaugural (Kind of) Blue Plaque, following a nationwide vote among jazz followers and musicians organised by the Brecon Jazz Festival

Brecon Jazz Festival

Brecon Jazz Festival is a music festival held on an annual basis in the rural surroundings of Brecon, in south Powys, Mid Wales. Normally staged in early August, it plays host to a range of jazz musicians who travel from across the world to take part and to many visiting tourists who are attracted...

. http://www.breconjazz.org/kindofblue.html The award, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 classic album Kind of Blue

Kind of Blue

Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959...

, is to honour the jazz establishment considered to have done most for the development of jazz in the United Kingdom.

Mathieson, a former jazz drummer, started the Concorde in a converted restaurant at the back of the Bassett Hotel pub in Southampton in 1957, two years before Ronnie Scott

Ronnie Scott

Ronnie Scott was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner.-Life and career:Ronnie Scott was born in Aldgate, east London, into a family of Russian Jewish descent on his father's side, and Portuguese antecedents on his mother's. Scott began playing in small jazz clubs at the age of...

 launched his club in London. Among the major jazz musicians who played at the Concorde Club in the Bassett were American masters Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...

, Ben Webster

Ben Webster

Benjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...

, Buck Clayton

Buck Clayton

Buck Clayton was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie’s "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong...

, Bud Freeman

Bud Freeman

Lawrence "Bud" Freeman was a U.S. jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing the tenor saxophone, but also able at the clarinet. He had a smooth and full tenor sax style with a heavy robust swing. He was one of the most influential and important jazz tenor saxophonists of...

, Wild Bill Davison

Wild Bill Davison

Wild' Bill Davison was a fiery jazz cornet player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s...

, and home-grown giants of the genre including Nat Gonella

Nat Gonella

Nathaniel Charles Gonella was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist and mellophonist born in London, perhaps most notable for his work with the big band he founded, The Georgians....

, Vic Ash

Vic Ash

Victor "Vic" Ash , is an English jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Ash began playing professionally in 1951 when, together with Tubby Hayes, he joined the band of Kenny Baker, with whom he played until 1953...

, Tommy Whittle

Tommy Whittle

Tommy Whittle is a British jazz saxophonist.Whittle was born in Grangemouth, Scotland and started playing clarinet at age 12 before taking up the tenor saxophone at 13. He moved to Chatham, Kent at 16 and in 1943 started playing in the dance hall band of Claude Giddins in nearby Gillingham...

, Tubby Hayes

Tubby Hayes

Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest British jazz instrumentalists.- Early life :Hayes was born...

, Joe Harriott

Joe Harriott

Joseph Arthurlin 'Joe' Harriott was a Jamaican jazz musician and composer, whose principal instrument was the alto saxophone....

, Kenny Baker

Kenny Baker

Kenneth George "Kenny" Baker is a British actor and musician, best known as the man inside R2-D2 in the popular Star Wars film series.- Career :...

, Tony Coe

Tony Coe

Anthony George Coe is a composer and jazz musician who plays clarinet, bass clarinet, and tenor saxophone.Coe began his performing career playing with Humphrey Lyttelton's band from 1957 to 1962...

, Allan Ganley

Allan Ganley

Allan Ganley was a respected English jazz drummer and arranger, who played with many famous names....

, plus the bands of Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...

, Chris Barber

Chris Barber

Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...

, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball

Kenny Ball

Kenny Ball is an English jazz musician, best known as the lead trumpet player in Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.-Career:...

 and Alex Welsh

Alex Welsh

Alex Welsh was a Scottish jazz musician, who played the cornet, trumpet and sang.-Biography:Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Welsh started playing in the teenage 'Leith Silver Band' and gigged with Archie Semple's 'Capital Jazz Band'. After moving to London in the early 1950s, Welsh formed his own band...

.

The Concorde widened its tastes to take in rhythm and blues, called "a cousin of jazz" by Mathieson. The resident band in 1962 was the then unknown Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...

, and other little-known artistes who made early appearances at the club included Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

, Robert Plant

Robert Plant

Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...

, Georgie Fame

Georgie Fame

Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...

, Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....

, Ginger Baker

Ginger Baker

Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...

 and Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

 when he was still known as Reg Dwight.

In 1970 the Concorde had to find a new home when the Bassett Hotel was turned into a steak house. Mathieson moved the club to a run-down Victorian-age schoolhouse in North Stoneham

North Stoneham

North Stoneham is a settlement and ecclesiastical parish in south Hampshire, England. It was formerly an ancient estate and manor. Until the nineteenth century, it was a rural community comprising a number of scattered hamlets, including Middle Stoneham, North End, and Bassett Green, and...

, near Eastleigh

Eastleigh

Eastleigh is a railway town in Hampshire, England, and the main town in the Eastleigh borough which is part of Southampton Urban Area. The town lies between Southampton and Winchester, and is part of the South Hampshire conurbation...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

. During the following 30-plus years Mathieson slowly developed the Concorde into an all-round entertainment centre. The old schoolhouse has been enlarged to take in a restaurant, a wine bar (the Moldy Fig), a 300-seat concert venue and a 35-room hotel called the Ellington Lodge, with each room named after a jazzman who has featured at the club.

The club has a 4,500 membership, and a waiting list of hundreds. It now features tribute band nights, a wine society, corporate dinners and presentations, supper and dinner clubs, but jazz remains at the heart of the Concorde. A list of the jazz artistes regularly appearing there reads like a Who's Who of post-war jazz, including Sir John Dankworth

John Dankworth

Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...

, Dame Cleo Laine

Cleo Laine

Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...

, Don Lusher

Don Lusher

Don Lusher OBE was a jazz and big band trombonist best known for his association with the Ted Heath Big Band...

, George Chisholm

George Chisholm

George Chisholm may refer to:* George Chisholm , British geographer* George Chisholm , British trombone player and bandleader*George Chisholm...

, Roy Budd

Roy Budd

Roy Frederick Budd , was a British jazz musician and composer, known for his film scores.Born in Mitcham, Surrey, Budd became interested in music from an early age and had built up a vast musical repertoire by the age of eight...

, Digby Fairweather

Digby Fairweather

Digby Fairweather is a British jazz cornettist and broadcaster.-Biography:Fairweather has been a professional jazz musician since 1 January 1977, but worked for seven years previously with several local jazz bands in the Essex area and recorded his first album in 1975...

, Alan Barnes

Alan Barnes (musician)

Alan Barnes is an English Jazz musician.- Career :Alan Barnes attended Leeds College of Music between 1977–80 where he studied saxophone, woodwinds and arranging before moving to London. In 1980 he played with the Midnight Follies Orchestra and the following year was with the Pasadena Roof...

, Simon Spillett, Jamie Cullum

Jamie Cullum

Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...

 and overseas stars of the calibre of Stephane Grapelli, Sonny Stitt

Sonny Stitt

Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...

, Ruby Braff

Ruby Braff

Reuben "Ruby" Braff was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Gary Moore TV show and described Ruby as "The Ivy League Louis Armstrong."Braff was born in Boston...

, Barney Kessell, Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...

, Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton (musician)

Scott Hamilton is a jazz tenor saxophonist, born in 1954 and associated with swing and mainstream jazz.-Biography:He emerged in the 1970s and at the time he was considered to be one of the few musicians of real talent who carried the tradition of the classic jazz tenor saxophone in the style of...

 and Bud Shank

Bud Shank

Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first...

. The Concorde has become a popular venue for a parade of leading female jazz singers including Clare Teal

Clare Teal

Clare Teal is an English jazz singer who has become famous not only for her singing, but also for having signed the biggest ever recording contract by a British jazz singer.-Biography:...

, Stacey Kent

Stacey Kent

Stacey Kent is a Grammy nominated American jazz singer.- Background :Kent attended Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey. Her paternal grandfather was Russian. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and moved to England after her graduation...

, Jacqui Dankworth and Rosemary Squires. The late Marion Montgomery

Marion Montgomery

Marion Montgomery was a United States born jazz singer who lived in the United Kingdom.Born Maud Runnells in Natchez, Mississippi, she began her career in Atlanta working clubs, and then in Chicago where singer Peggy Lee heard her on an audition tape and suggested she should be signed up by...

 was a regular singer at the Concorde, accompanied by her pianist husband Laurie Holloway

Laurie Holloway

Laurie Holloway is a British pianist and composer from Oldham, Lancashire. He is perhaps best known as the Musical Director for Michael Parkinson's chat show firstly on the BBC and more recently on ITV...

 who often returns to the club with his trio.

Cole Mathieson published his memoirs in the spring of 2008: The Concorde Club, the First 50 Years http://www.concordebook.co.uk It has an introduction by Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...

, who 'left the building' the day the book was due to go to press. Humph, who made his last appearance at the Concorde Club on 9 April 2008, signed off his introduction with his autograph accompanied by a caricature of himself. It was the last cartoon that Humph drew, and he agreed that it could be auctioned for charity, not realizing the full significance of it. His final cartoon raised £1,300 for the Wessex Cancer Trust.

The Concorde http://www.theconcordeclub.com remains a family-run business with Cole at the helm, aided by his wife, Pauline and his son Jamie. Cole has been made an Eastleigh Citizen of Honour for his services to local charities. The club has raised more than £100,000 for various charities from regular fund-raising events at the Club including an annual pantomime season staged each year close to Easter! Mathieson serves on both the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

and the British Jazz Awards committees.