TIME MACHINE
JULY 1960 ...The Beaulieu Jazz Festival riots!
There’s a jazz riot goin’ on: (clockwise from above) Memphis Slim;
the 1960 Beaulieu Jazz Festival poster;
a storage shed burns, July 31, 1960.
The John Dankworth Orchestra on the merrygo-round;
Acker Bilk (far left) and band performing at the event;
Getty (8)
JULY 30 There’d been outrage at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island earlier in the month, when the National Guard used tear gas to pacify streets full of bottle-throwing drunks unable to gain admittance. The governor declared a state of emergency, and Charles Mingus, who was part of a rival event held nearby, reputedly threatened to throw acid in the face of NJF co-organiser Louis Lorillard. Over in Britain this Bank Holiday Weekend, another jazz event saw trouble which would be remembered as The Battle Of Beaulieu.
The Beaulieu Jazz Festival had been held since 1956 at the 8,000-acre Hampshire pile of 33-year-old hereditary peer Edward Montagu- Scott. Compered by Lord Montagu and broadcaster Alan Dell, and with around 10,000 attendees expected, this year the three-day bill featured acts including: Acker Bilk And His Paramount Jazz Band, the Johnny Dankworth Orchestra with Cleo Laine and Memphis Slim (Saturday); Humphrey Lyttelton, Wally Fawkes, and The Dill Jones Trio (Sunday); and Victor Feldman, the Tubby Hayes Quartet and the quintets of Ronnie Scott and Joe Harriott (Monday). The Radio Times spoke of “floodlit stone ramparts,” and that five BBC TV cameras would capture the action live from 10.45pm until 11.25pm on Saturday.