First Concert

[Dave James]

We may have done this at some point, but if we have, I can't recall. Anyhow, this question popped up three times on my Facebook account today and I thought it might fun to kick around here. I'm not talking about jazz, just the first show you ever saw that featured a famous band.

For me, it was The Beach Boys in Corvallis, Oregon. I looked up the date of the concert on the internet tonight. It was March 6, 1966.

[brownie]

The Lionel Hampton orchestra at the Palais de Chaillot in September 1953 (I was a few weeks short of turning 14).

That was the band with Clifford Brown, Art Farmer, Quincy Jones, Jimmy Cleveland, Gigi Gryce...).

[JSngry]

Basie, Shreveport, La, one Sunday in Dec. 1970, possibly the 13th.

Lockjaw was on the band then, and was featured heavily all night. I didn't know then who he was or what I was hearing. Definitely fodder for "if you had a time machine..." thread, that one is.

[A Lark Ascending]

King Crimson, Oct/Nov 1972 at the Oxford New Theatre (that's the real Oxford).

First jazz concert? Went to several jazz-rocky things by the likes of Nucleus in the mid 70s and even a bizarre Lol Coxhill gig where he played in a a student union refrectory by candlelight; but the first one I recall thinking 'I'm going to a jazz concert' was Stan Tracey's quartet when they toured Under Milk Wood with poet Donald Houston in the autumn of 1976.

Edited March 28, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[JohnS]

Dave Brubeck Quartet at the Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, London. February 1958. Just around my 16th birthday. In support the Jazz Couriers. The Couriers portion of the concert was issued shortly after on record.

[Jim R]

To the best of my recollection, my first concert was probably Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops. I'd guess I was 8 or 9, so probably around '64 or '65.

I think my first jazz concert was The Crusaders, in '73, at the "Jungle Theater" at Marine World (Africa/USA). Saw them again a couple of years later at the Circle Star Theater

Around the same time, I saw the Sons Of Champlin at a local high school gym. There were probably only 50 or 60 people there, all of us standing right in front of the stage. Intimate almost to the point of being weird, but what a big, impressive sound they put out. Champlin played keyboards, guitar, and alto sax, and his voice was perhaps at its peak.

[BFrank]

I started with a BANG!

Jimi Hendrix, Soft Machine, East Side Kids: Robertson Gymnasium, UC Santa Barbara - 2/11/1968

First jazz concert:

Freddie Hubbard (I think with Junior Cook, Lenny White and ...?), Charles Lloyd: Campbell Hall, UC Santa Barbara - 11/20/1971

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I think it was The Platters - at the Odeon, Bradford in 1957.

I thought they were wonderful. And I still think they were unbeatable at what they did.

MG

[sidewinder]

I think it was the Halle Orchestra - also in Bradford! (St George's Hall)

First jazz - probably Dutch Swing College Band. Followed by Woody Herman Thundering Herd.

Edited March 28, 2010 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

To the best of my recollection, my first concert was probably Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops. I'd guess I was 8 or 9, so probably around '64 or '65.

Good lord, Jim. I always imagined you as somewhat older than me (based on your breadth of knowledge and even-handed judgment). Yet you seem to be about the same age!

[porcy62]

The first one I have memories is Sun Ra Orchestra in 1977 (maybe) at Pisa Jazz Festival, I was very 'impressed'.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I can't remember the first jazz gig I went to - I suppose Ray Charles doesn't count

I expect it was someone at the Bridge Hotel, Barnes or maybe Ealing Town Hall. Yes, I think it was Acker Bilk at Ealing Town Hall - a jazz set, not "Stranger on the shore" set - that recording came later. I think Ken Colyer was on the bill, too.

MG

[sidewinder]

The first one I have memories is Sun Ra Orchestra in 1977 (maybe) at Pisa Jazz Festival, I was very 'impressed'.

Was he playing the Crumar Mainman standing back-to-front yet?

[porcy62]

The first one I have memories is Sun Ra Orchestra in 1977 (maybe) at Pisa Jazz Festival, I was very 'impressed'.

Was he playing the Crumar Mainman standing back-to-front yet?

I don't remember, the weed's smoke from the audience covered most of the stage, I didn't inhale, obviously.

[Jazzjet]

Mine was the Modern jazz Quartet at either the New Victoria Theatre or Odeon, London probably 1964 or 1965. I remember getting special dispensation from school ( I was a boarder ) to attend. I felt really grown up, in a way I haven't since.

[Dan Gould]

First concert was Simon and Garfunkel in Central Park in 1981. First jazz concert was the MJQ in 1988 in St. Louis. Or else the Ray Brown Trio at the Blue Note, I'm not 100% sure.

[Matthew]

Mine was after a San Diego Padre game in the early 70s, Wishbone Ash (of all bands) was the headliner. Shows how much time has changed, they set up the stage on the outfield grass, and let us come down on the field to watch.

[A Lark Ascending]

First classical was Mahler 3 (late-74, I think) at the Royal Festival Hall - Pierre Boulez and, I think, the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Very exciting - I'd only just found a way into classical at the time and knew little more than some Sibelius, Mahler and Stravinsky from records.

Edited March 28, 2010 by Bev Stapleton

[jeffcrom]

Emerson, Lake and Palmer in Atlanta in 1974, I think.

My first jazz concert was the Gary Burton Quartet in 1976 at the Great Southeast Music Hall in Atlanta. I think the band was Burton, Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow, and could it have been Bob Moses on drums? The opening act was supposed to be Michael Urbaniak, of whom I had heard, but he cancelled at the last minute and was replaced by the Dixie Dregs, who had not yet released their first album on Capricorn. They impressed me almost as much as Burton's group.

[Dan Gould]

Mine was after a San Diego Padre game in the early 70s, Wishbone Ash (of all bands) was the headliner. Shows how much time has changed, they set up the stage on the outfield grass, and let us come down on the field to watch.

For some reason this jogs my memory. First concert was somewhere on Long Island, an outdoor venue, sometime in the early 70s. America performed, and I really liked it because I was 7 years old and loved "Horse With No Name" (and still do, so by all means, shoot me).

[Shawn]

I just spent the past 20 minutes trying to track down the actual date of this concert, but was finally successful...

The Doobie Brothers with UFO opening. October 5, 1978 - Roanoke Civic Center

I was 8.

[mjzee]

Frank Zappa and The Mothers, Sea Train and The Insect Trust at the Fillmore East, May 1970. Flo & Eddie were in the band, but this was a year before the Fillmore 1971 album. Hmmm, might have been April. I was 14...

Edited March 28, 2010 by mjzee

[Chuck Nessa]

Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps at the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines - probably 1957.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

'70 or '71 Chicago Transit Authority w/ my parents. Sat in the first row ... man it was LOUD!

[medjuck]

Gene Autry at the local hockey rink probably in the late forties/early fifties. First jazz concert may have been Sun Ra quintet in summer of '61. He played the Xmas song.