In the late Fifties early Sixties, Eel Pie Island was the place to go.Anyone you mention EPI to will suddenly get a glazed look and their memories of the place comes flooding back. Eel Pie Island for those of you who do not know it, is a little island on the Thames near Richmond, to reach it you had to go over a little bridge.It had a dance hall on the Island ,a bit run down to say the least,but fairly large.It housed some of the best Traditional Jazz evenings ever.It had it's own trad jive, an easily recognisable hop step style.It was the scruffiest place you could imagine there were some settees around the perimeter of the dance floor none of which had four legs.If you wanted to impress someone however that was the place to take them.Quite a lot of activity used to go on in the grounds of the Island and some was even going on behind the sofa I was sitting on.It was a magical place for music,some of the best Jazz Bands played it, but Cy Laurie was the favourite there as he gradually got pissed out of his mind as the evening wore on and his and the rest of the band's playing went up a few notches.All the evenings there were memorable for various reasons.
Have you any memories you can share ?
Were you the one with a partner behind my sofa ?
Al