1965 – the last days of Aylesbury Bluesville

May 1965 saw the end of Aylesbury Bluesville, and with it the link with promoters Ron and Nanda Lesley, who had begun the Aylesbury Jazz Club at the Grosvenor Ballroon in January 1961. The Lesleys also promoted in London and other towns, and in particular in Ipswich on Monday evenings, where they continued with the local Bluesville for a few more years.

The list of artists appearing at Aylesbury Bluesville in 1965 typified those who had been promoted by the Lesleys in previous years: from the world of trad jazz there was Kenny Ball and Chris Barber, and from R&B there was the Spencer Davis Group, Rod Stewart and the Soul Agents and the Yardbirds.

Rod Stewart had previously appeared at Aylesbury Bluesville many times with Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men – and some say that it was the Lesleys who first billed Rod Stewart as “Rod the Mod”. In an interview with Geoff Bradford in 2002, Long John Baldry recalled: “They were the people who nicknamed Rod the Mod – they started putting it on posters, Rod the Mod Stewart.”

Aylesbury Bluesville 1965:

DateClubArtist 1   
5/1/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleTony Knight and the Chessmen
19/1/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleSpencer Davis Group
26/1/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleKenny Ball and his Jazzmen
2/2/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleThe Art Woods R&B
9/2/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleRod Stewart and the Soul Agents
16/2/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleSpencer Davis Group
23/2/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleThe Downliners Sect
2/3/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleChris Barber's Jazzband
9/3/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleThe Yardbirds
16/3/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleThe Cheynes
6/4/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleThe Downliners Sect
13/4/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleT-Bones
20/4/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleThe Shevelles
27/4/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleZoot Money and his Big Roll Band
4/5/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleThe Downliners Sect
11/5/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleJohn Mayall's Blues Breakers
25/5/1965Aylesbury BluesvilleGarry Farr and the T-Bones

2 thoughts on “1965 – the last days of Aylesbury Bluesville

  1. Richard Matthews

    My membership card for Aylesbury Jazz Club
    At Grosvenor Ballroom
    is date stamped 29 DEC 1959
    I met Nanda and Ron Lesley at the Norfolk Arms Wembley that year.
    Last membership card for Aylesbury Jazz Club 9/1/62
    Venue: The Town Hall Aylesbury
    Supervised by Nanda and Ron Lesley

    • That’s fantastic, Richard. Would be interesting to see a photo of the membership cards. Do you have any special memories of the Aylesbury Jazz Club?

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