Club Riga, Southend: 13 October 2001

Paul Moules, for BtP

BtP is grateful to Paul for this special report of the night : for other accounts, visit his excellent Mickey Jupp website

If you visit The Riga Music Bar website you can see the following video clips of Mickey Jupp, Mick Brownlee and Gary Brooker in action. See a 2002 picture of Mick with Gary Brooker and Chris Copping.

The Mickey Jupp Band / Gary Brooker and Friends / Hunt Runt Shunt and Cunningham

Club Riga, Saturday 13 October 2001. Tonight is a very special evening with some very special guests. This must be one of the hottest line-ups Club Riga has seen since the days of the Cricketers back in the very early 1960s. On stage this evening we have Southend’s Long Distance Romancer, Mickey Jupp, Gary Brooker from Procol Harum (tonight in more of a Paramounts mood), Mo Witham, John Bobin, Dave Bronze and finally Mick Brownlee completing the line-up.

Why are all these people here this evening? Simple, Mick Brownlee (original drummer with the Paramounts) is retiring. Mick has been behind the kit for forty years. He was at the heart of Southend Rock from the very beginning. For the last 25 or so years, you would have found Mick playing with "Hunt Runt Shunt and Cunningham" – the last gig this band played was a private party in August of this year.

It was a little before 10.30pm, we had just finished watching the Mickey Jupp band in the first half: the lights went down and you could hear the distinct voice of Gary Brooker, from behind the stage curtain.  The Opening track was Ol' Black Joe.  The curtain came back and the band were straight into the song:  Mick Brownlee on drums, Dave Bronze on Bass and Mo Witham on guitar. I’m sure some of you would have seen Dave Bronze playing with "No Stiletto Shoes" alongside Gary, Andy Fairweather-Low and Henry Spinetti – he was also called up a few years ago by EC – Eric Clapton. Mo has been playing in bands for as many years as Gary and Mick – he’s worked with Cliff Richard, Suzi Quatro, Frankie Ford and many great artists over the years. His finest hour was as one quarter of Mickey Jupp’s Legend from 1969 to 1972. Second number of the evening was Poison Ivy – I saw "No Stiletto Shoes" at Riga just over a year ago – unfortunately I missed some of the first half, which meant I missed Poison Ivy.  I don't think this song has lost any of the feel than when the Paramounts first recorded it in the early sixties – it still sounds fresh after all these years. 

At the end of the number, Gary Brooker took a few minutes out to pay his homage to Mick Brownlee by asking him to stand up.  We were given an insight into "Why Mick Brownlee is retiring" – Gary put the record straight: "It's because he can't keep the drums in his flat!"  The motto of the evening from Gary was "Let's Work Together" – as he said "Something in G" – it turned out to be the Canned Heat song Let's Work Together.  We had some more chat from Gary, reminiscing on the first time he met Mick Brownlee – this turned out to be a rock contest at The Palace Hotel – bands like The Raiders, The Outlaws (Mick Brownlee's old band) and The Coasters (who Gary was playing with at the time).  Bob Scott pulled Mick out of the Raiders, Gary from the Coasters and introduced Robin Trower to the guys and "The Paramounts" were born. 

Their first gig, as Gary remembers, was at an RAF base somewhere in Suffolk.  On the way home from the gig (after the band had drunk around 53 beers and cokes and seen their first black person) they stopped at a coffee bar.  A jukebox was playing in the corner and people were twisting – the song on the jukebox was the next number of the evening, Hello Josephine.  During the song Gary took the opportunity to mimic the dance he had seen some 38 years previous.  Out of the blue Gary started a song and requested that Mick Brownlee sang a few bars of it – Red Sails In The Sunset – we got one verse from Mick – the next verse was a bit sketchy with a few ad- libs – shame Mick didn't get the chance to sing Hallelujah I Love You So.  The Warren Smith classic Ubangi Stomp was given a good treatment and so was the next number, Blueberry Hill.  Gary spoke to the audience and said that he would do requests – right behind my shoulder was James "Boogie Man" Sumner who got in first with Hit The Road Jack – this was my favourite number of the whole night.  Mo was right on form and Gary sang the song so effortlessly.  A bit of a departure for the set took us into The Weight – originally by "The Band".  A bit of rock and roll followed in the form of Jerry Lee Lewis's High School Confidential.  One of Leiber / Stoller's numbers Searching was next – originally recorded by "The Coasters". 

Gary took the opportunity to get in a few small anecdotes about Mick Brownlee – he commented that Mick was always the one on time at gigs – never in time, but on time – he would always keep the band in time and never speed up or slow down, even when the band wanted him too – all light-hearted stuff.  A guest singer was brought on stage, Glum (Will Birch informs me he played with the Bottles).  He sang Ally Oop – I haven't heard this song before – apparently all about a caveman.  The band helped out with the backing vocals, Gary, Mo, Dave and Mick.  Gary then invited Mick to play any drum solo that he liked – I don't think Mick was ready for this – Mo started playing the riff to Peter Gunn Theme which gave Mr Brownlee the opportunity to display his talents on the kit.  At the end of the number Gary re-joined the band and took the riff a little faster into Brand New Cadillac.

The closing number of the evening was Whiter Shade of Pale – one of those timeless classics I never get bored of hearing – the end piece of this song shows another side of Gary's piano playing – some classical roots perhaps. The evening continued until just after midnight with Tony Sumner playing a couple of numbers with Mick Brownlee, Denis Masterson and Mo Witham (Hunt Runt Shunt and Cunningham) and the Mickey Jupp band playing out the final 30 minutes. It was a great evening with full value for money music played by some of the finest musicians this country has produced.

Here are the stats on the evening:

The Bands:

The Bands' Set Lists:

Many thanks, Paul!