Mersey Beat - The Jacaranda

  

 

Not the biggest venue by any means on the local scene but The Jacaranda is memorable for being the first place that the young lads who were to become the biggest band in the world cemented their musical friendship.

Founded in 1957 when Allan Williams leased what was then Owens Watch Repair Shop at 23 Slater Street and then converted it into a coffee bar which he opened in September the following year. The Jacaranda is named after an exotic species of ornamental flowering tree and became well known for its love of grassroots music and, back in the 1950s, it provided local teenagers with an environment to hear modern, American-influenced music and to socialise without the watchful eyes of parents or schoolteachers. With a new 'innovation' of the time, an Italian espresso machine, along with a jukebox and live performances, it also provided a popular, cool and colourful atmosphere.

A group of West Indians called 'Lord Woodbine and his All-Steel Caribbean Band' were probably the first to play there and were the resident band. The area was frequented by a large variety of people, professionals, office workers and students, as there were quite a few other coffee bars in the vicinity. John Lennon, Bill Harry and Stuart Sutcliffe were to become regulars as were Gerry Marsden, Rory Storm and Johnny Guitar. It is thought that John Lennon together with Paul McCartney, who attended the local Liverpool Institute, would hang around here in an attempt to pick up the 'sound' of the steel band, both being overwhelmed by this different Caribbean music. It was here that Allan Williams succumbed to their pleas and allowed them to practice in the basement in exchange for them and their friends painting the women's toilet and doing other odd jobs around the place where he eventually became their unofficial manager. Note: It is often written that John Lennon helped with the painting but Bill Harry is on record as saying that he and John merely watched.

It was at the Jacaranda that John Lennon wrote one of his earliest songs, 'One After 909', and it was here that Ringo Starr, then a member of a far more successful Liverpool group, 'Rory Storm and the Hurricanes', popped his head in one day to hear Stuart Sutcliffe being given tuition by the others on how to play the bass. This would be the first time he heard the group that he would eventually join.

It was also here that John Lennon, shortly before 'The Beatles' set off on their second trip to Hamburg, gave Bill Harry some scraps of paper on which he'd written his witty version on The Birth of The Beatles. Bill Harry says, "It was the piece I'd asked him to write about The Beatles' origins for my new music paper 'The Mersey Beat' and was delighted to include it on page 2 of the first issue."

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2018/01/mersey-beat-blue-angel.html