Reverberating sounds of the saxophone

Brighton Buskers in the King's Road arches

“We were drawn to this subway by the reverberating sounds of the saxophone and the flutes that were travelling up onto the street. It was a great atmosphere made by these three musicians and a lot of people gathered round and were quite happy to listen.

“Music is obviously a very important thing for many people living in Brighton. It was lovely to experience this aspect of it. Brighton is very obviously an artistic and cultural centre.”

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  • The photo looks as though it’s the Arches by what used to be Brighton fish market. In the late 50s and early 60s, when the London crowds (called sarcastically the ‘Great Unwashed’ by the locals at the time) used to come down for weekends on the beach, many of the musicians used to play here because of the amazing acoustics which used to echo, not only out to sea, but up to the road above where crowds used to gather to listen and throw money down. I regularly played banjo here together with a great London trumpet player called Diz (nicknamed after Dizzy Gillespie). Good money in those days although we were regularly arrested for begging!  Once we were busking by the Palace Pier and when the police turned up the crowd pelted them with pennies until they retreated and left us alone.
    I remember seeing Tommy Steele, John Baldry, and a host of other well known people playing here, all waiting for the police to turn up and put a stop to the concert. As soon as they’d gone though the concerts continued until the next visit.

    By John Winch (03/04/2015)

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