Heard for the first time - Sunderland band's 1977 recording gets its first ever public airing

A jazz group’s recording of a song called The Fizz Dog Blues has never been heard by the public at large before.

But the production, which was made at Bede School in 1977, can finally be heard thanks to the man who founded the group.

The ten-member jazz group was called The Fizz Dogs and its founder was Richard Geere who told us: “It covers a wide variety of talented Sunderland musicians and dancers. We were all young and aged between 16 and 22 but we were passionate about performing.

"There were no actual school jazz bands around at this time.”

“The audience reaction was very encouraging, and we were able to do a few more gigs before I left for uni. Sad really, because it was such a great bunch of people.”

The Fizz Dogs were made up of John Bell on trombone, Tommy Wright on trumpet, Beverly Horn (tap dancer), Nigel Atkinson, on drums, Ian Johnson on trumpet, Bede School music teacher Mr Parker, (bass guitar), Michael Lomas (trombone), Paul Davison (clarinet), Joanne Latham (tap dancer) and Richard Geere who was on piano and who ‘put the whole thing together.”

Richard will be known to many Echo followers as he was also the accompanist and arranger to the Sunderland-based Rosslyn Babes’ from 1974 to 1980.

He said the recording by The Fizz Dogs had ‘never seen the light of day’ until now.

Were you there for that original live performance of The Fizz Dog Blues? Tell us more by emailing [email protected]

Support your Echo and become a subscriber today.

Enjoy unlimited access to all of our news and sport, see fewer ads, experience faster load times, test your brain with daily puzzles and get access to exclusive newsletters.

Your support for our journalism means we can continue telling Sunderland’s stories for generations to come. Click here to subscribe - and click here to get a snapshot of the Echo’s news and sport to your inbox through our email newsletters.