After our three-year residency in the City of London (The Rumboe Years) I only played with Coops sporadically until we did our Dutch tour in 1985 (Low Country Life). I would call him every now and then for a gig at a pub or restaurant, usually just a duo. And occasionally he would do the same for me.

If I knew he was playing at a particular venue, I would sometimes turn up just for a chat during the interval although he was doing quite a lot with a really horrible trad outfit which I found rather offensive. I thought it was a waste of his talent appearing in that type of band but Coops always remained sympathetic to his musical roots.

It was in the spring of 1990 that Jazz at the Junction sprang shakily into life. Coops had been playing in an East End pub near the art institute where he sometimes taught. It was a very successful scene and the locals all flocked into the pub making the guvnor very happy.

In a fortunate co-incidence the landlord had decided to take over a pub called the Plough near Clapham Junction and wanted Coops to fix up some jazz sessions for him. The pub was only a couple of hundred yards from my front door in Plough Road and not a lot further from Coop’s Bolly residence in the other direction.

Thus we achieved most musicians’ dream, a residency which was literally a walk from home and no worries about drinking and driving, transport there and back, and the rest of it. One of Coops’ old cronies, Stan Greig, sold the guvnor, Denis, a piano (although that was to cause grief later) and we were all set to go.

The band went through various permutations before it eventually settled into a trio and when we kicked off in June 1990, it was a quintet. My memory is failing me somewhat here but I think it included a Dutchman playing violin. Not many punters turned up to start but Denis, a scouser and a charming man, was not concerned at all. “Don’t worry, mate,” he told me, “it’ll pick up as time goes by and if it doesn’t I don’t care. I like having jazz in my pub…”

Picture: Coops served in the RAF for his national service. It is unclear for which campaign this medal was awarded although it could have been the Campaign for Real Ale.

Continued on Junction 3