Description:Many musicians and artists came to Britain during the period of post-war migration in the twentieth century. With them they brought artistic forms from their countries of origin such as Trinidadian calypsos, which were reproduced in a new setting and which influenced the popular cultural landscape of Britain.
One musician who arrived in Birmingham at this time was jazz saxophonist Andy Hamilton. Jamaican-born Hamilton performed with his band in many venues on the island including a hotel in Port Antonio where he met actor Errol Flynn with whom he collaborated in the late 1940s.
Hamilton migrated to Britain in 1949 and settled in Birmingham where he formed his band The Blue Notes. The above photograph taken from the Dyche collection shows Hamilton with his fellow musicians in the 1950s.
Additional images of Andy Hamilton and other black musicians can be found in the collection of photographs by Pogus Caesar, held at Birmingham Central Library.