Welcome. We’re Vintage 78 Gramophone DJs and play live to audiences at all kinds of places from our own lounge to café bars, weddings and corporate events.
We started collecting these fantastic old discs and players some time ago and it became our passion to play them and to introduce them to live audiences all over the UK.
We come with picnic style gramophones with the pop up lids which we wind up to play.
All our records are old shellac 78rpm discs and the music ranges from the 20s through to the late 50’s so can include the big band sound of the 40’s (Glen Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington etc) rock and roll, ( Elvis, Little Richard), skiffle (Lonnie Donegan, the Vipers, Chas McDevitt) classic crooners (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the rest of the Rat Pack) plus some really old 20’s music of the great Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and the like. We also have selections for strict time dancing, Christmas songs, comedy, monologues and for the aficionados out there some really heavy jazz.
It’s just about a complete history of 20th century music up to the late 50s on old 78 records!
The players can be amplified through our compact pa system which means we can play bigger halls but quite often it’s just not necessary.
We pride ourselves on getting the music right and lots of our old records are in near mint condition guaranteeing that the sound quality from our superbly maintained gramophone players is the highest “low-fi” you will hear!
In addition we’re collectors of all things vintage and will dress in 40′s or 50s clothes for the occasion. We can also “dress the set” appropriately with a huge selection of props to fit in with the style of the event.

Matt says “As a musician I wanted to experience the music as people would have heard it originally. I read an interview with Dizzy (Gillespie) and he said he’d worn out a record of Miles (Davis) in a day! It had to be a 78 so I went out and got one.The experience is real and immediate and it’s become a mission to collect this stuff and get it out there somehow. My knowledge and understanding of the music has grown and every time we acquire discs we learn more. 78 DJ is just the best and most fun way to hear this music and it’s feels great when the audience digs and dances to the discs.” Vout!
Matt Nickson, founder of Matt and Phred’s Jazz Club and the Manchester Jazz Festival is Jazz musician and promoter. Check out Matt at www.myspace.com/mattnicksonquartet. And contact him matt@mattnickson.com for all your musical event needs.