[5] Early members of the club included Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi, who one week approached Simpson to request a support slot at a future gig for their band, then known as Earth.
[8] Featuring musicians including Tommy Tucker, Willie Mabon, Homesick James, Doctor Ross, Snooky Pryor, Cousin Joe, Eddie "Guitar" Burns, Champion Jack Dupree and Eddie "Playboy" Taylor, Big Bear released a total of 21 albums of American blues during the 1970s.
Assembling a lineup of leading British jazz musicians including Humphrey Lyttelton, Dick Morrissey, Digby Fairweather, Dave Shepherd and Jim Douglas, Big Bear promoted a live jam session on 12 August 1984 at Birmingham's Cannon Hill Park,[11] recorded and released on LP as The M&B Jam Session.
The success of the event provided the impetus for the first Birmingham International Jazz Festival the following summer, which continues to be organised annually by Big Bear Music every July.
[15] Big Bear Records continued to work with prominent names in British jazz into the 1990s, releasing albums by Lady Sings The Blues (fronted by Val Wiseman), Kenny Baker's Dozen, Bruce Adams and Alan Barnes.