British jazz

Jazz in Britain has been performed in the country since shortly after the music's first appearance on record in 1917. A number of British musicians have gained international reputations, although adherents of this music have often felt embattled within the UK itself.

History

Jazz in Britain is usually said to have begun with the British tour of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1919. That stated, British popular music aficionados in the 1920s generally preferred the terms "hot" or "straight" dance music to the term "jazz." Jazz in Britain also faced a similar difficulty to Brazilian jazz and French jazz, namely it tended to be seen by figures of authority as a bad influence, but in Britain the concern that jazz was from the United States appears to have been less important than in France or Brazil. Instead those who objected to it did so more because they deemed it "riotous" or unnerving. One of the earliest popular jazz dance bands was that of Fred Elizalde, who broadcast on the BBC from 1926 to 1929.

By the early 1930s music journalism in Britain, notably through the "Melody Maker", had created an appreciation of the importance of the leading American jazz soloists and was beginning to recognise the improvising talents of some local musicians. Louis Armstrong played residencies in London and Glasgow in 1932, followed in subsequent years by the Duke Ellington Orchestra and Coleman Hawkins. But local jazz culture was limited to London where: "jazz was played after hours in a couple of restaurants that encouraged musicians to come in and jam for drinks". [cite book | author=Collier, James Lincoln | title=Louis Armstrong | publisher=Pan | year=1984 | id=ISBN 0-330-28607-2, p250] The groups of Nat Gonella and Spike Hughes became notable within Britain early in the decade; Hughes was even invited to New York to arrange, compose and lead what, in effect, was Benny Carter's Orchestra of the time. Carter himself worked in London for the BBC in 1936.

During the 1930s most British jazz musicians made their living in dance bands of various kinds. Jazz became more important, and more separate as its own genre, in Britain during World War II. The war led to an increase in bands to entertain the troops and these bands began to refer to themselves as "jazz" groups more often. The period also saw an increased interest in American musicians who also toured in military bands. The future leading alto-saxophonist Art Pepper was among the visiting American musicians at this time. This all increased an interest in jazz which continued after the war.

In 1948 a group of young musicians including John Dankworth and Ronnie Scott, focused on the Club Eleven in London, began a movement toward "modern jazz" or Bebop. Significant instrumentalists in this early movement were trumpeter-pianist Denis Rose, pianist Tommy Pollard, saxophonist Don Rendell, and drummers Tony Kinsey and Laurie Morgan. A movement in an opposite direction was revivalism, which became popular in the 1950s and was represented by musicians like Ken Colyer, George Webb and Humphrey Lyttelton, though Lyttelton gradually became more catholic in his approach. At this point both streams tended to emulate Americans, whether it be Charlie Parker for Beboppers or Joe "King" Oliver and other New Orleans musicians for traditionalists, rather than try to create a uniquely British form of jazz.

During the 1950s mass emigration into the UK, brought an influx of players from the Caribbean such as Joe Harriott and Harold McNair, though some, such as Dizzy Reece, found the shortage of genuine Jazz work frustrating - dance music remained popular - and migrated to the United States. British born players too, including George Shearing, active on the London scene since before the war, and Victor Feldman also chose to move across the Atlantic to develop their careers.

A domestic musicians' union ban on visiting American jazz musicians, initiated in the mid-thirties (Fats Waller had to visit the UK as a 'variety' act in 1938) was gradually relaxed from the mid-fifties onwards. This benefited the local scene as the often erratic availability of American records had meant that, unlike the rest of Europe, British jazz aficionados had long been unfamiliar with the most recent jazz developments in the music's country of origin. Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London, co-founded in 1959 by one of the earliest native proponents of bebop, was able to benefit from an exchange arrangement with the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), allowing regular visits from leading American players from 1961. A key musician, pianist Stan Tracey, developed his skills and gained regular employment from backing the visiting musicians.

At around the same time, in the 1960s and 1970s British jazz began to have more varied influences. One important aspect being the South African jazz musicians that had left, or been expelled, from their home nation, including Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani, Harry Miller and later Julian Bahula.

There was also a growth in free jazz inspired by European models more than from American music. It helped to influence the development of a strong European identity in this field. South African and free jazz influences came together in projects like the Brotherhood of Breath big band, nominally led by McGregor. Added to this, more musicians had been raised on rhythm and blues or English forms of rock and roll, which became increasingly significant to the genre. These influences mixed in a way that led to British contemporary jazz of the time developing a distinctive identity distancing it to some extent from American styles. Highly original jazz composers such as Mike Westbrook, Graham Collier, Michael Garrick and Mike Gibbs began to make major contributions during the period and after. The local scene was not unaffected by, what elsewhere came to be known as, the British Invasion; the jazz audience was in numerical decline at this time. One branch of this development was the creation of various British jazz fusion bands like Soft Machine, Nucleus, Colosseum, If, Henry Cow, Centipede, National Health, Ginger Baker's Air Force, to name a few. Some of the most significant musicians to emerge during this period include John McLaughlin and Dave Holland (both of whom joined Miles Davis's group), pianists Keith Tippett and John Taylor, saxophonists Evan Parker, Mike Osborne, John Surman and Alan Skidmore, and the Canadian-born trumpeter Kenny Wheeler who had settled in Britain.

The 1980s saw a continuing development of distinctive styles. There was a new generation of Black British musicians entering jazz with Courtney Pine, Gary Crosby, Julian Joseph, and later Soweto Kinch and Jason Yarde, being noteworthy examples (many of these musicians were members of the Jazz Warriors). Loose Tubes was a very important group in re-energising the British scene. Many musicians from this band such as Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Julian Argüelles have become important artists with highly developed individual musical voices.

The Jazz Centre Society was founded in 1969 to develop a national centre for jazz in London and efforts to secure and fund premises for the centre continued until 1984; the JCS's many jazz promoting activities in London, Manchester and elsewhere survive as Jazz Services Ltd [cite web| accessdate = 2008-05-05|title=The Jazz Site|url = http://www.jazzservices.org.uk/AboutUs/CompanyToday/tabid/130/Default.aspx] . Similar promotional organisations such as Platform Jazz in Scotland were formed in the 1970s to widen opportunities to hear and play jazz. [cite web| accessdate = 2008-05-05|title=Meet Scottish Bassist Ronnie Rae|publisher=All About Jazz|url = http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=111] The music continued to be presented in a wide range of venues in major British cities, but with most activity still focused in London. A National Jazz Archive was set up with its base at Loughton Library in Essex. [cite web| accessdate = 2008-05-05|title=National Jazz Archive|url = http://www.nationaljazzarchive.co.uk/] Today it is the main location for jazz documentation in Britain, with rapidly expanding collections.The expansion of jazz from the 1980s was also marked by the launch of Jazz FM and the opening of the Jazz Cafe, Camden. Both of these gradually ceased to concern themselves primarily with jazz and the radio station was renamed Smooth FM in 2005. A new national digital jazz radio station The Jazz began operations at Christmas 2006, dedicated to broadcasting jazz in most styles, but was closed by its parent company in February 2008. However, new venues continue to open.

In recent years Funk and hip hop have become an influence on parts of Britain's jazz scene. At the same time, Black British traditions in jazz have been strengthened, in part, by the 'rediscovery' and celebration in the 2000s of Jamaican altoist Joe Harriott's once-neglected music and by the publication of books about him and his close collaborator, bassist Coleridge Goode. The effect has been to make Harriott, posthumously, a powerful symbol of Black British jazz achievement and identity.

There are more opportunities now for students to specialise in jazz whether at basic learner level [cite web| accessdate = 2008-05-05|title=Jazz Exams from the Ascociated Board|url = http://www.abrsm.org/?page=exams/jazz] or at major conservatoires around the country, such as the Royal Academy of Music,Guildhall School of Music , Trinity College of Music and Middlesex University in London, Birmingham Conservatoire and Leeds College of Music.

References

Bibliography

*Ian Carr (2007) "Music Outside: Contemporary Jazz in Britain." 2nd ed. London: Northway Books. ISBN 978-0955090868
*John Chilton (2004) "Who's Who of British Jazz." 2nd ed. London: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-7234-6
*Roger Cotterrell (ed.) (1976) "Jazz Now: The Jazz Centre Society Guide." London: Quartet. ISBN 0-7043-3097-0
*Jim Godbolt (2005) "A History of Jazz in Britain, 1919 - 50." London: Northway Books. ISBN 0-9537040-5-X
*Jim Godbolt (1989) "A History of Jazz in Britain, 1950 - 70." London: Quartet. ISBN 0-7043-2526-8
*George McKay (2005) "Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain." Durham NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3573-5
*Catherine Parsonage (2005) "The Evolution of Jazz in Britain, 1880 - 1935." Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate. ISBN 0-7546-5076-6

Jazz publications

Jazz publications in the UK have had a chequered history.
*"Jazz Journal" (more recently "Jazz Journal International") was founded in 1947 and edited for many years by Sinclair Traill. It tags itself "the greatest jazz magazine in the world".
*"Jazz Monthly" (1955-71), edited by Albert McCarthy, had a particularly high reputation during its run and numbered many of the leading British jazz critics of the time among its contributors.
*"Melody Maker", founded as a jazz magazine, had a notable proselytiser for the music in Max Jones on its staff, but it had abandoned its coverage of jazz by the late 1970s.
*"The Wire" founded in 1982 originally as a jazz magazine with contributions from Max Harrison and Richard Cook among others, but subsequently broadening its focus.
*"Jazz Review" founded in 1998 and published by the music promoter Direct Music is a bi-monthly edited by Brian Morton.
*"Jazzwise" was founded in 1997 and provides monthly coverage mainly of modern and contemporary jazz.
*"Jazz UK" edited by John Fordham, has for many years been the main periodical specialising in news and features about jazz in Britain.
*"Northway Books" founded in 2000, is a British publishing company specialising mainly in books about the history of jazz in Britain.

British jazz musicians

*For a list see .

British Jazz Record Labels

*Babel Label
*Candid Records
*E.G. Records
*Esquire Records
*Hep Records [http://www.hepjazz.com/ (website)]
*Leo Records [http://www.leorecords.com/ (website)]
*Ogun Records
*Spotlite Records [http://www.123webpages.co.uk/user/index.php?user=spotlite&pn=1 (website)]
*Dutton Vocalion website [http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/ (website)]

External links

* [http://vzone.virgin.net/davidh.taylor/bebop.htm British Bebop]
* [http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/extra/brit.sax.htm British Jazz Saxophonists 1950–1970: An overview] , Simon Spillett
* [http://www.jazzprofessional.com/Francis/Francis_Jazz%20development.htm The history of British jazz] , Harry Francis
* [http://www.jazzprofessional.com/Francis/As%20I%20heard%20it%20Part%201.htm Jazz Development in Britain 1924–1974] , Harry Francis]
* [http://www.nwjazzworks.org/reports.php Various reports on Jazz in the UK]
* [http://www.iancarrsnucleus.net/ The Ian Carr website - A portal site for modern British jazz]
* [http://www.geocities.com/tubbs1935/ Remember Tubbs, A Tubby Hayes tribute website]
* [http://www.jazzwise.com/ Jazzwise homepage]
* [http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=591 "Valuing British Music - Jazz Futures"] , lecture by Norton York at Gresham College, 24 April 2007 (available for video and audio download)
* [http://www.iancarrsnucleus.net/MMfull.html Melody Maker Jazz Polls (British Section) 1962-1974]

Television Documentary

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/music/features/jazz-brit-index.shtml BBC Four's Jazz Brittania]
* [http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/267654 "Celebration: Loose Tubes"] . Documentary. The 21-piece jazz orchestra its first national tour. The musicians are shown conducting a jazz 'workshop' in Sheffield, as well as performing. Directed by Christopher Swann. Produced by Granada Television. Channel Four, January 1987.

* "Sounds Different: Music Out of Time". Ian Carr & his band "Nucleus" are seen during a two day workshop with young musicians. Participants are Guy Barker, Django Bates, Steve Berry, Neil Sitwell, Steve Sitwell, David Trigwell, Glen Vallint & Chris White. BBC TWO, 28th November 1980.

ee also

*
*Canterbury sound
*Jazz Radio UK
*Jazz Warriors