I undertook these interviews in 2002-2003 as part of the research project I was working on, Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain. The primary outcome of the project was a book of the same title (published by Duke University Press in 2005). This was an extension into more recent music practice of the interviews I’d undertaken regarding the trad boom of the 1950s. Both sets of interviews were for research funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board, and I am extremely grateful for the board’s support.
Interviews (in order of appearance):
• Trevor Watts
• Eddie Prévost
• Mike Westbrook
• Keith Tippett
• Maggie Nicols
• Steve Beresford
• Kate Westbrook
• Tony Haynes
• Gary Crosby
• Ben Crow
• Deirdre Cartwright.
There are certain recordings by important artists such as Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis,
John Coltrane, Pedro Iturralde, Chick Corea, and Paco de Lucía, among others, that have been
associated with the label flamenco jazz. This label is entering jazz discourse, and it needs to be
better understood in order to clarify its history, its identity, and its impact on recent
developments in flamenco that are labeled nuevo flamenco.
There is a lack of agreement in the
existing literature on flamenco jazz on the evaluation of these recordings and these artists’
achievements and contributions to this field. These writings encompass authors from different
backgrounds: journalists, critics, and musicologists, who have approached their analysis of the
recordings from different perspectives.
The differences in professional backgrounds, approaches,
and purpose of the writings of these authors has resulted in controversy about this label.
Therefore, the flamenco jazz scholarly conversation needs more objective writings from an
analytical point of view. This historiographical study presents a more comprehensive evaluation
of flamenco jazz by discussing selected recordings using analytical tools from jazz studies.
These
analytical arguments clarify the aesthetics of flamenco jazz and the artistic processes that these
artists went through when combining musical elements from flamenco and jazz, which in some
cases are described as creative misreading.
In this century of cultural globalization, where jazz
has become a diverse expression of world music because of its capacity to absorb traits from
other musical practices, this study can be a resource for international jazz musicians who are
seeking to combine jazz with their musical cultural heritage.
On the Beat Jazz nominations in the 2017 Grammys focus on where it all started - the US of A. Jazz FM Awards: will this year's winners trump last year's champs, the Rolling Stones? Wynton's Barbican youth band focuses on the 1957 Miles Ahead, purporting to showcase what "could be the future of jazz”
ECM: the British connection With separation looming, Brian Morton notes that music is a lingua franca that doesn’t require passports
Profiles British pianist Kit Downes loves the duo; US tuba virtuoso Howard Johnson enjoys the choral possibilities in the tuba family; Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca appreciates having the clave, “something everyone wants to learn”, in his blood
On the Other Hand Dave Gelly isn’t troubled by Jon Hendricks’ joy and positivity or Sam Braysher’s rediscovery of songbook blueprints
Joe Henderson Ronald Atkins interviewed the singular saxophonist stylist in 1995 as he was enjoying an unexpected second coming
Roger Beaujolais The vibraphonist tells Bruce Lindsay why Connie Kay played so softly in the MJQ
Standard time? Simon Spillett asks if the Great American Songbook should still be the arbiter in jazz clubs
I
am proud to share with you the 4th edition of the "BOSSA
MAGAZINE", the first and only Brazilian Art and Music online magazine
in New York City. The magazine has been captivating hundreds of
thousands of people in New York City and surrounding areas since its
launching in July 2017.
October's edition will be dedicated to the 3rd "International Choro Festival".
The Festival will be presented by Brazilian Music Foundation and Asuos Productions from November 8th - 12th in the City of New York.
The festival will also officially open the "Latin American Cultural
Week" in New York City (LACW) with a concert at Baruch Performing Arts
Center on November 10th at 8 PM.
You will find all the information about the festival at this magazine's edition or online at www.bmf-usa.org.
I
hope you enjoy this magazine's edition and support Brazilian Music
Foundation’s mission, which is to promote, educate and advance Brazilian
Art and Music in the Americas.
Join us at the Choro Festival!
Brazilian Music Foundation
Founder & Chief Executive Director
Bossa Magazine: Creator & Editor In Chief
Vijay Iyer Ahead of his third London visit this year, keyboardist and Harvard professor Vijay Iyer sits down with Wif Stenger to talk about Monk, Coltrane, Indian music and improvisation
Profiles Monk orchestra leader John Beasley; Caribbean jazz cruise director Michael Lazaroff; Danish big band leader Kathrine Windfeld
Still Clinging to the Wreckage Steve Voce with some off-mic insights from his collection of letters from Hugues Panassié, Humphrey Lyttelton, Peter Clayton and Buck Clayton
Jazz in Luxembourg Post-Brexit, not only financial services but also jazz will find a warm welcome in Luxembourg, writes Pascal Dorban
The October Revolutionaries Mark Gardner illustrates the slipperiness of astrology, embodied in the contrasting personalities and fortunes of Librans Monk and Gillespie
Stan and Gerry Gordon Jack examines the contrasting fortunes - and occasional sword-crossing - of two of the most eminent saxophone stylists of the 1950s
The return of MPS The MPS jazz catalogue is now the subject of a major reissue programme. John White tells the story of its foundation and revival
Profiles Singer Sue McCreeth rehabilitates 70s/80s harmony, Dutch group Tin Men involve the audience through a phone app and pianist Peter Edwards does the math on jazz and samba
Lee Morgan The prolific trumpeter defeats the stereotype of the prematurely dead jazzman preserved in a handful of recordings, says Brian Morton
Matt Chandler They used to say the tone’s in the fingers. Bruce Lindsay gets a more balanced perspective from the guitarist, who says strings are the thing
Book Reviews Soul Jazz // Jazz Religion, The Second Line, And Black New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina // Jazz Italian Style // Tony Bennett: Just Getting Started
Obituaries Bradford-born guitarist Allan Holdsworth brought unprecedented fluidity, speed and harmonic complexity to the instrument; Salford-born saxophonist Stan Robinson challenged the reedy royalty of the south
Anec-dotage Alan Luff remembers one for whom country and western (and quite possibly the ukelele) was anathema
Scott Hamilton Dave Gelly struggles to identify a best album by the maddeningly consistent tenor man
Profiles: Chris Ingham salutes Dudley Moore, a musician who moved from classical to jazz; Kate Williams uses classical strings to interpret jazz; Trish Clowes sees that the conservatory – classical or otherwise – is now the start of many jazz stories
Still Clinging to the Wreckage
Steve Voce reminds us of the damage done in the 1940s by the wealthy
union leader James C Petrillo, including the demise of the big bands
Larry Goldings
The American organist and sideman to Brecker, Scofield, Metheny, James
Taylor and more talked to Mark Youll before a gig at Dorking’s Watermill
jazz club
Book & DVD Reviews Books: John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson // Low Life Lawyer // An Approach To Comping: Vol. 2 (Advanced Concepts & Techniques) // Rhythm First!: A Beginner’s Guide To Jazz Improvisation // Improvisation 101: Major, Minor And Blues DVD: What Happened, Miss Simone? // Gregory Porter Live In Berlin Obituaries Buddy Greco; Nat Hentoff; Dave Shepherd
Mark Nightingale
Want a fruity tone? Try the hothouse education enjoyed by one of the
UK’s most sought-after trombonists. Interview by Bruce Lindsay
Oz Noy
Contrary to the dominant postmodern narrative, jazz-rock lives and
evolves in the hands of the Israel-born, NY-domiciled guitarist. David
West probes the background
Profiles Guitarist John Etheridge on travelling light with singer Vimala Rowe; pianist Ahmad Jamal, travelling only to the treasured Marciac festival; jazz novelist Mick Carlon, travelling with Louis, riding with Duke
Tony Fruscella
Pianist John Williams said Fruscella lived in “another world on the end
of the flower stem”. That removal from reality might have been a source
of musical inspiration but it also contributed to his downfall, as
Gordon Jack relates Book & DVD Reviews Books: Jazz Festival: Jim Marshall // Listen To This: Miles Davis And Bitches Brew // Modern Saxophone Techniques DVD: Rahsaan Roland Kirk: The Case Of The Three Sided Dream One man’s Drew Simon Spillett says just what he likes
Obituaries Victor Bailey; Bob Cranshaw; Bill Kyle; Hod O’Brien
Anec-dotage JJ’s
Critics’ Poll has Alan Luff thinking the 50s was likely the most
creative, exciting and fertile decade in jazz recording history http://www.jazzjournal.co.uk
Mike Mainieri The vibes player, veteran of encounters with Paul Whiteman and Buddy Rich but better known as the leader of Steps Ahead, talks to Mark Gilbert about a new big band recording of some Steps Ahead classics
Profiles Pianist John Pearce thanks Geraldo for a sound musical education; guitarist Pierre Dørge is inspired by strangeness and contrast; pianist Florian Hoefner credits his early trumpet experience with giving his melodies harmonic strength
Julius Watkins Gordon Jack surveys the career of the first man to draw proper jazz solos from the French horn’s 11 feet of tubing
Still Clinging to the Wreckage Steve Voce seems to be alone in appreciating both Ellington and Kenton
The charity gig Simon Spillett asks what it says for jazz when the life-changing Massey Hall concert can be got for 99p at the British Heart Foundation Richmond
Book & DVD Reviews Books: Herbie Hancock: Possibilities // Music In The Air: The Selected Writings Of Ralph J. Gleason // Music Of Azerbaijan, From Mugham To Opera DVD: Rhythm ’N’ Bayous: A Road Map To Louisiana Music
Obituaries Bobby Hutcherson; Louis Stewart; Toots Thielemans; Rudy Van Gelder
Sound of the Break: Jazz and the Failures of Emancipation Bridget R. Cooks, Graham Eng-Wilmot
This article analyzes four musical works written for the commemorative centennial year of the Emancipation Proclamation, 1963: We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, featuring the vocalist Abbey Lincoln; Duke Ellington’s theatrical production My People; John Coltrane’s “Alabama”; and Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam.” This diverse set of songs expresses the contradiction of Black life and death in America during the modern civil rights movement. Within the structure of each musical piece is a tension described as “the break” in which resistance to the disavowal of Black suffering and the demand for true freedom is performed. The analysis of such breaks helps explain the tenuous position of Black performers in this moment, the precipice they navigated onstage in 1963, as well as a larger tension that undergirded the Black freedom struggle: namely, the impulse to celebrate liberation against a cognizance of its failure to materialize in any substantive form.
Short film in which UEA academic and festival expert discusses current AHRC-funded research project, The Impact of Festivals. Specifically Prof McKay talks about an article called 'The impact of jazz festivals', just published in Jazz Research Journal, picking out two of the key findings: how a jazz festival reflects or captures its setting/city, and the economic impact of jazz festivals. http://georgemckay.org/the-impact-of-jazz-festivals-article-now-published/
Gerard Presencer
After keeping a low profile for a decade, trumpeter Gerard Presencer
unveils an array of new projects to Wif Stenger. They include a big band
outing with Charlie Watts, experimental chamber music and an acclaimed
book
Profiles Bassist Ben Crosland taps new jazz potential in the Kinks; pianist Gwilym Simcock comes full circle in the Metheny band; Cuban musician Omar Sosa calls for more space and peace
Derek Smith
Keith McDowall interviews the one-time John Dankworth, Kenny Graham and
Kenny Baker pianist who left, jobless, for New York and a fortnight
later was recording with the MJQ
Still Clinging to the Wreckage
Steve Voce says that of the many classic jazz concerts on record –
Goodman at Carnegie, Dizzy and Bird at Massey, Jazz At The Philharmonic
and so on – Louis Armstrong’s May 1947 Town Hall show is his favourite
'No, I'm not busking' Simon Spillett considers ‘free’ music, virtual critique and the art of the walkout
Book & DVD Reviews Books: Beyond
Jazz: Plink, Plonk & Scratch // Hal Leonard Saxophone Playalong
Vol. 6: Dave Koz // Berlin – Sounds Of An Era, 1920- 1950 DVDs: Melody Gardot: Live At The Olympia Paris // Janis: Little Girl Blue Obituaries Claude Williamson; Charles Davis; Shelley Moore
Albert Ayler Ronald Atkins is taken back back 50 years to the day the BBC recorded a concert they later wiped as unsuitable for broadcast
Marlene VerPlanck Owen Peters shares the revelation he enjoyed during VerPlanck’s March 2015 UK tour. It sounds like audiences in Sweden have a treat in store as she makes her Ystad festival debut this month, courtesy of artistic director Jan Lundgren
Profiles Past masters - saxophonist Houston Person expounds the eternal verities of the blues; improvising trombonist Roswell Rudd harks back to Tricky Sam Nanton; trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf finds the common African ground between the blues notes of jazz and the quarter tones of Arab music
Look what they’ve done to my song Simon Spillett asks what Coltrane would make of the East Sussex festival named after his composition
Nils Landgren My Instruments – the one-time Thad Jones trombonist tells Bruce Lindsay about his innovative, all-conical Yamaha instrument
Lady’s Manne Leon Nock marks the 60th anniversary of a recording that gave jazz repertoire a new direction
Book Reviews The Ralph J Gleason Interviews // Jazzing: New York City’s Unseen Scene // Godfather Of The Music Business: Morris Levy // Into The Maelstrom
Billy Cobham The less charitable (or tin-eared) might want to draw unfavourable parallels between the Cobham’s martial beginnings and the firm beat of fusion but jazz subtleties have informed the drummer’s richly detailed playing since the 1960s, as David West finds out
Profiles Trumpeter Gabriel Garrick and reedman James Evans are set on fire by New Orleans; singer Barb Jungr settles for Dylan, Simone and Bowie
You couldn't make it up Monk on Riverside, or jazz is where you find it, or how I stopped worrying and learned to love the avant-garde, by Simon Spillett
Dave Schildkraut Gordon Jack traces a potentially stellar career marked by what seem to be deliberately ignored possibilities
Book & DVD Reviews Book: Whisper Not DVDs: George Shearing // Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise // Punkt – Three Films By Guillaume Dero
Alan Broadbent My Instruments – the pianist tells Bruce Lindsay of a touring life at the mercy of petulant pianos
Obituaries Eddie Cook; Buster Cooper; Doug Raney; Jeremy Steig; Joe Temperley
Sidney Bechet "Like an enormous yes" - John White revisits the fabled saxophonist through the ears of Philip Larkin
Profiles Trombonist Samuel Blaser, vibraphonist Roger Beaujolais and singer Daryl Sherman
Soweto Kinch The saxophonist and rapper, now radio presenter, talks to Bruce Lindsay about BBC Radio’s 3’s new Jazz Now programme, which he has suggested will contain controversy. What did he mean by that?
John Wilson John Robert Brown hails the revival – largely under the baton of John Wilson – of light music, often with jazz overtones
John Hollenbeck Brian Morton tunes in to a drummer (or should we say musician?) variously associated with the Claudia Quintet, Meredith Monk and Bob Brookmeyer
Ronnie Scott In the final part of a previously unpublished 1979 interview Ronnie Scott talks to Ken Rogers about playing, communication v. indulgence, George Melly, humourless students, American jazz mastery and more
On The Other Hand Dave Gelly says while Mosaic and Keith Emerson have it dead right, budding musicians are better off with a bit of trial and error
JazzLondonLive is a new digital resource devised to fill the void left by jazz lovers' monthly booklet.
Sarah Chaplin (aka @jazzsez) is working with Mick Sexton to put an exciting and informative new app/site together, which will give people access to what’s on in the jazz world every day of the year all over London, as well as insights into who’s who in the London jazz scene, plus links to news and reviews, band personnel, tour dates, festival announcements and more. We launched JazzLondonLive on 1 June 2016 with a temporary wordpress site while we are raising funds to build the database engine that will power an amazing app, set to go live on 1 Sept 2016.
That's where you come in. Obviously, in order to get something like this off the ground, we need some upfront commitment from the jazz community, for which you will be handsomely rewarded. To this end, we hope that one of the reward options will appeal to you and that you will want to show your support for this new service for jazz lovers.
However you decide to support us, we will organise a big meet-up for all the backers to say thank you to everyone - most likely this will take place during the final weekend of the EFG London Jazz Festival in November.
Sidney Bechet "Like an enormous yes" - John White revisits the fabled saxophonist through the ears of Philip Larkin
Profiles Trombonist Samuel Blaser, vibraphonist Roger Beaujolais and singer Daryl Sherman
Soweto Kinch The saxophonist and rapper, now radio presenter, talks to Bruce Lindsay about BBC Radio’s 3’s new Jazz Now programme, which he has suggested will contain controversy. What did he mean by that?
John Wilson John Robert Brown hails the revival – largely under the baton of John Wilson – of light music, often with jazz overtones
John Hollenbeck Brian Morton tunes in to a drummer (or should we say musician?) variously associated with the Claudia Quintet, Meredith Monk and Bob Brookmeyer
Ronnie Scott In the final part of a previously unpublished 1979 interview Ronnie Scott talks to Ken Rogers about playing, communication v. indulgence, George Melly, humourless students, American jazz mastery and more
On The Other Hand Dave Gelly says while Mosaic and Keith Emerson have it dead right, budding musicians are better off with a bit of trial and error
Michael Janisch Brian Morton shoots the breeze with the American bassist and label boss who has brought a new dynamic to the British scene
Profiles Pianist Myra Melford mixes the free, the romantic and the groovy; singer Pepi Lemer returns to jazz after consulting to the stars; Juliet Kelly takes a leaf out of the novelist’s book for inspiration
John Abercrombie Nic Jones considers a gentle giant of the guitar, subject of a new three-CD retrospective on ECM
Nellie Lutcher Bruce Crowther remembers the swinging pianist who played with Ma Rainey at 12 and succeeded in Britain via Jack Jackson’s BBC radio show Record Round Up
Book & DVD Reviews Books: Charles Lloyd: A Wild, Blatant Truth // Out Of Nowhere – The Uniquely Elusive Jazz Of Mike Taylor // DVD: Jazz On A Summer’s Day // Whiplash
Anec-dotage In search of new giants, Alan Luff settles for now for Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday
Obituaries Liz Grönlund; Masabumi Kikuchi; Steve Lane; Tony Milliner; Dave Pike; Hugo Rasmussen; Don Rendell
Maria Schneider Ahead of her appearance at this month’s London Jazz Festival, “the most exciting big-band composer working today” talks to Brian Morton
Iain Ballamy: My Instruments Bruce Lindsay goes down on the farm with the famed saxophonist’s honking donkeys and frightened sheep
Profiles Jazz does the honours: singer Allan Harris, voted rising star in last year’s Downbeat critics’ poll; promoter and jazz-lover John Cumming, OBE in 2014; MYJO bandleader John Ruddick, MBE in 2014
Leo Parker Gordon Jack revisits the baritone man with a big sound that owed something to Harry Carney and a conception that owed everything to Charlie Parker
Still Clinging to the Wreckage Trombonist Milt Bernhart talks to Steve Voce about Art Pepper, life on the road with Kenton, Shorty Rogers and the studios, the comeback with Sinatra, Jack Jenney, plagiarism in Herman and Duke, and more
Book & DVD Reviews Books: Rhythm Is My Beat // After Django // Sinatra: Behind The Legend // DVD: Tubby Hayes: A Man In A Hurry
Obituaries Ben Aronov; Harold Battiste; Ron Crotty; Hal Gaylor; Coleridge Goode; Harold Ousley
