History was briefly reversed for an evening last year when one Monday shortly before Christmas a temporary and very localised electrical problem cut the power at our regular gig at the Bee’s Mouth here in Brighton, leaving us with our instruments untouched but our amps redundant. Stalwarts that we are, we carried on jamming […]
The dust has settled from the undignified collapse of 2013, and 2014 has made its dishevelled entry but has yet to reveal its true nature, leaving us free to indulge in a bit of speculation. The recent sad loss of Stan Tracey reminds us again how few of the players from the “classic era” […]
Music is an integral part of Christmas, of course, from the ii-V-I cadences of Silent Night to the modal God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, but generally jazz and traditional Christmas festivities can be a bit of an uneasy fit. Jazz’s roots in New Orleans would link it to Mardi Gras, suggesting that Easter is […]
Comping bass solos: some suggestions for pianists, guitarists and drummers Something that rarely gets discussed (until after the first set on a gig, occasionally) is what kind of accompaniment the bass player would like behind his/her solos. When it comes to accompanying singers and soloists, pianists and guitarists usually have the support of a […]
“The level of commitment and the number of hours of sheer dedication required to play jazz to a good standard have not changed. Let’s be thankful for the spirit, the sheer fascination with jazz-and-related-musics that keeps people involved whatever the prevailing winds of fashion or technology may bring.” ~‘Jazz and Plumbing’ (Issue 6) […]
The history of jazz is a part of the histories of both the creative arts and the entertainment industry. The latter has been characterized since the birth of the mass media in the early 20th century by a continuing dialectic between those who create the music and those who exploit it commercially, both sides […]
The Brighton Jazz Club ran at the Komedia for a number of years before rising charges forced them out, to the welcoming sanctuary of the Verdict. One of the last gigs I saw before the move was Jasper Høiby’s redoubtable Phronesis. They started right off the bat with a furious yet utterly controlled intensity […]
The first ever jazz record is usually reckoned to be the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s shellac 78 release of Livery Stable Blues on the charmingly named Victor Talking Machine Company. The release date was March 7, 1917, probably described by their A&R man as ‘not a great date for a release’ – a bit under […]
This year’s stupendous Love Supreme Festival line-up presented it’s audience with a commendably catholic interpretation of Jazz as the genre is understood today. There was one notable absence from the feast however … the bookers didn’t feel that a truly comprehensive overview of what’s happening in jazz-and-related-musics needed to include any players from the Free […]
As we mentioned last issue, Brighton has been seeing the green shoots of a slowly emerging jazz boom for the last couple of years, partly driven by the establishment of some successful jam sessions across town. The jam session is a venerable jazz institution, loved and berated in equal measure and capable of delivering […]