Stardust memories - Tickets still available for Chris Ingham's Hoagy Carmichael celebration.
News from the National Jazz Archive
Newsletter 8/2022, October 2022
Chris Ingham Quartet Stardust Memories – 5 November
Chris Ingham’s Stardust Memories is packed with the songs and stories of one of America’s most enduring and endearing songwriters, Hoagy Carmichael. Wry, wise, sentimental, down-home and sophisticated, Hoagy's songs are loved for their warmth, wit and melodic beauty. This joyful, edifying and heartfelt salute to the Old Music Master features many engaging anecdotes and insights along with tracks from Chris’s acclaimed CD including well-loved hits alongside obscure nuggets and delightful curiosities from Hoagy’s rich and varied songbook.
Chris Ingham formed his jazz quartet in 2013 and has led over 150 performances of his Hoagy Carmichael, Dudley Moore and Stan Getz projects all over the UK. With Chris will be Paul Higgs on trumpet, Geoff Gascoyne on bass and George Double on drums.
This fundraising concert for the National Jazz Archive will be in Loughton, Essex on Saturday 5 November, starting at 2.30pm. Tickets cost £20 and are available at the Archive (020 8502 4701), and on WeGotTickets with a small booking fee.
You can read more about Chris’ huge range of jazz-related activities – pianist, composer, producer and author – here, and enjoy a tea break with him on SandyBrownJazz from January 2020.
Nigel Price ‘full-throttle’ at Loughton
Maybe the Hammond organ isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. With a certain combination of stops it can sound like a 40-ton truck crawling up a hill with the exhaust backfiring. And in the wrong hands it can overpower the music by sheer volume. But the best organ-based trios have an honoured place in jazz history. Organist Jimmy Smith’s group with guitar and drums may have set the standard from the 1950s, but Nigel Price’s Organ Trio, which gave a wonderful concert at Loughton in August, nods to a different, equally valid model.
For one thing the leader here is the guitarist and Price is a dazzling virtuoso who knows everything about the language of bebop guitar. Organist Ross Stanley gives him strong support, along with the exuberant, irresistibly swinging young drummer Joel Barford. At Loughton, the tightly in-sync rhythm combination of Stanley’s pedalled bass and Barford’s crisp hi-hat beat often gave a rocking foundation for Price’s solo flights that showed the guitarist’s vast but unshowy technical skill. The result was usually a jazz groove that might have got some of the audience dancing if there had been space for that.
The concert was billed as ‘Wes Re-imagined’, a programme Price has played elsewhere and recorded. Guitar star Wes Montgomery is its inspiration, and an initial influence on this group may have been Montgomery’s early trio with organist Mel Rhyne. Price played many of Wes’ best tunes, including ‘Four on Six’, ‘S.O.S.’ and ‘Far Wes’, but always imaginatively reworked, often with entirely new rhythms or moods. ‘Jingles’ became a very fast samba, ‘Movin’ Along’ morphed into infectious, rocking jazz funk, and ‘So Do It!’ was reimagined as a bolero.
Price seemed enthralled by Barford’s drumming, fierce but sensitive, and gave him space for two long solos. At times the energetic rimshots sounded like up-close gunfire. By contrast Stanley’s organ accompaniments showed Rhyne-like restraint, but his solos were always well judged, imaginative, varied, and fluent.
Price’s trio often features guests, and this concert was no exception. Dapper tenor saxist Vasilis Xenopoulos shared solo duties. Always competent and convincing, he helped to keep the quality of the music consistently high. All in all, this was another memorable NJA concert and an excellent showcase for the talent of Nigel Price, along with his tightly integrated, versatile, and inventive small group. Long live organ trios when they’re this good!
Roger Cotterrell
New treasurer sought for the National Jazz Archive
The National Jazz Archive wishes to appoint a new treasurer.
The successful applicant will be joining an enthusiastic and friendly team of passionate professionals and volunteers. The board of trustees currently comprises ten members, each with specialist high-level expertise relevant to an organisation of this nature.
The new trustee will be responsible for overlooking our financial affairs. They will be taking over from chartered accountant trustee David Goodridge who is standing down at the end of the year after 10 years excellent service to the board. The Archive’s financial affairs are relatively straightforward. A book-keeper is engaged to deal with day-to-day transactions. The commitment includes preparing for and attending four quarterly trustees meetings and participating in sub-committees where appropriate and is for a minimum of three years.
The closing date is 31 October 2022. Download the full Job description here and contact Paul Kaufman, chair of trustees, to find out more.
Art Unlocked – The National Jazz Archive, 2 November
Alan John Ainsworth is giving an illustrated online talk on 2 November about the work of British jazz photographer Brian ‘Freddy’ Foskett, as part of Art UK’s online ‘Art Unlocked’ series. Foskett’s photography is one of the National Jazz Archive’s more important collections. Besides introducing his work, Alan’s talk will show how jazz photography provides an insight into social as well as musical history. The talk also aims to raise awareness of the Archive and the important work it does in documenting and preserving jazz heritage.
The presentation (on Zoom) starts at 5.30 and will run for 30 minutes, followed by a Q&A session. The talk is free. Tickets can be booked on Eventbrite here, and there is the option to donate to the National Jazz Archive alongside your ticket.
Alan John Ainsworth is a freelance photographer and author, whose most book ‘Sight Readings: Photographers and American Jazz, 1900–1960’ was published by Intellect Books last year.
The Archive is again supporting this important (and free!) educational event, first staged by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2019.
Female instrumentalists and vocalists aged 11–18 can look forward to an exciting day exploring improvisation, jazz standards and women in jazz. Top musicians leading the workshops will include bassist Amy Baldwin, jazz/soul singer and songwriter Zara McFarlane (pictured above) and saxophonist and composer Josephine Davies. Different groups will cater for varying levels of experience. All instruments and levels of ability and experience are welcome.
The day will feature a performance by the workshop leaders and culminate in an informal sharing performance in Milton Court Concert Hall.
The National Jazz Archive is supporting the event with displays illustrating the key contributions women have made to jazz from its earliest beginnings to the present day.
Although admission is free, registration is required. Further details of the day, including the registration process, can be viewed here.
Documenting Jazz comes to Wales, 9–12 November
In partnership with Jazz Heritage Wales, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) will host the fourth Documenting Jazz Conference from 9 to 12 November at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, supported by the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) and Brecon Jazz.
The conference will focus on the theme of diversity and aims to create an interdisciplinary forum which is both inclusive and wide-ranging for sharpening awareness, sharing studies and experiences, and focusing the debate on distinct aspects of diversity in jazz today.
The keynote speakers are Dr Joan Cartwright, jazz and blues vocalist, author and composer, and Dr Francesco Martinelli, jazz historian, educator and author of “The History of European Jazz”. Among the live performers will be Burum, a Welsh band that fuses Welsh folk tradition and jazz.
The Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea
Dr Pedro Cravinho, trustee of the National Jazz Archive and co-founder of the Documenting Jazz international conferences, said: “Now in its fourth edition, the Documenting Jazz conferences aim to offer an unparalleled variety of experiences drawn from across the world with contributions from individuals at all career stages, from established scholars and practitioners, to those just starting their careers, embracing the academic sector and other heritage and cultural organisations. This conference would not be possible without the hard work of the conference and programme committee and beyond. We extend our sincere thanks to all involved. And we look forward to meeting you throughout the conference and the surrounding events. Enjoy your stay in Swansea!”
The conference chairs are Dr Pedro Cravinho (Birmingham City University), Paula Gardiner (Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama) and Orphy Robinson MBE (London Performing Academy of Music).
The fifteenth annual get-together of the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors (UK Branch) was held just outside Reading in September, ably organised by Derek Coller and Trevor Bannister. A group of jazz enthusiasts had a very pleasant time talking about and listening to jazz of all sorts.
The presentations covered: The Continental label, ‘Legends and the lost’, Jazz on film, Jazz characters from Manchester, Black British swing, Jazz in fiction. Nick Clarke talked about the National Jazz Archive, and about the sales he has organised over the past two years of books that have been donated to the Archive. He was pleased to meet five of the regular book buyers face to face for the first time, and to sell another 20 or so books.
A special session was devoted to remembering Martin Colvill, who had been a strong supporter of these events for many years, and whose marvellous book collection has recently been given to the Archive by his widow Linda.
Jazz interviews by Stuart Nicholson
Award-winning music journalist and author Stuart Nicholson has been writing about music since the 1980s and has interviewed numerous great jazz musicians over the years. He has put nearly 20 of the most interesting interviews on his website, together with background detail. They date from 1981 (Tal Farlow) to 2011 (Ahmad Jamal), and cover Dave Brubeck, Alice Coltrane, Chick Corea, Andrew Hill, Al Jarreau, Keith Jarrett, Horace Parlan, Sonny Rollins, Maria Schneider, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Mal Waldron and Nancy Wilson, among others.
The interviews are freely available for reading by researchers, students and jazz lovers, the only condition being that proper credit is given to the source.
The photos above, of Ahmad Jamal, Al Jarreau and Tal Farlow, are also from Stuart Nicholson’s website, where they and some 2500 other photos, can be purchased.
Tickled by tickets
A set of tickets from the sixties recently grabbed John, one of our stalwart volunteers diligently cataloguing donated material. They prompt the question, what should an Archive collect, and why?
Some of our most interesting items come under the heading ‘ephemera’. By definition it’s throw-away stuff. But how fascinating would it be, say, to identify admission tokens to an ancient Roman amphitheatre? It’s the stories ephemera evoke that count.
John’s find were for gigs due to be performed in Manchester. They are in pristine condition. But the donor relates in his covering letter that the gig never went ahead as planned. Wild Bill Davison got Musician’s Union clearance. The Salt City Five did not.
The tickets tell the age-old story of ‘protectionism’. The history of non-UK jazz musicians being prevented from performing here is long and complex. Another reminder is the note which regularly appears on the inside cover of our collection of early Ronnie Scott’s programmes, also illustrated here.
So big thanks to the hoarders and NJA donors! The mechanism for allocating seats in ancient Rome is now lost forever. But thanks to NJA our cultural history is being preserved and documented for future generations to appreciate and learn from.
Paul Kaufman
The Jazz Review
Founded by Nat Hentoff, Martin Williams and Hsio Wen Shih in New York in 1958, ‘The Jazz Review’ was the premier journal of jazz in the United States. Short-lived as it was (1958–61), it set an enduring standard for criticism.
While all of the material is of high quality, several features are particularly distinctive: the regular reviews of musicians’ work by other musicians; Hentoff’s regular column “Jazz in Print”, which deals with the politics of the music business as well as of the nation; and the incorporation of a wide range of musical styles and approaches to discussing jazz.
With the kind permission of Nat Hentoff, the entire run of 22 issues of ‘The Jazz Review’ is now available on Jazz Studies Online.
