The July issue of Sussex Jazz Magazine is now available and free to download here: SJM July 2020 Our 102nd issue features the following: The cover features a photo of bassist Isobella Burnham by Pat Pascal. Column by Pat Pascal’s column talks about diversity in jazz, with photos of young black musicians to look […]
The June issue of Sussex Jazz Magazine is now available and free to download here: SJM June 2020 Our 101st issue features the following: The cover features a painting of cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson by artist Gina Southgate. Interview with trumpeter Avashai Cohen by SJM writer George Richardson. Columns by Simon Spillett and Gina Southgate. […]
Hoagy Carmichael Hoagy Sings Carmichael ART PEPPER. I have put that in capitals because I do not want anyone to be put off by assuming that is just a Hoagy Carmichael album. This is a session of West Coast Jazz which includes some superb examples of Art’s playing. In 1956 Pacific Jazz decided to produce […]
Duke Ellington Ellington Plays Strayhorn Recently, as part of a lecture series about jazz musicians who deserve to be better known, I decided to talk about Billy Strayhorn and his role in the Duke Ellington organisation from 1939 to his death in 1967. As soon as I looked to my collection I found that part […]
This interview is a continuation of Part 1 of the interview available here. What happened after you left university? I worked in London for a time for the LCC and played in various odd little bands around London, then I got married, moved to Peterborough and played in a jazz band there. After that […]
Dave Frishberg Lookin’ Good Although I often doubt whether anyone reads this column, I know that my friend Adrian does. He sometimes even buys my recommendation. Recently in a New York store he found an original vinyl issue of my Maxine Sullivan recommendation. So I have chosen this month to dedicate my choice to him. […]
Born in Bermondsey in 1933 Peter was six years old when war broke out. “I have a lot of horrible memories of the war. It was all quiet for about a year and then the Blitz really started and that was absolutely horrible. I lived through that either in Bermondsey or at my uncle’s bungalow […]
About five years ago some lucky purchases led me to spend more time listening to Tommy Flanagan. I had always admired his work as an accompanist. Now I began to see him as a solo artist. I went back to this trio recording which was part of my vinyl collection. Wow! How had I missed […]
Lost in the Vaults Daniel Spicer (Elusinian Press) This is a fascinating and stimulating book. It reprints the complete run of Daniel Spicer’s column with the same title, as published in Jazzwise magazine between 2006 and 2019. Listing over a hundred rare collectables and forgotten gems of 20th century jazz, it brings together a […]
Howard McGhee Dusty Blue [Archive Music Revisited CD AMR 870] The Bebop years of the 1940s produced one phenomenal trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie. Two others, very close in quality, also appeared: Howard McGhee and Fats Navarro. As a young trad trumpet player, just starting out, they all amazed me. Every solo from Fats seemed to […]