With Motown The Musical at the Shaftesbury and Soul: The Untold Story Of Marvin Gaye at the Hackney Empire the capital’s theatres are vibrating to the sound of black music.
The concert’s title conceals its inner purpose – put quite simply, this was a repeat charity event, hosted and conceived by the ever-ebullient Pete Long as a fund-raiser for and thank-you to the local Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, held in Watersmeet, Rickmansworth.
The double bass made a comparatively late arrival to solo status in jazz; due to its’ unwieldly nature and obstinately low range its use was often restricted to novelty effects and comedy turns a la Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals.
Buck Clayton’s legacy was a box.
The relationship between celebrity and credibility is not always straightforward in jazz.
Pianist Hans Koller chooses his fellow musicians with care.
“Upstate Dorset!”, volleying from an audience member towards the stage, is not as flippant a remark as it may sound.
Got a definition for soul? No, me neither.
The imposing members-only Phyllis Court Club overlooks the Thames and offers a fine vantage point for the town’s regatta and any other river-borne activities but is also, surprisingly perhaps, a very classy venue for jazz.
Brainchild of trumpeter and bandleader Digby Fairweather, the new National Jazz Archive facility in Southend represents many years of planning and plenty of hard work.
