National Jazz Archive launches first Jazz Hub with Gary Crosby Sextet concert in October

The National Jazz Archive, the UK-wide jazz heritage charity, is soon to open the first of its National Jazz Hubs, a public-facing, jazz-focussed cultural hub that will showcase its heritage and archival work and tell the story of UK jazz.

Based at Loughton Library, on the Essex/East London borders and launching mid-October in over 1200 square feet of re-purposed office space, Jazz Hub – the brainchild of NJA Chair and CEO, Mark Kass – will create a small, local “grassroots” live music venue, exhibit and gallery space alongside a vintage jazz record and book shop and dedicated research workstations, making the Archive more accessible to all those interested in exploring the art, culture and heritage of jazz in the UK.

“Supported by Essex County Council and our team of dedicated jazz-loving volunteers, we’re all incredibly excited to be launching Jazz Hub – Loughton, bringing the unique and valuable work of the National Jazz Archive firmly into the public arena”, says Kass. “This is a fantastic opportunity to deliver on the NJA’s commitment to being jazz’s “story room” and not just a store room for jazz memorabilia. We’ll be giving visitors from all walks of life a real-life opportunity to see some of the amazing collections, artifacts and ephemera we’ve accumulated over the past forty years, to listen to recorded and live music and to take part in workshops, seminars, audio-visual and educational programmes that will feed interest, passions and quite often, obsessions with this wonderful music.”

“We’ve grown exponentially in the last few months and are rapidly running out of space for our collections, our volunteers and our visitors, many of whom are newcomers to the genre. We already have book and video collections on loan to the Jazz Centre UK in Southend and a large satellite archive at Birmingham City University but we’re now seeing greater demand across the UK for more access to the fascinating heritage that sits in and around jazz.”

Kass’ vision for the Jazz Hub model is indeed ambitious; “’Jazz Hub Loughton’ is a pilot for what could be a national network of physical local “Jazz Hubs” affiliated to other archives, venues, jazz clubs and jazz-related enterprises and that sit alongside and help evolve our already rapidly growing on-line resources.

The NJA is currently self-funded through its own charitable operations which includes event ticket sales, research fees and occasional public and private grant applications alongside fundraising through generous donations, philanthropic support and corporate sponsorships.

Jazz Hub Loughton opens mid-October with an events programme that coincides with Black History Month and culminates with a NJA fundraising gig featuring Tomorrow’s Warriors founder/bassist Gary Crosby’s Sextet performing their Mingus Moves set on the afternoon of Saturday 21 October.

For more information visit www.nationaljazzarchive.org.uk