Jazz breaking news: The Jazz Warriors Return With New Organisation and Mission Statement
Monday, September 26, 2011
In an announcement posted on their new website the Jazz Warriors have issued a mission statement that marks the return of the seminal 1980s big band, a musical collective instrumental in achieving a substantial resurgence in black UK jazz at the time, recording Out of Many, One People in 1987 following their foundation the year before and with the success of founder members, notably Courtney Pine, ushering in a successful period of UK jazz.
The new organisation’s core members are Jazz Warriors vibes player, composer and educator Orphy Robinson who played on Pine’s hit album Journey To The Urge Within and was signed to Blue Note records and who has gone on to pursue a subsequent successful solo career; vocalist, composer and actor Cleveland Watkiss, who also featured on Journey To The Urge Within, and Out of Many, One People and whose solo records include Green Chimneys and Blessing In Disguise for Polydor; his brother pianist, bandleader and educator Trevor Watkis; Wendy Ahmun, a diversity and cohesion specialist and a governance and elections advisor in Zambia; and Leon Daniel, a former human rights barrister now specialising in contract and marketing law.
In the 1980s the Jazz Warriors were an influential big band and musical collective that numbered more than 25 members. According to a statement on the Jazz Warriors website they were set up at that time for many young black jazz musicians around the UK “who felt disenfranchised by the UK jazz scene.”
The organisers of the reformed Warriors say: “Black jazz is under-represented in the UK and 25 years later the environment that caused the creation of the original Jazz Warriors is still prevalent in the UK. It is for this reason that we have now incorporated an organisation that will embrace the beliefs of the original band but have a wider social remit. The Jazz Warriors is committed to ensuring the fair and equitable representation of the black UK jazz presence in the areas of national heritage, the arts, education and training, promotion and performances.” – Stephen Graham