The nominations have been announced for the 2016 British Jazz Awards!
Now in their 30th year of recognising the best in British jazz, the nominees are chosen by a panel of 11 figures from across the jazz industry.
The winners are then decided by a public vote – to take part, simply follow this link
The full list of nominees is as follows:
REMI HARRIS: NINICK
Catalogue number BEARCD53
You only have to hear a few bars from one of these twelve piece to realise that Remi Harris is a virtuoso guitarist. after another half-minute it becomes obvious that there is more to his playing than exceptional technique; it has the easy poise that is normally the result of long and hard-earned experience. But the remarkable fact is, he was only 25 years old when this album was completed.
Just listen to the music on this album to get some idea of what causes all the fuss. The gypsy-jazz playing is immaculate, but there’s so much else. Like the amazing version of Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee”, with its terrifying up-tempo twists and turns – or by contrast, the cool “There’ll Never Be Another You”, with Remi’s guitar creating a perfect match with Alan Barnes’ limpid alto saxophone. When it comes to introducing disparate influences into the basic gypsy-jazz style, I can’t think of anyone who has ever done it more boldly or convincingly.
Dave Gelly
Track Listing
Musicians Featured
Remi Harris – Guitar
Ben Salmon – Guitar
Mike Green – Double Bass
Tom Moore – Double Bass
Alan Barnes – Saxophones and Clarinet
Ben Cummings – Trumpet
£10.00Add to cart
THE WILL JOHNS BAND: HOOKS & LINES
Catalogue number BEARCD52
Look at this list of great British guitar players: Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Mark Knopfler. You can now add another name to this list – that name is Will Johns.
Will Johns is the complete package. Not only does he have a beautiful voice; he is also a greet songwriter and guitar player. Will Johns’ guitar playing has a lyrical sensibility and emotional depth that distinguishes all of the guitar players on that list. Will is the son of Andy Johns, the world-famous producer and engineer who worked on albums by Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.
On this album Will Johns has done the production himself as well as all the arrangements. The sound of this album is a testimony to Will’s instinctive ability as a producer to hear and record the sound of a band in the studio.
As a charismatic performer, every Will John gig is unique unto itself. The man also has a sense of humour and never forgets that, when he’s on stage, he is there to entertain. I know you are going to enjoy this album and that you will also enjoy seeing Will perform live. If I didn’t know this, I wouldn’t be writing these notes.
Richard Newman
Track Listing
Musicians Featured
Will Johns – Vocals & Guitar
Lee Spreadbury – Keyboards
Chris Scott – Bass Guitar
Craig Hudson – Drums
Chez Grimble – Tenor Saxophone
Kat Jackson & Claudia Gibson – Backing Vocals
£10.00Add to cart
TIPITINA: TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
Catalogue number BEARCD51
A clearer demonstration of the power of live music to lift the human spirit would be hard to find. Bands that can do this are much rarer now than they used to be, but Tipitina are not entirely alone. What distinguishes them from the others is the amount of variety they manage to extract from a style firmly rooted in the New Orleans boogie/honky-tonk/rhythm & blues tradition.
So that’s Tipitina, 2011 version, more wide-ranging than before, but still firmly attached to its musical heartland where the Mississippi meets the Gulf of Mexico.
Dave Gelly
Track Listing
Musicians featured
Debbie Jones – Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Justin Randall – Piano and Vocals
Andy “Postie” Jones – Electric Guitar
Tom Hill – Double Bass
Nick Millward – Drums
KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS : LIVE AT LAST
Catalogue number BEARCD50
Live At Last swings it’s way through an exhausting evening of raucous vocals, tight jazz arrangements, crazy gymnastics and the doctor’s original feelgood prescription. The album will take you right through the frenzy of a night out with King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys until they trudge off in search of their bedtime cocoa, with a final bow to an audience asking for more – which of course you now have, on this CD.
Ron Simpson
Track Listing
Musicians featured
King Pleasure (Vocals & Baritone Saxophone)
Bullmoose K. Shirley (Guitar)
Boysey Battrum (Alto & Tenor Saxophones)
Mighty Matt Foundling (Piano)
Shark Van Schtoop (Double Bass)
Gary The Enforcer Barber (Drums)
£10.00Add to cart
NOMY ROSENBERG TRIO
Catalogue number BEARCD49
Nomy Rosenberg is the heir to a tradition many times older than jazz itself. Unlike many present-day Sinti artists, who make a point of distancing themselves from the Django tradition, Nomy is happy to work within it. Even so he could never be described as an imitator. His style is unmistakably his own, with a sparkling technique and immense rhythmic drive. Having literally grown up with a guitar in his hands, he makes it all sound deceptively easy, even casual. Every single note of Nomy’s comes out crisp and clean, as though he had all the time in the world.
Dave Gelly
Track Listing
Musicians featured
Nomy Rosenberg – Guitar
Ringo Steinbach – Guitar
Arnoud Van Den Berg – Double Bass
Jelle Van Tongeren – Violin
DJANGO’S CASTLE WITH BRUCE ADAMS: SWING HOTEL DU VIN
Catalogue number BEARCD48
In the fifty-five years since his death Django Reinhardt has remained the inspirational and stylistic beacon for generations of followers who believe that Reinhardt, despite the passages of jazz fashion, remains the greatest guitarist of all. Consequently they form what might be termed a sort of European salon, a gypsy tribe of disciples who preach that Reinhardt musical gospel with undiminished passion.
So it is with Django’s Castle – one of the most devoted and super-skilled Reinhardt tribute ensembles – formed in 1984 by guitarist Pere Soto. It was at Hotel du Vin during the 24th Birmingham Jazz Festival that they were introduced to the phenomenal trumpeter Bruce Adams. Bruce is himself a living celebration to a rapidly-disappearing jazz genre: the art of swing.
On the face of it the musical combination might seem an unlikely one; a Django-esque ensemble teamed with a swing trumpeter. But of course there are distinguished exceptions. From its opening bars – where, following Soto’s crisp introduction, Adams launches a lightning cup-mute attack on Limehouse Blues – the joys fall thick and fast. Both men are master soloists, with plenty of space to parade their skills in this beautifully recorded set, and Soto’s audacious, ebulliently humorous and frequently quotatious guitar regularly engages in conversation with Adam’s horn on equal terms.
Soto has I’ll See You In My Dreams and the closing Sweet Georgia Brown all to himself in outings to which Django would have offered shouts of approval. But it’s the mutual roar of enjoyment exchanged between the principles amid the last chorus of In A Mellotone which sums up this set, a marriage of two musical minds to which no true jazz lover could justly admit impediment
Digby Fairweather
Track Listing
Musicians featured
Pere Soto (Guitar)
Joseph Traver (Guitar)
Joan Marti (Double Bass)
Bruce Adams (Trumpet)
TIPITINA: I WISH I WAS IN NEW ORLEANS
Catalogue number BEARCD47
The case against eclecticism and versatility is broadly speaking that if you get good at too many things you’ll fail in the creation of an individual voice, and so you’ll never establish a unique identity; in other words, you’ll be a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. After all, isn’t there good evidence throughout the world of entertainment – especially music? From Louis Armstrong to miles Davis, Charley Patton to Bob Dylan, T-Bone Walker to Jimi Hendrix, an instantly recognisable sound is the key to a successful career. If you wanna be big, everything must be subsumed by your own individuality; whatever you do, don’t go changing according to your context.
And yet, chameleons have a good life as well. And there’s definitely something of the chameleon about Tipitina. In fact, to go from Tom Waits to Nat King Cole to Chris Kenner to Doris Day/Mama Cass (oh, all right then, Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald) in the first four songs on an album is to take the listener on something of an aural roller-coaster. That’s one of the things I really enjoy about it.
Putting in the piano interludes is, I think, something of a masterstroke; partly because it softens the curves and swerves of the said rollercoaster, and partly because it creates a kind of frame for the sonic picture and thereby relates everything to everything else, unifying the disparate bits into a sort of suite.
I’ve had a really good time listening to this CD. From the homespun sophistication of the title-track all the way to Henry Glover’s great Breaking Up The House, Tipitina have convinced me that they’re definitely on to something. Don’t go changing, guys.
Paul Jones
Track Listing
Musicians featured
Debbie Jones (Vocals)
Justin Randall (Piano and backing vocals)
Gary Barber (Drums and backing vocals)
Andy Postie Jones (Guitar)
Boysey Battrum (Tenor saxophone)
Tom Hill (Double bass)
KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS: HEY, PUERTO RICO!
Catalogue number BEARCD46
What does the title ‘King Pleasure’ evoke? In this context it suggests eating, drinking, spending money, chasing chicks, having a good time, overdoing it more than somewhat and explaining the events of the night before to the judge on the morning after. All apt topics for song and celebration, especially in these grim times. So much pop music nowadays is full of anger and violence on the one hand, and slack-jawed stupidity on the other, and so much contemporary jazz is excessively earnest and glum, that we are in urgent need of music that comes with a cheer-up guarantee. That is exactly what King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys unfailingly deliver.
They’re the genuine article, in full working order, dedicated to shaking you up and swinging you into the middle of next week. They’ve got King Pleasure’s inimitable stogies – and – bourbon voice, they’ve got a roaring band sound that comes at you like the Wabash Cannonball, and above all they’ve got that beat. In the words of the immortal Lord Buckley ‘Rhythm is the key to everything – runs the whole swingin’ thing’.
Dave Gelly
Track Listing
Musicians featured
King Pleasure ( Vocals & Baritone Saxophone)
Boysie Battrum (Alto & Tenor Saxophone)
Bullmoose K Shirley (Guitar)
Mighty Matt Foundling (Piano)
Shark Van Schtoop (Double Bass)
Dangerous Dave Wilkes (Drums)
DR TEETH BIG BAND: RHYTHM IS OUR BUSINESS
Catalogue number BEARCD45
I suppose if you had to find a musical label for this dark professor of the dentures and his gangland crew, it would have to be jump and jive. But the Doctor Teeth Big Band call on a wide range of influences as they deliver the goods. Yes, there’s the rolling boogie that goes right back to Louis Jordan, the godfather of the genre, but a great deal more too. The good Doctor’s prescription includes a cocktail of influence which seem to me to encompass everything from 1940s B-movies to The Blues Brothers, via jazz and RnB. And of course, that most desirable quality so noticeably absent from a great deal of what goes on in music these days. In short the six-letter word frowned upon by the so-called intellectuals who like to tell us what we should be listening to. And that, of course, is humour.
One ecstatic reviewer wrote after an Albrighton all-nighter: “Nothing had prepared us for the impact of DTBB. This eight piece almost blew the windows out from the very first note.” Well check your double glazing, lock up your daughters and then – only-then – press play!”
Digby Fairweather
Track Listing
Musicians Featured
Dr Teeth – Vocals
Simon “The Duke Of” Kemp – Piano/Organ/Harmonica
Clancy D’Ockra – Guitar
Moreton Pinknee – Drums
Chris “The Jive Lobster” Mapp – Upright Bass
Jay “Choo Choo Ch” Moody – Tenor Sax
Mike (Double Meat) Adlington – Trumpet
Simon (Let The Good Times Roll) Robilliard – Trombone
THE MARBELLA JAZZ SUITE
Catalogue number BEARCD44
The jazz festivals of Marbella in Spain and Birmingham in England formed a hermandad or brotherhood, so nothing was more natural than for Big Bear Records to commission Alan Barnes to write and arrange a new piece of music based on Marbella and donated to that city. As invariably happens, carried away by enthusiasm for the project, we decided to form a veritable dream band. Amazingly all the first-choice musicians were available – or made themselves so. Not surprisingly it all sounded so good it had to be recorded.
Jim Simpson
Track Listing
Musicians featured
Alan Barnes (Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute)
Bruce Adams (Trumpet)
Simon Gardner (Trumpet and Flugel)
Alex Garnett (Tenor Saxophone)
Mark Nightingale (Trombone)
John Donaldson (Piano)
Matt Miles (Double Bass)
Ralph Salmins (Drums)
LET ‘EM ROLL
Catalogue number BEARCD43
Track Listing
KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS: SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE
Catalogue number BEARCD42
Track Listing
Musicians featured
King Pleasure (Vocals, Tenor Saxophone)
Big Mally Baxter (Trumpet)
P. Popps Martin (Alto/Baritone Saxophones)
Julian Webster-Greaves (Tenor Saxophone)
Ivory Dan McCormack (Piano/ Hammond)
Bullmoose K Shirley (Guitar)
Slap Happy (Double Bass)
Bam-Bam Beresford (Drums)
KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS: BLUES & RHYTHM REVUE VOLUME 1
Catalogue number BEARCD41
Track Listing:
BRUCE ADAMS – ADAM BARNES QUINTET: LET’S FACE THE MUSIC
Catalogue number BEARCD40
I still get a little shock of surprise and delight whenever I hear Bruce Adams and Alan Barnes doing their stuff. It can’t be because their music is ‘challenging’ or ‘an exciting synthesis of genres’ or anything of that sort. It is perfectly clear what they are up to, which is playing bebop and its close relatives. I remain surprised and delighted because they do it, not only amazingly well, but with such enormous relish.
There is something inherently exciting about the sound of trumpet and alto saxophone playing headlong lines in unison, but they manage to make it more exciting than usual by the way they attack the phrases. Listen to the opening chorus of Hollywood Stampede for a prime example.
Dave Gelly
Track Listing
Musicians featured
Bruce Adams (Trumpet)
Alan Barnes (Alto Saxophone)
Brian Dee (Piano)
Len Skeat ( Double Bass)
Bobby Orr (Drums)
KENNY BAKER’S DOZEN: THE BOSS IS HOME
Catalogue number BEARCD39
Track Listing:
BRUCE ADAMS/ALAN BARNES QUARTET: SIDE-STEPPIN’
Catalogue number BEARCD38
I still get a little shock of surprise and delight whenever I hear Bruce Adams and Alan Barnes doing their stuff. It can’t be because their music is ‘challenging’ or ‘an exciting synthesis of genres’ or anything of that sort. It is perfectly clear what they are up to, which is playing bebop and its close relatives. I remain surprised and delighted because they do it, not only amazingly well, but with such enormous relish.
There is something inherently exciting about the sound of trumpet and alto saxophone playing headlong lines in unison, but they manage to make it more exciting than usual by the way they attack the phrases. Listen to the opening chorus of Hollywood Stampede for a prime example.
Dave Gelly
Track Listing:
Musicians featured
Bruce Adams (Trumpet and Flugelhorn)
Alan Barnes ( Alto and Baritone Saxophone)
Brian Dee (Piano)
Len Skeat ( Double Bass)
Bobby Orr (Drums)
KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS: LIVE AT RONNIE SCOTT’S
Catalogue number BEARCD37
BRUCE ADAMS QUARTET: ONE FOOT IN THE GUTTER
Catalogue number BEARCD36
Bruce Adams is a masterly trumpet player in the grand manner. You don’t need to attend a course of lectures in order to know what he’s on about because he speaks a musical language which everybody understands and speaks it with uncommone elegance and vigour.
I am convinced that, over the years, more people positively enjoy this sort of music than that of the young geniuses who arrive fortnightly, each to a well-orchestrated fanfare. But enjoyment is something that happens inside you. It isn’t visible like a fashion accessory.
Dave Gelly
Track Listing
Musicians featured
Bruce Adams (Trumpet & Flugelhorn)
John Clarke (Piano)
Len Skeat (Double bass)
Bobby Orr (Drums)
KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS: BETTER BEWARE
Catalogue number BEARCD35
DUNCAN SWIFT: THE BROADWOOD CONCERT
Catalogue number BEARCD34
Listeners to this album, recorded live at The Grand Hotel, Birmingham on July 10th 1990 during the Birmingham International Jazz Festival will find the range of reference as exhaustive and challenging as ever. As well as a a liberal sprinkling of Swift originals, Duncan pays homage Earl Hines, James P, Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton, revives some second hand Rachmaninov and cavorts with the peasants of Eastern Europe.
So can we call Duncan Swift a stride pianist? Duncan himself, addressing the question with due seriousness, claims that stride is unarguably the main stream of jazz piano, right to the present day. If that seems something of a catch-all argument, nobody will dispute his assertion that, in their own ways, Jelly Roll Morton and Thelonious Monk were stride pianists. If, as Duncan asserts “the only jazz piano which is not stride is that which has no left hand part of any significance”, then this is beyond doubt an album of stride piano. Percussive, witty, melodically inventive, capable of the most surprising twists and most disarming contrasts, Duncan’s playing employs a minimum of two hands at all times. The result is a session that suggests the exhilaration of the Big Dipper far more than the usual ambience of the cocktail bar.
Ron Simpson
Track Listing
LADY SINGS THE BLUES
Catalogue number BEARCD33
What the album tries to do is to evoke the feeling, not the notes, of the small group jazz of a generation ago and I would say that here and there come moments when what is happening might even be a shade better than what was played all those years ago.
To hear all these pieces sung in a manner faithful to the originals and yet individual in its own way is to be plunged back into a period in jazz history when even the most advanced instrumentalists had not divorced themselves by their own virtuosity from the mainstream of day-to-day life.
Benny Green
Track Listing
Musicians featured
Val Wiseman (Vocal)
Digby Fairweather (Trumpet/Cornet/ Flugelhorn)
Roy Williams (Trombone)
Al Gay (Tenor Saxophone/Clarinet)
Brian Lemon (Piano)
Jim Douglas (Guitar)
Len Skeat (Double Bass)
Eddie Taylor (Drums)
Available digitally and on LP
KING PLEASURE & THE BISCUIT BOYS: THIS IS IT!
Catalogue number BEARCD32
Track Listing
THE JAZZ RAG was established in 1987 and has grown in both presentation and readership to its now established position in British Jazz.
Britain’s liveliest jazz magazine, it is produced six times a year, with a cover price of £3.25.
The 6,500 print run is always fully distributed with 5,000 circulation across UK, and into Europe and America. More than 3000 of those are mailed directly to subscribers. The Jazz Rag is distributed through jazz clubs, record stores, theatres, music stores and festivals. The balance are used in promotional campaignsto build circulation.
Worldwide Magazine Distribution look after the retail side, covering high street chains such as WH Smith & Waterstones.
The Jazz Rag is listed in MDC, the Magazine Distribution Catalogue that supplies newsagents nationally.
The subscriber base is national.
The Jazz Rag readership is 25 years and above, invariably ABC1
For more info on advertising, and how we can help you get to the heart of the British Jazz audience, email Tim Jennings on tim[at]bigbearmusic.com or phone 0121 454 7020
BILL ALLRED’S GOODTIME JAZZ BAND: SWING THAT MUSIC
Catalogue number BEARCD31
Lend an ear to Bill Allred’s Goodtime Jazz Band from Orlando, Florida. They might just be – as one recent review claimed – “the greatest Dixieland band in the world!” Try to isolate what makes Bill Allred’s Goodtime Jazz Band so – well – good, and I would come up with three key words: organisation, energy and adventure. Combining the first two is often difficult. Lesser bands who first lay out, then play within a cultivated Dixieland-scape often sound guarded or even hemmed in, as if anxious not to ruffle the grass. Not, of course, how Nick la Rocca, the first jazz punk, saw and heard the music in 1919 or how Eddie Condon did 20 years later.
Seventy years on, it takes musicians as gifted as Allred’s, first to create the written landscape with sensitivity and then play through it like American footballers thundering down the grid. For great examples of this listen to It Don’t Mean A Thing or Limehouse Blues right here. The third quality – adventure – finds its way, appropriately in triplicate, into Allred’s compliment of soloists, arrangements and repertoire. This last may include anything from King Oliver-style replays (via Lu Watters) to elegant Goodman-esque swing tributes and beyond. This repertoire wherever appropriate (and only then) is irresistibly decked out in arrangements offering a capella passages, key changes, dynamic ups and downs shifts in texture and style and fine touches that turn each selection into a kaleidoscope of jazz colourtones. And from this luxurious background Allred’s soloists regularly spring to devour solos as if, in Irving Townsend’s marvellous phrase, “they hadn’t had one in weeks!”
That’s Bill Allred’s Goodtime Band. Dixieland at its very best. As Bob Haggart himself might ask in smiling approval: “What is there not to like”?
Digby Fairweather
Musicians Featured:
Bill Allred – Trombone/Vocal
Don Lord – Cornet
JJ Argenziano – Trumpet
Terry Myers – Tenor Saxophone/Clarinet
Jim Maihack – Piano/Trombone
Boyd Bergeson – Guitar/Banjo
Sam Noto – Bass/Tuba
Warren Sauer – Drums
The Winners of the 28th British Jazz Awards are announced today across the 12 solo instrument categories, two sections for bands and two trade awards to record companies.
Known as the Jazz Oscars, The British Jazz Awards have been presented every year since 1987 and have long been established as the most important jazz awards in this country.
A total of 53,738 votes were cast by 3822 voters, with the most votes for a winning musician in any category going to Mark Nightingale who won Best Trombone with 1423 votes.
The process begins with the Nomination Panel of 20 jazz professionals, who independently put forward four names in each category. The four with the most votes in each category are announced as The Nominations and put to the popular vote, along with the opportunity for each voter to insert the name of any musician he may prefer outside the nominated four.
Voting takes place both in printed form, email and online.
A full list of this year’s winners is available here: British Jazz Awards 2014 Winners
Thanks to all who voted in the 2013 British Jazz Awards. A full report of the splendid time had by those at the presentation, sponsored by The Jewellery Quarter BID, a full report of which will follow. In the meantime, here’s the classified results:
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This page is for the 2013 British Jazz Awards, for 2014 Jazz Awards info and Voting, please click here
It gives us great pleasure to announce the nominations for the 27th edition of the British Jazz Awards, this year produced in association with The Jewellery Quarter BID for the first time.
Each year the awards bring together some of the most influential writers, promoters and broadcasters in mainstream jazz to nominate those musicians, ensembles and albums most deserving of recognition for bringing us the music that makes life that bit more worthwhile.
Now it’s up to you, the public, to decide who’ll walk away with a prize at this year’s award presentation on July 10th. This can be done online at tiny.cc/britishjazzawards, using the paper form supplied with the forthcoming issue of The Jazz Rag magazine, or by emailing jazzawards@bigbearmusic.com.
But there’s more good news: our pals at The Jewellery Quarter BID have arranged for this year’s presentation to take place in the stunning St Paul’s Church, were for the cost of a ticket revellers can see a lineup of the best that British jazz has to offer sharing a stage and a tune or two. The presentation takes place on July 10th as part of the Birmingham International Jazz & Blues Festival, with tickets available here.
The nominees are as follows:
Trumpet: Bruce Adams, Guy Barker, Enrico Tomasso, Steve Waterman
Trombone: Ian Bateman, Mark Nightingale, Dennis Rollins, Roy Williams
Clarinet: Alan Barnes, Tony Coe, Mark Crooks, Julian Marc Stringle
Alto Saxophone: Alan Barnes, Nigel Hitchcock, Peter King, Derek Nash
Tenor Saxophone: Robert Fowler, Karen Sharp, Art Themen, Bobby Wellins
Piano: Nikki Iles, Craig Milverton, David Newton, Gareth Williams
Guitar: Dominic Ashworth, Dave Cliff, Jim Mullen, Martin Taylor
Bass: Andy Cleyndert, Alec Dankworth, Dave Green, Len Skeat
Drums: Steve Brown, Sebaastian de Krom, Ralph Salmins, Bobby Worth
Miscellaneous: Alan Barnes (Baritone Saxophone), Mick Foster (Baritone Saxophone), Christian Garrick (Violin), Jim Hart (Vibraphone)
Vocals: Lianne Carroll, Claire Martin, Anita Wardell, Val Wiseman
Rising Star: Henry Armburg Jennings, Laura Jurd, Ed Richardson, Tim Thornton
Big Band: Back To Basie, BBC Big Band, Beats & Pieces, The National Youth Jazz Orchestra
Small Group: Brass Jaw, Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen, The Great Wee Band, Tipitina
New Album: Claire Martin – Too Much In Love To Care (Linn), Courtney Pine – House of Legends (Destin-E World), Mark Lockheart – Ellington In Anticipation (Subtone), Martin Taylor/Alan Barnes – Two For The Road (Woodville)
Reissued Album: Bobby Wellins Quartet – Birds Of Brazil (Hep), British Traditional Jazz At A Tangent Volumes 1&2 (Lake), Joe Harriott – Movement/High Spirits (Dutton Vocalion), Stan Tracey – Three Classic Albums Plus (Avid)
We’d also like to thank our nomination panel for their time:
Bob Weir (Jazz Journal) Chris Hodgkins (Jazz Services) Cole Mathieson (The Concorde Club) Dave Gelly (The Observer) David Nathan (The British Jazz Archive) Dick Laurie (Allegedly Hot News International) Fred Lindop (Swanage Jazz Festival) Jerry Brown (Norwich Jazz Party) Liz Lincoln (Promoter) Lord Anthony Colwyn (Chair, All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group) Mike Gordon (Scarborough Jazz Festival) Mike Pointon (Jazz Writer)Peter Vacher (Jazz Writer) Ron Simpson (The Jazz Rag) Tony Augarde (Musicweb International)
Over the opening weekend of this years online poll we’ve already seen the votes pour in. Cast your vote now to decide who will walk away with a gong this year at tiny.cc/jazzawards.
Voting closes 8th October.
THE BRITISH JAZZ AWARDS: CONCORDE CLUB, SOUTHAMPTON
The ‘Jazz Oscars’ have been around for 26 years, the Concorde Club at Eastleigh for over twice as long. How odd that it has taken so long for the two to get together!
In fact the two proved to be ideal partners. The British Jazz Awards, despite frequent changes of venue and in the format of the event, have consistently rewarded the best and most committed musicians in British jazz; the Concorde Club, under Cole Matheson, has consistently employed those same people, together with plenty of the top names from abroad. The 2012 occasion was a perfect marriage of venue, presentation and performance. The club’s ambience is just formal enough, the balance of Prize Day and all-star jazz session was just right and, despite a few absentees, there were plenty of major musical talents in fine form.
At the end of the evening, the encore reunited all the musicians and added singer Liane Carroll who clearly loved swinging in front of a high-octane eight-piece on Pennies from Heaven – a perfectly exuberant finale, but I’m not so sure that an entire 90-minute set of such frolics would have held the attention. Instead the evening, as planned by Jazz Awards organiser and Jazz Rag editor Jim Simpson, consisted of assorted smaller groups in much more disciplined performances.Prize winners present were Enrico Tomasso on trumpet, Alan Barnes on clarinet and alto sax, Karen Sharp on tenor sax, Dave Newton on piano, Alec Dankworth on bass and Steve Brown on drums, joined by Rising Star Jamie Brownfield (trumpet) and new CD leader/producer Derek Nash (baritone sax).
The opening Oh, Lady Be Good was typically loosely arranged, with a succession of fine solos, and left me with two main impressions. One was that Jamie Brownfield is a remarkably sensible and self-assured young man: not in the least over-awed, he also avoided the folly of being too competitive in the company of musicians who’ve been round the block a time or two. Also, apropos of nothing in particular, it struck me that how rich the vein of non-specialist baritone sax players is: Derek Nash’s solos had a joyful attack all night and there he was beside Alan Barnes (a close run thing on baritone for the Miscellaneous Instrument category) and Karen Sharp (a player I almost prefer on baritone).The balance, roughly speaking, was 3 to 1 in favour of music, just over half an hour of presentation and speeches, a good 90 minutes of jazz, which is about right, I reckon. Not that the presentation is unimportant. Local radio and television personality Michael Kurns carried off the proceedings with efficiency, affability, enough knowledge and no pretence of expertise, helped by Jazz Rag’s Yue Yang’s immaculately timed envelopes, awards and winning smiles. The speeches were brief, genuine and often amusing: for some reason Alan Barnes was the object of much of his colleagues’ humour, Alec Dankworth’s quip that he’d only won because Alan had given up double bass being followed by Alan receiving the guitar award on behalf of the missing Martin Taylor! It was particularly pleasing to find Courtney Pine’s award for miscellaneous instrument being collected by a very self-possessed student of his at Southampton University and, if Digby Fairweather’s typical mix of generosity of spirit and idiosyncrasy of style posed challenges to Cole Matheson (receiving on his behalf and reading his acceptance speech), it didn’t disturb the good humour of the evening.
I guess many readers will have in mind plenty of outstanding musicians who ‘should’ have won – I can think of several myself – but all the winners more than justified their awards on the night – and I don’t think there would be too much argument with Martin Taylor, Courtney Pine or Mark Nightingale, either. The welcome conclusion is that, whatever problems jazz has in this country (and the odd barbed comment about those was the only non-joyful note in the evening), a shortage of talent isn’t one of them.
A final impression of the evening is of equal enjoyment on and off stage, of a complementary rather than competitive atmosphere (though just competitive enough to add a certain piquancy) – and anyone who doubts that music can, of itself, be humorous hasn’t listened to Dave Newton, Alan Barnes or Steve Brown.Probably the stand-out crowd-pleaser of the evening came with a monster performance by the three saxes of Cottontail, with the supremely versatile rhythm section at their most exuberant. (Again credit to Jamie Brownfield who, given the unenviable task of following this, kept his cool with a boppish Sweet Georgia Brown). Liane Carroll’s two features, You’ve Changed and That Old Devil Moon, each with one sax and rhythm, drew on her full range from delicate balladry to uninhibited scatting. Karen Sharp’s trio version of Bye Bye Baby thrust attention onto Alec Dankworth and Steve Brown, the one all fierce concentration, the other all sunny insouciance, both immaculate and inventive throughout a varied and demanding set. Similarly with the Barnes/Newton duo reading of Blues in Thirds, Alan justifying his nomination for clarinet, while Dave was arguably the star turn of the evening, his playing, enhanced by the Concorde’s superb grand piano, moving from witty asides to adventurous flights to thunderous climaxes and always coming back to home base and swinging two-handed piano.
RON SIMPSON
Editor, The Jazz Rag
Thanks to everyone who came to the British Jazz Awards presentation at The Concorde Club last night. An enjoyable evening of music and speeches was had by all, with an excellent on stage jam with the winners to round it off. A full report will follow shortly but in the mean time, here’s what you’ve all been waiting for: the winners!
Trumpet
| 1.Enrico Tomasso
2.Guy Barker 3.Bruce Adams 4.Henry Lowther 5.Jamie Brownfield |
Trombone
| 1.Mark Nightingale
2.Dennis Rollins 3.Roy Williams 4.Ian Bateman 5.Mark Bassey |
Clarinet
| 1.Alan Barnes
2.Julian Marc Stringle 3.Tony Coe 4.Mark Crooks 5.Adrian Cox |
Alto Saxophone
| 1.Alan Barnes
2.Derek Nash 3.Peter King 4.Nigel Hitchcock 5.Paul Towndrow |
Tenor Saxophone
| 1.Karen Sharp
2.Bobby Wellins 3.Simon Spillet 4.Robert Fowler 5.Liam Byrne |
Piano
| 1.Dave Newton
2.Nikki Iles 3.Kit Downes 4.Craig Milverton 5.Tom Kincaid |
Guitar
| 1.Martin Taylor
2.Jim Mullen 3.Dominic Ashworth 4.Dave Cliff 5.Nigel Price |
Bass
| 1.Alec Dankworth
2.Dave Green 3.Andy Cleyndert 4.Len Skeat 5.Al Swainger |
Drums
| 1.Steve Brown
2.Seb De Krom 3.Bobby Worth 4.Ralph Salmins 5.Alyn Cosker |
Miscellaneous
| 1.Courtney Pine (Soprano Sax)
2.Jim Hart (Vibraphone) 3.Alan Barnes (Baritone Sax) 4.Christian Garrick (Violin) 5.Mike Piggott (Violin) |
Vocals
| 1.Liane Carroll
2.Claire Martin 3.Liz Fletcher 4.Val Wiseman 5.Heather Cairncross |
Rising Star
| 1.Jamie Brownfield
2.Amy Roberts 3.James Maddren 4.Lewis Wright |
Big Band
| 1.SNJO
2.NYJO 3.Back To Basie 4.Beats And Pieces 5.Voice Of The North Jazz Orchestra |
Small Group
| 1.Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen
2.Brass Jaw 3.Tipitina 4.The Great Wee Band 5.Brownfield Byrne Quintet |
New Album
| 1.Jazzizit for Derek Nash Acoustic Quartet: Joyriding
2.Trio for Karen Sharp: Spirit 3.ECM for John Surman: Saltash Bells 4.Blue Note for Great Wee Band: Light Blue 5.Bear Paw for Heather Cairncross: At Last |
Reissued Album
| 1.Avid for Stan Tracey: Leader and Sideman
2.Lake for Bruce Turner: Accent On Swing 3.Proper for The Joe Harriott Story 4.Lake for British Traditional Jazz: A Potted History 5.Fontana for Tubby Hayes: 100% Proof |
The nominations are announced for the 2012 British Jazz Awards, which is always a high point of the British jazz calendar. The 26th edition of the awards will, as always, recognise some of the best talent that the British jazz scene has to offer.
The nomination panel has produced a shortlist of musicians, bands and albums across sixteen categories, and now the public has the chance to cast its vote to decide who will pick up one of this year’s “Jazz Oscars”. It is fair to say that they will be spoilt for choice, with well established musicians taking their place alongside the newer names.
Representing the aristocracy of British Jazz, performers such as saxophone stalwart Alan Barnes and singer Val Wiseman will find out if they can retain the awards they won last year. The bass category sees regular award winners Dave Green and Len Skeat in a group packed out with go-to names for those looking to put together a rhythm section that can deliver the goods.
Pianist and multiple award winner Dave Newton will this year face young gun Kit Downes in the award for that instrument. Meanwhile Downes’ collaborator on drums James Maddren is a first time nominee in the Rising Star category. Designed to recognise and provide exposure for those young performers who stand out from the rest of the pack, the award could go to him or any of the other three under 26 year olds in the frame.
Saxophone superstar Courtney Pine, nominated in the miscellaneous category for his work on the soprano instrument is up against Alan Barnes on baritone sax, Christian Garrick on violin and Jim Hart on vibraphone. The category brings together all-horn four piece Brass Jaw, award regulars Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen, The Great Wee Band (three quarters of whom are individual nominees) and hot new band Tipitina, who despite being eligible for a British Jazz award have their spiritual home in the dance halls of New Orleans.
For the first time ever this year’s awards will be presented at that true bastion of British Jazz, The Concorde Club in Southampton. Run by legendary promoter Cole Mathieson and his family, the venue has the distinction of being the UK’s oldest jazz club, having opened in 1957. The diary date for this year’s awards presentation is October 22nd.
Jazz fans everywhere can help shape what promises to be a night to remember by voting online at tiny.cc/jazzawards or through forms mailed in the autumn edition of Jazz Rag magazine.
For tickets and directions to the awards ceremony visit www.theconcordeclub.com
Nominations for the 2012 British Jazz awards are as follows:
Trumpet: Bruce Adams, Enrico Tomasso, Guy Barker, Henry Lowther
Trombone: Dennis Rollins, Ian Bateman, Mark Nightingale, Roy Williams
Clarinet: Alan Barnes, Julian Marc Stringle, Mark Crooks, Tony Coe
Alto Saxophone: Alan Barnes, Derek Nash, Nigel Hitchcock, Peter King
Tenor Saxophone: Bobby Wellins, Karen Sharp, Robert Fowler, Simon Spillett
Piano: Craig Milverton, Dave Newton, Kit Downes, Nikki Iles
Guitar: Dave Cliff, Dominic Ashworth, Jim Mullen, Martin Taylor
Bass: Alec Dankworth, Andy Cleyndert, Dave Green, Len Skeat
Drums: Bobby Worth, Ralph Salmins, Sebastiaan De Krom, Steve Brown
Miscellaneous: Alan Barnes (baritone saxophone), Christian Garrick (violin), Courtney Pine (soprano saxophone), Jim Hart (vibraphone)
Vocals: Claire Martin, Liane Carroll, Liz Fletcher, Val Wiseman
Rising Star: Amy Roberts, James Maddren, Jamie Brownfield, Lewis Wright
Big Band: Back To Basie, Beats and Pieces, NYJO, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra
Small Group: Brass Jaw, Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen, The Great Wee Band, Tipitina
New CD: Derek Nash Acoustic Quartet: Joyriding (Jazzizit), The Great Wee Band: Light Blue (Trio), John Surman: Saltash Bells (ECM), Karen Sharp: Spirit (Trio)
Reissue CD: British Traditional Jazz – A Potted History (Lake), Bruce Turner: Accent On Swing (Lake), Stan Tracey: Leader And Sideman (Avid), The Joe Harriott Story (Proper)
The nomination panel is as follows:
Bob Weir (Jazz Journal) Chris Hodgkins (Jazz Services) Cole Mathieson (The Concorde Club) Dave Gelly (The Observer) David Nathan (The British Jazz Archive) Dick Laurie (Allegedly Hot News International) Fred Lindop (Swanage Jazz Festival) Jerry Brown (Norwich Jazz Party) John Hemming (MP) Liz Lincoln (Promoter) Lord Anthony Colwyn (Chair, All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group) Mike Gordon (Scarborough Jazz Festival) Mike Pointon (Jazz Writer)Peter Vacher (Jazz Writer)Roger Cotterrell (Book Publisher) Ron Simpson (The Jazz Rag) Tony Augarde (Musicweb International)
