BRITISH JAZZ Collectables

Part 2: The Modernists. Ian Shirley celebrates 100 cool classics whose vinyl originals can fetch up to £1,300

In 1958 the Jazz Book Club published Concerning Jazz, in which a number of writers examined the jazz movement. While Editor Sinclair Traill found a thriving trad scene in the UK, Brian Nicholls stated that “there is no such thing as a British modern jazz movement.” He did, however, when it came to sax players, highlight Johnny Dankworth, Ronnie Scott, Don Rendell and the “tensed surprise” of Joe Harriott.

Eleven years later, Jazz Journal’s 21 critics only found room for three British jazz albums in their end of year poll, with US releases and re-issues filling the other 207 places! So did that mean that between 1958 and 1969 British Jazz produced nothing of merit apart from Stan Tracey’s Jazz Suite: Inspired By Under Milk Wood, Mike Westbrook’s Release and the Rendell-Carr Quintet albums? Quite the contrary, for between 1958 and 1969, there was a extraordinary ferment in British jazz with trailblazers like Tubby Hayes and Stan Tracey showing that they were more than equal to American musicians. A new generation of players, arrangers, composers and improvisers began writing and recording music that, while of American paternity, was distinctly British in sound and nature.

There were the big sonic canvasses of Mike Gibbs, Mike Westbrook and Neil Ardley, the majestic lyrical ferocity of John Surman …

by Ian Shirley
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