A British Jazz Wishlist

I have mentioned several times on this blog the fact that British jazz suffers from a lack of properly funded institutions.

The classical music world has a sophisticated network of such organisations, and British jazz should aspire to have the same.

Here is a very modest organisational wishlist, with details of the comparable existing classical counterparts and how much funding they received from the Arts Council last year:

National Jazz Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra - £2,193,283

National Jazz Centre

Royal Opera House - £26,342,464

Small Group Jazz / Composition Development Centre

Aldeburgh Music - £1,368,199

National Centre for Early Jazz / Repertory Jazz

National Centre for Early Music - £233,416

Jazz Education / Development Programme

Royal Opera House Bridge Development - £730,000 (from next year)

For each of the classical counterpart organisations I listed, I could have easily listed a tiresome number of examples. There are also many other structures I have not suggested jazz alternatives to.

The whole of British jazz received a paltry £1.17m this year.

This must change.

Jazz @ the NLT Podcasts: Reuben Fowler

Jazz @ NLT Podcasts have arrived! Follow this link, or open iTunes, go to "Advanced", "Subscribe to Podcast" and enter this address: http://www.jdaviesmusic.co.uk/podcast.xml

Episode 1: Trumpeter Reuben Fowler. Playing at the NLT on 4 September.

Reuben Fowler discusses working with Stan Sulzmann, Jim Hart, and the British jazz trumpet tradition.

Jazz @ the NLT: September

Jazz @ the NLT will be returning very soon, kicking off on 4 September with Reuben Fowler's band featuring the great Stan Sulzmann on saxophones and Jim Hart on drums.

We've got a great month of gigs, including trumpeter Rory Simmons' 'Monocled Man' on 11 September, bassist James Opstad's septet on the 18th, and the fantastic pianist Barry Green's 'Blue Notes' on the 25th.

We're also launching our podcasts very soon, which will feature a different band leader talking about their music.

See you on the 4th!

September

4 - Reuben Fowler Group feat. Stan Sulzmann & Jim Hart + Elliot Galvin Trio

11 - Rory Simmons' Monocled Man + Kieran McLeod Group

18 - James Opstad Septet + Paul Baxter Trio

25 - Barry Green's Blue Notes + Sam Rapley Quintet

As usual, North London Tavern, Sunday nights from 7.30pm, £5 entry, nearest tube: Kilburn (Jubilee) / Brondesbury (Overground).

Flea Circus on Radio 3 from the Proms

You can listen to some Flea Circus from the Proms on iPlayer for the next week here.

9min 20 in is "Lamppost" from Three Miniatures (hear the whole piece here)

17min 05 in is "Tresses".

Album and tour coming next year.. watch this space!

Richard Turner

Richard Turner was one of the most incredible trumpet players I've ever met, a lovely lovely incredibly funny guy, and one of the most important people in the London jazz scene.

That's really not an exaggeration at all. Everyone that turned out to the Con Cellar Bar last night knows how ridiculously hard he worked to promote great music and support local musicians, as well as incredible balls - not only the weekly Con gigs, but starting his own festival, bringing huge US bands over with guaranteed fees, and managing it all so well that somehow it all worked.

He was such a welcoming and supportive guy, and he is a glowing example to everyone who knew him.

Rich sent me the recording of a gig Round Trip did at the NLT last year - we were going to use the tracks as part of a podcast of Rich talking about the band which we never got to record.

Listen to E1 here.

He was an inspiration, a mentor and a friend.

I'll miss you Rich.

Coming soon: Jazz @ the NLT Podcasts

We've started recording our first Jazz @ the NLT podcasts, which will take the form of band leaders talking about their bands and music and other things ahead of their appearances at the North London Tavern.

We thought it would be interesting to hear about the whys and hows that go into creating the bands on the current London jazz scene.

The first podcast will go up at the end of August, and will be available on iTunes.

The format was inspired by the great Tate Shots podcasts from Tate Modern, and there will be a new podcast featuring a different band leader released each week.