British jazz

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Music of the United Kingdom
History	Nationalities
Early popular music	England
1950s and 60s	Scotland
1970s	Wales
1980s	Ireland
1990s to present	Caribbean and Indian
Genres: (Samples) Classical - Folk - Hip hop - Opera - Popular - Rock - Jazz
Timeline: 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006
Awards	Mercury, Brit Awards
Charts	UK Singles Chart, UK classical chart, UK Albums Chart
Festivals	Glastonbury Festival
Media	NME - Melody Maker
National anthem	"God Save the Queen"
Regions and territories
Birmingham - Cornwall - Man - Manchester - Northumbria - Somerset Anguilla - Bermuda - Cayman Islands - Gibraltar - Montserrat - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands

Jazz in Britain is usually said to have begin with the British tour of the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1919. That stated the British in the 1920s generally preferred the terms "hot" or "straight" dance music to the term "jazz." Jazz in Britain also faced a similar difficulty to Brazilian jazz and French jazz, namely it was seen as a bad influence. Although in Britain the concern that jazz was from the United States appears to have been less important than in France or Brazil. Instead those British who objected to it did so more because they deemed it "riotous" or unnerving.

Jazz became more important, and more separate as its own genre, in Britain during World War II. The war led to an increase in bands to entertain the troops and these bands began to refer to themselves as "jazz" musicians more often. The period also saw an increased interest in American musicians who also toured in military bands. This increased interest in jazz continued after the war.

By 1949 John Dankworth and, to a much greater extent, Ronnie Scott began a movement toward "modern jazz" or Bebop. A movement in an opposite direction was revivalism, which became popular in the 1950s and was represented by musicians like Humphrey Lyttelton, though Lyttelton gradually became more catholic in his approach. At this point both streams tended to emulate Americans, whether it be Charlie Parker for Beboppers or Joe "King" Oliver for traditionalists, rather than try to create a uniquely British form of jazz.

During the 1950s mass emigration into the UK, brought an influx of players from the Caribbean such as Joe Harriott and Harold McNair, though some, such as Dizzy Reece, found the shortage of genuine Jazz work frustrating - dance music remained popular - and migrated to the United States. British born players too, including George Shearing, active on the London scene since before the war, and Victor Feldman also chose to move across the Atlantic.

In the 1960s and 1970s British jazz, although still strongly influenced by Americans, began to have more varied influence. One important aspect being the South African jazz musicians that had left, or been expelled, from their home nation. There was also a growth in free jazz inspired by European models as much or more than Americans. Added to this more musicians had been raised on rhythm and blues or English forms of rock and roll, which became increasingly significant to the genre. These influences mixed in a way that led to British jazz music that was much more distinctive from that of other nations or even from the traditional definitions of jazz. One branch of this development was the forthcoming of various British jazz fusion bands like Soft Machine, Nucleus, Colosseum, If, Henry Cow, Centipede, National Health, Ginger Baker's Air Force, to name a few. Some of the most significant musicians to emerge during this period include John Taylor, Evan Parker, and Kenny Wheeler.

The 1980s began with jazz having gone into a bit of a decline, but the decade would see a bit of a revival later. By the late 1980s funk and hip hop became more of an influence on Britain's jazz scene. There was also a new generation of Black British musicians entering jazz with Courtney Pine and Julian Joseph being noteworthy examples.. Loose Tubes was a very imporant group in re-energising the British scene. Many musicians from this band such as Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Julian Argüelles have become very important artists with highly developed individual musical voices. This renaissance led to the establishment of the National Jazz Centre which raised money and purchased a venue in Covent Garden, London which would be the intended home of British Jazz had it not been wound-up. The expansion of jazz in this period was also marked by the launch of Jazz FM, the opening of the Jazz Cafe, Camden.

British jazz giants Ronnie Scott (left) and Tubby Hayes.

1 British jazz musicians
2 British Jazz Record Labels
3 See also
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 Television Documentary

[edit] British jazz musicians

For a list see Category:British jazz musicians.

[edit] British Jazz Record Labels

[edit] See also

[edit] References

British Bebop
British Jazz Saxophonists 1950–1970: An overview, Simon Spillett
The history of British jazz, Harry Francis
Jazz Development in Britain 1924–1974, Harry Francis]
Various reports on Jazz in the UK
Jazzwise homepage

[edit] Bibliography

George McKay (2005) Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain. Durham NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-3573-5

[edit] Television Documentary

BBC Four's Jazz Brittania

"Celebration: Loose Tubes". Documentary. The 21-piece jazz orchestra its first national tour. The musicians are shown conducting a jazz 'workshop' in Sheffield, as well as performing. Directed by Christopher Swann. Produced by Granada Television. Channel Four, January 1987.

"Sounds Different: Music Out of Time". Ian Carr & his band "Nucleus" are seen during a two day workshop with young musicians. Participants are Guy Barker, Django Bates, Steve Berry, Neil Sitwell, Steve Sitwell, David Trigwell, Glen Vallint & Chris White. BBC TWO, 28th November 1980.

Jazz | Jazz genres