… with a Mothers’ Day Jazz Special!

Chris Hodgkins And His Band at Ealing Jazz Festival August 1st 2015. L to Rt: Charlotte Glasson (alto), Alison Rayner (bass), Chris Hodgkins, Cheryl Alleyne (drums), Diane McLaughlin (sax) and Max Brittain (guitar).

Chris Hodgkins’ Newsletter February 2016

Parliamentary Jazz Awards
The Parliamentary Jazz Awards are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG), co-chaired by Jason McCartney MP and Lord Colwyn, and supported by music licensing company PPL in conjunction with JazzUK and Jazzwise. Nominations for this year’s closed on 18th February and results will be announced in due course.

The categories for the 2016 Awards reflected the ever-increasing scope of talent from within the UK’s jazz scene including.
•    Jazz Album of the Year (released in 2015 by a UK band or musicians)
•    Jazz Vocalist of the Year (UK-based vocalist who impressed in 2015)
•    Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year (UK-based musician who impressed in 2015)
•    Jazz Ensemble of the Year (UK-based group who impressed in 2015)
•    Jazz Venue of the Year (including jazz clubs, venues, festivals and promoters)
•    Jazz Media Award (including broadcasters, journalists, magazines, blogs, listings and books)
•    Jazz Education Award (to an educator or project for raising the standard of UK jazz education)
•    Jazz Newcomer of the Year (UK-based artist, musician or group with a 2015 debut album)
•    Services to Jazz Award (to a living person for their outstanding contribution to jazz in the UK).

PPL has been supporting the awards since 2005. APPJAG has over 100 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords, across all political parties. Its aim is to encourage a wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the industry and issues surrounding it, as well as promoting jazz as a musical form, and to raise its profile both inside and outside of Parliament.

Jazz London Radio has  appointed of an advertising manager
Jazz London radio has appointed an advertising manager. For details of opportunities for sponsorship and advertising on its platform please contact our Sales Executive Jay Bennett
Email: [email protected]  or [email protected] or Phone: 07984 160 931 and website http://www.jazzlondonradio.com/advertising-with-jlr/

Chris continues to present Jazz Then And Now on Jazz London Radio. He can be contacted at [email protected] if you have bands on tour.

If you are one of the many jazz youth orchestras who would like to get their music played, contact Chris at [email protected]

To see the play lists of previous programmes please visit Jazz Then And Now

Jazz London Radio – An invite to promoters and musicians
Jazz London Radio is committed to promoting all the talent coming out of Britain. They invite promoters, from the small jazz gig to the major concert hall and touring musicians to send them details of their gigs which they will endeavour to mention them in their programmes. Promoters should send details of events with a couple of tracks to [email protected]

The criteria is that all MP3s/ M4a files are properly encoded with title of tracks, composer and album art and sent with the gig/event information to Jazz London Radio at [email protected]

You can also contact their presenters for information about tracks played or requests to [email protected]

You can listen to Jazz London Radio at  http://www.jazzlondonradio.com/listen/

Pure Jazz Radio – New York
Chris is now presenting a programme Jazz Is…… on Pure Jazz Radio

Pure Jazz Radio started on the 1st January 2009 with a few dozen listeners and has emerged as the “Internet Jazz Radio Station of Record”. We not only play great jazz but are the home of some of best jazz presenters in the world. Pure Jazz Radio also promotes the jazz scene world wide and talks with some of the leading talent regarding their latest projects. If it is happening – and it’s – jazz – you’ll hear it at Pure Jazz Radio

Rich Keith, General Manager, Pure Jazz Radio – New York

Jazz is a broad church that has developed an incredibly diverse range of musics with a global reach. When there is an altercation in the choir stalls about what jazz is, some one is reinventing jazz and building an extension to the church. The programme Jazz Is illustrates the rich history of jazz and the vibrant happening jazz of today.

Each week the play list will be posted detailing the tunes played, the musician, band, album and composers. Please visit Jazz Is…..

Ealing Jazz Festival under threat
For thirty years Ealing Jazz Festival has attracted hundreds of thousands of people. The Jazz Festival ran for eight days producing 34 concerts on the main stage, with major corporate and local sponsors. Since outsourcing the management of the festival to a private contractor the sponsorships have ended, admission charges have been introduced and now it is proposed to cut the Festival to just two days. This is despite participation by top jazz artists and audience attendance levels remaining high. The outsourced company is still involved. To add insult to injury the Council intends to dispense with the services of Dick Esmond, the co-founder and the Artistic Director. The festival is unique in that it is a local festival dedicated to showcasing  musicians and bands who live in Ealing.

If you could sign the petition that would be great, here is the link: Save Ealing Jazz Festival

For details on Chris’s recordings, reviews and sales,  projects, biography, blog, media and music business education, please visit Chris Hodgkins

… but “Jazz Made Me Do It!”

What better words to express my feelings about introducing Google Ads on the pages of this Website!

Why introduce ads? Because Jazz&Jazz is growing exponentially but without the funds to finance that growth. Covering jazz and producing features on Jazz&Jazz is costly – leaving me heavily out of pocket.

I want to achieve more, not cut back … more bands, more clubs, more festivals. And if need be, enlist help with the project. I have even explored possibilities of launching online fundraisers with, for instance, Indiegogo or Kickstarter, but would rather confine fundraising to the Jazz Community.

Jazz&Jazz YouTube Banner

I’ve included Google ads on my Jazz&Jazz YouTubes for a while and slowly they are contributing towards covering costs. So finally I have reluctantly introduced Google ads on the pages of Jazz&Jazz.

BUT, There Is An Alternative…
You can help! There is a Donate Button under “HELP US KEEP JAZZ LIVE AND ALIVE!” in the right hand column of this and each page on Jazz&Jazz. Some folks, not very many to date, have used it, and I thank them, as I thank those clubs and bands who permit me free entry to cover their events.

See Button to the right.

What if donations were to take off and grow exponentially? I plan to log and account for each contribution (by name or anonymously) on a Jazz&Jazz Donations Feature.

Funds for Special Events?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the combined income from Google ads and Donations grew beyond the needs of producing Jazz&Jazz (along with my Social Media extensions on Facebook, my Facebook Jazzers Group, Twitter and Linkedin) and a fund could be set up to use any surplus for special jazz events!

Peter M Butler
Editor & Proprietor Jazz&Jazz