Keeping Jazz Alive: Part 3

Andrea Motis

I’ll begin this post with my YouTube of The Andrea Motis/Joan Chamorro Quintet starring at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, on Wednesday, 1st October.

The Quintet stars 19 year old Andrea (vocals, soprano sax & trumpet); Joan Chamorro (Leader, contrabass and tenor sax); Ignasi Terraza (piano); Josep Traver (Guitar); and Esteve Pi (Drums). Their London debut followed equally successful shows at Paris’s leading jazz club, the Duc de Lombards.

But there is a much bigger story to be told and that revolves around Joan Chamorro’s  incredible work with Barcelona School Children in founding at Andrea’s alma mater, The St Andreu Jazz Band. I have followed the band for some months so it was a huge privilege to meet Joan – and his band of young stars – when they stole the show at Fest Jazz in Brittany this July. As this YouTube demonstrates, his work is inspirational. It’s hardly matched any where else in the world let alone in the UK.

In an earlier Jazz&Jazz feature entitled “Encouraging Signs for Jazz in Europe, So Why Not in The UK?” I featured Trevor Stent’s article “Jazz at School… A Homage to Catalonia” in which he focuses on St Andreu’s young musicians and asks the question “Why not in the UK”? It’s well worth reading.

Press Reviews

And now, here is what the press had to say about Andrea at Pizza Express:

The Guardian: http://goo.gl/VQNHA6

The Arts Desk: http://goo.gl/NSQpkI

So please also read: “Our audience is dying and there is little we can do!” plus “Sammy Rimington: “In The Upper Garden”

In signing off, let me say this, I know we have the younger bands and the talent in the UK to match this achievement. And Jazz&Jazz will be focusing on these bands in future features.

Peter M Butler
Editor & Proprietor, Jazz&Jazz 

Photos & YouTubes © Peter M Butler, Jazz&Jazz

Keeping Jazz Alive: Part 2

Sammy at Hemsby Autumn Jazz Parade (Photo © Peter M Butler, Jazz&Jazz)

It was a joy to be able to capture YouTubes of Sammy’s International Band topping the bill at the Autumn Jazz Parade, Hemsby, Norfolk, 30th September, 2014. He was joined by Emile van Pelt (piano), Norman Emberson (drums), Eric Webster (banjo) and Trefor Williams (string bass) and Philippe de Smet (Trombone). Be sure to watch my YouTube below of Sammy playing “In The Upper Garden”, one of my all time favourites. Best viewed in HD.

Over the past few years I’ve enjoyed Sammy’s gigs at Chilham, Kent, during his annual UK Autumn tours, but to my regret I had to forego this year’s booking at the very last minute. Had I not been to Hemsby this would have been an utter disaster.

Sammy’s Kind of Music
Why? Because primarily Jazz&Jazz supports Sammy’s kind of music – New Orleans Revivalist Jazz – which came to be termed Traditional Jazz in the UK and Europe when bands over here put their own slant on it.

But my colleague Laurence Cummin was at Sammy’s Winning Post concert at Twickenham and took some great photos which I’m more than pleased to include here.

At The Winning Post, Twickenham

Sammy on Clarinet

… and on saxophone

Trefor Williams

Norman Emberson

Jazz Is Not Dying!

There are concerns that jazz is dying. Nothing could be further from the truth because a new era of jazz is emerging – younger bands, such as Old Hat Jazz Band for one, and younger fans recapturing the very essence of Sammy’s New Orleans Revivalist Jazz.

So please also read: “Our audience is dying and there is little we can do!” plus “Outstanding Debut for Young Catalonian Star Andrea Motis”.

So remember to visit Jazz&Jazz frequently to keep up with developments. And PLEASE, take the time to comment on Jazz&Jazz posts by using “Speak Your Mind” at the foot of each post. This can be just as effective and more so in helping promote jazz as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin put together. Especially if you aren’t a social media fan!

Paul Sealey

Philippe De Smet

“In The Upper Garden”

Peter Butler
Jazz&Jazz Editor & Proprietor

YouTube © Peter M Butler, Jazz&Jazz
Winning Post Photographs Courtesy of Laurence Cummin © Peter M Butler, Jazz&Jazz

Keeping Jazz Alive: Part 1

Those were the dire words of Mart Rodgers writing in Fred Burnett’s October Jazz North West News Update.

Mart lamented: “I have heard from Sale Conservative Club where they have run the Sale Jazz Club and the bad news is that it has finished because of lack of attendance”. Well I contacted Phil Williams who has been running jazz there, and this is what he told me. “WOW ! News certainly travels fast! I assume it was one of the bands I had to call to cancel.  Yes it’s true. We used to get over a hundred once a month a few years ago but now we are down to 34 last Friday and we have been losing £100 every month for the last three months. I took over two years ago because the previous organiser, Dave Hardman, was retiring. He had run it together with Gordon Hand and Mike Hargreaves for over twenty years. It’s very sad but there are no teenagers pleading with their parents to take them to a Trad Jazz Night. Our audience is dying and there is little we can do”.

New Venues, Young Fans and “New Age” Jazz Bands
I have flagged up this dilemma on more than one occasion on Jazz&Jazz and it seems it’s time to do so again – but to place a positive spin on it. Because the good news is that although there may not be any teenagers asking their parents to take them to jazz nights, the number of young people enjoying their own jazz nights is growing. Not at ‘stuffy old timers’ jazz clubs and festivals but in new venues and with younger, “new age” jazz bands.

Old Hat Jazz Band

Right now, spurred on by discussions with a leading UK promoter, Jazz&Jazz is planning features on up and coming UK jazz bands. In fact, as a beginning, we recently featured “The Old Hat Jazz Band”.

Andrea Motis

Featuring True Greats and Emerging Stars
Let’s get back  to “Trad Jazz Nights”. Jazz&Jazz prefers the term “New Orleans Revivalist Jazz” – which came to be termed Traditional Jazz in the UK and Europe when bands over here put their own slant on it. New Orleans Revivalist Jazz is Sammy Rimington’s preference and this post will be followed by an article on Sammy’s 2014 UK Autumn Tour. But following that I will feature a post on a spectacular 19 year old Catalonian star, Andrea Motis, and her mentor Joan Chamorro, at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club.

Why? Because to encourage younger fans I believe we must be prepared to mix it and get away from the almost outdated Trad Jazz syndrome.

“So That Our Audience Doesn’t Die”
I recently overheard an ardent Trad fan loudly berating a successful club manager for hosting a mainstream jazz evening. The manager responded quite firmly that club members knew his policy was to mix the music to a degree to maintain high attendance and that the fan could have checked the programme for the evening and not come along. He added that most of the members who preferred mainstream also turned out for the “Trad” evenings. This is a thriving small town jazz club.

So, yes, Jazz&Jazz is mainly about New Orleans Revivalist Jazz and will introduce our new generation of jazz bands – even if that takes “mixing it a bit” so that our audience doesn’t die!

Please also read: “Sammy Rimington: “In The Upper Garden” plus “Outstanding Debut for Young Catalonian Star Andrea Motis”.

Peter M Butler
Editor and Proprietor, Jazz&Jazz