Bracknell Jazz Festival
Encyclopedia
The Bracknell Jazz Festival was a major showcase for British modern jazz in the 1980s. The festival was known for attracting a largish audience for free improvisation
, modern jazz composition and all kinds of British modern jazz in general.
However, over the years Bracknell featured a wide range of performers from old-fashioned r'n'b legends like Alexis Korner
or Jack Bruce
, fusion stars such as Alan Holdsworth or Barbara Thompson, British modern jazz performers of all shapes and ages and a strong line-up of visiting stars such as Ornette Coleman
, Stanley Clarke
, Don Cherry
, Pharoah Sanders
, George Coleman
and many more.
In the words of festival organiser John Cumming - "The keynote of the Festival is to provide the jazz scene - listeners and musicians alike - with a weekend of the best in British jazz, spiced with visiting Americans, in an informal, relaxed atmosphere.". Cumming, director of Serious Productions went on to organise Camden Jazz with Charles Alexander and Peter Luxton from the Jazz Centre Society, and the London Jazz Festival
.
, a Victorian manor house converted into an arts centre in the Berkshire
town of Bracknell
, a typical Thames Valley
new town. As well as the jazz festival, the centre is a venue for performances and education in jazz, other kinds of music and other art forms throughout the year.
Most of the performances were held in large marquees on the lawn, while some events including workshops for musicians were held in rooms in the house. The beer tent was run by the local branch of CAMRA (the campaign for real ale) offering strong ales from many parts of southern England. Journalist Steve Lake
wrote in 1976, "Up against the madness of American and Continental jazz festivals Bracknell had seemed, initially, a tranquil, even sedate affair. Musicians and their families picknicked outside the main marquee, cocking lazy ears to the sound of Ralph Towner's delicate twelve-string arpeggios. It was all very pleasant."
Later many elements of the festival survived as the Outside In festival held in Crawley
West Sussex
.
Mainstays of the Bracknell festival included the perennial compere and soprano saxophonist Lol Coxhill
; free improvisers such as drummer John Stevens
, trombonist Paul Rutherford
, drummer Tony Oxley
and saxophonist Evan Parker
; many musicians in and around the Mike Westbrook
orchestra, such as John Surman
; South Africans such as Dudu Pukwana
and Johnny Dyani
; drummer Roger Turner
, sax player Elton Dean
, and other members of the so-called Canterbury scene
; pianist Django Bates
and other bastions of the British modern jazz scene. The festival was always opened by local talent, the Berkshire Youth Jazz Orchestra.
The festival often featured a work especially commissioned for the event by the Arts Council of Great Britain
, these included: Stan Tracey
's Bracknell Connection in 1976, Mike Westbrook
's The Cortege
in 1979, and Graham Collier
's Hoarded Dreams in 1983.
Octet, featuring Peter King
(alto), Art Themen
(tenor), Don Weller
(tenor), Harry Beckett
(trumpet), Malcolm Griffiths trombone), all British jazz performers who would revisit the festival many times over the years. The piece was later recorded at the 100 Club
in London and released on Steam Records. Other acts included guitarist Ralph Towner
and a duet between Stan Tracey
and Mike Osborne
, which was released as the Tandem to good reviews.
's Ninesense, a nonet featuring Dean, Alan Skidmore
, Harry Beckett
, Marc Charig
, Nick Evans
, Radu Malfatti
, Keith Tippett
, Harry Miller
and Louis Moholo
, performing the Arts Council commission, a suite later recorded in a studio and released as Happy Daze on Ogun Records
. A popular act, Ninesense were to return the following year and Elton Dean again in 1980 (with a quintet). And famously 1977 saw Bracknell's beloved compere Lol Coxhill
performing his legendary monologue "Murder in the Air", following which he was asked to record it as a 12" single Chiltern Sound records.
. Other acts included the trio of British free improvisers John Stevens
, Trevor Watts
and Barry Guy
, who returned the following year with pianist Howard Riley
. Also appearing was the Pat Metheny
Group - Metheny/Mays/Gottlieb/Egan - a few months after its debut UK performance. A sign of things to come; the record stalls sold out of the quartet's eponymous ECM album before the set was over.
And Saxophonist David Murray played an unforgettable long solo-concert.
a boogie-woogie big band including Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts
and Ian Stewart
the "6th Stone" on piano along with bassist Jack Bruce
, London r'n'b legend Alexis Korner
and an array of British horn-players.
Also appearing were the Jan Garbarek
Group with Bill Connors, Jon Christensen, Eberhard Weber & John Taylor.
The Arts Council commission that year was The Cortege
by the Mike Westbrook
Orchestra, described as "a composition for Voices and 16-piece Jazz Orchestra including settings of poetry, arranged by Kate Westbrook
, by Lorca
, Rimbaud, Hesse
, John Clare
and other European poets, sung in the original languages by Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton
". The piece was later recorded as a triple album.
Other acts in 1979 included the Ed Bickert
Trio and guitarist Mike Stern
.
, Paul Rutherford
, Peter Brotzmann
, Barry Guy
and Peter Kowald
. Other acts included two electric guitarists - Jeff Clyne's's jazz-rock group "Turning Point" and the young Pat Metheny
. - go here for a photo, and the British group Spirit Level
led by sax player Paul Dunmall
, who were also to return in 1981.
played a short set, much of it a drum solo, (there are bootleg recordings available). The Ray d'Inverno trio performed a tribute to Bill Evans
. Canadian electric jazz band Uzeb
did their first show abroad which was recorded as Live in Bracknell and then digitally re-mastered and re-issued in 2006 to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary.
Quartet members Elvin Jones
and McCoy Tyner
.
John Stevens' album Freebop was recorded at the festival the band including Evan Parker
, and received a five-star review from Down Beat
magazine. This year saw a duet between Abdullah Ibrahim
and Carlos Ward
that has been described as "delicate, poignant, austere ...conjuring a resonance from the simplest tune".
and including musicians such as Kenny Wheeler
, Tomasz Stanko
, John Surman
, Ted Curson
, Henry Lowther
, Manfred Schoof
, and Malcolm Griffiths. The piece was recorded at the festival and released on Cuneiform Records
. Another live recording made that year was the highly-praised "Gheim" by the Paul Rutherford
Trio. The headline act was the Bobby Hutcherson
Quartet featuring Tete Montoliu
and Billy Higgins
, which was broadcast on BBC radio.
was back again with a quartet including his son Clark Tracey
and saxophonist Art Themen
performing his Poet's Suite. And Elton Dean
was back again with a quintet. The Festival Commission that year was a piece by Trevor Watts
14-piece Moire Music. Other acts that year included The European Jazz Ensemble featuring Tony Oxley
, Alan Skidmore
, Gerd Dudek
and others; Factory Records
' jazz-dance act Kalima; and British fusion group Full Circle.
, this time his set, with his group "Nu" including Mark Helias
, Carlos Ward
and Nana Vasconcelos
was recorded and later released on BBC records. Other acts included guitarist Billy Jenkins
, who would return the following year.
featuring Canterbury
music legends Phil Miller
, Hugh Hopper
, Pip Pyle
and Elton Dean
; The Michael Gibbs
Orchestra including trumpeter Ian Carr
. Headliners were The George Russell Orchestra.
and Roland Shannon Jackson (available as a bootleg).
References
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
, modern jazz composition and all kinds of British modern jazz in general.
However, over the years Bracknell featured a wide range of performers from old-fashioned r'n'b legends like Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
or Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, fusion stars such as Alan Holdsworth or Barbara Thompson, British modern jazz performers of all shapes and ages and a strong line-up of visiting stars such as Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
, Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
, Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)
Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
, Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, George Coleman
George Coleman
George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...
and many more.
In the words of festival organiser John Cumming - "The keynote of the Festival is to provide the jazz scene - listeners and musicians alike - with a weekend of the best in British jazz, spiced with visiting Americans, in an informal, relaxed atmosphere.". Cumming, director of Serious Productions went on to organise Camden Jazz with Charles Alexander and Peter Luxton from the Jazz Centre Society, and the London Jazz Festival
London Jazz Festival
The London Jazz Festival is a London-wide music festival held every November. It takes place in a variety of London venues, including larger concert halls—such as the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall—and smaller jazz clubs, such as Ronnie Scott's and Vortex...
.
Overview
The festival was held from 1975 onwards in the grounds and the house of South Hill ParkSouth Hill Park
South Hill Park is a site that lies in the Birch Hill estate to the south of Bracknell town centre, in Berkshire, England.-History:The original South Hill Park mansion was built in 1760 for William Watts for his retirement from service as a senior official of the Bengal Government...
, a Victorian manor house converted into an arts centre in the Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
town of Bracknell
Bracknell
Bracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of central London...
, a typical Thames Valley
Thames Valley
The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the English counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows from Oxfordshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire, Surrey and west London...
new town. As well as the jazz festival, the centre is a venue for performances and education in jazz, other kinds of music and other art forms throughout the year.
Most of the performances were held in large marquees on the lawn, while some events including workshops for musicians were held in rooms in the house. The beer tent was run by the local branch of CAMRA (the campaign for real ale) offering strong ales from many parts of southern England. Journalist Steve Lake
Steve Lake
Steven "Steve" Michael Lake batted and threw right-handed, and is a former professional baseball backup catcher. He played Major League Baseball from 1983-93 for the following teams: Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, and finishing his career with the Cubs...
wrote in 1976, "Up against the madness of American and Continental jazz festivals Bracknell had seemed, initially, a tranquil, even sedate affair. Musicians and their families picknicked outside the main marquee, cocking lazy ears to the sound of Ralph Towner's delicate twelve-string arpeggios. It was all very pleasant."
Later many elements of the festival survived as the Outside In festival held in Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
.
Lol Coxhill
Lowen Coxhill, generally known as Lol Coxhill is a free improvising saxophonist and raconteur...
; free improvisers such as drummer John Stevens
John Stevens (drummer)
John William Stevens was an English drummer. He was one of the most significant figures in early free improvisation, and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble .-Biography:Stevens was born in Brentford, the son of a tap dancer...
, trombonist Paul Rutherford
Paul Rutherford (trombone player)
Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.-Biography:Born in Greenwich, South East London, Rutherford initially played saxophone but switched to trombone...
, drummer Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley is an English free-jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records.-Biography:Tony Oxley was born in Sheffield, England. A self-taught pianist by age eight, he first began playing the drums at seventeen. While in the Black Watch military band from 1957 to 1960 he studied music...
and saxophonist Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
; many musicians in and around the Mike Westbrook
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David 'Mike' Westbrook is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces.-Early work:Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay...
orchestra, such as John Surman
John Surman
John Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music as a basis...
; South Africans such as Dudu Pukwana
Dudu Pukwana
Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist .-Early years in South Africa:...
and Johnny Dyani
Johnny Dyani
Johnny Mbizo Dyani was a South African jazz double bassist and pianist, who played with such musicians as Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, David Murray and Leo Smith....
; drummer Roger Turner
Roger Turner (musician)
Roger Turner is an English jazz percussionist. He plays the drumset, drums, and various percussion, and was brought up into the jazz and visual art cultures inhabited by his older brothers, playing drums from childhood in informal jazz contexts.- Career :Turner studied English literature and...
, sax player Elton Dean
Elton Dean
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
, and other members of the so-called Canterbury scene
Canterbury Scene
The Canterbury scene is a term used to loosely describe the group of progressive rock, avant-garde and jazz musicians, many of whom were based around the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
; pianist Django Bates
Django Bates
Django Bates , is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and band leader. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. He currently lives in Copenhagen where he is a professor at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory and leader of the StoRMChaser orchestra.-Career:Django Bates was born in Beckenham,...
and other bastions of the British modern jazz scene. The festival was always opened by local talent, the Berkshire Youth Jazz Orchestra.
The festival often featured a work especially commissioned for the event by the Arts Council of Great Britain
Arts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. The Arts Council of Great Britain was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England , the Scottish Arts Council, and the Arts Council of Wales...
, these included: Stan Tracey
Stan Tracey
Stanley William Tracey CBE is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.-Early career:...
's Bracknell Connection in 1976, Mike Westbrook
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David 'Mike' Westbrook is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces.-Early work:Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay...
's The Cortege
The Cortège
The Cortège , or The Chalmers Cortège is an annual carnival parade held on Walpurgis Night by students of the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg...
in 1979, and Graham Collier
Graham Collier
James Graham Collier OBE was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer.-Life and career:Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, spending three years in Hong Kong...
's Hoarded Dreams in 1983.
1976
The Arts Council Commission was The Bracknell Connection a piece by the Stan TraceyStan Tracey
Stanley William Tracey CBE is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.-Early career:...
Octet, featuring Peter King
Peter King (saxophonist)
Peter John King is an English jazz saxophonist, composer, and clarinettist.- Early life :Peter King was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, on August 11, 1940. He took up the clarinet and saxophone as a teenager, entirely self taught...
(alto), Art Themen
Art Themen
Arthur Edward George 'Art' Themen is a British jazz saxophonist .Themen was born on 26 November 1939 in Manchester. In 1958 he began his medical studies at the University of Cambridge, going on in 1961 to complete his studies at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, qualifying in 1964...
(tenor), Don Weller
Don Weller (musician)
Don Weller , is a British jazz musician, tenor saxophonist and composer.-Career:...
(tenor), Harry Beckett
Harry Beckett
Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player.-Biography:A resident in the UK since 1954, Harry Beckett had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long. In the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass...
(trumpet), Malcolm Griffiths trombone), all British jazz performers who would revisit the festival many times over the years. The piece was later recorded at the 100 Club
100 Club
The 100 Club is a music venue in London situated at 100 Oxford Street, W1, originally called The Feldman Swing Club.The 100 Club attained legendary status in modern British music, having played host to live music since 24 October 1942....
in London and released on Steam Records. Other acts included guitarist Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet.-Biography:...
and a duet between Stan Tracey
Stan Tracey
Stanley William Tracey CBE is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.-Early career:...
and Mike Osborne
Mike Osborne
Michael Evans Osborne was an English jazz alto saxophonist, pianist and clarinetist, perhaps most noteworthy for his contributions as a member to the Chris McGregor band Brotherhood of Breath in the 1960s and 1970s.He was born in Hereford and attended Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire and the...
, which was released as the Tandem to good reviews.
1977
Elton DeanElton Dean
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
's Ninesense, a nonet featuring Dean, Alan Skidmore
Alan Skidmore
Alan Skidmore is a tenor saxophonist of jazz and blues music, son of the saxophonist Jimmy Skidmore.-As a sideman:...
, Harry Beckett
Harry Beckett
Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player.-Biography:A resident in the UK since 1954, Harry Beckett had an international reputation. In 1961, he played with Charles Mingus in the film All Night Long. In the 1960s he worked and recorded within the band of bass...
, Marc Charig
Marc Charig
Mark Charig is a British trumpeter and cornetist.He was particularly active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he played in settings as diverse as Long John Baldry's group, Bluesology, Soft Machine, and Keith Tippett's group and his Centipede big band...
, Nick Evans
Nick Evans (trombonist)
Nicholas "Nick" Evans is a Welsh jazz and progressive rock trombonist.- Career :He worked in the Graham Collier Sextet , Keith Tippett Group , Soft Machine , Brotherhood of Breath , Centipede , Just Us , Ambush , Ninesense , Intercontinental Express , Ark Nicholas "Nick" Evans (born 1947 in...
, Radu Malfatti
Radu Malfatti
Radu Malfatti is an Austrian trombone player and composer. He was born in Innsbruck, in the province of Tyrol, on December 16, 1943. He has been described as "among the leaders in redefining the avant-garde as truly on-the-edge art." His work "since the early nineties.....
, Keith Tippett
Keith Tippett
Keith Tippett is a British jazz pianist and composer.Tippett, the son of a local police officer, went to Greenway Boys Secondary Modern school in Southmead, Bristol. He formed his first jazz band called The KT7 whilst still at school and they performed numbers popular at the time by The Temperance...
, Harry Miller
Harry Miller (jazz bassist)
Harold Simon 'Harry' Miller was a South African jazz bass player.Miller began his career as a bassist with Manfred Mann, and came to settle in London...
and Louis Moholo
Louis Moholo
Louis Tebugo Moholo , is a South African jazz drummer.He formed The Blue Notes with Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Nikele Moyake, Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana, and emigrated to Europe with them in 1964, eventually settling in London, where he formed part of a South African exile community that made...
, performing the Arts Council commission, a suite later recorded in a studio and released as Happy Daze on Ogun Records
Ogun Records
Ogun Records is a record label created by the husband and wife team of Hazel Miller and Harry Miller, to document the music being created by a group of open-minded musicians in London in the early 1970s....
. A popular act, Ninesense were to return the following year and Elton Dean again in 1980 (with a quintet). And famously 1977 saw Bracknell's beloved compere Lol Coxhill
Lol Coxhill
Lowen Coxhill, generally known as Lol Coxhill is a free improvising saxophonist and raconteur...
performing his legendary monologue "Murder in the Air", following which he was asked to record it as a 12" single Chiltern Sound records.
1978
The headline act was Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
. Other acts included the trio of British free improvisers John Stevens
John Stevens (drummer)
John William Stevens was an English drummer. He was one of the most significant figures in early free improvisation, and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble .-Biography:Stevens was born in Brentford, the son of a tap dancer...
, Trevor Watts
Trevor Watts
Trevor Charles Watts is an English jazz and free-improvising alto and soprano saxophonist. He is largely self-taught, having taken up the cornet at age 12 then switched to saxophone at 18. While stationed in Germany with the RAF , he encountered the drummer John Stevens and trombonist Paul...
and Barry Guy
Barry Guy
Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
, who returned the following year with pianist Howard Riley
Howard Riley
John Howard Riley is an English jazz pianist and composer.Riley began on piano at age six, and began playing jazz as early as age 13. He studied at the University of Wales , Indiana University in America under Dave Baker , and then at York University...
. Also appearing was the Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
Group - Metheny/Mays/Gottlieb/Egan - a few months after its debut UK performance. A sign of things to come; the record stalls sold out of the quartet's eponymous ECM album before the set was over.
And Saxophonist David Murray played an unforgettable long solo-concert.
1979
The headline act on the Friday night was Rocket 88Rocket 88 (band)
Rocket 88 is the name of a United Kingdom-based boogie-woogie band formed in the late 1970s by Ian "Stu" Stewart, Charlie Watts, Alexis Korner and Dick Morrissey....
a boogie-woogie big band including Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
and Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart (musician)
Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
the "6th Stone" on piano along with bassist Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, London r'n'b legend Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
and an array of British horn-players.
Also appearing were the Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
Group with Bill Connors, Jon Christensen, Eberhard Weber & John Taylor.
The Arts Council commission that year was The Cortege
The Cortège
The Cortège , or The Chalmers Cortège is an annual carnival parade held on Walpurgis Night by students of the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg...
by the Mike Westbrook
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David 'Mike' Westbrook is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces.-Early work:Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay...
Orchestra, described as "a composition for Voices and 16-piece Jazz Orchestra including settings of poetry, arranged by Kate Westbrook
Kate Westbrook (musician)
Kate Westbrook is an artist following the professions of painter and musician. Her musical work centres around her career as a vocalist, predominantly with her husband, British composer and bandleader Mike Westbrook's bands...
, by Lorca
Lorca
Lorca is a municipality and town in the autonomous community of Murcia in southeastern Spain, 36 miles southwest of the city of Murcia. It had a population of 92,694 in 2010, up from the 2001 census total of 77,477. Lorca is the municipality with the second-largest surface area in Spain with...
, Rimbaud, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, John Clare
John Clare
John Clare was an English poet, born the son of a farm labourer who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation of its disruption. His poetry underwent a major re-evaluation in the late 20th century and he is often now considered to be among...
and other European poets, sung in the original languages by Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton
Phil Minton
Phil Minton is a jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook's group, Daniil Kharms and Joseph Brodsky with Simon Nabatov, and extracts from James Joyce's...
". The piece was later recorded as a triple album.
Other acts in 1979 included the Ed Bickert
Ed Bickert
Edward Isaac "Ed" Bickert, CM is a Canadian jazz guitarist.-Early life:Second youngest of his family, Bickert was born in Hochfeld, Manitoba; his family moved shortly after he was born to Vernon, British Columbia...
Trio and guitarist Mike Stern
Mike Stern
Mike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing for a few years with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he landed a gig with Billy Cobham and then broke through with Miles Davis' comeback band from 1981 to 1983, and again in 1985. Since then, he launched a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums...
.
The 1980s
John Stevens was back again in 1980 with European free improvisers Marc CharigMarc Charig
Mark Charig is a British trumpeter and cornetist.He was particularly active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he played in settings as diverse as Long John Baldry's group, Bluesology, Soft Machine, and Keith Tippett's group and his Centipede big band...
, Paul Rutherford
Paul Rutherford (trombone player)
Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.-Biography:Born in Greenwich, South East London, Rutherford initially played saxophone but switched to trombone...
, Peter Brotzmann
Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...
, Barry Guy
Barry Guy
Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
and Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald was a German free jazz musician.A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with a large number of European free jazz and American free-jazz players during his career, including Peter Brötzmann, Irène Schweizer, Karl Berger, Fred...
. Other acts included two electric guitarists - Jeff Clyne's's jazz-rock group "Turning Point" and the young Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
. - go here for a photo, and the British group Spirit Level
Spirit level
A spirit level or bubble level is an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface ishorizontal or vertical . Different types of spirit levels may be used by carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, other building trades workers, surveyors, millwrights and other metalworkers, and in some...
led by sax player Paul Dunmall
Paul Dunmall
Paul Dunmall is a British jazz saxophonist who plays tenor and soprano saxophone as well as the baritone and the more exotic Saxello and the Northumbrian pipes.He has a long discography on the Duns Limited Edition label....
, who were also to return in 1981.
1981
Drummer Max RoachMax Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
played a short set, much of it a drum solo, (there are bootleg recordings available). The Ray d'Inverno trio performed a tribute to Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
. Canadian electric jazz band Uzeb
Uzeb
UZEB was a Canadian jazz fusion band from Montreal, Quebec, who were active from 1976 to 1992. The members were Alain Caron , Michel Cusson , and Paul Brochu . UZEB had a blend of skilled playing and modern synthesized timbres, along with an emphasis on original compositions...
did their first show abroad which was recorded as Live in Bracknell and then digitally re-mastered and re-issued in 2006 to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary.
1982
The headline act was the incredible reunion of legendary John ColtraneJohn Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
Quartet members Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
and McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
.
John Stevens' album Freebop was recorded at the festival the band including Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, and received a five-star review from Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine. This year saw a duet between Abdullah Ibrahim
Abdullah Ibrahim
Abdullah Ibrahim , born Adolph Johannes Brand, 9 October 1934 in Cape Town, South Africa, and formerly known as Dollar Brand, is a South African pianist and composer...
and Carlos Ward
Carlos Ward
Carlos Ward is a jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He is best known as a sideman.His first instrument was the clarinet at age 13 when he lived in Seattle, Washington...
that has been described as "delicate, poignant, austere ...conjuring a resonance from the simplest tune".
1983
The Arts Council commission was Hoarded Dreams, a big band led by bass player Graham CollierGraham Collier
James Graham Collier OBE was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer.-Life and career:Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, spending three years in Hong Kong...
and including musicians such as Kenny Wheeler
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
, Tomasz Stanko
Tomasz Stanko
Tomasz Stańko is a Polish trumpeter, composer and improviser. Often recording for ECM, Stańko is strongly associated with free jazz and the avant-garde....
, John Surman
John Surman
John Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music as a basis...
, Ted Curson
Ted Curson
Theodore "Ted" Curson is a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best-known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus....
, Henry Lowther
Henry Lowther (musician)
Henry Lowther is an English jazz trumpeter.Lowther's first experience was on cornet in a Salvation Army band. He studied violin briefly at the Royal Academy of Music but returned to trumpet by 1960 though he sometimes played violin professionally...
, Manfred Schoof
Manfred Schoof
Manfred Schoof is a German jazz trumpet player.He studied music in Kassel and Cologne.He is a founder of European free jazz and collaborated with Albert Mangelsdorff, Peter Brötzmann, Mal Waldron, and Irène Schweizer...
, and Malcolm Griffiths. The piece was recorded at the festival and released on Cuneiform Records
Cuneiform Records
Cuneiform Records is an independent record label based in Silver Spring, Maryland.The label releases a mixture of musical styles, including progressive jazz, modern fusion music, progressive rock, the Canterbury Scene and electronic music...
. Another live recording made that year was the highly-praised "Gheim" by the Paul Rutherford
Paul Rutherford (trombone player)
Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.-Biography:Born in Greenwich, South East London, Rutherford initially played saxophone but switched to trombone...
Trio. The headline act was the Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson is a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His vibraphone playing is suggestive of the style of Milt Jackson in its free-flowing melodicism, but his sense of harmony and group interaction is thoroughly modern...
Quartet featuring Tete Montoliu
Tete Montoliu
Tete Montoliu was a jazz pianist from Catalonia, Spain. His real name was Vicenç Montoliu i Massana.- Biography :He was born blind, in the Eixample district of Barcelona, and died in the same city....
and Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins
Billy Higgins was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958...
, which was broadcast on BBC radio.
1984
Stan TraceyStan Tracey
Stanley William Tracey CBE is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.-Early career:...
was back again with a quartet including his son Clark Tracey
Clark Tracey
Clark Tracey is an English jazz drummer. He is the son of Stan Tracey.Tracey played piano and vibraphone before switching to drums at age 13, studying under Bryan Spring. Tracey played in several ensembles with his father, including in a quartet called Fathers and Sons with John and Alec Dankworth...
and saxophonist Art Themen
Art Themen
Arthur Edward George 'Art' Themen is a British jazz saxophonist .Themen was born on 26 November 1939 in Manchester. In 1958 he began his medical studies at the University of Cambridge, going on in 1961 to complete his studies at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, qualifying in 1964...
performing his Poet's Suite. And Elton Dean
Elton Dean
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
was back again with a quintet. The Festival Commission that year was a piece by Trevor Watts
Trevor Watts
Trevor Charles Watts is an English jazz and free-improvising alto and soprano saxophonist. He is largely self-taught, having taken up the cornet at age 12 then switched to saxophone at 18. While stationed in Germany with the RAF , he encountered the drummer John Stevens and trombonist Paul...
14-piece Moire Music. Other acts that year included The European Jazz Ensemble featuring Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley
Tony Oxley is an English free-jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records.-Biography:Tony Oxley was born in Sheffield, England. A self-taught pianist by age eight, he first began playing the drums at seventeen. While in the Black Watch military band from 1957 to 1960 he studied music...
, Alan Skidmore
Alan Skidmore
Alan Skidmore is a tenor saxophonist of jazz and blues music, son of the saxophonist Jimmy Skidmore.-As a sideman:...
, Gerd Dudek
Gerd Dudek
Gerd Dudek is a German jazz tenor saxophonist, soprano saxophonist, clarinetist and flautist.Dudek studied clarinet privately and attended music school in the 1950s before joining a big band led by his brother Ossi until 1958...
and others; Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...
' jazz-dance act Kalima; and British fusion group Full Circle.
1986
The headline act was trumpeter Don CherryDon Cherry (jazz)
Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
, this time his set, with his group "Nu" including Mark Helias
Mark Helias
Mark Helias is an American jazz double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey.He did not begin playing the double bass until the age of 20, graduating from Yale University's School of Music with a Masters degree in 1976. He has also studied at Rutgers University...
, Carlos Ward
Carlos Ward
Carlos Ward is a jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He is best known as a sideman.His first instrument was the clarinet at age 13 when he lived in Seattle, Washington...
and Nana Vasconcelos
Naná Vasconcelos
Naná Vasconcelos is a Brazilian Latin jazz percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, most notable for his works with Pat Metheny, Don Cherry, Egberto Gismonti, and Gato Barbieri....
was recorded and later released on BBC records. Other acts included guitarist Billy Jenkins
Billy Jenkins
Billy Jenkins is an English blues guitarist, composer, and bandleader.Initially Jenkins became famous as a member of Burlesque, then as part of Trimmer & Jenkins. A short period he followed as a member of Ginger Baker's Nutters. For several years, he ran Wood Wharf Studios...
, who would return the following year.
1987
Acts included: In CahootsIn Cahoots
In Cahoots is a Canterbury scene band led by guitarist Phil Miller, their main composer.The band was formed in November 1982 by Miller with Pip Pyle , Richard Sinclair and Elton Dean , as the Phil Miller Quartet. It was expanded to a quintet and given its definitive name when Peter Lemer joined...
featuring Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
music legends Phil Miller
Phil Miller
Phil Miller is an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist who was part of the Canterbury scene.He was a member of the bands Delivery, Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North, National Health, Short Wave and has since worked in solo projects and in his band In Cahoots, which he founded in 1982...
, Hugh Hopper
Hugh Hopper
Hugh Colin Hopper was a progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and various other related bands.-Early career:...
, Pip Pyle
Pip Pyle
Phillip "Pip" Pyle was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France...
and Elton Dean
Elton Dean
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
; The Michael Gibbs
Michael Gibbs (jazz composer)
Michael Clement Irving Gibbs is a jazz composer, conductor, arranger and producer as well as a trombonist and keyboardist....
Orchestra including trumpeter Ian Carr
Ian Carr
Ian Carr was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator.-Early years:Carr was born in Dumfries, Scotland, the elder brother of Mike Carr...
. Headliners were The George Russell Orchestra.
1988
Power Tools Bill FrisellBill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
and Roland Shannon Jackson (available as a bootleg).
Live recordings from the festival
- Tandem Mike OsborneMike OsborneMichael Evans Osborne was an English jazz alto saxophonist, pianist and clarinetist, perhaps most noteworthy for his contributions as a member to the Chris McGregor band Brotherhood of Breath in the 1960s and 1970s.He was born in Hereford and attended Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire and the...
/Stan TraceyStan TraceyStanley William Tracey CBE is a British jazz pianist and composer, most influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk.-Early career:...
- Live at the Bracknell Festival Ogun RecordsOgun RecordsOgun Records is a record label created by the husband and wife team of Hazel Miller and Harry Miller, to document the music being created by a group of open-minded musicians in London in the early 1970s....
- 1976 - the 1979 set by Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia was recorded for TV
- parts of Voila Enough! by Steve BeresfordSteve BeresfordSteve Beresford is a British musician who graduated from the University of York. He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, trumpet, euphonium, double-bass and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music...
, Peter Cusack, David ToopDavid ToopDavid Toop is an English musician and author, and as of 2001 was visiting Research Fellow in the Media School at London College of Communication. He was notably a member of The Flying Lizards. He was a prominent contributor to the British magazine The Face. He is a regular contributor to The Wire,...
and Terry Day from 1979. - Debut album by Canadian jazz-fusion group UzebUzebUZEB was a Canadian jazz fusion band from Montreal, Quebec, who were active from 1976 to 1992. The members were Alain Caron , Michel Cusson , and Paul Brochu . UZEB had a blend of skilled playing and modern synthesized timbres, along with an emphasis on original compositions...
- Live in Bracknell 1981 - their first concert in Europe - John StevensJohn Stevens (drummer)John William Stevens was an English drummer. He was one of the most significant figures in early free improvisation, and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble .-Biography:Stevens was born in Brentford, the son of a tap dancer...
– Freebop (Affinity (1982)- and Freebop's 1986 performance was released as the album Live Tracks on Impetus Records, this group included Evan ParkerEvan ParkerEvan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
and Courtney PineCourtney PineCourtney Pine CBE is an English jazz musician. At school he studied the clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass Clarinet and keyboards...
.
- and Freebop's 1986 performance was released as the album Live Tracks on Impetus Records, this group included Evan Parker
- Bassist and composer Graham CollierGraham CollierJames Graham Collier OBE was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer.-Life and career:Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, spending three years in Hong Kong...
's Hoarded Dreams (1983) (Arts Council commission, featuring Ted CursonTed CursonTheodore "Ted" Curson is a jazz trumpeter. He is perhaps best-known for recording and performing with Charles Mingus....
and Manfred SchoofManfred SchoofManfred Schoof is a German jazz trumpet player.He studied music in Kassel and Cologne.He is a founder of European free jazz and collaborated with Albert Mangelsdorff, Peter Brötzmann, Mal Waldron, and Irène Schweizer...
). Described by JazzwiseJazzwiseJazzwise Publications Limited is a UK-based specialist jazz music publisher and education company. It was founded in 1984 as a mail-order company promoting jazz and improvisation through catalogues and short courses and workshops for musicians...
as a masterpiece. - Paul RutherfordPaul Rutherford (trombone player)Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.-Biography:Born in Greenwich, South East London, Rutherford initially played saxophone but switched to trombone...
Trio - Gheim - Live at Bracknell - 1983 - w Paul Rogers bass - CD includes the entire festival set, one of Rutherford's most acclaimed works. - Dudu PukwanaDudu PukwanaMtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist .-Early years in South Africa:...
and Zila - Life In Bracknell & Willisau - 1983 - including Django BatesDjango BatesDjango Bates , is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and band leader. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. He currently lives in Copenhagen where he is a professor at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory and leader of the StoRMChaser orchestra.-Career:Django Bates was born in Beckenham,...
on piano. - Eddie PrevostEddie PrévostEdwin Prévost is an English drummer and percussionist.Prévost began as a jazz drummer before branching out into entirely improvised music. He was a co-founder of the group AMM, and remains its only constant member...
Quartet's Continuum = 1983 reviewed as "one of the few ‘must haves’ of British free jazz" and "sounds like bebop heard at a distance or in a dream" (Alan Durant - The 1984 performance by the Lennie Best Quintet was recorded for television
- Unofficial recordings are available of the 1984 performance by Don CherryDon Cherry (jazz)Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
and The Leaders including Arthur BlytheArthur BlytheArthur Blythe is an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer. His stylistic voice has a distinct vibrato and he plays within the post-bop subgenre of jazz.- Biography :...
, Chico FreemanChico FreemanChico Freeman is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman...
, Hilton RuizHilton RuizHilton Ruiz was a Puerto Rican American jazz pianist in the Afro-Cuban jazz mold, but was also a talented bebop player....
, Cecil McBeeCecil McBeeCecil McBee is an American post bop jazz bassist, described by the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz as "a full-toned bassist who creates rich, singing phrases in a wide range of contemporary jazz contexts." Allmusic called him "One of post-bop's most advanced and versatile bassists".-Biography:McBee...
and Famadou Don MoyeDon MoyeFamoudou Don Moye, is an American jazz percussionist and drummer. He is most known for his involvement with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and is noted for his mastery of African and Caribbean percussion instruments and rhythmic techniques.- Early life and Detroit Free Jazz :Moye was born in...
. - Cherry's 1986 show with "Nu" including Carlos WardCarlos WardCarlos Ward is a jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He is best known as a sideman.His first instrument was the clarinet at age 13 when he lived in Seattle, Washington...
, Nana VasconcelosNaná VasconcelosNaná Vasconcelos is a Brazilian Latin jazz percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, most notable for his works with Pat Metheny, Don Cherry, Egberto Gismonti, and Gato Barbieri....
, and Ed BlackwellEd BlackwellEd Blackwell was an American jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana, known for his extensive work with Ornette Coleman....
. was released on CD by the BBC in 2002 after years of bickering over the rights.
References