Jazz on German radio

Peter Bacon's Jazzbreakfast writes about jazz in the media in the UK. I have just received a report on jazz on German radio, by Bernd Hoffmann of WDR. Not only are there over 300 hours of jazz a month on German radio, but much of it is before 9 p.m. and there are so many festivals and live recordings. The quality of presenters is also incredibly high. Of the new generation, I know Guenther Huesmann, Karsten Muetzelfeldt, Michael Ruesenberg. Fantastically thorough and thoughtful. Oh to have more of that here. The best journalists too often move on, as the money is to be earned elsewhere. Classic example is Richard Williams, as lead sports writer on the Guardian.
In the mean time, we are reliant on too scant coverage. As Peter points out, the blogs are beginning to fill the gap. As well as his and that of Seb Scotney, check out The Jazz Mann and Chris Parker on the Vortex web site.
If you want a copy of the report, contact me.

Amit Chaudhuri

Amit Chaudhuri's new book is now out. Hear an interview with him on BBC's Front Row here by clicking on listen again for Tuesday. The new album, on the Vortex imprint, will be out in time for his gig at Hay-on-Wye in May.
He describes nicely that he is both an author and musician but the former has become better known. "This is not fusion" is the playful side of his brain.

Babel shop chart

1. Liam Noble - Brubeck (Basho)
2. Blink - Blink (Loop)
3. Jim Mullen Organ Trio featuring Stan Sulzmann - Make Believe (Diving Duck)
4. EST - Leucocyte (ACT)
5. Phil Robson - Six Strings and The Beat (Babel)
6. Kenny Wheeler - Other People (Camjazz)
7. Hank Roberts - Green (Winter & Winter)
8. Liane Carroll - Slow Down (Splashpoint)
9. John Law - Art of Sound Vol. 3 (33Jazz)
10. John Taylor - Whirlpool (Camjazz)

Based on CDs available at the shop besides the Vortex.
To appear in Jazzwise in April.

New range of CDs in the shop and coming online

The Babel shop now has a selection of CDs from pi, AUM Fidelity, Camjazz, Basho, ACT and Winter & Winter. As well as the full Babel catalogue

These include the new John Taylor solo CD "Phases", as well as his other Camjazz CDs and those of Kenny Wheeler.

I have also picked up some interesting CDs from Czech Republic. There is also a £2 bargain bin, with some of the remnant CDs from the Vortex. (All proceeds from these sales go direct to the club.)

Among the UK CDs now in are: Barry Green's New York Trio, Liam Noble/Paul Clarvis - Starry Starry Night, Trianglehead, Jim Mullen Organ Trio featuring Stan Sulzmann.

More and more of the CDs are also available online via the Babel website or click here

Come down to check it out.

9 Gillett Square, London N16. Next to the Vortex.
Core opening hours: Thursday-Saturday 3-11 p.m.
Other times: a small selection for Vortex gigs when I'm there

Otherwise, email me on shop@babellabel.co.uk if you have any particular order. You can specify when you want to collect.

Banks and the major players in music industry - the parallels?

Having had a period in both worlds - my initial calling was as an "economist" - I am trying to draw parallels between the decline of the banks and that of the majors in the record industry.
It's difficult and I think that this will be an evolving topic over the next period.
So far, I have laid both sides down to technology and the ignorance regarding it. The bank bosses blindly followed the findings of rocket scientists who could come up with an apparent alchemical way of turning low quality housing in Hartlepool into squillions of pounds for bank bosses.
The major record companies fought it on the other hand, not realising what could happen to their revenues. They fought Napster, they have tried to fight file sharing. Funnily enough it was a computer company, Apple, who showed them the way forward, with itunes. Unfortunately for them, just as there were beginning to be revenues appearing from this side, the recession struck big time.
So the contrasts are probably greater than the similarities. Other contrasts - music has a better quality underlying product, even if it seems costly, than the banks had. Music development is a long-term phenomenon. By contrast, banking, certainly in the past few years, has been a short-term fix.
Both have been equally unable to learn from history or from their mistakes.
Certainly there will be different solutions to the problems. When Guy Hands tried to solve EMI as one of short-term financial returns, he failed miserably.
I just feel that the jazz world probably has the answers for the music industry. There are people still in the majors who believe in music.
The advisers to the governments on the banks themselves are implicated and trying to save their skins.

Vortex Music Market, 22 February

The Vortex is running its first monthly music market on 22 February from 1-5 p.m.

11 Gillett Square, London N16 8JH
100 yards from Dalston Kingsland station, many buses!

Free for exhibitors and purchasers.
Vinyl, CDs, private collections, private collectors, labels, all welcome.

Nice coffee and food at Ochre Works downstairs.

"This sounds like a rather pleasant way of returning the social dimension to record buying."
(JazzUK, February 2009 editorial)

With shops disappearing and chances for jazz labels to get their music out there declining, this is a way of solving the problem?

To display contact oliver@vortexjazz.co.uk for more information.

How to run a jazz club?

Through Seb Scotney, of the LondonJazz blog, pointed out an article about Ronnie Scott's and its present general manager Simon Cooke in the Times recently. Certainly it shows that there is a different mentality that has to run a jazz club in the West End, with high rents and overheads, in contrast with Dalston. Whether it is true to the "spirit" of the music over there is another matter. But perhaps there is no choice? Running a jazz club is a balance between creativity, the musicians and the audiences. They have to feel at home, because that, in my view, generates the buzz that makes a jazz gig special. Given the "looseness" that much jazz has live, it is essential that the ambiance is right. If the club is too prim and proper, then this is lost. "Scruffy", a word used insultingly by Simon Cooke, is not necessarily a negative. As long as it is controlled scruffiness.
The Vortex is having a great period in terms of music and audiences. Over 300 people through the door on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And not with an "easy" range of music - Buffalo Collision (Tim Berne, Hank Roberts, Ethan Iverson, Dave King), Carol Grimes (returning to live performance after a lay-off through injury after 6 months), London Jazz Orchestra doing the music of Pete Hurt and our Vocals@Vortex night. Tonight, weather willing, it's Yaron Herman and Curios.
It's been, and always will be, very much a case of evolution not revolution. A lot of patience, such as a late night celebration with Carol after the gig, meaning that I got home at close to 3 a.m. A lovely crowd of volunteers who believe in the club. The continued involvement of David Mossman, as founder and everything else.
It was so flattering that Rod Youngs, playing for the singers' night, was so thrilled by the night that he gave me a warm embrace on departure, insisting that we get an extension built asap!
By getting this right - and having a patient landlord to ensure that this occurs - the club is ready to survive the slings and arrows of the recession that we are now in.
So is there a correct way to start and run a jazz club? I don't think so. There is certainly no Jazz Club 101 course at business schools. Long may that be the case. Adaptability, flexibility, creativity.

Where's the jazz in London?

It's all too easy to get despondent about how much (or rather how little) jazz there is to be heard in London. Rather it's how hard to find out about all the jazz in London before it's happened. Indeed, there's Ronnie Scott's, the Pizza Express, 606, Bull's Head and the Vortex. But the real excitement is what's bubbling underneath - all too often unfindable, or only to be found too late. Seb Scotney is getting his teeth into this part of the scene on his LondonJazz blog.
For example, the chance to hear Uri Caine in Greenwich on 18 February, courtesy of Trinity College of Music. Or the work that Richard Turner puts in at Cons Cellar Bar in Camden. Or Troubletune at Concrete Bar run by Zed-U, which I went to yesterday. (A mesmerising collaboration with Jason Yarde using looping and electronics as well as beautiful saxophony.)
The shame is perhaps that the musicians themselves are so committed that very little money comes back to them. And the opportunities to "cash in". Dependent on door money, if any at all, and the long-term passion for playing and performing. They know how to improvise their lives to adapt to these passions.
By the way, Zed-U's next Troubletune is on 18 February, with Seb Rochford as guest.

Improvisation and the voice of the individual

Last weekend I spent two days before the Muenster Jazz Festival at a seminar learning about improvisation. One of the most fascinating sessions was about improvisation in the nineteen century. Composers such as Beethoven and Liszt were leading exponents and writers like Czerny explained how it was possible to "extemporise". Certainly it went hand in hand with the rise of the Romantic individual and was as much a means of expression as poetry or art. Especially helped by the improvements in the piano. (Much easier to appreciate and develop than two hours of wailing oboe improvisation!)
It's a skill that was lost during the 20th century as classical musicians concentrated more on technique and interpretation. Improvisation was frowned upon, except perhaps by organists. Until jazz came along to save it. Hence one partly sees, in my view, why jazz musicians have been at the forefront in highlighting human rights and so on. (Weren't Max Roach and Nina Simone two of the leaders propounding civil rights in the 60s?)
By the way. Thinking further on the matter, there is one further element of jazz which has developed in Western culture which wasn't around in the 19th century - the concept of improvisation within a group context. So we end up with a melding of approaches from western and eastern cultures.

Muenster Jazz Festival

It was nice to start the year at Muenster Jazz Festival. The best for me were the new group of Louis Sclavis, who always has that cerebral side to him, though he was using a really good young band. "L'imparfait des langues" not what one would usually expect from an ECM album. I also liked Atomic from Norway, Mikiel Braam from Netherlands, Fat City Wednesdays, who were "suburban nerds" from Minneapolis doing a great take on Don Cherry. Hopefully they'll come to London to play with Evan Parker some time soon.
Also an exhausting peripheral programme, including a morning bowling session, where I teamed up with Yann, a promoter from Perpignan, to help the entente cordiale. We even won one match, against teams from Holland, Scotland and Norway. I'll post our prize presentation soon. We didn't get to keep the main prize, a James Last LP called Voodoo Party with a bizarre cover and sleeve note.
But even festivals like this which are relatively cheap for the city to put on, and have a long history are now under pressure. What was good fortune that they were well supported by the Muenster has now become a great risk. If the city decides to pull the plug then that means the end of the festival. And that certainly is a possibility. Unfortunately, these decisions are more political than practical. That was also the problem for Caber in Scotland. Tom Bancroft was there who ran the label, and probably did more for improving awareness of the scene over its five years than any amount of official jazz networks could have done. Unfortunately, he was reliant on Scottish Arts Council funding, especially once his distributor went bust. Now the bureaucrats are back to using formalistic organisations that go so slowly, so slowly.