"Thoroughly entertaining and yet thoughtful - a fascinating look at the last 30-odd years of a big slice of the British jazz scene." - Musician (magazine)

Notes from a Jazz Life

Arts & Photography

Fairweather, Digby

Music

Northway Pubns

The American jazz musicians who crossed racial and class divisions to tour and record with the great jazz stars all have their stories to tell. Peter Vacher's talent lies in being able to capture their authentic voices, from survivors of the big bands of the 1930's and 40's to modern soloists in many styles. The author is well known for his interviews in British, Canadian and American magazines. This book vividly evokes the backgrounds, life stories and musical styles of many remarkable musicians who played with stars like Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins and Dizzy Gillespie and helped make the music of such famous orchestras as those of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bob Crosby, Cab Calloway and Lionel Hampton. The musicians include Milt Buckner, Cozy Cole, Sonny Cohn, Willie Cook, Cousin Joe, Kenny Davern, Harry Edison, Teddy Edwards, Art Farmer, Scott Hamilton, John Hicks, Illinois Jacquet, Hank Jones, Herbie Jones, Junior Mance, Eddie Miller, Harold Minerve, Grover Mitchell, Vi Redd, Warren Vache, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Benny Waters and Britt Woodman. The book is lavishly illustrated and includes many rare or previously unpublished photos.

Soloists and Sidemen: American Jazz Stories

Vacher, Peter

History

Ronnie Scott tells here of his life as a musician and bandleader and as the founder, with his partner Peter King, of the great jazz club which bears his name. Ronnie said of running their world famous venue, 'It's made a happy man very old.' The book provides a humorous and shrewd behind- the-scenes account of the headaches and hysteria of running a club in the heart of London's Soho and coping with the capricious temperaments of some of the world's most celebrated artists. Some of My Best Friends Are Blues includes contributions by Benny Green and Spike Milligan, with cartoons by Mel Calman. This edition features a foreword by the late Pete King. Ronnie Scott died in 1996 but the Club survives as a testament to their vision and determination.

Some of My Best Friends Are Blues

Scott, Ronnie

Hennessey, Mik

Described by the author as: 'memoirs of a jazz-crazed playwright - some of the stories are autobiographical and some of them are true.' A very, very, readable book, Michael Parkinson. Rich throughout with smart lines and offbeat observations, Guardian. Terrific price, terrific read. It kept me turning pages like mad, Campbell Burnap. Masterly in its knowledge and poetic communication. . . Don't hang about, go out and buy it, Jazz Journal Illustrated by some extremely funny cartoons. . . and imbued with the humane wisdom that has made him famous, www.vortexjazz.co.uk

Doggin' Around

Literature & Fiction

Plater, Alan.

Dramas & Plays

An extremely readable and entertaining autobiography of one of this country's most durable jazz and big band musicians, In Tune International Anyone who enjoys music and show business will revel in this highly readable book which reads more like a set of anecdotes than an autobiography, Frank Sinatra Music Society magazine.

I Blew It My Way: Bebop, Big Bands And Sinatra

Ash, Vic

Spillett, Simon

Ash, Helen

Biographies & Memoirs

Second edition of this classic book with a new postscript and a fresh selection of photos. First published in 1973 and out of print for many years. Available in bookshops now (hardback, ISBN 9780955090868, recommended retail price £15.99, 220 pages). Music Outside captures the spirit, optimism and creativity of contemporary jazz in Britain in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Carr was an important part of the action as well as a sharp observer of it and he wrote about his friends and colleagues, his jazz contemporaries, the people who made the jazz world come alive at one of the most exciting times in its recent history. Carr s profiles and in-depth interviews with leading musicians and composers document the range of their ideas, their influences, their enthusiasms and their often heroic efforts to continue working in jazz. The musicians interviewed include Mike Westbrook, Jon Hiseman, John Stevens, Trevor Watts, Evan Parker, Mike Gibbs, and Chris McGregor with the Brotherhood of Breath. Ian Carr is well-known as an imaginative and ground-breaking jazz trumpeter and bandleader, the author of acclaimed biographies of Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett and co-author of The Rough Guide to Jazz.

Music Outside: Contemorary Jazz in Britain

CARR, Ian

A vibrant and thought-provoking survey of recorded jazz from its beginnings to the present.

Forward Groove: Jazz and the Real World from Louis Armstrong to Gilad Atzmon

Searle, Chris

Humor & Entertainment

Among the great American modern jazz saxophonists, Hank Mobley has been the most unjustly neglected - the truly forgotten man. Yet he played and recorderd prolifically with the greatest legends of his era such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gilespie, Lee Morgan, Johnny Griffin and Art Blakey, helping to create some of their finest work. His best recordings are classics, characterized by an instantly identifiable sound and style, and constant musical inventiveness. But his loner personality made him his own worst enemy, many of his records remained unissued in his lifetime, and he died forgotten and destitute. Now, at last, most of his recorded legacy is available on CD and he is increasingly recognized as one of the major figures of modern jazz. In this book, the first to be published about Hank Mobley, Derek Ansell provides a detailed critical introduction to his music and a timely reassessment of his contribution to the jazz art.

Workout: The Music of Hank Mobley

Ansell, Derek

The rich history of this well-known Methodist church and the inner London area of Marylebone in which it is based are recalled, along with a high tradition of worship and music over two centuries, the excitement of building a magnificent new chapel, and t

West End Methodism: The Story of Hinde Street

Religion & Spirituality

Alan Brooks

Christian Books & Bibles

John Lenwood McLean - sugar free saxophonist from Sugar Hill, Harlem - is widely known as one of the finest, most consistent soloists in jazz history. From early in his career Jackie's powerful, unsentimental, sometimes astringent sound and inventive style made audiences and critics sit up and listen. Steeped in - but eventually moving well beyond - the influence of his mentor and friend Charlie Parker, he built an attractive, instantly recognisable musical personality. As author Derek Ansell says, his career trajectory is far from the typical jazz story of the tragic artist in which early brilliance leads to later decline. McLean's story is one of glorious triumph over the drug addiction that affected so many of his friends and might have destroyed him. Able to produce uniformly fine recordings through the darkest periods of his personal life, he saw his reputation as a musician steadily grow and became not only a living legend as an improviser but a much respected educator whose students carry on his legacy. Fortunately, McLean's discography is large and Derek Ansell is a surefooted guide through the recordings, presenting them in the context in which they were made and indicating the special gems among a vast body of recorded work that is one of jazz's greatest treasures.

Sugar Free Saxophone: The Life and Music of Jackie McLean

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