Conference City Sites (and Sounds): The London Jazz Scene
As some members of ICA may know, I moonlight as a jazz critic—which, by definition, makes me an enthusiast. It’s serendipitous, then, that ICA goes to London for its 2013 conference. The city has one of the richest, most exciting jazz scenes in the world.
It was in 1918 and 1919, as part of the wave of celebrations greeting the end of the First World War, that jazz first made its mark in London; previously it had existed underground, often regarded as subversive or delinquents’ music. But by the spring 1919 arrival of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band—the American quintet that had made the world’s first jazz recording two years before—the catharsis the music offered world-weary Britain was so palpable that the ODJB were even received at Buckingham Palace.
Still, radio broadcasters and cabaret owners soon drew a distinction between “hot” and “straight” jazz, favoring the latter and frowning on the former. But it didn’t stop the hot music from flourishing, especially in the Depression, when Ted Heath’s big band became the most popular performer in the country. By the time of World War II, jazz became an unavoidable phenomenon, partly thanks to visiting bands on USO and military tours of the front. In fact, BBC Radio’s jazz broadcasts became a symbol of resistance throughout German-occupied Western Europe: The Nazi regime had outlawed jazz, but their radio propaganda broadcasts were forced to compete with (and unable to block) the BBC’s powerful transmissions.
It wasn’t until the 1960s that English culture developed its own variant of jazz, with London as the natural hub. Jamaican-born saxophonist Joe Harriott was one of the first, developing a “free form” jazz approach that was distinct from the American avant-garde; he was followed by innovators such as Michael Garrick, Stan Tracey, and Mike Westbrook who deliberately worked to create a jazz language that wasn’t beholden to America, while Evan Parker and Derek Bailey extended the avant-garde vocabulary used all over the world. That spirit of innovation continued into the 1980s, when saxophonist Courtney Pine and his Jazz Warriors brought world music into the fray, and the ‘90s, when London’s rap-jazz collective Us3 scored an international hit with “Cantaloop.”
At present, British jazz is as diverse and deep as it’s ever been, with many musicians and observers proclaiming the 21st century a watershed for British jazz. And, as always, London is at the center.
Indeed, one can say that there’s a specific venue at the center: Ronnie Scott’s, known locally as just “Ronnie’s,” might be the most famous jazz club in Europe. Founded in Soho in 1959 by one of the UK’s founders of modern jazz, Scott (you may know him as the saxophonist on the Beatles’ “Lady Madonna”) meant only to create a nice comfortable atmosphere for working musicians to come in and jam, and instead created a 6-decade-long icon of the music. It’s the first port of call for visiting American jazz musicians; during the week of the ICA conference, the headliner is New York-based singer Curtis Stigers. Each night at 11 p.m., though, the doors open for Ronnie’s Late Late Show, featuring a different artist every night. (Saturday the 22nd is your best bet, with an ace jazz-rock fusion band led by drummer Mark Fletcher.) Better yet, on Wednesday night at 8:00 the upstairs bar hosts an open bebop jam session, which non-musicians can check out for only £5.
There’s another highly regarded, if much newer, jazz venue in Soho. Pizza Express Jazz Club¸ located just off Soho Square, is what it sounds like: the basement attached to a popular pizzeria. Though it actually books a variety of genres, Pizza Express is best known (and most popular) for its attention to mainstream jazz. That includes, on 17 June, a performance by rising London star Anoushka Lucas, who sings classic, swing-based jazz originals with a pleasing pop sensibility.
If you’ll be in town on Sunday night, 16 June (the night before conference begins), and you want some live music, it’s hard to do better than the London Jazz Orchestra, which that night plays its monthly engagement at Vortex Jazz in Shacklewell (in the borough of Hackney). The 17-piece band is a monster, playing progressive music in a glorious combination of ramshackle looseness and spit-and-polish professionalism. Vortex is an excellent choice the other nights of the week, too; the club won this year’s Parliamentary Jazz Award for live jazz. Their bookings run the gamut: On Tuesday the 18th, Vortex hosts Man Overboard, which plays music of the 1920s and ‘30s; if your taste runs more avant-garde, the legendary saxophonist Evan Parker—probably the most important free player Britain has ever produced—holds court on Thursday the 20th.
Due northeast of the ICA conference—across Regents Park—is The Forge, a music and arts venue in Camden that frequently hosts live jazz (and is regarded as one of the best venues for it among London jazz aficionados). The large and very contemporary building is shared with The Foundry Restaurant and Bar, a highly regarded eatery that occupies most of the space; The Forge itself is an intimate affair that relies on natural acoustics, perfect for live jazz. On Friday night, it presents clarinetist Dom James and His Dixie Ticklers, a sextet with a passion for New Orleans and other early (“trad”) jazz sounds. What they do is the genuine article, focused not on solos but on group interaction that’s gleefully ragged and endless fun.
Probably the furthest from the ICA conference hotel, but certainly among the best options for jazz fans, is The Bull’s Head, a 330-year-old pub in the Southwest London borough of Richmond. It became a jazz venue in the 1950s and has since become one of the most beloved by audiences and artists alike. On Wednesday the 19th, The Bull’s Head features one of the most consistently interesting contemporary jazz bands on the London scene, guitarist Winston Morson’s Off the Cuff. The septet bills itself as playing straight-ahead funk and jazz fusion, but it seems to devour a wide platter of jazz styles as well, with unquestionable mainstream-progressive chops and tastes worn right on its sleeve.
Jazz is best when it’s live, in London or anywhere else, but if you need something to take home with you it might be worth engaging with London’s famously enormous record-store landscape. The breadth and history of British jazz makes the discovery of recorded treasures there almost inevitable—and there’s a good chance that the crate-digging fellow in the record store next to you will be me.