JAZZ, BLUES & SWING ON BIG BEAR RECORDS THE JAZZ RAG ISSUE 142 SUMMER 2016 JAZZ FESTIVALS UK £3.25 Available on CD from all retailers, online from Amazon and all major download sites For more info, contact Big Bear Records on 0121 454 7020, email
[email protected] or write to PO Box 944, Birmingham B16 8UT CONTENTS NEW RELEASE ON BIG BEAR RECORDS FESTIVAL TIME (PAGES 18-19) MERLIN DALEMAN'S IMAGE OF SAXITUDE AT LAST YEAR'S Marc Stringle on clarinet, Digby Fairweather, cornet, and pianist BIRMINGHAM JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL CAPTURES THE Brian Dee. (The originals were Benny Goodman, Jonah Jones FUN OF THE FESTIVAL SEASON. and Teddy Wilson.) Val Wiseman's easy, almost conversational approach fits the tempo to perfection. It's her voice, not Billie's, 4 NEWS but the effect is charming and convincing. 6 UPCOMING EVENTS Sometimes a song suits a singer so perfectly that we assume it was specially written, only to find out that they only met later, 8 LADY DAY AND THE COMMUNISTS by lucky accident. That's the case with You've Changed. There's RON SIMPSON LOOKS AT THE ORIGINS OF something about the way the descending phrases of the melody chime with the despair of the lyric that are pure Billie Holiday. STRANGE FRUIT She recorded it towards the end of her life, in 1958,for the album Lady In Satin. So it comes as something of a shock to 10 JAZZ RAG CHARTS discover that it was written by Carl Fischer and Bill Carey in BOOKS AND CDS 1942 and first recorded by Dick Haymes, with Harry James's band.