Ne w s L E T T e R Editor: Dave Gelly ISSUE 16 ° May 2008 swinging shepherd! Digby Fairweather introduces and wonderfully generous Dave Shepherd, distinguished human being. So, rather than interview guest at this year’s a formal ’interview’, our Summer Jazz Event (see box Loughton meeting will be right) in July. simply a whatever-comes-next chat between old friends. Welcoming Dave Shepherd Dave’s regular designation as to the interview chair at our ’Britain’s Benny Goodman’ is far Summer Jazz Event 2008 is one more than a handy publicity tag. of the most exciting things to When pianist Teddy Wilson, a happen to the NJA - and to me – in many a moon. Because lifelong colleague of the ‘King of since Artie Shaw gave up writ- Swing’, began visiting Britain in ing books and joined his princi- the 1970s, his automatic clar- pal rival, Benny Goodman, in inet partner for international touring and recording was Dave Editors Note: Saturday 26th July NATIONAL JAZZ ARCHIVE JAZZ NATIONAL some (literally) heavenly clar- inet section, Dave is, quite Shepherd, who by then had 1.30–4.30pm at Loughton Methodist probably, the greatest swing already been playing for more Church Tickets at £10 can be obtained clarinettist in the world. than a quarter of a century. from David Nathan at the Archive and He’s much more fun to inter- After post-war beginnings cheques to be made payable to view, too. Whereas Artie (as I amid the flourishing east- National Jazz Archive. know from experience) made London Dixieland fraternity, he his interrogator feel like a joined drummer Joe Daniels in feather in a wind-tunnel, and 1951, then graduated summa Benny, by all accounts, never said cum laude to the band of his much at all, Dave has a fund of hero Freddy Randall in 1954. stories of his 62 years at the Thereafter, an accelerating forefront of British jazz. I know career , in both business and that because we have been music, took him first to the friends for over half that time. USA in 1956, to play, amongst Before then, for me, he was a others, with pianist Billy personal hero, whose elegant Maxted’s band, then back to and regularly hard-swinging England to tour with the Jazz Goodman-style quintet had To day Unit and Jazz At The graced the BBC’s airwaves for Philharmonic (starring Ella over two decades, and whose Fitzgerald and a cast of now-leg- renewed partnership on-record endary Americans) a year later. and off in the early 1970s with For most of the 1960s Dave another hero, legendary cornet- continued leading his own quin- N J A tist Freddy Randall, convinced tet, but rejoined Randall twice, Loughton Library, Traps Hill me that Dixieland was the music first for a late sortie amid the Loughton, Essex IG10 1HD I wanted to play most of all. declining Trad Boom and later Tel. 020 8502 0181 When I finally shared a stand in the legendary partnership Fax 020 8508 5041 with my hero in 1975 I was left which took the Randall- e-mail: [email protected] in no doubt that he was both a Shepherd All-Stars to the website: nationaljazzarchive.co.uk supremely talented musician Montreux Jazz Festival, numer- SUPPORTED BY ESSEX continued on page 2 COUNTY COUNCIL LIBRARIES continued from page 1 ous BBC broadcasts and two five- OUTREACH UPDATE star albums for Black Lion. Later, Dave led his own All-Stars, Graham Langley writes: toured Europe with more distin- guished alumni and freelanced with The Institute of Popular Music has Lennie Hastings, before accepting taken delivery of nearly 30 years of Jazz leadership of the Pizza Express All- Journal International recently donated Stars - resident weekly from May by one of our supporters in Oldham.. 1980 until 2001 at the famous Brunel University, which houses our ‘reserve collection’ has Dean Street establishment. During been the beneficiary of a large number of the books and that time they played host to innu- periodicals bequeathed to the Archive by the late Kevin merable American greats, from Henriques (see item in Archival News, p6). Ruby Braff and Wild Bill Davison to Al Cohn and Jimmy Witherspoon. I have started to investigate whether we can establish From 1995, Dave joined the some useful international links, initially with European Great British Jazz Band and, after archives.The first successful relationship has been forged leaving Essex for the south coast, with the RoJaRo Archive in Norway, and we are in the continued working with his own process of exchanging periodicals from our duplicate quintet as well as clarinettist Chris stocks. RoJaRo stands for Rock / Jazz / Roots, and their Walker’s group in a collaboration mission is to index the world’s popular music publications. appropriately titles ‘Swing Fever’. For those researchers among you, a visit to It’s good to have him back, near http://www.rojaro.com may prove useful. Search for the his old Theydon Bois home, sur- artist of your choice and you will find countless references rounded by flocks of friends and to articles, record reviews etc, over 1.5m in total - not the fans our Summer Jazz Event. Be article itself, just the periodical name, issue and page there, by hook or crook - for, red number, but this will give you a starting point.Then you sky or not, this promises will know what to ask our Archivist, David Nathan, for. Shepherd’s delights to spare! CHARLES FOX 1992, this vast and unruly mass of paper was transported to Behind these six windows, the Loughton by the original three upper stories of no. 40, Archivist, Ken Jones. It took ten The Esplanade, Weymouth, years for our heroic volunteer, Dorset, lived and worked one of Brian Robinson, to sort and file Britain’s most distinguished jazz it all and it now resides at critics, the late Charles Fox. the Archive. Anyone who was acquainted Charles’s work on jazz cov- with Charles knew him to be a ered many spheres. He wrote learned and scholarly man of numerous books and served as many interests, in particular jazz critic of the New Photo courtesy of Brian Robinson jazz, cricket and poetry. They Statesman for many years, but and unfailingly courteous, also knew that his formidable it was probably his broadcast- these, if re-broadcast now, intellect was not matched by an ing which had the greatest would stand as a dignified equally formidable orderliness impact. Not only did he intro- reproach to the idle, slangy, when it came to his library and duce programmes such as Jazz uninformed chat which have personal papers. His book- Today, which presented live ses- largely taken their place. shelves, for instance, were often sions by both new and estab- Fortunately, Charles wrote filled two-deep, the books lished musicians of the time, full scripts for everything. behind being accessible only via there were also the long, in- They’re all in those eight filing excavation through the books depth interviews with major cabinets.Why not ask to take a in front. figures, like Roy Eldridge and look when you visit the After Charles’s death in Gil Evans. Impressively learned Archive? 2 National Jazz Archive Newsletter Issue 16 meet our new patrons..... We welcome five new Watts’s Moiré Music she Tomorrow’s Warriors. Gary distinguished Patrons of the struck out on her own.As also formed and led the National Jazz Archive. well a string of successful hugely successful band Jazz recordings under her own Jamaica. Since 1996, in Baroness Valerie Amos name, she has worked with a partnership with Janine Irons, Jazz lover bewildering assortment of top he has run the Dune Music Baroness Amos performers, ranging from Sir Co, which includes is the EU’s Paul McCartney to Gerry management and publishing Special Rafferty to Ladysmith Black divisions and an award- Representative Mambazo. winning record label. In 2007 to the African Gary Crosby received the Union and was, Deirdre Cartwright BBC Radio Jazz Award for until June 2007, Leader of the Deirdre Services to Jazz. House of Lords. Other posts Cartwright have included Secretary of became known Courtney Pine State for International to literally Among the Development, Parliamentary millions as the best-known of Under-Secretary for Foreign guitar all British jazz and Commonwealth Affairs presenter of artists, and government whip. Born in the ground-breaking BBC TV Courtney Pine Guyana, Baroness Amos has series Rockschool, introduced has been a degrees in sociology from the by Herbie Hancock. She first magnetic figure University of Warwick and in came to notice in the 1980s, and a source of cultural studies from the touring worldwide with the inspiration to University of Birmingham. She Guest Stars.As a solo artist young musicians ever since his was chief executive of the she has played with American appearance on the scene in Equal Opportunities guitar legend Tal Farlow and the mid-1980s. He is a Commission from 1988 to Jamaican composer Marjorie virtuoso saxophonist and a 1994. Whylie.With her own band dedicated seeker after new she has recorded several modes of expression within Liane Carroll successful albums, the latest the jazz idiom, recently being Tune In,Turn On, Stretch incorporating contemporary Out. She co-runs Blow The popular styles into his own Fuse, a London club with a distinctive approach. Courtney famously forward-looking also presents Jazz Crusade on musical policy. BBC Radio Two. He holds a honorary doctorate of music Gary Crosby from the University of Inspiring Westminster and was Multi-award-winning pianist teacher, appointed OBE in 2000, for and vocalist Liane Carroll is dynamic Services to Jazz Music.