Author: chrishodgkins3

Press Release

Voting is now open for the 2024 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Entries are open to anyone with the final deadline set for midnight on Friday 29^th March 2024. The Parliamentary Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

“These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who keep jazz flourishing, in spite of the challenges they faced in the last couple of years”.  John Spellar MP, Lord Mann, Co-chairs of APPJG, Alison Thewless MP and Chi Onwurah MP, Deputy Chairs.

To vote please go to: Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2024

Here is the ink for the avoidance of doubt: https://forms.gle/WM1piNNtewRNMPBNA

Voting closes on Friday 29^th March at 11pm

Please note the criteria for the different categories:

Jazz Album of the Year (released in 2023 by a UK band or musicians).
Services to Jazz Award (to a living person for their outstanding contribution to jazz in the UK).
Jazz Newcomer of the Year (UK-based artist, musician or group with a debut album released in 2023).
Jazz Education Award (to an educator or project for raising the standard of jazz education in the UK).
Jazz Media Award (including broadcasters, journalists, magazines, blogs, listings, photographers and books).
Jazz Venue of the Year (including jazz clubs, venues, festivals and promoters).
Jazz Ensemble of the Year (UK-based group who impressed in 2023).
Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year (UK-based musician who impressed in 2023).
Jazz Vocalist of the Year (UK-based vocalist who impressed in 2023).

The awards are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG), co-chaired by John Spellar MP and Lord Mann.

Notes to the EditorThe All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) currently has over 110 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties. Their aim is to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. The Group’s officers as at the Annual General Meeting on 15th March 2023 are Co-Chairs, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Vice Chairs, Alison Thewless MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Lord McNicol and Patrick Grady MP, the Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Alton and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretary is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Simon Jennings and Will Riley-Smith of NorthPoint Strategy . The Secretary operates on a strictly pro bono basis and no expenses of any kind are paid to the Secretary. The contact address is: admin@appjag.org and the website is https://appjag.org/

The recipients of the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards were announced on Tuesday 4th July at 20:00

The Parliamentary Jazz Awards are organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) with the support of PizzaExpress Live. The Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

The award categories reflect the ever-increasing scope of talent from within the UK’s jazz scene: Jazz Vocalist of the Year; Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year; Jazz Album of the Year; Jazz Ensemble of the Year; Jazz Newcomer of the Year; Jazz Venue of the Year; Jazz Media Award; Jazz Education Award; the Services to Jazz Award and a new award Photographer of the Year

John Spellar MP, Co-Chair of APPJG, said: “These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who have kept jazz flourishing. These recipients demonstrate the wealth of talent and commitment that exists in the British jazz scene. Now in their 18th year, the Parliamentary Jazz Awards honour the best of British jazz. MPs and Peers in the All-Party Group is grateful to PizzaExpress Live for supporting the event.”

Chi Onwurah MP, Deputy Chair of APPJAG: “This has been another really strong year for the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in terms of talent and nominations. The well-deserved recipients are a veritable who’s who of names that have made a real impact on the music and helped make the UK one of the world’s leading jazz territories”.

The Awards were introduced by Ross Dines and presented by: Lord Mann and Chi Onwurah MP. The Parliamentary Awards Band were: Andrea Vicari, Alison Rayner, Henry Lowther, Cheryl Alleyne, Tori Freestone

The full list of recipients is as follows:

Jazz Vocalist of the Year

Elaine Delmar

Born in Hertfordshire, UK, Elaine was raised in a strong musical environment, her father being the renowned trumpeter Leslie ‘Jiver’ Hutchinson, a leading influence in the jazz and dance band movement in Britain from the 1930s onwards.

After initially studying classical piano, Elaine found a natural progression in singing and became a vocalist in her father’s own band at sixteen. It was soon apparent that her vocal talent and natural affinity with the stage would lead her to triumph in many areas of the entertainment world.

Elaine’s experience is indeed wide and diverse. Her first theatre appearance was in a revival of Finian’s Rainbow in the late 50’s at the New Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool. She then became a member of a group called The Dominoes before starting her career on the London stage, appearing in Cowardy Custard at the Mermaid Theatre and No Strings at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Although best known for her later starring role in the musical Bubbling Brown Sugar at The Royalty Theatre, London, she also had notable success with Kern Goes To Hollywood, appearing in both the London and Broadway productions. Elaine also received critical acclaim as a straight actress for her role in A Map Of The World at the prestigious National Theatre. She has made many appearances on TV and radio and featured in Ken Russell’s film Mahler as the Bohemian Princess.

Elaine’s recording career began in the early 60’s when she recorded various albums for one of her early champions, producer Denis Preston of Lansdowne Records. The first was an EP titled A Swinging Chick featuring the wonderful talent of Victor Feldman. Amongst her other albums, Elaine has also released the highly-acclaimed Elaine Sings Wilder, a tribute to one of America’s lesser-known composers, Alec Wilder. This album has become something of a collector’s item. The pianist and musical director on this record was Colin Beaton, one of Elaine’s mentors and early musical influences. She later went on to make a double album for Denis Preston entitled Elaine Delmar and Friends featuring Tony Coe, Alan Branscombe, Eddie Thompson and Pat Smythe, another great influence on Elaine’s musical life.

Elaine’s more recent recordings ’Swonderful, Nobody Else But Me and But Beautiful all feature Brian Dee, the much-respected jazz pianist and accompanist with whom Elaine worked for over 20 years. In 2013 Elaine received the APPJAC SPECIAL AWARD FOR JAZZ from Michael Connarty MP at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards at the House of Commons.

Elaine is equally at home whether entertaining a concert audience or performing in the more intimate cabaret/small theatre setting. For example, she has appeared in concert with Andy Williams (Free Trade Hall, Manchester) and Michel Legrand with the London Symphony Orchestra (Royal Albert Hall, London). In cabaret, her performances have included appearances at The Ritz Hotel, London, as well as on the QE2 and numerous other cruise liners around the globe. In recent years Elaine has been the star vocalist in such touring shows as Let’s Do It saluting the music of Cole Porter, and the musical celebration By George, It’s Gershwin.

Elaine’s popular appearances at the world-famous Ronnie Scott’s Club in London have shown her to be remarkably adaptable in a jazz setting, having worked here at different times with such jazz giants as Herb Ellis, Benny Carter and Stephane Grappelli. Her recent season and her live album at Ronnie Scott’s evidence a singer who remains in the prime of her performing life. By popular demand, she regularly headlines at the club.

https://www.elainedelmar.com/bio

Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year

Gary Husband

Gary Husband is one of a rare breed of musicians in that his expression is divided equally in his capacity as a drummer and a pianist and keyboardist of international repute. His classical roots, his quest and development in the improvisational, jazz and jazz/fusion areas – not to mention his tenure in the pop, rock, funk and blues circuits – are all evident inside Gary’s distinct and far-reaching musical personality. His solo album and DVD output has also reinforced his status as a critically acclaimed writer and arranger in the contemporary music world.

For close to four decades Gary has worked alongside a vast and eclectic range of celebrated musicians including John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce (Cream), Gary Moore (Thin Lizzy), British pop/funk band Level 42, Billy Cobham, Al Jarreau, Mike Stern (Miles Davis), John Wetton (King Crimson), Chris Squire (Yes), Andy Summers (The Police), Steve Hackett (Genesis), Robin Trower (Procol Harum), and with producers Sir George Martin (Beatles), Trevor Horn (Grace Jones & Art of Noise), Quincy Jones (Michael Jackson), Jerry Hey and James Guthrie (Pink Floyd).

Further associations and performing/recording credits include his work with Randy Brecker, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman, fusion/jam band Gongzilla, Germany’s NDR Bigband, Soft Machine, Maria Schneider, Christian McBride, Eddie Van Halen, Dean Brown, Bob Berg, Nguyên Lê, Joe Lovano, Charles Tolliver, Bireli Lagrène, Peter Erskine, Ron Sexsmith, drum n’ bass protagonists Lemon ‘D’ and Dillinja.

As an internationally established drum clinician he has performed alongside Dennis Chambers, Vinnie Colaiuta, Terry Bozzio, Billy Cobham, Simon Phillips, Omar Hakim, Ricky Lawson, Todd Sucherman, Paul Wertico, Denny Seiwell and Bernard Purdie, and most recently has been developing a series of motivational videocasts in drumming.

His alter-ego as a pianist/keyboard player brings an extra dimension to his musicality at the drums. Indeed, he has been the keyboardist & second drummer in John McLaughlin’s 4th Dimension since 2007. Gary continues to devote a substantial proportion of his time recording and performing worldwide across many styles of music.

https://www.garyhusband.com/

Jazz Album of the Year

Jo Harrop and Paul Edis: ‘When Winter Turns To Spring’

Lateralize Records announced the release of When Winter Turns To Spring – the first album by Jo Harrop and pianist, Paul Edis. After receiving unanimous critical acclaim for her solo debut, The Heart Wants, Harrop has spent the last year working in London’s Gorilla Studios with Edis and producer, Jamie McCredie, to create this richly textured and reflective journey through the seasons. Seamlessly combining Bacharach-esq chamber pop and sophisticated jazz, When Winter Turns To Spring is a beautiful, wistful album that defies categorisation.

“Most of the songs on this record seem to be about the circle of nature and the cycle of life reminding us that all is not lost,” she explains. “Winter is temporary, as is loss, and spring and love will come again.

“We often hear love being compared to the changing seasons. Summertime is associated with romance and joy – mellow and warm. Spring is the season where nature is brought back to life by its welcome kiss, lifting us out of a long, cold and dark winter, which brings lost love or loneliness to mind. It is autumn that brings a bittersweet melancholy to the fore. The colours and romance of autumn co-exist with an inescapable feeling of something slowly dying…the end of balmy summer days with winter looming ahead.”

“There are songs about love and loss as well as new life and new hope,” adds Edis. “From the romantic album opener, Short Story, which begins in autumn, through to the rather dramatic November scene of a windswept Soho in Umbrellas In The Rain, weather is a common lyrical theme running through these songs, but they are about so much more than they initially appear to be.”

Born in Durham and raised on a musical diet of Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin, Jo Harrop moved to London and quickly established herself as one of the most unmistakable voices in British jazz. Having signed to London-based jazz label, Lateralize Records, she released Weathering The Storm, her debut with guitarist, Jamie McCredie, and The Heart Wants, which has received rave reviews everywhere from The Times to The Guardian, been played extensively on BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2 and Jazz FM and is currently riding high in the US Jazz Album Charts.

Paul Edis is one of the leading creative musicians in the UK today. As a performer, composer and educator, he has built a reputation for consistently delivering new and original ideas, seeking to innovate within his work whilst always paying respect to both the Jazz and Classical music traditions. In whatever genre or musical context, he inhabits, Paul is passionate about melody and expression.

He has released several critically acclaimed recordings of new music in recent years, regularly receives commissions from a wide variety of organisations, and is known for his communication skills and breadth of knowledge, working as an educator for organisations including Sage Gateshead, National Youth Jazz Orchestra and National Youth Jazz Collective.

As well as leading his own sextet, trio and performing solo engagements, Paul works regularly with vocalist Jo Harrop, saxophonist Vasilis Xenopoulos, and he has performed alongside leading jazz names including Jon Faddis, Alan Barnes, Bruce Adams, Nigel Price, Jim Mullen, Tim Garland, Julian Siegel, Tony Kofi, Steve Waterman, Iain Ballamy and Mark Nightingale. His music has been played on the radio in the UK, US and in Europe.

A perfect blend of originals and timeless perennials framed by Paul Edis’ elegant arrangements, When Winter Turns To Spring finds Jo Harrop at the peak of her powers, her beautifully understated smoky voice delicately poised between beguiling sensuality and exquisite fragility.

https://www.joharrop.com/

https://www.pauledis.co.uk/bio

Jazz Ensemble of the Year

Ubunye

The pounding rhythms of Africa blended with the explosive energy of a live band. This vibrant group of Zulu performers combined with seasoned musicians from the UK mix ancient tradition with contemporary flare. Ubunye deliver a soulful, goose bump inducing performance of original pieces cleverly fused with South African songs. It is a fantastic multi-cultural experience.

“In that moment, it seemed hard to believe that anything so propulsive and joyous could come to a halt. The same could be said about the applause and shouts that followed.” Wakefield Jazz.

“Ubunye is a joyous celebration and proof, should it be needed, of the creative energy and unity possible when cultures meet through the medium of music. Rejoicing in their wide-ranging backgrounds, ages and styles, they were a surefire hit with the Manchester Jazz Festival audience, uplifting the soul with their close vocal harmonies, undulating rhythms, and affirmative lyrics, and with a powerful facility to reach and affect listeners far beyond the reaches of jazz.” – Steve Mead, Artistic Director, Manchester Jazz Festival.

Jazz Newcomer of the Year

Sultan Stevenson

Sultan Stevenson is one of the most exciting young jazz musicians in London today. He is a product of both the Julian Joseph Jazz Academy and Tomorrow’s Warriors, from a young age under the tuition of renowned jazz musicians such as: Julian Joseph, Gary Crosby, Simon Purcell and Robert Mitchell. He is currently studying jazz piano at The Guildhall School of Music from which he graduates in the summer of 2023.

In 2020 Sultan emerged onto the scene with a rapidly developing artistic voice. He started playing his own music alongside regular band mates Jacob Gryn and Joel Waters. Jazz Re: freshed, The Jazz Cafe, The Vortex and The EFG London Jazz Festival are just some of the numerous places in which Sultan has wowed audiences. Sultan cites McCoy Tyner, Kenny Kirkland, Geri Allen and Ahmad Jamal as some of his biggest inspirations.

In 2022 Stevenson recorded his debut album, Faithful One, with his trio (Jacob Gryn and Joel Waters) the album also features Josh Short (trumpet) and his mentor Denys Baptiste (tenor saxophone) The album, tipped for success, earned Sultan a signing from Whirlwind Recordings. It was released on March 24th and has received much critical acclaim. Sultan launched his debut album at The Jazz Café on March 31st. The show sold out; it was a celebration of not only Sultan’s music but of young talent within the London jazz scene today.

https://www.sultanstevenson.co.uk/

Jazz Venue of the Year

Jazz at the Blue Lamp

Jazz at the Blue Lamp is a group of jazz fans from Aberdeen who came together to present the best of jazz from Scotland, the UK and around the world. The work is all done on a voluntary basis and is supported by Jazz Scotland, Creative Scotland, Aberdeen City Council and other bodies who can be persuaded to help us.

The Blue Lamp has been the venue for some great concerts since Jazz Aberdeen started promoting jazz in 2002 and this work has been continued by us since 2011.

The Blue Lamp is considered by many as one of the finest jazz venues in the UK both for its wonderful, friendly atmosphere and its natural sound enhanced by a first-rate sound system originally installed with help from the Scottish Arts Council (later changed to Creative Scotland).

Many world-class musicians have played here including Georgie Fame, Kenny Garrett, Peter King, Arild Andersen and Mike Stern who gave a stellar concert in 2011. They have all commented on the friendliness and enthusiasm of the audience and the atmosphere of the club.

The team who run Jazz At The Blue Lamp, Marisha Addison, Colin Black, Pauline Black, Neil Gibbons, Rainer Goldbeck, Dee Jones, Keith MacRae, Susan MacRae, Morag McCall, Aileen Sharples, Don Sharples, Jackie Thain

Home

Jazz Media Award

The Jazz Rag

The Jazz Rag is a 36-page magazine which is published bi-monthly by Big Bear Music Group.

Since 1987, The Jazz Rag magazine has been at the heart of the British jazz scene, published bi-monthly and containing news, reviews and features on both the rich history of jazz from across the globe, and exciting new album releases, tours and festivals.

Packed with the latest news and upcoming events and from the UK and abroad, features galore and interviews with well-established and up-and-coming jazz musicians, while their reviews section covers the latest jazz releases on CD, DVD. Video and In Print.

To see current edition: https://www.bigbearmusic.com/jazzrag/current-edition/

PizzaExpress Live Jazz Photographer of the Year

Monika Jakubowska

Born in Suwalki, north-eastern Poland into an artistic family, Monika S. Jakubowska was destined to be an artist. Her mother was a singer and with a bassist for a father, who is also a painter and photographer. Monika took her first photos at the age of 4, always carrying a light meter around her neck along with her father’s camera.

Monika moved to the UK in 2006 with an idea of becoming a photojournalist/war photographer as she ‘wanted to change the world for better, by images, giving voice to those who suffer the most but remain unheard’.

Instead of going to war – jazz happened. Monika went back to her roots, where she felt a sense of belonging and soon started co-working with London Jazz News as a contributing photographer. Since then, she has closely worked with London Jazz News, Women in Jazz Media, National Youth Jazz Orchestra and numerous bands and artists. Published in The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Financial Times, Jazzwise and many other prestigious music magazines and portals, Monika is the in-house photographer for Kings Place and is also the only female in-house photographer at the world-renowned Ronnie Scott’s.

https://nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/explore/photographs/photographs-by-collection-name/monika-jakubowska-photos

Jazz Education Award

Hannah Horton, J Steps, Saffron Centre For Young Musicians, Saffron Walden.

Hannah Horton is a melodic maverick, visionary jazz saxophonist, composer, bandleader and journalist. Star of UK jazz, her music is rooted in jazz, folk and funk. Her established individual and sophisticated sound is edging through boundaries and creating waves worldwide.

An official Henri Selmer Artist, alumni of the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity Laban, and member of award-winning Women In Jazz Media, Hannah works the jazz world in her own authentic way. Her most recent album ‘Inside Out’ has received critical acclaim worldwide and she continues to wow audiences with her creative, compelling, emotive and alluring playing, alongside her warm and charming personality on stage.

Today Hannah provides inspiration of her own by running ‘J Steps’ – a new band initiative designed to nurture the talent of musicians who identify as female or non-binary with its main aim being to balance a historic lack of representation of women in jazz.

J Steps is a jazz ensemble for female and non-binary improvising musicians based at the Saffron Centre for Young Musicians. The players are grade 6 and above and are taught jazz harmony and improvisation, playing standards and originals. J Steps have performed at EFG London Jazz Festival and Saffron Hall foyer and invite new players who want to learn more about jazz in a comfortable and supportive setting. J Steps rehearses monthly from 3-5pm.

Saffron Centre for Young Musicians was established in 2015 and provides emerging musicians aged 4-18 in the East of England with a unique opportunity to play in an ensemble, participate in workshops and have individual tuition for instruments including woodwind, brass, strings, piano, guitars, percussion as well as singing.

The partnership that forms Saffron Centre for Young Musicians is formed of Saffron Hall, Essex Music Education Hub and Saffron Walden County High School.

Services to Jazz Award

Janine Irons

Janine Mireille Irons OBE FRSA is a British music educator, artist manager and producer, who in 1991 co-founded with her partner Gary Crosby the music education and professional development organisation Tomorrow’s Warriors, of which she is Chief Executive.

Born in Harrow, London, Irons studied classical piano. As a young teenager, she sang in a funk band and at 16 was offered a contract as a vocalist; instead, however, she decided to pursue a career in The City. Finding this work “well-paid but boring”, she enrolled on a photography course at the City and Guilds of London Institute. It was while covering a jazz performance as a freelance photographer that she met her future partner, bass player Gary Crosby, and after helping with his band she went on to manage artists, as well as becoming involved with recording and releasing records.

Irons and Crosby founded in 1991 the jazz music education and artist development organisation Tomorrow’s Warriors, of which Irons is managing director/CEO, and in 1997 began Dune Records, which soon developed into an award-winning label, with Irons as managing director.  With their third release, Denys Baptiste’s Be Where You Are (1999) received great critical acclaim and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.  

Irons was nominated for a European Federation of Black Women Business Owners award in 1999. In 2006, she completed the Clore Leadership Programme Short Course on Cultural Leadership and, also in that year, was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2006 Birthday Honours for services to the music industry.  She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours, also for services to the music industry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janine_Irons

https://tomorrowswarriors.org/

Special APPJG Award

Tony Haynes and the Grand Union Orchestra

Tony Haynes in 1941 is an English composer and bandleader best known for his work with Grand Union Orchestra since 1982.He plays piano and trombone.

Tony Haynes’s musical career began in 1954, as a 13-year-old piano and trombone player in dance bands. He also had stints as a church organist and brass band trombonist, but playing jazz was a more formative experience. As a teenager in the 1950s, Haynes listened to early and modern jazz alongside a lot of European classical music.

After studying music at the University of Oxford, Haynes took a postgraduate degree in contemporary music at the University of Nottingham, working simultaneously as musical director at the Nottingham Playhouse and composing music for the resident repertory company’s productions.

In the late 1960s, Haynes visited Portugal as a working musician where he heard Fado and Bossa nova courtesy of Lisbon students and a Brazilian musician.  Returning to the country in 1975, shortly after the revolution, Haynes met musicians from former Portuguese colonies Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, and Mozambique.

In Autumn 1975, Haynes founded the ten-piece British jazz rock band Red Brass, initially as an offshoot from the left-wing theatre ensemble Belt & Braces Roadshow. Red Brass was celebrated for the social and political content of Haynes’s compositions and became one of the most ubiquitous groups on the jazz scene, earning praise from Melody Maker and The Times.  Musicians included trumpeter Dick Pearce, saxophonists Pete Hurt and Chris Biscoe, and singers Heather Jones and Annie Lennox.

Red Brass released one album, Silence Is Consent, on the Riverside Recordings label in 1976, and toured extensively until breaking up in 1979.

Haynes’s imaginative vocal arrangements for three female singers were key to the group’s distinctive sound, which incorporated Latin percussion, jazz-flavoured brass, a rock-rhythm section, unaccompanied harmony singing, and relatively unusual instruments including the glockenspiel, tubular bells, timbales and spoons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Haynes_(English_composer)

Grand Union was founded in 1982 by Tony Haynes, David Bradford, John Cumming and Julie Eaglen, with the aim to tour theatrical works with music at their core. Tony Haynes plans the Company’s shows and ancillary projects, writing and arranging most of the Orchestra’s music.

Tony publishes monthly essays on his work in his blog, which gives detailed insights into how Grand Union’s repertoire is put together, his composition techniques, the context behind the Orchestra’s live shows and albums, and the background of its artists.

His art is compelling music theatre, in which storytelling is an essential part and the lived experience of the performers, and collaborates with writers, poets and lyricists from across the world.

Their third touring show, Strange Migration, was crucial in shaping all our subsequent work, introducing non-European performers and embracing less familiar musical cultures.

In 1984, Tony Haynes composed The Song Of Many Tongues in response to a commission from the Greater London Council. The show toured England for two years and became their debut album in 1986.

In the words of co-founder Tony Haynes:

“Since it began in 1982, Grand Union Orchestra has been making music that reflects and absorbs diversity. It has been my honour to compose nearly 40 major shows across four decades for the company, working with some of the UK’s leading migrant musicians of each generation, whose talents and cultural generosity have been my source of constant inspiration.

Our mission has been to represent the ever changing demographic and cultural musical influences that thrive in Britain today, addressing the myriad social and political issues associated with cultural diversity and integration. Grand Union’s inspiration has always been the authentic migratory stories of our extraordinary musicians from across the globe.

Young people and their blossoming musical talents and professional ambitions are an integral part of our work. Supporting them through mentoring, performance opportunities and building skills alongside our core musicians has been at the heart of Grand Union Orchestra and we are proud to have been the springboard for many generations of the UK’s leading musical talents”.

Since the 1980s, their music has been performed live, nationally and internationally, and broadcast on all major radio stations. They have released a series of albums through their own label, Red Gold Records.

Their large-scale shows are developed by a core group of musicians in conjunction with amateur performers from local cultural and community groups. These have included:

• Threads (Manchester 1986)
• If Music Could (Warwickshire 1990, London 1992, Slough 1997)
• Shadows Of The Sun (Clerkenwell Festival, London 1992)
• Nau Charia De (Spitalfields, London 1994/95)
• Dancing In The Flames (London 1995/96, Melbourne 2005)
• Where The Rivers Meet (Sadler’s Wells, London 2000)
• Beyond The Silk Road (UK 1999)
• Doctor Carnival (UK 2001-2005)
• On Liberation Street (Leeds, Gateshead, London 2005-2009)
• Song Of Contagion (Wilton’s Music Hall, London 2017)

Since 2011 Grand Union have created a number of shows for London’s Hackney Empire, including:

• The Golden Highway (2012)
• Liberation & Remembrance (2012)
• Music Untamed (2013)
• Undream’d Shores (2014)

https://www.grandunion.org.uk/

-Ends-

For further information please contact:

Chris Hodgkins

Tel: 0208 840 4643

Email: chris.hodgkins3@googlemail.com

Notes to editors

The All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) currently has over 110 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties. Their aim is to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. The Group’s officers as at the Annual General Meeting on 15th March 2023 are Co-Chairs, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Deputy Chairs, Alison Thewless MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Lord McNicol and Patrick Grady MP, the Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Alton and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretariat is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Louis Flood. The contact address is: appjag1@gmail.com the web address is: https://appjag.wordpress.com/

All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group. This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees

The nominations have today been announced for the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. The Awards, organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) with the support of PizzaExpress Live. The recipients of the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards will be announced on Tuesday 4th July 2023. The Parliamentary Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, breadth and talent of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

The award categories reflect the ever-increasing scope of talent from within the UK’s jazz scene: Jazz Vocalist of the Year; Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year; Jazz Album of the Year; Jazz Ensemble of the Year; Jazz Newcomer of the Year; Jazz Venue of the Year; Jazz Media Award; Jazz Education Award; and the Services to Jazz Award with a new category this year – the PizzaExpress Live Photographer of the Year Award

Following the online public vote for the Awards, the shortlist was then voted upon by a selection panel, that represent a broad cross-section of backgrounds united in their passion and knowledge of jazz. The winners, chosen by judging members of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG), will be announced on Tuesday 4th July 2022.

John Spellar MP, Co-Chair of APPJG, said: “These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who helped kept jazz flourishing.  These shortlists demonstrate the wealth of talent and commitment that exists in the British jazz scene. Now in its 18th year, the Parliamentary Jazz Awards honour the best of British jazz. MPs and Peers in the All Party Group are grateful to PizzaExpress Live for supporting the event.”

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Jazz Vocalist of the Year

Emma Smith

Jo Harrop

Georgia Cécile

Elaine Delmar

Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year

Alcyona Mick

Art Themen

Camilla George

Gary Husband

Jazz Album of the Year

Ubunye: ‘Ubunye’

Trish Clowes: ‘A View with a Room’

Jo Harrop and Paul Edis: ‘When Winter Turns To Spring’

Jazz Ensemble of the Year

Ubunye

Alex Hitchcock and Ant Law Quartet

Julian Siegel Big Band

Jazz Newcomer of the Year

Sultan Stevenson

Amy Gadiaga

Hannah Horton

Jazz Venue of the Year

The Verdict, Brighton

Jazz at the Blue Lamp, Aberdeen

Magy’s Farm, Dromara, County Down, NI

Jazz Media Award

Kevin Le Gendre

Jazzwise Magazine

The Jazz Rag

Jazz Education Award

Tomorrows Warriors

Hanna Horton: J Steps, Saffron Centre For Young Musicians, Saffron Walden

Karen Gourlay: Head of Leeds Junior Conservatoire

Jazz Photographer Award

Monika S. Jakubowska
William Ellis

Tatiana Gorilovsky

Services to Jazz Award

Janine Irons

Danielle White

Tony Haynes and the Grand Union Orchestra

Ends

For further information please contact:

Chris Hodgkins

Tel: 0750 764 9077

Email: chris.hodgkins3@googlemail.com

Notes to editors

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) currently has over 110 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties. Their aim is to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. The Group’s officers as at the Annual General Meeting on 15th March 2023 are Co-Chairs, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Vice Chairs, Alison Thewless MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Lord McNicol and Patrick Grady MP, the Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Alton and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretariat is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Louis Flood. The contact address is: appjag1@gmail.com the web address is: https://appjag.wordpress.com/

All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group. This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees.

Press Release

Voting is now open for the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

Entries are open to anyone with the final deadline set for midnight on Friday 28^th April 2023. The Parliamentary Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

There is a new award category this year: The PizzaExpress Live Jazz Photographer of the Year Award

“These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who keep jazz flourishing, in spite of the challenges they faced in the last couple of years”.  John Spellar MP, Lord Mann, Co-chairs of APPJG, Alison Thewless MP and Chi Onwurah MP, Vice Chairs.

To vote please go to: Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2023

Please note the criteria for the different categories:

Jazz Album of the Year (released in 2022 by a UK band or musicians).
Services to Jazz Award (to a living person for their outstanding contribution to jazz in the UK). 
Jazz Newcomer of the Year (UK-based artist, musician or group with a debut album released in 2022).
Jazz Education Award (to an educator or project for raising the standard of jazz education in the UK).
Jazz Media Award (including broadcasters, journalists, magazines, blogs, listings and books).
Jazz Venue of the Year (including jazz clubs, venues, festivals and promoters).
Jazz Ensemble of the Year (UK-based group who impressed in 2022).
Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year (UK-based musician who impressed in 2022).
Jazz Vocalist of the Year (UK-based vocalist who impressed in 2022).

The PizzaExpress Live Jazz Photographer of the Year Award

The awards are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG), co-chaired by John Spellar MP and Lord Mann.

Notes to the Editor

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) currently has over 110 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties. Their aim is to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. The Group’s officers as at the Annual General Meeting on 15th March 2023 are Co-Chairs, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Vice Chairs, Alison Thewless MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Lord McNicol and Patrick Grady MP, the Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Alton and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretariat is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Louis Flood. The contact address is: appjag1@gmail.com the web address is: https://appjag.wordpress.com/

Cross-party group of MPs issue major report urging the Government to remove barriers facing UK musicians touring the EU.

Today the All Party Group On Music, with UK Music published Let The Music Move – A New Deal For Touring report. They call on 10 Downing Street and the DCMS  to now step up and support these recommendations

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music, which numbers more than 100 MPs and Peers, has published its “Let The Music Move: A New Deal for Touring” report, which outlines the urgent action the Government should take to help UK musicians and crew tour Europe more easily.

The move follows the crescendo of calls from across the music industry about the soaring costs and red tape involved in touring the EU post-Brexit and the impact on the sector’s vitally important talent pipeline.

The report reveals that UK music workers are “facing more costs, more complications and getting fewer opportunities” since the UK left the EU.

The report recommends that the UK Government should:

• The UK Government should agree an exemption for music workers supporting cultural performances in the TCA, and work with individual member states to get all states up to the current 90 in 180-day limit for working musicians.
• The UK Government should improve the UK border by expanding the number of points where documents like carnets and Music Instrument Certificates can be checked (including Eurostar) and improve Border Force training.
• The UK Government should secure a return of the on own account exemption and expand the non-commercial use exemption for live cultural road haulage.
• The UK Government should negotiate a general agreement on cultural touring to end the tax on touring, reduce bureaucracy and allow specialist event hauliers to properly support tours.
• The UK Government should appoint a Minister to act as a single point of contact for the touring cultural sector.  The UK Government should develop institutions to support UK music exports, including instituting a Music Export Office, and launching a website for live music exporters.  The UK Government should boost funding for UK music exporters, including creating a Transitional Support Fund to address EU transition costs and expanding existing programmes such as the BPI-administered Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) and the PRS Foundation-administered International Showcase Fund (ISF).

The full report can be read here: APPG-on-Music_Let-the-Music-Move_A-New-Deal-For-Touring

Recipients Announced For 2022 Parliamentary Jazz Awards

The recipients of the 2022 Parliamentary Jazz Awards were announced on Tuesday 5th July at 20:00

The Parliamentary Jazz Awards are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) with the support of PizzaExpress Live. The Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

The award categories reflect the ever-increasing scope of talent from within the UK’s jazz scene: Jazz Vocalist of the Year; Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year; Jazz Album of the Year; Jazz Ensemble of the Year; Jazz Newcomer of the Year; Jazz Venue of the Year; Jazz Media Award; Jazz Education Award; the Services to Jazz Award.

John Spellar MP, Co-Chair of APPJG, said: “These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who have kept jazz flourishing. These recipients demonstrate the wealth of talent and commitment that exists in the British jazz scene. Now in their 17^th year, the Parliamentary Jazz Awards honour the best of British jazz. MPs and Peers in the All Party Group is grateful to PizzaExpress Live for supporting the event.”

Chi Onwurah MP, Deputy Chair of APPJAG: “This has been another really strong year for the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in terms of talent and nominations. The well deserved recipients are a veritable who’s who of names that have made a real impact on the music and helped make the UK one of the world’s leading jazz territories”.

Lord Parkinson Minister for Arts and DCMS Lords Minister presented the first award to Claire Martin, Vocalist of the Year.

Arts Minister Lord Parkinson said:

I”t was an honour to take part in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, to celebrate the brilliantly talented musicians who make up the UK’s vibrant jazz scene, and to thank all the wonderful educators, journalists, producers and others who help to sustain it. The Government stood by our live music venues during the pandemic with the £1.5 billion Culture Recovery Fund – and is supporting the next generation of talent through our new National Plan for Music Education, and £25 million to provide musical instruments and equipment in schools.”

The Awards were introduced by Ross Dines and  presented by: John Spellar MP, Lord Mann, Chi Onwurah MP, Issie Barratt, Paul Pace, Ian Shaw, Kevin Legendre, Mike Flynn, Deidre Cartwright and Janine Irons. The Parliamentary Awards Band was Andrea Vicari, Tori Freestone, Gary Crosby, Henry Lowther and Paul Clarvis.

The full list of recipients is as follows:

Jazz Vocalist of the Year

Claire Martin OBE

Linn recording artist Claire Martin has to worldwide critical acclaim established herself as a tour de force on the UK jazz scene gaining many awards, including winning the British Jazz Awards eight times during her career which spans over three decades. In 2018 she was the proud recipient of the BASCA Gold Badge Award for her contribution to jazz.

Claire became a professional singer at 19 and two years later realised her dream of singing at Ronnie Scott’s legendary jazz club in London Soho. Signed to the prestigious Glasgow based Linn Records in 1990, Claire has since released 18 CDs with the label, collaborating with musical luminaries including Martin Taylor, John Martyn, Stephane Grappelli, Kenny Barron, Richard Rodney Bennett and Jim Mullen on many of these recordings.

Claire has performed worldwide with her trio and, until his death in 2012, worked extensively with the celebrated composer and pianist Sir Richard Rodney Bennett in a cabaret duo setting both in England and the US where they played to sell-out houses at venues including the prestigious Algonquin Hotel in New York City.

Claire appears as a featured soloist with the Halle Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the BBC Big Band and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Claire co-presented BBC Radio 3’s flagship jazz program ‘Jazz Line Up’ from 2000 to 2017 and interviewed many of her musical heroes such as Pat Metheny and the late Michael Brecker. Her 2009 CD a Modern Art prompted Jazz Times USA to claim: “She ranks among the four or five finest female jazz vocalists on the planet”.

At the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2011 Claire was delighted to be awarded an OBE for her Services to Jazz.

https://clairemartinjazz.co.uk/

Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year

Tony Kofi

Tony Kofi is a British Jazz multi-instrumentalist born of Ghanaian parents, a player of the Alto, Baritone, Soprano, Tenor saxophones and flute. Having ‘cut his teeth’ in the “Jazz Warriors” of the early 90’s, award-winning saxophonist Tony Kofi has gone on to establish himself as a musician, teacher and composer of some authority.

As well as performing and recording with Gary Crosby’s “NuTroop”  and “Jazz Jamaica”, Tony’s playing has also been a feature of many bands and artists he has worked/recorded with include “US-3” The World Saxophone Quartet, Courtney Pine, Donald Byrd, Eddie Henderson, The David Murray Big Band, Sam Rivers Rivbe Big band, Andrew Hill Big Band, Abdullah Ibrahim, Macy Gray, Julian Joseph Big band, Harry Connick JR, Byron Wallen’s Indigo, Jamaaladeen Tacuma’s Coltrane Configurations and Ornette Coleman.

His fluent and fiery hard-bop style makes him constantly in demand. He currently leads his own Tony Kofi Quartet, Tony Kofi Sphinx Trio, and Future Passed Trio and is also the co-founder with Jonathan Gee of the Monk Liberation Front, a group that is dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk. Tony’s latest project sees him performing with Alex Webb’s Café Society Swing, Arnie Somogyi’s Jump Monk, Larry Bartley’s JustUS Quartet, Adrian Reid Quartet, a double leaders project with Alan Barnes called Aggregation, Orphy Robinson’s Bobby Hutcherson songbook project, Alina Bzhezhinska Quartet, Jo Harrop’s Fever, Portrait of Cannonball (Music dedicated to Cannonball Adderley) Tony Kofi and the Organisation, a recent project which he co leads on the Baritone Saxophone. 

As well as being a musician, composer and bandleader, Tony also works as a teacher at The Julian Joseph Jazz Academy and The World Heart Beat Music Academy. In September 2020 he started teaching at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and this year was awarded an honorary professorship from Nottingham University.

• Winner of the BBC Jazz Awards 2005 -Album of the Year
• Winner of the BBC Jazz Awards 2008 – Best Instrumentalist
• Winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2005 – Best Ensemble
• Nominee, Mobo Awards 2008
• Winner of the Jack Petchey Foundation Award 2015
• Winner of the Black Achievers Cultural, Music and Arts Award 2016

Full biography BBC News

https://tonykofimusic.com/

Jazz Album of the Year

Daniel Casimir “Boxed In”

Described to have won the Young Jazz Musician Award “with great mix of communicativeness, simplicity and sass” and winner of the Jazz FM “Instrumentalist of the Year,” Multi-award winning bassist and composer Daniel Casimir has played a crucial role in the UK Jazz scene.

Since finishing the formal aspect of his musical training, Daniel has had the opportunity of performing with the following artists; Julian Joseph, Jason Rebello, Lonnie Liston Smith, Chihiro Yamanaka, Jean Toussaint, and David Lyttle. In addition to performing with an array of musicians, Daniel has recorded with Nubya Garcia (We Out Here, Nubya’s 5IVE), Binker Golding (abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers) Camilla George (Isang) Blue Lab Beats, Oscar Jerome and Ashley Henry (Beautiful Vinyl Haunter).

In 2017 Daniel released his first recording as a bandleader Escapee, which was released under Jazz Re:freshed followed by the critically acclaimed album “These Days” in 2019.

London-based composer/bassist, Daniel Casimir returns with his solo debut album “Boxed In”, a dynamic collision of pulsing modern jazz & orchestral instrumentation.

Featuring Casimir’s quintet of fellow British jazz luminaries, including Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd, Al Macsween & James Copus, Boxed In astutely bridges traditional and contemporary jazz forms with enveloping strings, woodwind & brass arrangements, but under its intricate musical surface seeks to confront some necessary hard truths.

https://www.danielcasimirbass.com/

Jazz Ensemble of the Year

Kansas Smitty’s House Band 

Led by American-Italian alto-saxophonist/clarinettist Giacomo Smith, and featuring a wide array of young and exciting British jazz talent, including pianist Joe Webb (Haley Tuck, Alaska Alaska}, Will Cleasby on drums (Judi Jackson, Kurt Elling, Banger Factory) and bassist Ferg Ireland (Ashley Henry, Ruby Rushton), Kansas Smitty’s astutely bridge traditional and modern jazz forms in seamless and sublime fashion. Having sold out shows at Ronnie Scott’s and The Jazz Café, and festival appearances including North Sea Jazz and Love Supreme and Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

https://www.kansassmittys.com/

Jazz Newcomer of the Year

Emma Rawicz

Emma Rawicz is an award winning young saxophonist and composer, already making waves on the UK music scene. She has been described as ‘a force to be reckoned with’ (Jazzwise) and ‘a fast rising star’ (London Jazz News). At the age of 19 she has already recorded her eagerly awaited debut album featuring Ant Law, made up entirely of her original compositions, due to be released in May 2022. She has also created a name for herself both as a bandleader and a sideman. A new arrival on the scene, she has already made an impact, regularly playing at major London jazz venues with a wide range of established musicians. Emma is a recipient of the 2021 Drake Yolanda Award.

Emma’s influences range from modern jazz and fusion to folk and soul, key figures in her musical development including Chris Potter, Ari Hoenig, Kenny Jarrett, Joe Henderson, Chick Corea and more.

Growing up in rural North Devon, Emma didn’t discover jazz until the age of 15, and didn’t pick up a tenor saxophone until a year later, but had spent her childhood otherwise immersed in largely folk and classical music.

Emma is a natural performer. Her music has a unique sound, fusing all her many influences, and her compositions range from lilting Afro Cuban inspired grooves to hard hitting modern jazz and funk numbers.

https://www.emmarawicz.com/

Jazz Venue of the Year

The Globe, Newcastle upon Tyne

The Globe in Newcastle upon Tyne is the first bar and music venue in the UK to be owned by a cooperative committed to music. The Globe was bought in 2014 following a successful community share issue. Over 225 people bought shares and became members of the cooperative, and more are welcome to join. Jazz.Coop provides an extensive range of courses, workshops, jam sessions and projects.

Their determination to keep live music going during the pandemic has been rewarded with a national award. The Globe was declared the Small Community Co-op of the Year 2021.                                                 Photo: Chi Onurwah MP and Debra                                                                                             Milne

Dave Parker, co-chair of Jazz.Coop, said, “We’re delighted with this award because it recognises the vision, determination and hard work of members, volunteers and everyone else who helped keep us going during the pandemic, providing income for musicians, employment for staff, and joy for lovers of live music. Eight years  ago, The Globe was a failing pub. Today it is an award-winning music venue and learning centre owned and run by a co-operative. We worked with musicians to develop live streaming, and soon decided this was the way forward. The Globe was refurbished, and new equipment was installed by volunteers. We were fortunate in accessing funding from Power to Change and the Culture Recovery Fund.”

Cooperative ownership ensures that The Globe is a place where people can enjoy live music in a relaxed environment and where musicians can share and develop their skills.

https://theglobenewcastle.bar/

Jazz Media Award

Jane Cornwell

Australian-born, London-based, writes for major newspapers and online platforms in the UK and Australia. Jane Cornwell has been the jazz critic for the London Evening Standard from 2014 and one of that newspaper’s two world music critics for over a decade. Jane is the contributing editor of the global music magazine Songlines, and for Australia Jane writes about music and the arts for The Weekend Australian Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and more

Jane is the go-to freelancer for the likes of News Limited and Fairfax and a writer of books, press releases, programme notes and copy for a wide range of clients. Jane is a compere and onstage interviewer at festivals including WOMAD and the EFG London Jazz Festival.

In 2019 Jane completed a highly regarded Masters degree in Global Creative and Cultural Industries (Distinction) at SOAS, University of London. Jane’s dissertation on the resurgence of jazz music in London – ‘Jazz Refreshed? A Contemporary Jazz Phenomenon’ – involved research, interviews, robust arguments and new ideas.

https://janecornwell.com/

Jazz Education Award

Jazz Camp For Girls, Helena Summerfield, Jazz North

Jazz Camp for Girls – led by Helena Summerfield of Jazz North – enables young musicians to experience jazz music and explore improvisation in a supportive environment with expert tuition from professional musicians. Participants will gain new skills and be inspired by learning about – and playing alongside – pioneering women in the jazz industry.

The camps are designed for girls aged between 9 – 15 years old with little or no experience of improvising. All instruments and vocalists are welcome. Camp participants receive a Jazz Camp for Girls handbook filled with interviews, practise tips and more.

The camps took place this year in Doncaster, Hull, Leeds and Trafford across Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th March 2022.

Jazz North is an Arts Council England funded organisation, supporting and developing musicians within the jazz sector. Their mission is to support the sustainable growth of contemporary jazz in the north by developing opportunities for artists and building audiences. For more information about what they do, visit their website. 

Services to Jazz Award

Mike Westbrook

Born in High Wycombe in 1936, Mike Westbrook grew up in Torquay and was educated at Kelly College, Tavistock. He formed his first band while studying painting in Plymouth in 1958, moving to London in the early 1960s. He has led and composed for a succession of groups, notably his 1960s Sextet and Concert Band, his Brass Band, formed in the mid 70s, the  jazz rock group Solid Gold Cadillac and the Mike Westbrook Orchestra.  He has toured extensively throughout Europe, and as far afield as Australia and the Far East, Canada and New York. He has directed performances of his work with big bands in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland and Australia.  He has broadcast on radio and TV in many countries, and made over 50 albums.

Mike also gives solo piano concerts.  His album PARIS was recorded live in Paris by Jon Hiseman in July 2016. This was followed by STARCROSS BRIDGE in December 2017. He wrote the music for Kate Westbrook’s new album GRANITE and is a member of Kate’s Granite Band. His retrospective album CATANIA was recorded at the three-day Mike Westbrook Music Festival in Catania, Sicily in 1992. His current big band project with The Uncommon Orchestra, PURE GOLD presents selection of his work from the mid-70s to the present day.
Mike Westbrook was awarded an OBE in 1988 and, in 2004 an Honorary Doctorate of Music by the University of Plymouth. He received an Honorary Fellowship of Plymouth College of Art in 2018.

Mike celebrated his 85th birthday in 2021.(arranged by London Jazz News)

Mike Westbrook first made his mark as a composer with his 1960s recordings for Deram, Celebration, Release and Marching Song, followed by Metropolis for RCA.

Subsequent compositions for Jazz Orchestra include Citadel/Room 315 featuring John Surman, The Cortege, On Duke’s Birthday dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington, Big Band Rossini which was featured in the 1992 BBC Proms and Chanson Irresponsable, (Enja Records) commissioned by BBC Radio 3, which brings together jazz and classical musicians.

Works for classical ensembles include a saxophone concerto Bean Rows and Blues Shots which was commissioned by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta for John Harle, a score for the silent movie Moulin Rouge commissioned by the Matrix Ensemble, and Classical Blues in 2002 for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Mike’s television music credits include the award-winning BBC drama Caught on a Train by Stephen Poliakoff  and directed by Peter Duffell starring Peggy Ashcroft and Michael Kitchen.

His involvement in experimental theatre began in the late 60s with the multi-media work Earthrise, and collaborations with The Welfare State Theatre Company and The Cosmic Circus. His work for the stage includes Adrian Mitchell’s Tyger a celebration of William Blake, staged by the National Theatre in 1971, and Mitchell’s White Suit  Blues about Mark Twain. His opera  Quichotte  commissioned by L’Ensemble Justiniana, toured in France in the 1980s. Coming Through Slaughter, based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje about the New Orleans cornettist Buddy Bolden, was premiered in London in a concert version in 1994.

In collaboration with his wife, singer/librettist Kate Westbrook, he has generated a whole series of jazz/cabarets and music-theatre pieces, notably The Ass, based on the poem by D.H Lawrence, Pierides commissioned by Extemporary Dance Theatre and Good Friday 1663, a TV opera commissioned by Channel Four with libretto by Helen Simpson. Their 2003 composition Art Wolf commissioned by the Aargauer Kunsthaus, Switzerland, is dedicated to the 18th century Alpine painter Caspar Wolf.

Mike wrote the music for Kate Westbrook’s album The Nijinska Chamber (voiceprint) pairing Kate’s voice with accordionist Karen Street.  Other compositions include two works for voice and acoustic brass, performed by The Village Band,- Waxeywork Show  and English Soup or the Battle of the Classic Trifle which was premiered in 2008.

Their 2009 album Fine ‘n Yellow was released on the Gonzo label. The Serpent Hit written for voice, percussion and saxophone quartet, was premiered in London in 2011 at Wilton’s Music Hall.

The Westbrook’s have also created large-scale concert works incorporating settings of European poetry, as in The Cortege a work for voices and jazz orchestra, and London Bridge Is Broken Down for voice, jazz group and chamber orchestra.  Jago, their first full-scale opera, was commissioned by Wedmore Opera in 2000. Their jazz oratorio Turner in Uri, based on the painter Turner’s travels in the Swiss Alps, was premiered in Altdorf and Zurich in 2003. Their opera Cape Gloss – Mathilda’s Story for classical soprano and piano, had its first performance at the University of Plymouth in 2007.

Mike Westbrook’s albums for ENJA Records include The Cortege, Bar Utopia a big-band cabaret with lyrics by Helen Simpson, The Orchestra of Smith’s Academy, compositions recorded ‘live’ by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra and the Steve Martland Band, a tribute to the Beatles Off Abbey Road, and Glad Day settings  of the poetry of William Blake. His releases on the Jazzprint label include Platterback with Westbrook & Company, L’ascenseur/The Lift with The Westbrook Trio, Waxeywork Show with The Village Band and a reissue on CD and DVD of the Westbrook’s 1980s jazz cabaret Mama Chicago. Reissues on BGO include Citadel/Room 315 and London Bridge is Broken Down, and, on the Swiss label Hatology, On Duke’s Birthday and Westbrook Rossini.

Mike Westbrook returned to big band work with the formation of The Uncommon Orchestra, a 22-piece ensemble based in the South West of England, combining jazz,   rock, pop and classical musicians. The orchestra  released its first album (on ASC Records) A Bigger Show, a ‘jazz/rock oratorio’ with lyrics written and performed by Kate Westbrook with fellow vocalists Martine Waltier and Billy Bottle. Mike also works regularly in The Westbrook Trio with Kate and saxophonist Chris Biscoe. Forthcoming performances include a revival of The Westbrook Blake, featuring the voices of Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton in a Choral Version of his settings of the poetry of William Blake. Currently, the 7-piece Westbrook & Company is presenting a new jazz cabaret Paintbox Jane, inspired by the painter Raoul Dufy.

https://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk

Special APPJG Award

Barbara Thompson

Barbara was born in Oxford and educated at Queen’s College, Harley Street, London and the Royal College of Music, where she studied clarinet, piano, flute and composition. Whilst retaining a strong interest in classical music, Barbara was captivated by the jazz work of Duke Ellington and John Coltrane and developed a consuming passion for the saxophone.

She formed her own group Paraphernalia in 1977. The band, touring up until 2005, despite Barbara being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1997, became one of the major instrumental attractions on the European concert scene. Barbara’s original and inventive compositions and soaring saxophone and flute improvisations, have earned her international acclaim, while the originality of the music has appealed to a wider audience than solely contemporary jazz buffs.

The final Paraphernalia album ‘The Last Fandango’ was released in 2015 and Barbara played her last concert that same year with her husband’s jazz/rock outfit Colosseum. Barbara and drummer and bandleader Jon Hiseman, created their own, wide-ranging world of music. Throughout Europe their names alone were enough to fill any concert hall. After his tragic death in 2018 she continued composing in the contemporary classical world until her battle with Parkinson’s made this impossible.

Millions throughout the world have heard the sound of her haunting saxophone playing the title theme to the TV Series, ‘A Touch of Frost’ and heard her flute playing on ‘The South Bank Show’ theme that features Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Variations’. In 2020, Barbara Thompson’s critically acclaimed autobiography ‘Journey to a Destination Unknown’ along with a 14CD Box set ‘Live At The BBC’ (Repertoire Records) were released.

Please visit www.barbara-thompson.co.uk for details of these and other releases.

-Ends-

For further information please contact:

Chris Hodgkins

Tel: 0208 840 4643

Email: chris.hodgkins3@googlemail.com

Notes to editors

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) currently has over 116 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties. Their aim is to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. The Group’s officers as at the Annual General Meeting on 1st March 2022 are Co-Chairs, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Deputy Chairs, Alison Thewliss MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Lord McNicol and  Patrick Grady MP, the Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Colwyn, Lord Alton and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretariat is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Louis Flood, Ali Bland and Aoife Forbes. The contact address is: appjag1@gmail.com the web address is:  https://appjag.org/

All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group. This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees.

The nominations have today been announced for the 2022 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. The Awards, organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) with the support of PizzaExpress Live. The recipients of the 2022 Parliamentary Jazz Awards will be announced on on Tuesday 5th July 2022. The Parliamentary Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

The award categories reflect the ever-increasing scope of talent from within the UK’s jazz scene: Jazz Vocalist of the Year; Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year; Jazz Album of the Year; Jazz Ensemble of the Year; Jazz Newcomer of the Year; Jazz Venue of the Year; Jazz Media Award; Jazz Education Award; and the Services to Jazz Award.

Following the online public vote for the Awards, the shortlist was then voted upon by a selection panel, that represent a broad cross-section of backgrounds united in their passion and knowledge of jazz. The winners, chosen by judging members of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz  Group (APPJG), will be announced on Tuesday 5^th July 2022.

John Spellar MP, Co-Chair of APPJG, said: “These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who helped kept jazz flourishing.  These shortlists demonstrate the wealth of talent and commitment that exists in the British jazz scene. Now in its 17^th year, the Parliamentary Jazz Awards honour the best of British jazz. MPs and Peers in the All Party Group are grateful to PizzaExpress Live for supporting the event.”

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Jazz Vocalist of the Year

Claire Martin

Emma Smith

Brigitte Beraha

Jo Harrop

Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year

Tony Kofi

Xhosa Cole

Fergus McCreadie

Jazz Album of the Year

Matt Ridley “The Antidote”

Daniel Casimir “Boxed In”

Jo Harrop “The Heart Wants”

Jazz Ensemble of the Year

Kansas Smitty’s House Band

Black Top

Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra

Jazz Newcomer of the Year

Deschanel Gordon

Alex Clarke

Emma Rawicz

Chelsea Carmichael

Jazz Venue of the Year

Toulouse Lautrec

The Globe, Newcastle upon Tyne

The Verdict, Brighton

Jazz Media Award

The Jazz Podcast

London Jazz News

Jane Cornwell

Jazz Education Award

Jazz Camp For Girls  – Helena Summerfield – Jazz North

Nikki Yeoh

Pete Churchill

Services to Jazz Award

Mike Westbrook

Help Musicians

Dave Green

Nigel Price

Ends

For further information please contact:

Chris Hodgkins
Tel: 0208 840 4643
Email: chris.hodgkins3@googlemail.com

Notes to editors

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) currently has over 116 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties. Their aim is to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. The Group’s officers as at the Annual General Meeting on 1st March 2022 are Co-Chairs, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Vice Chairs, Alison Thewless MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Lord McNicol and  Patrick Grady MP, the Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Colwyn, Lord Alton  and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretariat is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Louis Flood, Ali Bland and Aoife Forbes. The contact address is: appjag1@gmail.com the web address is:  https://appjag.org/

All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group. This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees.

The Parliamentary Jazz Group responded to the reply award-winning guitarist Nigel Price received from Nadine Dorries after he called on the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to give support to the UK’s jazz live scene as it faces a parlous financial situation following the Covid pandemic.

In a letter of the 14th February 2022, to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, endorsed by Dame Cleo Laine and a large group of prominent musicians, educators, promoters, and media representatives, Price has drawn attention to a serious lack of funding of the UK’s grassroots jazz infrastructure.

Letter from Nigel Price to the Rt Hon Nadine Dorries Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

The letter addressed 4 key points:

• Lack of accessibility to funding to those without dedicated premises and/or company status.
• Disparity in funding between large and small venues.
• The fiercely competitive nature of the Arts Council of England’s bidding process led to a higher incidence of failure amongst grassroots promoters.
• An urgent need for a simpler process to get help to these smaller venues.

A reply from the DCMS  dated  18th March 2022 has left Price and the 68 signatories to his letter, all of whom are winners of the Parliamentary Jazz Awards (the UK’s most prestigious annual jazz prizes) feeling that their claims have been dismissed.

The full correspondence between Nigel and the DCMS with supporting letters from the Live Music Venue Trust, Jazz Promotion Network and Digby Fairweather can be seen here: https://nigethejazzer.com/dcms/ace

Response from Julia Lopez MP DCMS to Nigel Price letter Their reference MC2022-02709

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group replied to the response from Julia Lopez MP

The Competition and Markets Authority launched a market study into music and streaming services. The CMA has just published the responses to their statement of scope. All responses can be viewed on their case page. APPJG’s response can be found at: All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group response

Voting is now open for the 2022 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Entries are open to anyone with the final deadline set for midnight on Sunday 27^th March 2022. The Parliamentary Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

“These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who keep jazz flourishing, in spite of the challenges they faced in the last couple of years”.  John Spellar MP, Lord Mann, Co-chairs of APPJAG, Alison Thewless MP and Chi Onwurah MP, Vice Chairs.

To vote please go to: Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2022

Please note the criteria for the different categories:

Jazz Album of the Year (released in 2021 by a UK band or musicians).
Services to Jazz Award (to a living person for their outstanding contribution to jazz in the UK). 
Jazz Newcomer of the Year (UK-based artist, musician or group with a debut album released in 2021).
Jazz Education Award (to an educator or project for raising the standard of jazz education in the UK).
Jazz Media Award (including broadcasters, journalists, magazines, blogs, listings and books).
Jazz Venue of the Year (including jazz clubs, venues, festivals and promoters).
Jazz Ensemble of the Year (UK-based group who impressed in 2021).
Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year (UK-based musician who impressed in 2021).
Jazz Vocalist of the Year (UK-based vocalist who impressed in 2021).

The awards are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG), co-chaired by John Spellar MP and Lord Mann.

Notes to the Editor

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) currently has over 116 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties. Their aim is to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. The Group’s officers as at the Annual General Meeting on 1st March 2022 are Co-Chairs, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Vice Chairs, Alison Thewless MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Lord McNicol and  Patrick Grady MP, the Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Colwyn, Lord Alton  and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretariat is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Louis Flood, Ali Bland and Aoife Forbes. The contact address is: appjag1@gmail.com the web address is: https://appjag.wordpress.com/

Press Release

Review of Jazz extension of deadline to midnight on 20th September 2021 for completion of questionnaires for the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group  Review Of Jazz In England

A jazz fan?  Whether you’re a musician, an attender, a promoter or venue, a jazz organisation or festival, work in jazz media, studios or techie support, we want to hear from you.  Tell us your thoughts about the state of jazz in England today.  The more completed questionnaires we receive, the better the case we can make for the music.

Completed questionnaires received to date have already told us that:

• 62% of promoters and venues feel their ability to work in the music industry has been affected by the UK leaving the European Union.
• 73% of promoters think the Government is not doing enough to support organisations and self-employed workers in the creative industries to mitigate the impact of Covid-19.
• 62% of promoters have read the Arts Council’s Delivery Plan 2021-2024 for their 10 Year Strategy Let’s Create.
• 68% of promoters lost money from March 2020.
• 40% of audiences buy music directly from the bands online and 76% buy CDs and vinyl from bands at their gigs. 25% of the audience stream jazz online every day.
• 51% of audiences listen to Jazz FM is matched by 51% who listen to BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Record Requests.
• 61% of the audiences say they are ready to attend live jazz gigs again and 29% said they are not ready now but will attend when the pandemic is receding.
• Just 10% of musicians said they were paid above the minimum Musicians’ Union gig rate for gigs.
• 71% of musicians’ earnings from streaming services ranged from £0 to £100 with only 3.4% earning between £500 and £1000.

We are undertaking a National Review looking at everything about Jazz in the UK. We really want to hear from jazz fans, musicians, promoters & venues, jazz organisations, jazz festivals, technical staff, jazz educators, jazz media, recording studios. That’s pretty much everyone.

Please complete our questionnaires at the  Review Of Jazz In England to help the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group help you.

Following an enforced delay due to the global pandemic and a year of unprecedented change, challenges, and specific hardships for working musicians, promoters, venues, jazz organisations, studios, technical staff, media and the jazz constituency at large, the All Party Jazz Appreciation Group commissioned a Review of Jazz in England that was launched on Friday 28^th May 2021. The Review is being undertaken by the Group’s Secretary, Chris Hodgkins, and an expert advisory panel, chaired by musician and jazz educator Dr Kathy Dyson and supported by Teesside University Business School.

Full details and briefing papers – ‘Cold Comfort and Home Truths’ – Terms of reference, composition of the Advisory Panel, and the five questionnaires dealing with promoters and venues, musicians, jazz festivals, audiences plus individuals and organisations are available at: Review of Jazz in England      

The closing date for the questionnaires is midnight, 20th September 2021.

 Notes to the Editor

 The Work of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group

 The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group aims to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament.

APPJAG currently has over 116 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties.   The Group’s officers, as at the Annual General Meeting of 22nd March 2021, are Co-Chairs: John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Vice Chairs, Alison Thewless MP and Chi Onwurah MP. Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Colwyn and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretariat is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Louis Flood. The contact address is: appjag1@gmail.com the web address is: https://appjag.wordpress.com/

Recipients of the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2021

Recent submissions and briefing papers:

Briefing Paper Jazz Musicians and Volunteer Promoters Fallin Between The Cracks

Submission to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into the “Economics of music streaming” on behalf of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group.

Submission to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into the “The future of UK music festivals” on behalf of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement – How to help musicians work in the EU after BREXIT

APPJAG members briefing paper for the debate on Covid-19 and the Cultural and Entertainment Sectors

All Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group. This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees.

Ends

9th August 2021

The recipients of the 2021 Parliamentary Jazz Awards were announced on Monday 26^th July at 19:00

The Parliamentary Jazz Awards are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) with the support of PizzaExpress Live. The Awards celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, talent and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the United Kingdom.

The award categories reflect the ever-increasing scope of talent from within the UK’s jazz scene: Jazz Vocalist of the Year; Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year; Jazz Album of the Year; Jazz Ensemble of the Year; Jazz Newcomer of the Year; Jazz Venue of the Year; Jazz Media Award; Jazz Education Award; the Services to Jazz Award and the Lockdown Innovation Award.

John Spellar MP, Co-Chair of APPJAG, said: “These awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the talents and energies of the great musicians, educators, promoters, record labels, jazz organisations, blogs, jazz magazines and journalists who kept jazz flourishing, in spite of the challenges they faced in 2020.  In a year of hardship, unparalleled in the last 76 years, these shortlists demonstrate the wealth of talent and commitment that exists in the British jazz scene. Now in their 16^th year, the Parliamentary Jazz Awards honour the best of British jazz. MPs and Peers in the All Party Group are grateful to PizzaExpress Live for supporting the event.”

Chi Onwurah MP, Deputy Chair of APPJAG: “This has been another really strong year for the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in terms of talent and nominations. The well deserved recipients are a veritable who’s who of names that have made a real impact on the music and helped make the UK one of the world’s leading jazz territories”.

The full list of recipients is as follows:

Jazz Vocalist of the Year

Georgia Mancio

Multi award-winning /nominated vocalist, lyricist and producer, Georgia Mancio, is one of Europe’s most respected, adventurous and multi-faceted new artists. From 2010-2014 Georgia produced her now iconic ReVoice! Festival in association with the Pizza Express Jazz Club.  She presented over 160 artists across 5 multi-venue editions and performed 44 sets herself. Since 2017 Georgia has produced 3 editions of her new series, Hang, showcasing her ever-evolving creativity as a curator. Other credits include 2019 BBC Proms and nominations in the Parliamentary, British Jazz and Urban Music Awards.

Georgia’s release, Finding Home (2019), was co-produced with pianist/composer Kate Williams and her acclaimed Four Plus Three ensemble with special guest classical guitarist John Williams; it won Best Album in 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

In partnership with Grammy-winning pianist/composer Alan Broadbent they launched their first album Songbook (2017), at a sold out headline show at Ronnie Scott’s (“unequivocally, one of the gigs of the year” Jazzwise) with performances across Europe and the US. This was followed in March 2021 with Quiet Is The Star, the second in partnership Alan Broadbent.

The strengthening bond between these performers and songwriters is sealed by the publication of their first book – The Songs of Alan Broadbent and Georgia Mancio, featuring all their 33 originals, co-written between 2014 and 2020.

www.georgiamancio.com

Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year

Nubya Garcia

Award-winning saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia studied under pianist Nikki Yeoh at Camden Music, before joining Gary Crosby’s Tomorrow’s Warriors in her late teens and completed her training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music.  Her debut EP, NUBYA’s 5IVE, released in 2017, was hailed as “exceptional” by the Vinyl Factor. She is a member of the contemporary septet, Nerija, who received the Parliamentary Jazz Awards Newcomer of the Year in 2018, and has toured extensively internationally, playing venues and festivals across Latin America, Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States. Garcia’s reputation as a DJ is also burgeoning; she currently presents a hit radio residency on NTS Radio.

In 2018, Garcia won the Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Award and the Sky Arts Breakthrough Act of the Year Award, followed by the 2019 Jazz FM UK Jazz Act of the Year Award.

Nubya Garcia released her debut album SOURCE, released in August 2020 on Concord Jazz. The album was announced after the release of lead single “Pace” and a rousing live performance on the BBC’s 2020 Glastonbury Experience. The Source has been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize

www.nubyagarcia.com

Jazz Album of the Year

Callum Au and Claire Martin “Songs and Stories” Stunt Records

Two leading lights of the British jazz scene: composer, arranger and trombonist, Callum Au, and internationally admired singer, Claire Martin, join forces for a new album, “Songs and Stories” on the Copenhagen-based Stunt label. “The album, featuring a total of 82 exceptional musicians, from the UK, Europe and the USA, is a stunningly arranged selection of jazz standards and American Songbook classics, given compelling, sensitive, modern orchestral and big band treatments, whilst drawing extensive style and influence from the definitive peaks of this genre in past eras.

This is Claire Martin’s first big band or large orchestral recording – and she is thrilled to be working with Callum Au, who she regards as a “major talent”, with many great successes ahead of him. The album features a superb line-up of soloists and lead musicians including: Ryan Quigley, Andy Wood, Freddie Gavita, Nadim Teimoori, Sam Mayne, Louis Dowdeswell, Andy Martin, Matt Skelton and John Mills – plus conductor Mark Nightingale.

Stunt Records

www.clairemartinjazz.co.uk/

www.callumaumusic.com

Jazz Ensemble of the Year

KOKOROKOKOKOROKO are an all star band from the London jazz community led by Sheila Maurice-Grey on trumpet featuring saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi, trombonist Richie Seivewright, Oscar Jerome, guitar, Yohan Kebede, keys drums Ayo Salawu on drums  and percussionist Onome Edgeworth; Kokoroko are on a mission to fashion new languages using the medium of Afrobeat.

In February 2019 they were named “ones to watch” by the Guardian, after their track ‘Abusey Junction’ garnered 23 million views on YouTube. In February 2020 they won ‘Best Group’ at the Urban Music Awards. In September 2020 they played BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall“This is not idle music!” says Sheila Maurice-Grey, reflecting on the rich history of sounds that have inspired the band, whether it’s the social commentary, the political stance of acts like the Black President, or the high power energy of Afrobeat nights.

www.kokorokomusic.co.uk

Bandcamp

Jazz Newcomer of the Year

Jas Kayser

Jas Kayser is 24-year-old drummer, composer, band leader from the UK currently based between London and Panama City.

Jas’s most recent release is her new Grace; this release has gained attention and support from London’s impressive jazz scene such as Jamie Cullum, BBC 3, Jazz FM and Jazzwise.

Jas completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees at Berklee College of Music whilst studying and playing alongside mentors such as ‪‪Terri Lyne Carrington, Danilo Perez, Ralph Peterson and Neal Smith. During this time Jas began to explore the common grounds between Jazz and Afro-beat which led to her creating her original sound and compositions.

Jas has featured in bands with leading British lights Nubya Garcia, Ashley Henry and Jorja Smith as well as American drummer Ralph Peterson’s Big Band and had a starring role on drums alongside Lenny Kravitz in the official video for his song Low.

Jas has also presented her original band at Jazz Re:Fest 2020 Online, London Jazz Festival 2019, RISE concert in Boston supporting Terri Lyne Carrington and Panama Jazz Festival for the past 2 years.

Additionally she has also played with various bands and artists like Jacques Schwartz-Bart, Donald Harrison in the Ralph Peterson Big Band and Luciana Souza at venues around the US such as Scullers Jazz Club, Rockwood Music Hall and Newport Jazz Festival, among others. Jas Kayser has recently been appointed NYJO London Intermediate Music Director.

www.jaskayserdrums.com

Jazz Venue of the Year

Peggy’s Skylight

Peggy’s Skylight – Jazz Club, Bar and Kitchen. Founded by pianist (Paul Deats) and singing chef (Rachel Foster), and based in Nottingham’s Creative Quarter.

Their live acts reflect the diversity of the UK and international music scene, showcasing the best jazz, blues, soul, world and folk artists. All their dishes are prepared using fresh, locally sourced seasonal produce wherever possible. Many of the recipes are based on Rachel’s childhood experiences growing up in Iran. “We’ve just begun to explore the wealth of delights that Middle Eastern cuisine has to offer”.

Peggy’s Skylight recently received cultural recovery funding support from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport and Arts Council England to support jobs, musicians and suppliers over the coming six months.

www.peggysskylight.co.uk

Jazz Media Award

Women In Jazz Media

Women in Jazz Media is a not for profit organization created to help support and create an equal, diverse, safe and healthy jazz industry. They are a team of writers, photographers, painters, musicians, presenters, journalists, producers, editors and more and are based in China, Spain, Germany, Scotland and England but have roots in France, Italy, Jamaica, Poland, Mauritius and beyond and collectively speak 8 languages.

Jazz represents freedom of expression and yet historically, women, people of colour, the LGBTQ community and many more have not been given equal opportunities in the Jazz industry. Women in Jazz Media explore a wide variety of initiatives to help increase the gender and diversity balance to ensure everyone has a voice. They look for platforms and where no platforms exist and create ones to ensure everyone can be represented. They published their first entirely female led and managed magazine, platforming women on International Women’s Day March 2021. Actively seeking out existing female writers to support and promote their work they also search for new female writers and offer support through their mentoring scheme. Working with partner publications and organisations, they explore the diversity of their content and offer support to increase representation where needed. Through a podcast series, they explore the careers of industry specialists, challenges and inspirations and discuss what actions they can all take to support and encourage a more diverse jazz industry.

www.womeninjazzmedia.com

Jazz Education Award

The Original UK Summer School

The Original Jazz Summer School based in the UK since 1966 has consistently delivered the highest quality jazz tuition one can find. It began in Barry in South Wales and has had several homes over the decades, including Porthcawl, The University of Glamorgan and Trinity College of Music, London. The course returned to South Wales in the summer of 2012 where it is hosted by The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. This college is a beautiful state of the art facility which has recently benefited from a £22.5m investment. It backs onto the picturesque Bute Park and is only a 10 minute walk from the lively Cardiff City Centre.

Course directors, the late Dave Wickins and Buster Birch have had many years of experience running the Summer School, and during this time have assembled a world renowned team of tutors.

The course is open to all instrumentalists of all ages and levels of experience. They also welcome singers, who are specifically catered for by their vocal coach.

Launched in 2021, The Online UK Jazz School is a year-round resource providing live online master classes and short courses for all instruments by jazz professors and lecturers from some of the UK’s finest music conservatoires. The Online UK Jazz School enables beginner and intermediate musicians from anywhere in the world to study with the finest jazz educators in the UK.

www.theoriginalukjazzsummerschool.com

Services to Jazz Award

Norma Winstone

Norma Winstone MBE In a career spanning more than 50 years as a vocalist and lyricist has worked include Michael Garrick, John Surman, Michael Gibbs, Mike Westbrook, as well as pianist John Taylor. Norma Winstone was born in London and first attracted attention in the late sixties when she shared the bill at Ronnie Scott’s club with Roland Kirk.

Although she was known initially for evolving her own wordless approach to improvisation, her extraordinary versatility means she is equally at home with the standards repertoire, performing with small groups, orchestras and big bands.

She has worked extensively with many of the major European names and visiting Americans. In the late seventies she joined pianist John Taylor and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler to form the group Azimuth, which was described by Richard Williams of The Times as “one of the most imaginatively conceived and delicately balanced of all contemporary chamber jazz groups“.

Her voice  became an important part of the sound of Kenny Wheeler’s big band, and can be heard on the ECM double CD ‘Music for Large and Small Ensembles‘ which also features John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, Peter Erskine and John Taylor.

With Italian pianist Glauco Venier and German saxophonist/ bass clarinettist Klaus Gesing she has recorded four albums for the ECM label, the first of which, “Distances” was nominated for a Grammy. Norma also works with the Nikki Iles’ group “The Printmakers” comprising some of the UK’s finest musicians.

Recent Awards are: the Lifetime Achievement Jazz Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians (2010, Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Vocalist (2015), Jazz FM Award for Vocalist of the year (2017)

www.normawinstone.com

Lockdown Innovation Award

The Globe – Newcastle upon Tyne

The Globe in Newcastle upon Tyne is the first bar and music venue in the UK to be owned by a cooperative committed to music. The Globe was bought in 2014 following a successful community share issue. Over 225 people bought shares and became members of the cooperative, and more are welcome to join. Jazz.Coop provides an extensive range of courses, workshops, jam sessions and projects.

Their determination to keep live music going during the pandemic has been rewarded with a national award. The Globe was declared the Small Community Co-op of the Year 2021.

Dave Parker, co-chair of Jazz.Coop, said, “We’re delighted with this award because it recognises the vision, determination and hard work of members, volunteers and everyone else who helped keep us going during the pandemic, providing income for musicians, employment for staff, and joy for lovers of live music. Eight years ago, The Globe was a failing pub. Today it is an award-winning music venue and learning centre owned and run by a co-operative. We worked with musicians to develop live streaming, and soon decided this was the way forward. The Globe was refurbished, and new equipment was installed by volunteers. We were fortunate in accessing funding from Power to Change and the Culture Recovery Fund.”

Cooperative ownership ensures that The Globe is a place where people can enjoy live music in a relaxed environment and where musicians can share and develop their skills.

https://theglobenewcastle.bar/

Special APPJAG Awards

Digby Fairweather

Richard ‘Digby’ Fairweather was a librarian before becoming a professional musician and retains an interest in jazz history and bibliography.  A trumpeter and cornetist influenced by classical jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong, he started leading his own bands in the early 1970s. He continues to play and has collaborated with many celebrated UK artists over the years including George Chisholm, Alex Welsh, George Melly and Paul Jones.

Away from the cornet he was concerned with national cultural advancement of the music and, amongst other activities, founded the successful educational charity ‘Jazz College’ with pianist Stan Barker (1979-95); the National Jazz Archive (Britain’s primary research centre for jazz music, 1988) and a number of other jazz-related organizations at this period the Jazz Section of the Musicians’ Union (1992-2014) the Jazz Development Trust  with Sir John Dankworth and in 2016  the  Jazz Centre UK  – Britain’s first cultural centre for jazz music – in Southend-on-Sea.

In 2009 as Founder of the National Jazz Archive he was presented with their Special Award in celebration of the organization’s twenty-first anniversary. In 2015 Digby received the British Jazz Award for Services to Jazz.

Apart from his playing and band leading, Fairweather has long pursued a parallel career as a jazz broadcaster and writer. Digby is the editor of a history of the legendary 100 Club in Oxford Street, London, Ace of Clubs, recently published by Brewin Books.

After almost fifty years in professional jazz Digby Fairweather remains – in the words of The Stage – just about the best ambassador the music could have.

https://digbyfairweather.com/

Lord Colwyn

Lord Colwyn is a peer, dentist and politician. He is one of ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999, sitting as a Conservative, he is the second longest standing  member of the House of Lords. Tony Colwyn was instrumental in the formation of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group and was co-chair until March 2021.

He started a band at school with school friend Jim Beach and they travelled through France and Spain playing in bars. In the early 60’s he organised Arts Balls at Cheltenham Town Hall.

The school band grew into a successful dance band and played at just about every hunt ball, deb dance and charity ball throughout the 60s and 70s. Jim left the band to become manager of Queen – Tony continued to lead the band for another 30 years as a 9 piece band. One of the special honours was playing for the Queen and Prince Philip’s private Ruby wedding dance. Another personal highlight was playing trumpet alongside Adelaide Hall on stage at Ronnie’s. For a while he put together a 24 piece Big Band that played at the Albert Hall with Red Skelton for HBO.

He felt very strongly and was a great supporter of live music in pubs and spoke many times in Parliament when legislation was going through.  He was a founder director of Jazz FM alongside Dave Lee and John Dankworth

Lord Colwyn secured funding from PPL for the Parliamentary Jazz Awards that started in 2005 to the present day and he is still actively involved with the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group

-Ends-

Extension of deadline to midnight on 1^st September 2021 for completion of questionnaire for the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group Review Of Jazz In England

Following an enforced delay due to the global pandemic and a year of unprecedented change, challenges, and specific hardships for working musicians, promoters, venues, jazz organisations, studios, technical staff, media and the jazz constituency at large, the All Party Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) commissioned a Review of Jazz in England that was launched on Friday 28^th May. The Review is being undertaken by APPJAG’s Secretary, Chris Hodgkins, and an expert advisory panel, chaired by musician and jazz educator Dr Kathy Dyson and supported by Teesside University Business School.

Full details and briefing papers – ‘Cold Comfort and Home Truths’ – Terms of reference, composition of the Advisory Panel, and the five questionnaires dealing with promoters and venues, musicians, jazz festivals, audiences plus individuals and organisations are available at: Review of Jazz in England     

The closing date for the questionnaires is midnight, Sunday 1^st August 2021.

For further information please contact:

Chris Hodgkins

Tel: 0208 840 4643

Email: chris.hodgkins3@googlemail.com

Notes to editors

The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) aims to encourage wider and deeper enjoyment of jazz, to increase Parliamentarians’ understanding of the jazz industry and issues surrounding it, to promote jazz as a musical form and to raise its profile inside and outside Parliament. APPJAG currently has over 116 members from the House of Commons and House of Lords across all political parties.   The Group’s officers, as at the Annual General Meeting of 22nd March 2021, are Co-Chairs:, John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, Secretary, Sir Greg Knight MP, Vice Chairs, Alison Thewless MP and Chi Onwurah MP. Treasurer is Ian Paisley MP. Officers are Lord Colwyn and Sarah Champion MP.

The Secretariat is Chris Hodgkins with the assistance of Louis Flood. The contact address is: appjag1@gmail.com the web address is: https://appjag.wordpress.com/

All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal groups of Members of both Houses with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed in this report are those of the group. This is not an official publication of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. It has not been approved by either House or its committees.

Press Release