Sandy Brown Jazz
What's New
June 2025
The idea of painting as a jazz band plays and being inspired by the music is something that we hear about far too little. On one occasion at a gig, a school group painted up in a gallery away from the audience and came up with some great paintings. The above painting was created by Jeremy Sutton at a gig by The Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy in Yoshi's Club in Oakland, California., and below is a video of how he made it. There are more details here.
The Proms 2025
For a few years now the annual BBC Proms (formerly known as the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts) at the Royal Albert Hall in London have included some jazz events in the largely classical music programme. This year the Proms run from the 18th July to 13th September and Jazzwise magazine summarises the Jazz events - including vocalist Samara Joy and Anoushka Shankar - here.
AI and Copyright - Adversarial Noise
As the debate about Artificial Intelligence and copyright protection continues, researchers at the University of Tennessee and musician Benn Jordan are working on tools that could affect AI models' ability to learn. The technique they are working on would alter a file (eg an MP3 music file) to add elements to confuse AI. One tool, Harmony Cloak, tricks AI models into treating a melody as atonal cacophony. Another, Poisonify, attacks AI's ability to analyse a track by getting it to confuse the instruments. Unfortunately an article by James Tapper in The Observer is unavailable easily online, but there is likely to be more on the subject in the near future.
Live Music and Mobile Phones
One newspaper article that is available online is Jason Okundaye's article "Live Music Is There To Be Felt, Not Filmed" or here. There seems to be an increase in the number of people in some audiences intent on using their mobile phones to photograph or record gigs. Jason's argues that it can become a compulsion. You can read his article here and the varying responses it has received. A report by the BBC in Newsround raised the question here some time ago. It would be interesting to hear readers' views on this topic.
Blue Note In China
Universal Music Group has announced that it will launch dedicated classical and jazz labels for the Chinese market, having traditionally only offered mainstream pop in the country. They will introduce Blue Note Records China, with the ultimate goal of unearthing new Chinese musical talent and bringing it to global audiences. Details are in a news report here.
Video Juke Box
Click on the pictures to watch the videos..... or take pot luck and click on the picture of the Juke Box and see what comes up.
Here are Norah Jones and Wynton Marsalis with a nice version of Come Rain Or Come Shine.
This short film of includes quite rare footage of Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli and the "Quintette du Hot Club de France" in Hot Jazz on a movie set in 1938. The sequence, a questionable short film about Jazz, was hastily organised by the band’s British agent Lew Grade as a way to introduce the band’s style of guitar and violin-based jazz to the British public before their first UK tour.
Gregory Porter sings On My Way To Harlem with an all-star band on International Jazz Day in 2022.
Here is a brief video introduction to the track Tenderness from Snowpoet's new album Heartstrings. You can listen to the full track and Lauren Kinsella's beautiful voice here. Snowpoet are led by Lauren Kinsella and pianist Chris Hyson accompanied on the album by Matt Robinson (piano, synths); Dave Hamblett (drums); and Josh Arcoleo (electric bass, saxophone) [See Recent Releases]
Our thanks to banjo player George Walker who played with trombonist Max Collie and reminded us of the Australian-born bandleader. Here is an early video of Max Collie's Rhythm Aces from 1973. There are other videos on YouTube but the video quality of some is not too good.
Guitarist Andrea Rinciari's Quartet featuring saxophonist Alex Garnett plays Coleman Hawkins' Bean And The Boys from their new album Soho Sessions [See Recent Releases and an article below by Howard Lawes]
Insight
Olga Amelchenko
Howling Silence
The Artwork
Faced with the title of Olga Amelchenko's new album, Dave Stapleton at Edition Records might well have gone for an album image like The Scream by Edvard Munch, but he thought it more appropriate to reflect Olga's background story.
​
Olga Amelchenko was born in Russia in 1988. She began singing in a choir at the age of 5 and started playing the piano and dombra (a two-stringed fretted lute), two years later. In 2003 she went to the College of Music in Abakan to study choral conducting but then took up jazz saxophone. In 2006, Olga moved to Novosibirsk to study jazz at the College of Music. She graduated in 2010 and moved on to study saxophone at the Novosibirsk Conservatory.
​
In 2012, Olga moved to Germany where she studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne before relocating to Berlin in 2014 to complete a Bachelor Degree in Jazz Performance in 2018, and a Master’s in Jazz Composition and Arrangement at the Jazz Institut Berlin in 2019. She then moved to Paris, where she leads the Olga Amelchenko Quartet and HELICON, while also performing with various other projects. Olga has collaborated with and recorded albums alongside numerous artists across different genres, in addition to performing at various venues and festivals across Europe and beyond.
​
Marek Romański in Jazz Forum says: "Olga tells stories with her instrument; she wants to be heard and understood".
​
Releasing her latest album on Edition Records they say: "Howling Silence blurs the line between a desire to speak out against an unjust world and the inherent restraint shaped by both her heritage and her experience as a woman working in a predominantly male jazz milieu". Dave Stapleton continues: "How do you show the struggle of speaking truth when the world around you insists on silence? That was the question at the heart of developing the artwork for Howling Silence. The process took us to Paris in late February, where a photographer and I captured a set of intimate, quietly charged portraits - each one playing with the tension between visibility and vulnerability. We wanted the image to speak with restraint. The stillness, the space - it all pushes the viewer to lean in, to feel what isn’t being said as much as what is.”
Designing around those images, Oli Bentley, Edition’s long term graphic designer, shaped a visual language that holds both protest and restraint in balance. "We explored bolder ideas - tape, close crops - but they felt too blunt for a record that speaks in shades."
"We spoke at length with Olga about the idea of Howling Silence and how speaking up or not so often isn’t a binary choice, but a delicate balance for each individual that no one else can judge. We tried to reflect this in the artwork – with Dave’s movement in the beautifully delicate yet dynamic image, the subtle colour palette, and why the covering of the mouth is a gradient. So little of life is one thing or another, and I really hope the nuances in the artwork reflect the nuances in Olga’s music, and the thoughtfulness in what she has to say.”
​
As Oli says of the initial images: "The final artwork uses a border to create pause and distance, and we’ll be drawing on other images from the shoot for the second and third singles, each carrying a slightly different emotional charge."​
Olga Amelchenko's album Howling Silence is released on the 11th July. Details are here. Listen to the title track:
Did You Know?
Jazz At The Black Hawk
The Black Hawk was a San Francisco nightclub that staged live jazz performances during its period of operation from 1949 to 1963. Its intimate atmosphere was ideal for small jazz groups and the club was a very popular hangout. In 1959, the fees that the club was able to pay jazz acts rose from less than $300 to more than $3,000 a week.
​
A "cage" area separated by woven wire fencing was provided for patrons under 21 years old who could not legally consume alcohol. This exception to the liquor laws was set up by an agreement between Black Hawk owner Guidio Cacianti and Mayor George Christopher, and made it possible for children to experience jazz and on Sunday afternoon the Black Hawk offered blowing time to young musicians.
​
A number of musicians recorded albums at the club, including Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Thelonious Monk and Shelly Manne. Billie Holiday and Lester Young played their last West Coast club dates there and the Modern Jazz Quartet played its first date at the Black Hawk. When Charlie Parker was supposed to be opening across town at Gordon "Dutch" Nieman's 'Say When Club' at 952 Bush Street, he could be found instead jamming at the Black Hawk.
​
You can read more about the Black Hawk here.
The young adult cage at the Black Hawk
Take Two
Where we take two different jazz interpretations of a song
Human Nature
Looking out
Across the nighttime
The city winks a sleepless eye
Hear her voice
Shake my window
Sweet seducing sighs
I guess there might well be Michael Jackson fans who believe people shouldn't mess with his songs. After all, the 1982 album Thriller on which the track Human Nature appeared was produced by Quincy Jones and by 1984, Thriller had sold 32 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of all time. Seven singles from the album were released including Billie Jean, Beat It and Human Nature.
Get me out
Into the nighttime
Four walls won't hold me tonight
If this town
Is just an apple
Then let me take a bite
Written by John Bettis and Steven M. Porcaro it was added to the album tracks towards the end of the album being made as Michael and Quincy felt a mid-tempo ballad was needed. John Bettis tells the story of how the catchy repeat had been discovered by chance on the end of a pre-used tape by the band Toto and the song was developed from there.
If they say
Why (why?), why (why?)
Tell 'em that it's human nature
Why (why?), why (why?)
Does he do me that way?
You can watch Michael Jackson performing it at Wembley in 1988 here - when you think he has finished, he hasnt!
The first of our jazz interpretations of Human Nature comes from Dutch singer Trijntje Oosterhuis and guitarist Leo Amuedo at a North Sea Jazz Festival. There is a guitar solo at the beginning that sets up the song beautifully.
Reaching out
To touch a stranger
Electric eyes are everywhere
See that girl
She knows I'm watching
She likes the way I stare
Our second take on Human Nature is one by Miles Davis. There are several videos of Miles at various venues but this one is from a concert in Paris in 1989 with Kenny Garrett on saxophone.
If they say
Why (why?), why (why?)
Tell 'em that it's human nature
Why (why?), why (why?)
Does he do me that way?
Two Ears, Three Eyes
This picture of saxophonist Vincent Herring was taken by Brian O'Connor LRPS from Images of Jazz at The Watermill Jazz Club in Dorking in April when he was playing with guitarist Joan Fort's Trio in May.
​
Graham Thomas who was at the gig with Brian writes: "The group started with a swinging minor-key tune, Big Bertha by Duke Pearson. Vincent Herring took the first solo, employing a powerful attack and hard-driving lines. Catalan guitarist Joan Fort followed with flowing bebop phrases integrated with chordal textures, reminding me a little of Barney Kessel’s approach to the guitar-trio format. This was followed by Morning Star, a harmonically intriguing tune by Hubert Laws."
​
"Standards included Sweet and Lovely, A Foggy Day, and a re-harmonised bossa version of Embraceable You, on which Vincent Herring fully demonstrated his ability to play a ballad. On the Wes Montgomery tune Road Song, Joan Fort played octaves with his thumb à la Wes, followed by a skilful chord solo trading fours with drummer David Puime.
Bassist Philip Lewin and drummer David Puime provided excellent support without overplaying, perfectly suited to the guitar-trio plus horn context. Appropriately for the group’s only UK gig, Vincent Herring announced that the final two tunes would be by British composers. On Billy Reid’s The Gypsy (as recorded by Charlie Parker on the infamous ‘Lover Man’ session), Vincent played an emotive solo spiced with rapid flurries of notes. This was followed by Victor Feldman’s The Chant, a soulful gospel-blues style tune favoured by Cannonball Adderley."
​
"The combination of horn and guitar (without piano) was very enjoyable, and it was great to hear a new (to me) guitarist of such quality."
​
Here is a video of the band playing in Amsterdam - the tune should of course be labelled Good Morning Heartache.
A Jazz Menu
Can you find the five jazz tune titles suggested in this four course 'Jazz Menu' ?
MENU
To Start
Crisp small pieces of pork fried with cornmeal from New York.
Main Course
A dish of Chinese-American origin, typically featuring meat and vegetables stir-fried and served with rice or noodles and a cornet
​
Followed by
Fresh citrus fruit, closely related to a mandarin orange, known for its sweet flavour and ease of peeling.
Accompanied by
Gelato
To Finish
Americano without milk
​
The answers are here
​
The Story Is Told
Bix Beiderbecke and his Rhythm Jugglers
Don Murray (clarinet); Howdy Quicksell (banjo); Tommy Gargano (drums); Paul Mertz (piano); Bix Beiderbecke (cornet); Tommy Dorsey (trombone)
It was nearing the Christmas holidays. Bix blew into Indianapolis and asked me to go down to Richmond with him to make some records. He phoned me at my house and I hurried down to pick him up in my new Ford, a Christmas present to myself.
​
When I found him he told me that he was on his way to make some records for Gennett, the same outfit that had made our record in the fall .... I asked Bix who was going to be with him on the date.
​
"We're going to make some records in 'slow-drag style," Bix said, "and I've got some guys who can really go. Tommy Dorsey, Howdy Quicksell, Don Murray, Paul Mertz and Tommy Gargano. They are going to drive from Detroit to meet me."
"Boy," I exclaimed, "that's really gonna be somethin'" What are you going to make?"
"Hell, I don't know. Just make some up I guess."
"How about me driving you over tonight?"
"That'll be swell," Bix said. "The guys are bringing three quarts ...."
​
We got to the studio and sat around for a while and the bottles got lighter and lighter and finally Bix started doodling on his horn. Finally, he seemed to find a strain that suited him but by that time everybody had taken a hand in composing the melody, though as the bottles got still lighter nobody seemed to have a definite understanding of what that melody was.
​
I have a photo of that group on that day. Bix is leaning against the piano, his legs crossed, and you see him in half-profile. He looks so young, like a little boy, like Little Boy Blue - and he blew. Tommy Dorsey, beside him, bespectacled even at that early age, is slumped in a chair, his trombone at his mouth. The rest of them are in various negligent poses, waiting.
​
As far as I could see, they didn't have any arrangements worked out, or tune either for that matter, but when the technician came in and gave them the high sign, they took off. Away they went. Away down.​
They named the piece Davenport Blues in honour of Bix's home town. It was done in lazy 'jig style' and, as the dead soldiers were racked up, their music got screwier and screwier."
Toddlin' Blues was the next number, and, by the time it was finished, they were having a little trouble staying in front of their horns. But the effect was wonderful. They used the "I'se acomin'" strain from Old Black Joe and there were among them those who were soon "a-comin". A few years later three of those six boys who got together to blow jazz were gone. Little Joes all."
​
Hoagy Carmichael from Hear Me Talkin' To Ya edited by Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff
These Gennett sides described by Hoagy Carmichael were recorded in 1925. Don Murray (clarinet) died in 1929 after a car accident; Tommy Gargano (drums) died in 1928, and Bix in 1931. Ed.
Andrea Rinciari Quartet
Soho Sessions
by Howard Lawes
Guitarist Andrea Rinciari has a new album out with his Quartet - Soho Sessions. Here is a taster with them playing Coleman 'Bean' Hawkins' Bean And The Boys:
Andrea Riciari was born in Italy and lived in Sagrete, a suburban town to the east of Milan. Sagrete may be best known for the Idroscalo, an artificial lake that was created as a seaplane terminal in 1930 and is now used for watersports and is the location of Europark Idroscalo amusement park. During his teenage years Andrea acquired a guitar, which he admits became a complete obsession. Talking to Andrea via Zoom he described how he used to wake at 5 a.m., practice for 2 hours before going to school and then practice until midnight after he got home again.
​
Andrea met Levi Clay, a guitar tutor, through the International Guitar Foundation, and in discovering the music of Wes Montgomery he moved away from the heavy metal and rock that he had been playing towards jazz. Andrea believed that there would be greater opportunities for establishing a career in music if he moved to London which he did in 2014. He spent a year at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) before specialising in jazz guitar and moving to Trinity Laban Conservatoire where his guitar tutors included Hannes Riepler. He remembers these days in London with great affection and describes his time at the conservatoire as an absolute blast.
​
Andrea cites Barry Harris as another inspirational educator and mentor who helped him enormously. Harris was an American pianist and US National Endowment for Arts Jazz Master who embraced the bebop style and was much inspired by Thelonius Monk and Bud Powell. Harris had been visiting London regularly for gigs and public workshops since 2002, teaching jazz harmony, improvisation and singing. He popularised a particular scale that combines a major 6th chord with a diminished 7th chord, creating a unique set of melodic and harmonic possibilities. (A video describing Harris' chords is here).
​
Andrea was a frequent participant in the famous late night jam sessions at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club which is where he met saxophonist Alex Garnett. In Andrea’s opinion the jam session is the best way to learn to become a successful jazz musician. While admitting that it can be challenging, particularly for a novice, he believes that it is ten times better to learn in a live session than to play for yourself in your bedroom.
​
With Alex, Andrea secured a weekly residency at Soho’s Piano Bar that lasted for two years. Arranging and performing music for 104 sessions created a portfolio that celebrates the music from a golden era of jazz. Andrea also plays regularly at Alfie’s Jazz Bar, another iconic Soho venue, and clearly enjoys being part of the Soho scene. Whether leading his own quartet or guesting with fellow club regulars, Andrea can be depended upon to liven up the evening with fast swing, tight phrasing, and the kind of musicianship that only comes from countless nights spent playing the real thing.
The Jazz Quiz
One Wrong Word
In the quiz this month we give you fifteen jazz album titles where one of the words is wrong. Can you find the word and replace it with the correct word?
The June Jazz Quiz is
Jazz Clubs Remembered
Jazz On Eel Pie Island
The famous hotel on Eel Pie Island in the river Thames is long gone, but memories remain of the venue and the bands that played there. As well as Jazz, Blues and Rock music were established here as described in this brief video introduction by Brian Hackett:
But the story of music on the island goes back further than in Brian's video. In the 1920s and 1930s the hotel hosted ballroom dancing but it was in 1956 that trumpeter Brian Rutland, who ran a local band called The Grove Jazz Band, started jazz sessions at the newly re-opened hotel. Sometime afterwards Arthur Chisnall took over the running of the club and continued to promote various jazz bands and then in the 1960s, Rock and R&B groups became more prominent.
Brian Rutland's band on opening night
(Photograph courtesy of Brian Rutland)
Eel Pie Island is in the river Thames at Twickenham. Twickenham, at one time in Middlesex, is now part of the London Borough of Richmond. It is just over four miles from Hampton Court Palace by road and around ten miles by river.
​
Dan Van Der Vat and Michele Whitby's book about Eel Pie Island, published by Frances Lincoln Ltd (here) tells us:
​
'Eel Pie Island is the only inhabited island on the semi-tidal Thames. Its most famous contemporary resident, Trevor Baylis, OBE, inventor of the clockwork radio, has been heard to describe it (with some exaggeration) as "120 drunks clinging to a mudbank". Named for the favoured snack of Henry VIII, who was said to stop here on his way to and from Windsor ... In the middle of the twentieth century it was a venue for jazz and later English R&B groups, where the likes of Chris Barber or George Melly, and then the Rolling Stones or Rod Stewart, performed in the dance hall of the hotel. A surprising number of people all over Britain and beyond remember Eel Pie Island and its gigs - usually with a nostalgic smile.' It is easy to forget that this is the largest inhabited island on the Thames and that it has about 50 houses with 120 inhabitants. It has a number of boatyards, businesses and artist studios as well as residential properties. The island's history has seen boatyards, studios and the hotel destroyed by fire at various times.
​
At the present time (2025) there are debates about whether future developments will be permitted on the island in view of flooding risk from the river.
Eel Pie
Eel Pie Island had a 'reputation' and has been described as 'infamous' as well as 'famous'. For many parents, including my own, it was a 'no go area' as they were concerned about stories of drink and drugs. Others went despite their parents' concerns, and of course many jazz musicians played there. Until 1957 the only access to the island was by a hand-operated ferry that was hauled across using a chain on the riverbed and getting instruments and other kit across was cumbersome. It must have been equally difficult for dance bands in the '20s and '30s. In 1957 the footbridge was built and apart from boats, that remains the only access to the island. As one person has said: 'There are two types of people: those who live on the island who don't want a car outside their door, and other people who choose not to live there because they do'. It seems as though some musicians' smaller cars squeezed across the footbridge as reeds player Brian Hills says: 'I remember Eel Pie Island well - very narrow bridge one could only just drive over to get to the club - if you had a smallish narrow car - Austin seven would do!'.
.... and that is where our collection of Eel Pie Island memories begin:
Anagram
Time Out Ten
Georgia On My Mind
Eva Fernandez
For this item you need to be able to stop for ten minutes.
We are often moving on to the next job, the next meeting, scrolling down social media, taking the next call ......'Time Out Ten' asks you to stop for ten minutes and listen to a particular piece of music; to find a time when you won't be interrupted, when you can put in/on your headphones and chill out. Ten minutes isn't long.
​
What a difference ten years can make!
​
At the risk of sharing the Sant Andreu Jazz Band again, here are two videos of Georgia On My Mind from 2011 and 2021 by saxophonist and vocalist Eva Fernández. Starting with the later one first, she is joined by saxophonist Scott Hamilton and trumpeter Andrea Motis, the three fronting the whole band.
Ten years earlier, in 2011, Eva and Scott again play the same song. This time Andrea is in the band's trumpet section. Eva Fernández started playing the saxophone in 2001 with Joan Chamorro as a teacher, during her learning period with Chamorro, she began to sing and was a soloist until 2016 in formations such as: "Sant Andreu Jazz Band" or "La magia de la voz", with whom she recorded several albums. Eva's 2016 album That Darkness under her own name can be listened to here.
Lens America
Journalist/guitarist Filipe Freitas and photographer Clara Pereira run JazzTrail in New York City. They feature album and concert coverage, press releases and press kits, album covers and biographies and they are valued contacts for Sandy Brown Jazz. You can read Filipe's reviews of album releases here and see Clara's gallery of pictures here.
Clara Pereira took this picture of saxophonist Marty Ehrlich with his Exhaltation Trio - John Hébert (bass) and Nasheet Waits (drums) and the 2019 Vision Festival in Brooklyn.
The Trio has a new album out on Sunnyside Records - This Time. In his review of the album (here) Filipe Freitas writes: ".... This Time presents six original Ehrlich compositions alongside two interpretations of pieces by the late, great pianist Andrew Hill, with whom Ehrlich collaborated for four or five years ..... Ehrlich’s burnished tone lends warmth to the romanticism of Andrew Hill’s ballad “Images of Time”, tinged subtly with Spanish inflections. Hébert’s solo here is erudite, elegant, and sequentially coherent. On Hill’s “Dusk”, the bassist employs luminous harmonics, paired with the shimmer of Waits’ cymbals. The rhythm section dances with passion and precision, conjuring a twilight aura. Ehrlich’s commanding alto brims with ideas, flowing dynamically through warped contours and revealing the deep connection among these musicians - all former members of the Andrew Hill Sextet ......"
​
The album This Time is available here and you can lsten to the track As It Is here.
Sorry, Mum and Dad
by Matt Fripp of Jazzfuel
Matt Fripp set up his own music agency and website, Jazzfuel, in 2016, since when he has established a client base across many countries. Although born in the UK, Matt is currently based with his family in Paris, France, but the international aspects of his work make little difference to his location. What is different about Matt and Jazzfuel is the information that he shares publicly on his website. Matt has kindly agreed to share some of his thoughts as an agent with us from time to time:
I'm always guilty of leaving their Christmas gifts late. So late, in fact, that I can't order physical gifts - even with next day delivery - and have to rely on printable tickets for gigs, shows or experiences... In my family, we’re into comedy. (Maybe everyone is?!). Normally, I’d do a quick browse of the local theatres where my parents live and pick someone I've heard of performing nearby. Last year, though, was different.
A while ago, I signed up for the mailing list of UK-based German comedian Hdenning When (seen here on the TV show Would I Lie To You?) I’m a serial subscriber (and unsubscriber) to newsletters like this. I see someone on TV or YouTube, sign up, then get tired of the generic mail-blasts their management sends flogging tickets or DVDs. But Henning’s newsletter was different.
It’s personal. Written by him. One month he might riff on a football tournament; the next, it’s something funny he’s spotted in London. Then, at the end ... He leaves a neat list of tour dates with ticket links. When I got his newsletter just before last Christmas, I read it, saw my parents’ city listed, and bought tickets immediately.
Without that newsletter style - if it had been just another faceless promo email - I’d have unsubscribed long ago and probably picked another show at random. It’s a perfect example of how to sell without selling. Whatever platform you’re using - newsletter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube - if you focus on 'promoting' or 'showing off' it’ll fall flat. But if you focus on sharing your personality and giving value, you’ll build real connections. And once you’ve got that, you don’t need to push.
​
Let people know about your gig or album, and they’ll act on it because they’re already invested in you. Here’s the bonus. When you shift from 'self-promotion' to 'adding value' the whole process feels better. It’s no longer a chore - it’s interesting. Of course, there’s a time for a hard sell. But most of the time, let your good stories do the work for you!
​
All the best.
​
Matt
Forum
The Bass Drum In Jazz
A page I need to update is one concerning the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.
Tom Henshaw writes: "In regard to your piece about the first recordings of The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, made by the Victor Recording Company in February 1917. It is stated that: "LaRocca was located about twenty feet from the pickup horn, while Sbarbaro wielded his drum sticks about five feet behind him. (The bass drum was not used on this record because of its tendency to "blast")." This is an old fallacy. If you care to listen to the records, especially Livery Stable Blues, Sbarbaro's bass drum provides eloquent testimony to the contrary. Thus, Sbarbaro was the first to use the bass drum on a jazz record - on the first jazz record. An honour often erroneously accorded Gene Krupa."
​
We can listen to Livery Stable Blues here:
The Jubilee Jazzband
UK banjo player Don Coe has wriitten to add more pictures to his page on the late Jubilee Jazzband and Bill Brunskill.
Don says: "I came across these pix and wonder if you can insert them into the Brunskill article in the appropriate place?
They may ring more bells of recall from your readers!"
The indoor shot was taken at the 'Fighting Cocks' pub in Kingston. On bass is 'Uncle' John Renshaw and Bill Cotton banjo.
The outdoor shot is at Teddington lock during a RB shuffle and shows 'John' on sousaphone before his involuntary swim! The front line are Dave Cutting, Reynolds & Tomlin. I'm doubling up with my Parslow banjo.
[Don's original page on Bill Brunskill and the Jubilee Jazzband (here) also needs to be updated and I shall include it next month with Don's pictures and any other information readers might like to add. Ed]
Departure Lounge
Information has arrived about the following musicians or people connected to jazz who have passed through the 'Departure Lounge' since our last update.
When this page first started, links to newspaper obituaries were free. Then increasingly advertisements were added and now many newspapers ask for a subscription to read a full obituary. Where possible, we initially link to a Wikipedia page which is still free of charge, but we also give links to newspaper obituaries in case you want to read them.
Brian Kellock
UK pianist born in Edinburgh in 1962. Brian graduated with a B Music (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh in 1986. He then established his position as one of the top piano players in the UK jazz scene. His main project was his own Trio, which first appeared as the rhythm section for seminal Scottish band, the John Rae Collective, but he has regul;arly played with Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith. Brian passed through the Departure Lounge on 27th May 2025. Obituaries: Wikipedia : The Scotsman : A video of Brian and Tommy playing Chatanooga Cho Choo in Cardiff in 2014 is here.
Andy Bey
American vocalist and pianist born in New Jersey in 1939. Bey had a wide vocal range, with a four-octave baritone voice. He worked with Louis Jordan, Horace Silver, Dee Dee Bridgwater and others, recorded a number of albums under his own name and received the "2003 Jazz Vocalist of the Year" award by the Jazz Journalists Association. His album American Song received a Gammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2005. Andy passed through the Departure Lounge on 26th April 2025. Obituaries: Wikipedia : The New York Times : A video of Andy with Someone To Watch Over Me ten years ago is here.
Joe Louis Walker
Award winning American Blues singer and guitarist born in San Francisco in 1949. He played with John Lee Hooker, Buddy Miles,Thelonius Monk, John Mayall, Muddy Waters and many others. He performed at many Jazz festivals and had an extensive career described in his obituaries. Joe Louis passed through the Departure Lounge on 30th April 2025. Obituaries: Wikipedia : The Guardian : A video of Joe guesting with Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers is here.
Al Foster
American drummer born in Virginia in 1943. He began playing drums at the age of 13 and made his recording debut on Blue Mitchell's 1964 album, The Thing To Do, at the age of 20. Foster played with Miles Davis during the '70s and was one of the few people to have contact with Davis during his retirement from 1975 to 1980. Al passed through the Departure Lounge on 28th May 2025. Obituaries: Wikipedia : A video of Al Foster playing New Morning is here.
Ronald Atkins
Born in Istanbul in 1936 before his family migrated to the UK, Ron became a long-serving Jazz critic for The Guardian newspaper. He passed through the Departure Lounge on 19th March 2025. John Fordham's obituary for Ron is here.
Recent Releases
A few words about recent releases / reviews:
Apart from where they are included in articles on this website, I don't have a 'Reviews' section for a number of reasons:
-
I receive so many requests to review recordings it is impossible to include them all.
-
Unlike some publications/blogs, Sandy Brown Jazz is not a funded website and it is not possible to pay reviewers.
-
Reviews tend to be personal opinions, something a reviewer likes might not suit you, or vice versa.
-
It is difficult to capture music in words, so much better to be able to listen and see whether the music interests you.
For these reasons in particular I just include a selection of recent recordings below where I share the notes issued by the musician(s) as an introduction and links to samples so you can 'taste' the music for yourselves. For those who like to read reviews, these, of course, can be checked out on other sites.
Some Recent Releases
UK
America
Charles Mingus - In Argentina : The Buenos Aires Concerts
Curtis Nowosad - I Am Doing My Best
Brandon Woody - For The Love Of It All
Europe and Elsewhere
Andrea Rinciari - Soho Sessions
Daniel Herskedal - Movements Of Air
The Barry Deister Quintet with Israel Annoh - An African Suite