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Birmingham Jazz Alive & Well

BIRMINGHAM JAZZ FESTIVAL
You're quite right in correcting that omission, Wam and I'll repeat the link you supplied here to help rectify my laziness:
https://www.bigbearmusic.com/festival-2015/

The reason I haven't mentioned it is two-fold. Firstly because the festival has its own publicity outlets and has information about the programme that I can't match, and secondly I'm not able to attend the gigs as I used to because I have a disability now which demands that I have to park directly outside anywhere I go and cannot walk from one venue to another as I used to.
However, as you rightly say, I ought to have mentioned it as coming up and I thank you for doing that job for me. If you're going to some of the gigs we would love to hear about them afterwards. Cheers....Dennis
 
IMG_4043.JPGIMG_4045.JPGIMG_4042.JPGIMG_4033.JPGIMG_4030.JPG
A SULTRY JULY NIGHT at WALMLEY
When the Graham Smith Allsorts set the tone of their music and the spread of their talent with their rendition of Up a Lazy River it was clear that this hot July night at Walmley would be not only steamy, but sometimes bluesy, too.
Ron Hills' sultry trombone solo, Dave Leithead's haunting muted trumpet, Rod Kelly's rippling piano, Matt Palmer's goose-pimply tenor, Graham 'Big G'Smith (drums) and John Fellows (bass)combining to bring us the sounds of the Deep South...and with a bonus.
There, with them on guitar/banjo, was Jim Douglas, veteran of the famous Alex Welsh band and the great post-war trad jazz boom, one of the country's finest post-war instrumentalists in a seven-piece quality band to enjoy, for a fiver admission price.
A highlight of the evening, for me, was the dreamy classic In a Sentimental Mood, recorded many moons ago in a wonderful collaboration between Duke Ellington and saxophonist John Coltrane. I love it.
Later came a number from the songbook of Louis Armstrong (when he added pop singing to his multi-achievements), A Kiss to Build Dream On featuring Matt's tenor and Jim's guitar. Matt's Deep Purple, which he began on clarinet and concluded on alto was another contribution to the warm and bluesy ambience.
Talking earlier of a 'bonus' we also had a second one in a couple of brief displays by the Chinese Jitterbug Squad, half-a-dozon Oriental girls, demure of both dress and demeanour,providing us with an added floor show.
It is, of course, the build up to the Birmingham Jazz festival so it was no doubt a rehearsal for them.
Graham Smith reminded us that this was the first time his Allsorts had played together since he disbanded them many moons ago...and reformed only to fill a vacancy that had appeared in Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz's programme.
Now, however, with changes in personnel after all this time, they have an appetite for more gigs and they ought to get them. I'd be happy to watch them any time and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.
 
Just been going through the website for the BIRMINGHAM INTERNATIONAL JAZZ AND BLUES FESTIVAL. It looks a great programme, with some fine artistes.

Sadly these days, living nearly 200 miles away, I am unable to be there, but I am sure that Birmingham will do the artistes proud, and vice versa.

Of course they have their own website, but it is an event for ALL BIRMINGHAM FOLK. I am a rather surprised that there has very little comment on the BHF website, and this thread, about the Festival. It seems to indicate that interest in the amount of musical talent that is appearing in the City is very limited. I am sure that this is not true, and I would have thought that this website would be an excellent place to offer views and comments, before and after the events, about this exposure for the Second City.

Edinburgh is always flat out to promote their Arts and Summer Festival.

It would be nice if the Jazz Festival website was read, and views on the musical content discussed. Even this Festival will, one day be history, so SUPPORT YOUR CITY. There is too much doom & gloom.....Summer is here, its jazz time, lets be happy and enjoy the good music on offer.

Eddie
 
Eddie,

I guess the lack of publicity is due to shortage of Council funds. But such festivals will die if they are not publicised properly - and sponsors will disappear if they think that the festivals are low key. They have here. The Touch Arts Festival in Aghios Nikolaos ran for five years and was very successful, but is now gone. The local foreign residents association put on a pantomime every year, and that has now stopped. Regarding the latter, we depended on getting about half our costs from the sponsors and the local Council, and getting the rest from ticket sales. But the Council not only stopped their contributions, but added to our costs by charging us for an otherwise unused theatre. Immediately that happened, the sponsors dropped out as well, so that was the end of another event.

But publicity does not have to cost a shedload of money. If approached properly, owners of websites and printed publications will provide free or subsidised publicity.

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
Eddie,

I guess the lack of publicity is due to shortage of Council funds. But such festivals will die if they are not publicised properly - and sponsors will disappear if they think that the festivals are low key. They have here.[CUT]

Maurice
Click to expand...

I don't think the problem here was a lack of funding as something that the organisers did wrong. The printed programme didn't show up until a week or two before the start date. The programme gives times of events, names of venues, details of the acts, and prices where appropriate but it doesn't say where the venues are. Considering a lot of these are in pubs around (and sometimes outside) the city this isn't really going to help. You could probably decide what act you'd like to see and when they're on but unless you actually know the venue, it could be difficult to find the place.
I'm not entirely sure that the council actually pays for any of this. The programme thanks them for their "continued support" and there are councillors on the committee but the sponsor of the festival is Aldi and many of the events would be either self financing or paid for by the venue out of their bar profits. I daresay the council is putting in its contribution by hosting the odd event but those aren't usually the free events.
 
wam,

The late publishing of programmes and lack of details regarding locations certainly doesn't help, but if you want people to come year after year, they have to be made aware that it is an annual festival, when next year's dates will be and make sure not only do the citizens know about it, but that every potential visitor to the city world wide knows about it. The locations of some of the world's major jazz festivals are small towns - e.g. Perugia, Montreux, DenHaag - that would not survive if they relied on their local populations. Last year, before organising my European holiday, which included the UK, I Googled for "European jazz festivals 2014", got all of the aforementioned, but Birmingham wasn't even mentioned.

Maurice
 
Worse than that, if you google Jazz Festival UK Moseley is number 4 (and two of the higher listings aren't individual listings) but Birmingham isn't on the first page - it's at the bottom of page 2.
 
Thank you, Maurice, that was my point exactly.

The reason the Edinburgh Festival is so successful is because it does not rely on local population attendance. It has become a world wide event. Great publicity, highly talented artistes, listed venues, and all publicity is published well in advance. In fact, they will already be planning next years event. Its not just good publicity for the city, or for the work it gives to artistes, but the city itself financially benefits.

The TV coverage the festival gets, is an added bonus.

All the major hotels, B & B, and other accommodation thrive throughout the festival, as do other local businesses.

If what wham says, that is: The venues for the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, are not clearly stated, and the festival details not given out well in advance, as indeed, the programmes, then it will not succeed. It may not fail, but it will be harder to arrange next years Festival, rather than easier. I believe that the festival is organised by Jim Simpson, who is very enthusiastic, but he needs a lot of support, both financially, and morally. This should come from Birmingham City Council. After all, the event is to benefit both the image of the City, and businesses. As with Edinburgh, Birmingham could build on a festival that will attract visitors from all around the world, which would be great for the City.

My Company was a major sponsor of the MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL, and I was an active member for three or four years, so I speak from experience in this area.

To the ELECTED members of Birmingham City Council. It is not all politics. The people of Birmingham deserve a world wide festival of note. INVEST TO ACCUMULATE.

Eddie
 
Eddie,

Smack on the dot! Just drifting away from Brum for a minute, not long after I arrived here I looked at putting on a jazz festival in Aghios Nikolaos with that aim in mind - of making it an annual international event and helping to extend the season a bit. I spoke to a few Greek friends and we reckoned we needed a committe of ten knowledgeable people, more than a year's notice so that we could get it in all the tour companies' brochures and other tourist publications. When we found that we couldn't find ten such people who would put their heart and soul into it, and what's more - this is typical Greek - we couldn't book venues at least a year in advance, we gave up.

To make it international we knew that we also needed at least two well known jazz names, preferably American. If we put it on immediately after the Athens Jazz Festival, we could, for the price of an air fare, persuade the international names that they booked to extend their trip. Several of the Brit community here have hotels so accommodation was no problem, But sadly in the end, we had to give up because of lack of being able to reserve venues, etc. A lot of people are very short-sighted when it comes to business, which would have brought trade and given a lot of pleasure to many people. Sometimes it makes you want to weep!

Maurice
 
Maurice. I think Greece has other things on its mind right now! If what we read in the press press IS true. John Crump
 
John,

As far as Crete is concerned and as of two hours ago, the supermarkets, filling stations and most ATMs are functioning normally. I can't speak for the mainland.

Maurice
 
norfolk brummie said:
To the ELECTED members of Birmingham City Council. It is not all politics. The people of Birmingham deserve a world wide festival of note. INVEST TO ACCUMULATE.

Eddie
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell, Birmingham City Council has never been behind the Birmingham Jazz Festival. I think it used to be run by the Birmingham Jazz Society and now seems to be down to Big Bear Music (at least this year and last). To further rub in their failures, they do have a detailed list of the venues for the festival on site at https://www.bigbearmusic.com/category/jazz-fest/archive/venues-2014/ but for some reason they don't seem to have the same list for this year. There are others in Birmingham that can do better by way of advertising. Most obviously is the "Mostly Jazz" festival on this weekend https://mostlyjazz.co.uk/ . Birmingham council has been cancelling just about all of its events this year after the government decided to cut their budgets in the name of "austerity" so if it had been theirs it would probably have been off this year.
 
New Musical Express becomes a free sheet handout

Although never a jazz paper, it did succeed in taking over Melody Maker, which was, and has now effectively bit the dust itself. Sad times.

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
Sad times.
Click to expand...

With the rise in people getting information from the internet on smartphones, tablets and computers, there is less and less need for any printed material.

I think over the next few years we will see most of the daily newspapers disappearing one by one.

In fact I predict in 10 or 20 years time we will have only a couple of daily newspapers, and they will probably be free.

But to be fair electronic information is usually more up to date, and can get to more people far easier and at less cost.

It just leaves out those people who do not yet have access to the internet.
 
guilbert,

Yes, it's your last sentence that bothers me. Despite having computers, I used to buy UK newspapers when we first moved over here, but they cost 2.50 euros each, did not have any of the colour supplements and giveaways of the British versions, and were printed with oily black ink that came off on your fingers. I soon stopped buying them!

But very few of the online daily newspapers are now free, just the Daily Mail, the Independent and the Guardian, I believe, and as advertising revenue becomes harder to come by, they may all go that route, though I often wonder how many people subscribe to, for instance, the Telegraph. My 10 free pages a month are soon used up by clicking on items in Google News!

Had the Melody Maker still been going, I would still have bought it every week though!

Maurice
 
sospiri said:
guilbert,


But very few of the online daily newspapers are now free, just the Daily Mail, the Independent and the Guardian, I believe, and as advertising revenue becomes harder to come by, they may all go that route, though I often wonder how many people subscribe to, for instance, the Telegraph. My 10 free pages a month are soon used up by clicking on items in Google News!

Had the Melody Maker still been going, I would still have bought it every week though!

Maurice
Click to expand...

The Melody Maker was a great paper. Would scan through it every week to find out what drum chairs were going in the Situations Vacant column.

In the early 1970's I was involved with the NME Poll Winners Concert, held at the Roundhouse, in Camden. The NME and the Concert was a huge event. All disappeared. However, the world of music is bigger than ever, with glossy, drum, guitar, keyboard, hi tech gadgets, record news magazines etcetera, taking up a great deal of space on the newsagents stand, and they are hugely popular.

I am not sure that ALL newspapers will disappear that quickly. Certainly changes will happen, but even computer, and the electronic media, cannot offer so much information, international, nation and local, as in a newspaper, compact, easy to find, so quickly, and with some great journalists offering a huge variety of stories. What will kill newspapers is not the world of electronics, but the world of advertising, which, in this modern era, is very greedy and competitive, in seeking outlets for it's products. Modern marketing methods have changed dramatically.

Probably the most successful annual music Festival still going, after many years, is Montreux. Yes, they use the world of electronic social media, but they still also use, very effectively, many of the old, and trusted ways, of artiste contact, schedules, and informing the world of coming events, by traditional methods. The computer, smartphone, tablet, call it what you will, is an additional media benefit, not the alternative.

Eddie
 
Eddie,

I agree with what you say. However, jazz has seen a shrinking audience for some years and we accepted here, as many festivals do, that we would have to have a few R & B artists to make sure the thing was a financial success. We didn't want to make money so much as to turn over enough to finance the following year's event without having to rely on sponsors, who can be very fickle.

Changing the subject a bit, how has the advent of electronic drum kits, such as that sold by Alesis for a mere 600 quid, had on the sale of conventional kits? I can appreciate their appeal - practice, for instance, is no longer a problem if you live in an apartment, just stick on a pair of headphones. It no longer needs about half a dozen microphones to record the kit. The downside, I presume, is that the feel of the kit must be entirely different - rather like a pianist playing a cheap piano.

Maurice
 
Maurice,

You are correct. I should have mentioned that Montreux now has a mixture of jazz, rock and blues, due to the shrinkage of the jazz profile, and the increased popularity of other musical genre, This was needed in order to sustain both the popularity of the Festival, and sustain the financial demands.

I have often been asked the question "How do electronic drums compare to the standard acoustic kit?" Up to now, I have always seemed to offer the correct answer. It does not. Whether we talk physically, presentation wise, or power appeal wise, the acoustic drum kit still wins out. Electronic drums are excellent for other reasons. Silence, portability and sound control. They are used entirely as a kit by some drummers, partly as a extra kit, incorporated into the traditional kit, by others. Will they ever take over completely? In my opinion, not for a long time. I have taught on electronic kits, but found that most pupils still prefer the traditional, thank God!.

The only analogy that I can offer you, as a keyboard man, is that many keyboard players, using electronic instruments, offering a huge variety of sound, and portability, and stay in tune, are happy, but I think that it should also be every keyboard players dream, to sit and perform on a Steinway/Bechstein concert grand piano, in a concert.

How's that for an answer. The best I can offer!

Eddie
 
Eddie,

I'll go with the Bosendorfer, but I know what you mean. Just as a weighted keyboard on an organ or synth feels "wrong", and I still prefer real acoustic piano. Despite some very good imitations such as the Pianoteq, I can always tell a real piano, especially up the top end.

Maurice
 
I suspect electronic instruments will suffer much more from the coming of fully computerised systems than traditional and electric will. Admittedly there is less of a show to computerised stuff than there is to electronic but the sound/music shouldn't suffer.
 
wam,

All bar the very cheapest electronic instruments are now MIDI equipped, so samples can be loaded of many instruments which are quite realistic, plus they come equipped with many onboard sounds. Plus there are non-weighted, weighted and semi-weighted keyboards of varying qualities and the appropriate reduction in volume. This makes carting stuff to gigs so much easier.

This is particularly good for the organist and there are now several small electronic boxes that replicate the big heavy Leslie speakers very well. I only wish all this equipment had been around when I was heavily involved in the music business. Yes, there is a downside, as the keyboard players can produce so many good sounds, this has led to smaller bands, but unfortunately not more money!

Maurice
 
...thanks to all of you contributors to this Thread...with some expert views from 'real' musicians...unlike me (a jazz fan and incurable scribbler and former professional pontificator). Here's a reflection or two from my weekly Sutton Coldfield club jazz gig at Walmley...

Leading band NEW ORLEANS HEAT have undergone a mini-upheaval in personnel in the last few months raising fears of a decline but the front line they presented at Sutton Coldfield Trad Jazz's Wednesday night gig at Walmley suggests that their musical temperature has not been lowered at all.
Replacements Richard Church (trumpet), Dave Vickers (trombone) and Roger Burns (reeds) are all exceptional jazz men in their own right in filling the gaps left by Gwyn Lewis, Mike Taylor and John Scartlebury.
With my liking for tenor sax solos, based on early-life appreciation of legends such as Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Ben Webster, I warmed to Roger's offering in Lady Be Good and his vocal in Last Night on the Back Porch, when he loved her most of all (I hope her dad didn't catch him...). Later his vocal, It's True You Don't Love me Any More suggested that his 'back porch' liaison didn't last very long. Maybe her dad, DID catch him. And maybe the lady should have been good.
Among the marvellous features of jazz musicians is that most of them seem to be able to sing, too. OK, not Paverotti nor Sinatra, but good fun. Richard Church gave us a splendid vocal/trumpet solo when he blew in with Breeze while Dave Vickers gave similar treatment with his staccato trombone style on Smiles, backed by Barry Grummett's nimble-fingered piano solo. That and, as usual, plenty more of 'our kind of music' for jazz fiends to cherish.
And, just a thought: it was all happening in the middle of the 31st Birmingham Jazz and Blues Festival....though not mentioned in their brochure. Not sure why not.
Rich Burns tenor.JPGDave Vickers.JPGRichard Church.JPGBand.JPG
Pictures: Burns on tenor, Vickers, Church and the band
 
Ginger Baker has been mentioned a few times on here.

For those interested there was a program about him on BBC 1 two nights ago, and is available on the BBC iPlayer for the next 27 days or so.

As you may expect from Ginger, plenty of swearing, with him having a go at the interviewer a few times, even saying to him "I have already f***** told you that" at one point.

It covers his whole career, from his early days as a jazz drummer and his heroin addiction up to present day.
 
guilbert53 said:
Ginger Baker has been mentioned a few times on here.

For those interested there was a program about him on BBC 1 two nights ago, and is available on the BBC iPlayer for the next 27 days or so.

It covers his whole career, from his early days as a jazz drummer and his heroin addiction up to present day.
Click to expand...

I saw this film of Ginger some time ago.

As I have said previously, we shared the same teacher. I love Ginger Bakers playing, but never Ginger Baker.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a call from Pete York, he of Spencer Davis fame, and currently in Birmingham. He told me that he was working on a drum project with Ginger. That would be well worth watching.

Eddie
 
Likewise I have never met the guy, nor like Eddie do I ever wish to. If you're in the entertainment business, and I use that word very loosely, and if you want to keep working, then the last thing you do is to upset the audience or your fellow players, even if the audience is critical of your performance. There's a current example of this in our media right now and his name is Russell Brand. He has submitted both colleagues and audiences to bile, and he is now getting twice as much back, which will eventually result in no one wanting to employ him. I can think of at least three other TV presenters over the last few years whose behaviour fell far short of the mark and who have now effectively just disappeared.

You're in the public eye and people have certain expectations, it's as simple as that.

Maurice
 
Old Fashioned Love, played in an old-fashioned style, neatly summed
up Chris Pearce's Frenchmen Street Jazz Band's gig for the Sutton
Coldfield Trad Jazz Club's latest Wednesday night at Walmley Social
Club.
As Chris indicated when announcing the number the thought of 'old fashioned love' sends the ladies dreamy-eyed and their menfolk wondering what it means. Not like 'new-fangled love', that's for sure nor was his programme comprised of new-fangled music.
Chris chose the 'Frenchman Street' name for his band after staying in that well-known location on one of his trips to New Orleans undertaken to help his education in the music of the USA's deep south.
Signing in with Memphis Blues was proof enough that his band has a sense of musical history...that particular piece of music,when introduced by WC Handy in 1912, is regarded by some jazz historians as the sound that started it all off as a genre that is now in its second century.
Last night's version featured an atmospheric trombone solo by the ever-cheerful Richard Leach and a matching muted trumpet by Brian Bates, who was standing in for their regular trumpeter, Tony Pipkin.
Other numbers plucked from the golden era of jazz included Stevedore Stomp and Joe 'King' Oliver's Sweet Like This,the latter featuring Pearce himself on clarinet and Leach on trombone,always a stand-out feature when he's on stage.
Among the solos in an evening of pleasant ensemble playing was the leader's rendition of Some Day You'll be Sorry on soprano sax.
Pictures show Richard Leach, Frenchmen Street and Chris Pearce.
RICHARD LEACH RAMBLER.jpgChris Pearce.jpgRecently Updated10.jpg
 
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