Advertisement
Advertisement

Martin Speake resigns over race politics and sues Trinity Laban

The saxophonist says he was constructively dismissed after holding there was no systemic racial inequality in the UK jazz scene and that critical race theory is divisive and dangerous

Martin Speake, the renowned British saxophonist at the centre of a racism row at Trinity Laban conservatory in south London, has resigned from the college after 22 years and is pursuing compensation for constructive dismissal. Talking to Talk TV’s Mike Graham on 7 January he said he had had to resign because Trinity had made his position “untenable” and that he wants “huge compensation and a public apology, for doing nothing wrong”.

The controversy developed early in 2024 after the principal of Trinity Laban sent emails to staff and students maintaining there was systemic racial inequality in jazz and supporting BLM initiatives. He invited feedback and Speake replied, expressing his view that there was no systemic racial inequality in the UK jazz scene and that critical race theory is divisive and dangerous. He shared his email with one student who shared it with a number of others, one of whom became “anxious” about what Speake had written and reported it to the head of jazz. Speake’s students heard about the email and decided in March 2024 to boycott his lessons. Speake said he was then on sick leave for five months. He continued “At the beginning of the autumn term they scheduled my classes as normal – three days of classes – but it was a 100% boycott by the students and Trinity Laban supported them on this rather than supporting me so I was totally discriminated against. Then, in the end, they made it untenable – I had to resign.”

- Advertisement -

Speake says he has had “incredible support” morally, financially and legally from the Free Speech Union, who have appointed a solicitor to prosecute claims against Trinity for discrimination in employment and constructive dismissal, with hearings set for September 2025 and August 2026. A CrowdJustice campaign, “Fighting for academic freedom and free speech in the Arts”, has been set up to cover Speake’s legal fees. There are also online petitions for and against the saxophonist.

One of the aspects that most troubles Speake is the absence of discussion. He says that after the student report to the head of jazz he suggested a meeting to discuss the matter but there was none and he has received no reply to his feedback email in some nine months. He tells Mike Graham “There’s no discussion about the issue at all and that’s what I wanted all along. I’m not even saying I’m right, actually. It’s not a right or wrong issue.” Graham observes that in his youth in the 1960s and 70s education encouraged ideas and opinion and Speake agrees, saying “Exactly… in those days you could talk about anything. You didn’t have to fall out about it and you certainly didn’t have to be cancelled. That wasn’t a word in our culture.”

- Advertisement -

Speake says the matter has damaged his employability in jazz: “All my income has gone because this has had a knock-on effect on two other conservatoires in London, where they just went in lock-step.” He has also lost playing work: “The London Jazz orchestra, a big band that I played in for 15 years, told me to step down.” He says clubs have cancelled gigs and that one club, Leicester Jazz House, “even paid the band to not go there”. He describes the reaction as “insanity”.

Graham reports that Speake has been ostracised for contending that “black musicians are not underrepresented in the UK but actually they have far more opportunities than many other people – which doesn’t seem to me to be a particularly controversial view”. Speake agrees, continuing “Festivals say ‘Can you have a black musician in your band?'” He adds that the consideration of skin colour is a “very shallow way of talking about diversity”, suggesting class is a far more significant problem.

- Advertisement -

There is a further Talk TV discussion of the topic between Ian Collins and Candice Holdsworth, the latter saying “We have educated young people to behave like this, and we’ve infantilised them. I mean, to shut a conversation down because it makes you feel anxious – that is a form of tyranny. It creates a low-trust environment where people just cannot speak their minds, and that is so limiting. You think about jazz and the arts – we associate them with free expression, the place where you go to be free.”

The Speake affair has also been covered by Slipped Disc (where veteran critic Norman Lebrecht says Speake has been “banned by mob-rule from teaching and performing”), in Music Teacher, and in Private Eye, the latter observing that “If Trinity’s students really are so delicate that this issue has sent them into nervous collapse, you wonder how they’ll cope with the reality of the performance world.”

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

Read more

More articles