British jazz promoter who facilitated first UK visits for numerous American artists and was key in the creation of the Bracknell and London jazz festivals

Ron Rubin, the pianist, bassist and poet for many years at the centre of the British jazz scene, has died aged 86. Ron Rubin was...

“East Bay Grease”: there’s a genre name that has it all – locally specific, blue collar and funky. It borrows from the title of...

Now 31, Guy Barker has been a professional musician since he was 20. Yet he could hardly be described as well known in his...

'In terms of jazz, creativity is judged primarily by how original the thought is. Creativity in pop forms of music is in terms of how fresh can you be in repeating something that you've played before. It's like the type of creativity involved with classical music because that form is set - you've got specific notes that you play and you don't add to them, but each time you play that piece you have to make it sound as fresh as the first time. That's much more difficult than original thought, at least it is for me'

In JJ April 1980 Matthew Bateson introduced one of the most original British products of jazz-rock: 'A five piece ensemble, their music is more eclectic than that of most fusion groups; for although jazz and rock are primary elements, they also draw from funk and free improvisation, along with concepts taken from 20th century ‘straight’ music.'

'Humphrey Lyttelton’s famous "I ask myself if I want the New Statesman – breathing hotly down my neck every time I lift up the trumpet to blow?" (The Second Chorus, MacGibbon & Kee, 1958) foresaw the days, now with us, when jazz has been dragged from pit to respectability, com­plete with Arts Council Grants and unlimited space in the Sunday press'

The Aldwych Lyceum has of late been fos­tering in the folds of its Victorian opulence certain rock soirées. A recent one featured Jack Bruce...

'In Ornette Coleman, and his trump­eter Don Cherry, we are faced with men whose technique does not permit complete expression of their intensely original and poignant ideas. Moved by the sincerity and the passion indicated, the listener cannot help being disturbed by the unresolved ideas as the musicians reach for aims they can only partly communicate. The mixture of creat­ivity and inadequacy left this writer limp, excited but bewildered'

"Let It Rock" is typical of Chuck Berry's better performances - the amount of swing generated is breath-taking, and the lyrics, for a change,...

If there is one phrase to sum up the essential character of John Coltrane's music, it is "magnificent unconcern". What appears to be his...

My advice is to rush out and buy this disc immediately. It is one of the best jazz discs I have heard so far...