Interviews For Herts Jazz Film Festival 2018

For this year's Herts Jazz Festival I was able to bring back the Herts Jazz Film Festival. We only had space for two films, but they were rather special. My interviews with Gareth Williams (about accompanying a Buster Keaton masterpiece) and director Gary Barber (about his documentary on legendary tenor player Bobby Wellins) are reporduced …

Interview: Mornington Lockett to front special Herts Jazz Festival concert in celebration of Bobby Wellins

My interview with Mornington Lockett was originally published in London Jazz News.   One of the highlights of this year’s Herts Jazz Festival is a concert put together by one of the UK’s most accomplished jazz saxophonists, Mornington Lockett, in celebration of the music of one of his heroes, the late great Scottish saxophonist, Bobby …

Bobby

Tonight, it feels like the world is nervously holding its breath. As the presidential election votes are being counted, I find I can't sleep. A thought has popped into my head - "at least Bobby doesn't have to worry about all this..." As well as bringing back the terrible sadness of his sudden passing, just a …

Herts Jazz Festival 2012

Some brief notes... Alyn Shipton says* in his 5 star review of the Herts Jazz Festival in The Times:- This young festival is only in its second year, but it deserves already to be ranked as one of Britain’s finest and most high quality jazz events. Shipton quite rightly focuses on what was the highlight …

It doesn’t get much better than this – the Herts Jazz Festival 2012…

As well as the Cambridge Film Festival, I am also very excited about the upcoming Herts Jazz Festival, which is taking place at Campus West in Welwyn Garden City over the weekend of 14-16 September. The host of this event - Herts Jazz Club - holds a very special place in my affections. It is …

Bobby Wellins – Birds of Brazil

Good news! The website of top British saxophonist Bobby Wellins reports that:- Bobby’s CD, Birds of Brazil, recorded in 1989 and long unavailable has been re-released by HEP records. Just checking out who's in Bobby's quartet on this album lets you know that you're in for some quality jazz: there's the late great Pete Jacobsen …

Stan Tracey, Bobby Wellins and the awards…

The Ivor Novello Awards have presented their first ever Ivors Jazz Award to one of our greatest musicians, the wonderful Stan Tracey, who is still composing and playing beautifully crafted and inventive jazz in his eighties. Here's a short commentary from London Jazz on the award. It's fitting that one of Stan's long-time musical partners, …

The story behind a favourite portrait: Stan Tracey by William Ellis

One of my favourite portraits of the jazz legend Stan Tracey is that by William Ellis. So I was very pleased to come across this New Statesman piece where Ellis discusses some of his portraits, starting with the one of Stan. This photograph of Stan Tracey, sometimes called the "Godfather of British Jazz", was taken …