Blog: The first Jazz Collective blog

A Happy New Year to all at GrapevineLive, a time to start afresh, turn over a new leaf and start listening to more jazz! No, don’t run away, jazz is nothing to be afraid of, in fact I have a sneaking suspicion that there’s a bit more jazz knocking around your collection than you might think. It’s just that jazz has changed, morphed in to something that doesn’t involve listening to some sax player waffle on tunelessly for hours while the rhythm section gets stuck into a 13/8 groove. No, jazz is having an influence upon the way songs are being arranged and sung, it’s having an influence upon the way music is being written and I mean pop music, chart topping stuff in fact. 

Over the festive period, whilst relaxing with a mince pie and a glass of port I was perusing the tele schedules and came across a Top of the Pops review of the year. A wave of nostalgia overcame me with memories of performances by Bowie, Bolan, Duran Duran and Talking Heads taking me back to the days when I actually used to watch TOTP, so I thought why not have a look and see what’s going on in the wacky world of popular music. Most of it was gibberish to me but then I’ve reached a certain maturity of years, however I was struck by the presence of the two most popular female performers of 2011 namely Adele and Amy Winehouse, two terrific singers who have achieved huge popular success whilst performing what seems to me to be music heavily influenced by jazz. Okay, so I’ll admit that they both work(ed) at the more soulful end of the jazz spectrum but the jazz bands I play in have been more than happy to cover songs by both of them and audiences have been happy to listen. Remember that once upon a time, before TOTP had ever been dreamt up, jazz was popular music which audiences danced and listened to. Songs by the likes of the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Duke Ellington and Hoagy Carmichael established a popular repertoire whilst at the same time were deeply rooted in jazz and these songs are still being played and covered today, even an old rocker like Rod Stewart has fallen for the seductive charms of the Great American Songbook.

As jazz is still having an influence on pop music  why not track down some of the original stuff, you might be surprised at what you discover and where your discoveries take you. One place you might end up is at the Ipswich Jazz Collective jam night which is held on the second Friday of every month at the Golden Hind, Nacton Road, Ipswich. Come along and listen or have a go, we welcome all players and singers whatever your ability. We start about 8.00 and run through until about 11.00 – 11.30

The Kol Paterson Band will be playing at The Thomas Wolsey, St. Peter’s Street, Ipswich on Thursday 12th of January. Come along and enjoy some mainstream jazz whilst supping a decent pint or vino or whatever you fancy really.

There’s another jam session once a month on the first Sunday at the Steamboat starting at 2.00 and of course there’s the Ipswich Jazz Club which puts on gigs once a month at the California Club, Foxhall Road featuring some of the best jazz players from the UK and around the world, gigs are usually the third Sunday of the month

And that’s just Ipswich

So there we have it, new year, new blog and if you’re wondering who I am I’m Des Hart and I run the Jazz jam at the Golden Hind and play in the Kol Paterson Band. You can contact me at hart.des1@gmail.com for anything jazz related or simply to tell me that my blog is rubbish but there’s more where this came from.

Des Hart