Post-World War II Jazz in Britain
Venues and Values 1945–1970
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v7i1.113Keywords:
jazz, jazz clubs, mediation, reception, venueAbstract
This article explores the ways in which jazz was presented and mediated through venue in post-World War II London. During this period, jazz was presented in a variety of ways in different venues, on four of which I focus: New Orleans-style jazz commonly performed for the same audiences in Rhythm Clubs and in concert halls (as shown by George Webb’s Dixielanders at the Red Barn public house and the King’s Hall); clubs hosting different styles of jazz on different nights of the week that brought in different audiences (such as the 100 Club on Oxford Street); clubs with a fixed stylistic ideology that changed venue, taking a regular fan base and musicians to different locations (such as Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club); and jazz in theatres (such as the Little Theatre Club and Mike Westbrook’s compositions for performance in the Mermaid Theatre).
References
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——(1958) Second Chorus. Letchworth: MacGibbon and Kee.
——(1975) Take It from the Top. London: Robson Books.
——(1978) The Best of Jazz: Basin Street to Harlem, Jazz Masters and Masterpieces 1917–1930. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
——(1984) Why No Beethoven? London: Robson Books.
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Moore, Hilary (2007) Inside British Jazz: Crossing Borders of Race, Nation and Class. Aldershot: Ashgate. Musicians’ Union (n.d.) http://www.muhistory.com/?page_id=196 ( accessed 24 April 2014).
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Pelote, Vincent (2000) ‘Jazz Clubs’. In The Oxford Companion to Jazz, ed. Bill Kirchner, 722–33. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pickering, Michael (2008) Blackface Minstrelsy in Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Schuller, Gunther (1968) Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Scott, Ronnie, with Mike Hennessey (1979) Some of My Best Friends Are Blues. London: W. H. Allen.
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Tackley, Catherine (2012) Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, Jeff (2000) ‘The Early Origins of Jazz’. In The Oxford Companion to Jazz, ed. Bill Kirchner, 39–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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——(2013) ‘The Relevance of Jazz History in British Jazz Practice and Pedagogy’. Journal of Music History Pedagogy 3/2 (Spring): 187–94.
Berliner, Paul (1994) ‘Vibes and Venues: Interacting with Different Audiences in Different Settings’. In Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation, 449–84. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226044521.001.0001
Brunn, H. O. (1961) The Original Dixieland Jazz Band. London: Sidgwick and Jackson.
Burnim, Mellonee V., and Portia K. Maultsby, eds. (2006) African American Music: An Introduction. New York: Routledge.
Carr, Ian (2008) Music Outside: Contemporary Jazz in Britain, 2nd edition. London: Northway Publications (first published 1973 by Latimer New Dimensions Ltd.).
Crease, Robert P. (2000) ‘Jazz and Dance’. In The Oxford Companion to Jazz, ed. Bill Kirchner, 696–706. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
DeVeaux, Scott (2000) ‘The Advent of Bebop’. In The Oxford Companion to Jazz, ed. Bill Kirchner, 292–304. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fordham, John (2009) Ronnie Scott’s at Fifty. London: Palmgren Limited.
Godbolt, Jim (1986) A History of Jazz in Britain, 1919–50. London: Paladin Books (first published 1984).
Harvey, Eddie (2010) Interview with the author. Richmond, 2 March.
——(1988) Jazz in the Classroom. London: Boosey and Hawkes.
Heining, Duncan (2012) Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers: British Jazz, 1960–1975. Sheffield: Equinox.
Levine, Lawrence W. (1988) Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lyttelton, Humphrey (1954) I Play as I Please: The Memoirs of an Old Etonian Trumpeter. Letchworth: MacGibbon and Kee.
——(1958) Second Chorus. Letchworth: MacGibbon and Kee.
——(1975) Take It from the Top. London: Robson Books.
——(1978) The Best of Jazz: Basin Street to Harlem, Jazz Masters and Masterpieces 1917–1930. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
——(1984) Why No Beethoven? London: Robson Books.
McKay, George (2005) Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain. London: Duke University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/9780822387282 Melody Maker (1935) ‘No American Bands Need Apply’. 30 March, p. 1.
Moore, Hilary (2007) Inside British Jazz: Crossing Borders of Race, Nation and Class. Aldershot: Ashgate. Musicians’ Union (n.d.) http://www.muhistory.com/?page_id=196 ( accessed 24 April 2014).
Parsonage, Catherine (2005) The Emergence of Jazz in Britain: 1885–1935. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Pelote, Vincent (2000) ‘Jazz Clubs’. In The Oxford Companion to Jazz, ed. Bill Kirchner, 722–33. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pickering, Michael (2008) Blackface Minstrelsy in Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Schuller, Gunther (1968) Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Scott, Ronnie, with Mike Hennessey (1979) Some of My Best Friends Are Blues. London: W. H. Allen.
Small, Christopher (1998) Musicking: The Meanings of Performance and Listening. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
Tackley, Catherine (2012) Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, Jeff (2000) ‘The Early Origins of Jazz’. In The Oxford Companion to Jazz, ed. Bill Kirchner, 39–52. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Williams, John C. (2012) Interview with the author. Ratlinghope, Shropshire, 27 February 2010.
Williams, Katherine. (2012) ‘Valuing Jazz: Cross-cultural Comparisons of the Classical Influence in Jazz’. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk/2622
——(2013) ‘The Relevance of Jazz History in British Jazz Practice and Pedagogy’. Journal of Music History Pedagogy 3/2 (Spring): 187–94.
Published
2014-10-07
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Williams, K. A. (2014). Post-World War II Jazz in Britain: Venues and Values 1945–1970. Jazz Research Journal, 7(1), 113-131. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v7i1.113
