Tomorrow would have been the 93rd birthday of the Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott, so I have been digging out some of his records over the past couple of days.
Over the past year or so I have been really diving into the early British jazz scene (almost to an obsessive level to be honest) and just keep uncovering more and more gold. It was such a rich and diverse scene that was overshadowed by its American counterparts and as a result, a lot of the music never really got the recognition it deserved.
I think one of the reasons I'm so interested is that it all happened at my doorstep....in some cases literally. I will post a photo below of a theatre that used to be situated across the road from my window. Tubby Hayes played there as well as several other big named musicians. It's now a relatively bland office building (which has some charm in its own way I suppose). As a Northerner that grew up in a small village, all of this local history is really interesting to me especially when it links to the jazz musicians I listen to today!
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