ESSAYS

This section includes essays on various jazz subjects, written by a number of writers. Contributions are welcome. Writers interested in contributing are welcome to contact the editor by filling out the form in the CONTACT tab. Photographs to illustrate those essays are welcome. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of articles in this folder.

JOHN SANGSTER: AN APPRECIATION

by Len Barnard

Jazz Magazine, March/April, 1982

To write an appreciation of an old friend is not all that easy, if one is to keep objectivity and the true essence running parallel. But to plunge in thus: JS is from hardy Scots stock, and wasn’t born with the modern gift of insincerity. In his younger days, he always had the questing mind, hearing all, reading voraciously. With all this absorption into his raw talent, his life needed only the heat of experience to fuse them together…

IMPROVISATION IN CLASSICAL MUSIC: WHERE DID IT GO?

by Brian Jenkins

YourMusicLessons.com, September, 2016

Classical musicians are typically stuck to their sheet music. If they don’t have music in front of them or memorized they are often completely handicapped at their instrument. There are two major ways that a musician can play music without reading. One is playing by ear, and the other is improvisation. The art of improvisation is now mainly associated with jazz music...

SOME OF MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

by Dave Ellis 

Facebook, April, 2018

No 1 would be the first LP I ever bought with my own money, and which I still love (still have my original copy), Miles Davis with Gil Evans and Orchestra (which reads like a Who's Who of the New York studio/jazz musicians), Porgy and Bess. No 2 followed hot on its heels, Sketches of Spain, same cast. Both of those albums, apart from the core material of each, were hugely influential on my developing musical tastes…