Choose your guide through the History of British Jazz:
STUART NICHOLSON
Originally a professional musician, Stuart Nicholson has been a full-time journalist for thirty years. His first book, 'Jazz: The Modern Resurgence' appeared in 1990. A detailed overview of jazz to be heard in the 1980s, it received widespread acclaim on publication and is now regarded as the definitive work on what was an important renascent decade for jazz. Biographies of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holdiay and Duke Ellington followed, all to critical acclaim. 'Is Jazz Dead (Or Has It Moved To A New Address)' prompted pianist and acclaimed author of 'The History of Jazz', Ted Gioia to claim that the author “...may be the most perceptive critic writing about jazz today”.
'A Short History of British Jazz' was written in 2007 for the Brit Jazz Showcase at the IAJE in Toronto.
JOHN FORDHAM
John Fordham is best known as jazz critic for the Guardian and editor of Jazz UK magazine from 1999 until 2008. He is also the author of Jazz (1993), a much admired encyclopaedia of jazz covering its history, musicians and recordings. He wrote a definitive biography of saxophonist and club owner Ronnie Scott, 'Let's Join Hands and Contact the Living' and has been a regular contributor to 'Jazz on 3' for BBC Radio 3. Greatly respected by the British jazz community, he has won the Parliamentary Jazz Awards best journalist award an incredible three times since 2005.
'A History of British Jazz' first appeared in Jazz UK magazine in 2002