Recalling vivid moments when all these elements converged, the interplay within the classic quartet of pianist Cedar Walton featuring a constantly beaming Billy Higgins on drums, David Williams on bass and the gritty New York tenor sax of Bob Berg, yearly visitors to Ronnie’s, became almost a ‘jazz archetype’ to my mind, of how the music should be presented.įast forward to September 1998, and following an extensive search for a suitable room for jazz in a good location, I was directed by a market trader in Earlham Street in Covent Garden to the Spice of Life pub, an elegant Victorian brick and stucco building situated next to the Palace Theatre (‘ Les Miserables’ was playing there at the time), just on the fringe of Cambridge Circus and half a minute’s walk from Ronnie Scott’s. To be in an intimate space with good acoustics, close-up to the performers and to feel the emotion and sound in one’s own body and intellect can be nothing short of magical, an experience heightened when in a room of like-minded souls. It was these visits to Ronnie’s and later to the Bass Clef set up in Hoxton by bassist Peter Ind in the 80s that became the inspiration in my own jazz promotion endeavors. Looking back, this period seems part of an incredible dream. The cornerstone of the scene, as it is now, was Ronnie Scott’s and along with seeking out musical adventures in the less auspicious but worthy venues, armed with my student membership I was able to visit Ronnie’s often and be in the company of musical icons such as Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Anita O’Day, Chet Baker, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Zoot Sims, Freddie Hubbard, Nina Simone and Buddy Rich. At that time, there was a healthy ‘grassroots’ scene which existed mainly in pubs alongside some imaginative programming by the Jazz Centre Society in three regular London venues – the Phoenix in Cavendish Square, Seven Dials Community Centre and the Architectural Association. With my central London flat as a base, and having contracted the ‘jazz bug’ a few years earlier, I was determined to experience as much live jazz as was humanly possible. It’s a strange feeling to have stuck with something for so long but maybe I should not be surprised since the promotion of jazz particularly in its live form has been a passion of mine since my student days in the 70s.
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This was a heady enough atmosphere for a jazz fan to contemplate prior to Mr Marsalis dropping by and gently leading his quorum of JLCO musicians through a brace of standards before soloing with the Guildhall Big Band on Ellington’s ‘ A Drum Is A Woman’ suite.
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The Jazz at the Lincoln Centre Orchestra were in residence at the Barbican and a handful of his musicians including trumpeter Terell Stafford were guesting with the Guildhall Big Band directed by Martin Hathaway at the Spice. A crowning moment was the visit last year of Wynton Marsalis. A number of performers such as Jamie Cullum, Soweto Kinch, the Puppini Sisters and James Hunter played some of their early gigs at the Spice and are now well established on the world circuit. We have presented a huge variety of musical outfits from solo performers to 20-piece big bands! Countless musicians have passed through the ‘Spicejazz’ portals encompassing those at the beginning of their careers and others more established with a fair sprinkling of British jazz legends such as Jim Mullen, Mike Garrick, Frank Holder, Kenny Wheeler, Peter King, Stan Sulzmann, Tommy Whittle, Barbara Jay, Art Themen, Don Weller, Mike and Kate Westbrook, Evan Parker and Harry Beckett along with US sax heavyweights Seamus Blake and Jim Snidero, masterful pianist Darius Brubeck, and a taste of New York jazz cabaret with Marlene Verplanck and Daryl Sherman.
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On Wednesday 6th November, I will have been promoting live jazz in its myriad of forms from traditional, swing, contemporary, funk and occasionally ‘improv’ at the Spice of Life pub in Soho for 15 years. That pianist does look familiar – Congratulations to Paul Pace who has been promoting at the Spice of Life for 15 years.