Vibes described as Joel Ross makes a swift return

Joel Ross made the biggest impact a vibes player has made in many years with his Blue Note record KingMaker last year and the label swiftly builds on the great impact he made first time around with on 23 October a new record titled Who Are You? that …

Published: 28 Aug 2020. Updated: 3 years.

Joel Ross made the biggest impact a vibes player has made in many years with his Blue Note record KingMaker last year and the label swiftly builds on the great impact he made first time around with on 23 October a new record titled Who Are You? that also features in its line-up another new Blue Note star Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, plus Jeremy Corren on piano, Kanoa Mendenhall on bass, and Jeremy Dutton on drums, with harpist Brandee Younger guesting and Walter Smith III producing, 'More' from the album is streaming.

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Who's speaking up for jazz?

During the pandemic it's true to say that some are suffering more than others. And certainly the live music industry is suffering more than most with no end in sight or even a watertight plan to return to normality. With live music niche areas like …

Published: 28 Aug 2020. Updated: 3 years.

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During the pandemic it's true to say that some are suffering more than others. And certainly the live music industry is suffering more than most with no end in sight or even a watertight plan to return to normality. With live music niche areas like jazz struggle that bit more. But who is speaking for jazz? When you think of the bodies who represent jazz on a more high profile level, some have organised Zoom webinars or put on Live streaming events which are really useful and a morale-boost but what about the bigger organisations, for instance the All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group, the Jazz Promotion Network, the Europe Jazz Network, the National Jazz Archive, NYJO, the list goes on. Surely they can do more to advocate to the wider public at this time of crisis and place any resources they can spare in the effort to prop up what they can. At the very least they need to be relentless in their efforts, speak to the media more, explain what issues musicians and artists are facing because let's face it everyone out there in the arts has a hardship story to tell. I read so many stories usually in the US press about what a ''buzzing London scene'' there is out there which, surveying closed clubs everywhere, is a laugh. But that's the way it was before the pandemic. Can it ever return to that level of engagaement? Clubs are certainly being left out in the Darwinian cold although emergency government grants and their own fundraising efforts are staving off closure for some at least for the moment. Clubs are mainly fighting on their own and need the support of the bigger bodies. As we approach the autumn, which is usually a significant time with the London Jazz Festival, one of the biggest festivals in the UK, doing its best this year to stage a 2020 festival both online and in person, it's crunch time for the music but also a chance once again for organisations who advocate for the music to reassess what they are doing and come together to get the message out and if possible allot practical resources to keep jazz alive in these exceptionally straitened times.