Award winning UK Jazz guitarist Nigel Price, tirelessly works to support the UK jazz industry and takes clear and relevant actions to encourage and force change where needed. On 17th February 2022 Nigel sent a letter, endorsed by 68 other previous Parliamentary Jazz Award recipients (which includes us), including Dame Cleo Laine DBE, to Nadine Dorries - the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, UK.  Nigel explains 'The letter clearly details the present alarming situation that has caused a serious lack of funding of the UK’s grassroots jazz infrastructure and is an appeal for intervention to ensure that financial support for this vital part of our heritage is not overlooked in the Government’s well documented push to kick start the Arts following the pandemic. 

The letter addresses these key points:
1. Lack of accessibility to funding to those without dedicated premises and/or company status.
2. Disparity in funding between large and small venues.
3. The fiercely competitive nature of the Arts Council bidding process leading to a higher incidence failure amongst grassroots promoters.
4. The urgent need for a simpler process in order to get help to these smaller venues.

Nigel has asked for the support of the Jazz industry and we are very happy to do so and publish his letter below. Change must happen.

Rt Hon Nadine Dorries MP

Secretary of State

Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
100 Parliament Street
London
SW1A 2BQ

17th February 2022

Dear Secretary of State

My name is Nigel Price. I am a prominent UK jazz guitarist and previous APPJAG award recipient. 

I write to you to today, with the support of another 68 Parliamentary Jazz Award recipients, led by Dame Cleo Laine, to inform you of the alarming financial state of many of the UK’s grass roots jazz venues as we move into 2022.

The funds recently allocated via the ‘Cultural Recovery Fund’ and the ‘Emergency Grassroots Venues Fund’ has simply NOT REACHED grassroots venues. We have already seen several clubs close their doors permanently and the future of dozens of others is now hanging by a thread.

We cannot allow this vital part of our heritage to be eroded.

The issue is very specific. Without permanent premises or company status, any application to Arts Council England’s current Cultural Recovery Fund or the Emergency Grass Roots Venues Fund is prohibited. Around 90% of UK jazz venues therefore do not qualify for any financial assistance. It should be noted that this includes many actual Parliamentary Jazz Award winners. This is surely not a workable scenario and needs to be addressed. 

Project grants are permitted for these promoters but there is a further problem. The brave souls who run these provincial jazz clubs have absolutely zero experience in the world of funding and Arts Council England (ACE) applications. I myself know how tough these applications are; having toured the UK with ACE support nine times. I have failed more times than I have succeeded. Whilst ‘on the road’ I have had many conversations with these amazing people, and those who have previously attempted ACE applications all say roughly the same thing – “It was horrendously difficult, took forever to complete and we didn’t get the money anyway.”

Even if promoters manage to get a bid of their own submitted, they are extremely unlikely to succeed because they are then in direct and fierce competition with professional bid writers, who are often employed by larger establishments to ensure a successful outcome.

Paul Kelly, Director of Swanage Jazz Festival and an experienced bid writer illustrates this in detail:

“Let’s Create, Arts Council England’s ambitious 10 Year strategy published in 2021, has a bold vision. ‘By 2030, we want creative nation in which every one of us can play a part. England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences.’

Let’s Create is built around three outcomes – Creative People, Cultural Communities and A Creative and Cultural Country.  A key means of delivering this outcome lies in Arts Council England’s (ACE) grant funding, access too much of which is via Grantium, its online grants application system. Grantium has long been disliked by applicants for its complexity and even some Arts Council Officers have expressed reservations.  When ACE released its Let’s Create Delivery Plan late in 2021 and revised its funding criteria, some of us hoped it might also reform Grantium and make it more user friendly. 

Not so;  Grantium has become even more complex, even to the experienced fundraiser, and very little of it directly refers to the creative idea that is being bid for.  This sits at odds with ACE’s strategic objective of creating a nation “in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish”.  Rather than encourage diversity, access and creative development, Grantium is highly likely to deter potential applicants, especially at the grassroots, especially where relatively small amounts of funding can make a huge difference to both non-profit voluntary organisation and the often many professional artists they employ or who wish to bid for funds themselves. The sheer complexity of the 45 page, 24 section Grantium form deters those who want to deliver creative projects and employ professional artists, with need of only modest amounts of funding. It is these people, many of whom willingly give their time for free, on which the bedrock of creative activity in England is built. If this country’s arts and culture are to thrive, Grantium needs urgent reform.”

A scan down the list of past recipients of the Cultural Recovery Fund tells you that those successful applicants now have a very secure future. That’s brilliant. In stark contrast, those who were unsuccessful or indeed unable to ask for help have been left with absolutely nothing and face a bleak and rocky road ahead of them. Can you imagine the state of morale amongst these people? Typically a club will be run by an individual or small committee who, driven by their passion for the music, often soak up financial shortfalls with their own money.  

This from Simon Brown, Director of Norwich Jazz Club: “I continue to run Norwich Jazz Club out of a desire to perform and to advocate the music I love - but which I’ve come to feel is a faintly naïve qualification when in order to succeed (at least in the current climate) your best qualification is as a professional funding applicant. Each gig I stage now generally falls slightly short of washing its face and I underwrite the losses out of my own pocket. With the background cost of living on the rise it’s probably not a position I’ll be able to maintain for much longer.”

This next illustration is from Julie Sheppard, Director of ‘Jazz Jurassica’ Lyme Regis. “The regional jazz circuit relies on a band of volunteer promoters operating out of a variety of local venues. They have little support for the vital work they do - and many will soon “retire” with little sign of who will replace them. If jazz is to thrive outside the big metropolitan centres then this fragile part of the ecosystem needs bolstering. Where will that support come from?  Arts Council? Jazz Promotion Network?  Local councils? And who is giving voice to their challenges and needs?”

Promoters all over the country are echoing these sentiments. Make no mistake. We are in very real danger of losing a valuable part of our heritage.

Throughout the pandemic, limits on audience capacity and fear of infection have battered an already struggling industry. Without some assistance we are going to see more casualties very soon. Just in the last few weeks we have seen clubs throw in the towel: Peterborough Jazz, Herts jazz, Folkestone Jazz Club, Shepperton Jazz Club. Who’s next? The regional UK jazz clubs are the very arteries that supply the veins of larger clubs. Legendary venues like Ronnie Scott’s wouldn’t even exist without this utterly essential infrastructure. Young up and coming musicians gain the invaluable experience they need by playing at these clubs and we risk losing them at our peril. In very real terms this means that the future of UK jazz is under threat. If we don’t act now then we will have a very stark future.

Putting art and culture aside for a second, it’s also worth recognising that the revenue from UK jazz is without doubt of significant value to the UK economy. 

My view is that this situation could actually be rectified quite simply. One solution is to create a ‘proper’ grassroots fund that will go further than the recent ACE fund by specifically supporting clubs that hold events in non-dedicated premises, and hold no company status. If such a fund were to be created it is an absolute requirement that the form will have to be simpler. The applications would be made by regular, ordinary people. Not professional bid writers. Without these kinds of concessions their applications will fail.

 I hope I have put across the message clearly and that this letter will encourage a meaningful response. I have copied this letter to Darren Henley, CEO Arts Council England and the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group for discussion amongst APPJAG members and their colleagues in both Houses of Parliament.

Without immediate action the face of the UK jazz scene will irrevocably change for the worse.

I have personally invited other past recipients of the Parliamentary Jazz Awards to add their signatures to this letter and the response has been nothing short of overwhelming, with other respected figures within the UK Jazz scene also volunteering their support below.

We implore you to help us keep the music we all love alive here on these islands by making funding more available and attainable for grassroots venues.

Yours sincerely 

Nigel Price - 2010 APPJAG Ensemble of the year 

(Nigel Price Organ Trio)

 With the support of Parliamentary Jazz Award recipients:

 Dame Cleo Laine DBE - Services to Jazz Award (2009)

Claire Martin OBE – Jazz Album of the Year (2021)

Guy Barker MBE - Jazz Musician of the Year (2013)

Dr Tommy Smith OBE – Jazz Education of the Year (2016)

Cleveland Watkiss MBE – Jazz Vocalist of the Year (2017)

Julian Joseph OBE – Jazz Broadcaster of the year (2006)

Dennis Rollins MBE – Jazz Educator of the Year (2008)

Elaine Delmar – Parliamentary Special Jazz Award (2013)

Alyn Shipton – Jazz Broadcaster of the Year (2010)

Dr Ian Darrington MBE - Jazz Educator of the Year (2011)

John Eno BEM – Jazz Education of the Year (2020)

Chris Hodgkins - Services to Jazz Award (2015)

Ian Shaw - Jazz Vocalist of the Year (2018)

Liane Carroll - Jazz Album of the Year (2018)

Xhosa Cole – Jazz Newcomer of the Year (2019)

Mike Flynn, Jazzwise - Jazz Publication of the Year (2010)

Jean Toussaint - Jazz Education of the Year Award (2018)

Callum Au - Jazz Album of the Year (2021)

Empirical - Jazz Ensemble of the year (2008)

Tony Kofi - Jazz Ensemble of the Year (2005)

Georgia Mancio - Jazz Vocalist of the Year (2021)

Paul Pace -   Services to Jazz Award (2008)

Phil Robson – Jazz Musician of the Year (2009)

Mark Lockheart - Jazz Musician of the Year (2010)

Gareth Lockrane - Jazz Album of the Year (2010)

Kathy Dyson - Jazz Educator of the Year Award (2010)

Zoe Champion - Jazz Vocalist of the Year (2019

Kate Williams (& Georgia Mancio) - Jazz Album of the Year (2020)

Pete Oxley, the Spin, Oxford - APPJAG Live Jazz Award of the Year (2012)

John Turville – Jazz Album of the Year (2011)

Alison Rayner - Jazz Ensemble of the Year (2018)

Emilia Martensson - Jazz Vocalist of the Year (2016)

Jasper Hoiby - Jazz Ensemble of the Year (2017)

Professor Catherine Tackley – Jazz Publication of the Year (2013)

Luca Manning - 2020 Jazz Newcomer of the Year (2020)

Christine Tobin - Jazz Vocalist of the Year (2014)

Henry Lowther - 2019 Parliamentary Special Jazz Award (2019)

Nick Smart - Jazz Education of the Year Award (2013)

Tim Garland - 2006 Jazz Musician of the Year (2006)

Jim Mullen - 2017 Parliamentary Special Award (2017)

Mike Walker, Impossible Gentlemen - Jazz Ensemble of the Year (2013)

Phil Meadows - Jazz Newcomer of the Year (2015)

Nikki Iles – Jazz Album of the Year (2019)

Paul Hobbs/Kathryn Shackleton, Watermill Jazz, Dorking  – Jazz Venue of the Year (2019)

Paul Deats, Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham  –  Jazz Venue of the Year (2021)

Brian Kellock – Jazz Ensemble of the Year (2011)

Joanna Mayes, St Ives  – Jazz Venue of the year (2015)

Dr Corey Mwamba –  Jazz Media Award (2020)

Fergus McCreadie – Jazz Album of the Year (2019)

Ryan Quigley – Jazz Ensemble of the Year (2009)

Sam Crockatt –  Jazz Album of the Year (2009)

Ross Dines, Pizza Express, London  –  Jazz Venue of the Year (2007)

Ian Mann –   Jazz Media Award (2019)

Pete Rosser and Judith Waterhouse, Wakefield Jazz Club – Jazz Venue of the Year (2005)

Fiona Ross, Women In Jazz Media –  Jazz Media Award (2021)

Lance Liddle, Bebop Spoken Here –  Jazz Media Award (2018)

Jill Rodger – Services to Jazz Award (2018)

Jon Newey,/Jazzwise – Jazz Journalist of the year (2012)

Peter Fairman, Fleece Jazz – Jazz Venue of the Year (2009)

Gill Alexander – Jazz Venue of the Year (2008)

Simon Purcell – Jazz Educator of the Year (2006)

Sebastian Scotney, Jazz London News – Jazz Publication of the Year (2015)

Kevin Le Gendre – Jazz Journalist of the Year (2009)

Josephine Davies – Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year (2009)

Digby Fairweather – Special Award (2021)

Stuart Nicholson – Jazz Journalist of the year (2007)

Debra Milne – Lockdown Innovation Award, The Globe, Newcastle (2021)

Buster Birch – Jazz Education award, Original Jazz Summer School (2021)

Other signatories:

 Clark Tracey BEM (for music promotion) – for Herts Jazz (recently closed)

Jacqui Dankworth

Alec Dankworth

Laurie Jacobs - Peterborough Jazz Club (recently closed)

Simon Brown - Norwich Jazz Club

Julie Sheppard - Jazz Jurassica

Paul Kelly - Swanage Jazz Festival

Trefor Owen - North Wales Jazz (recently closed)

Ashley Slater - for ‘Loose Tubes’

Clive Davies – Times Journalist

 CC  Executive Committee of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group: John Spellar MP, Lord Mann, Lord Colwyn, Lord Alton, Greg Knight MP, Alison Thewliss MP, Chi Onwurah MP, Ian Paisley MP, Sarah Champion MP, Chris Hodgkins (Secretary).

Darren Henley, CEO. Arts Council England

Ladies that do so much than Lunch! The 2nd session in our new zoom series with special guest Wendy Kirkland is on Monday May 9th 8pm to 9pm BST. Email us here to book a place!

After the huge success of our ‘Ladies that do so much than Lunch’ event in London as part of the London Jazz Festival, we wanted to continue these supportive, networking session with some online events.

One of the key things we hear from women is that they feel alone and unsupported. Wondering if their experiences are the same as others, from small things to big things – who does your PR, how do you get gigs, how do you find the time, juggling life and work, can we really do it all… sharing experiences and having the opportunity to ask questions in an open and transparent environment is vital.

Each session is an opportunity to meet other women working in the jazz industry, ask questions and share experiences and stories, very relaxed and open. We will have a special guest for each session and will begin with a Q&A with our guest to get the conversations started.

Finding a time when everyone is available is of course, impossible, so we will run these sessions at different times and different days, every couple of months, so hopefully, if you are interested, you will be able to attend one, some or all! Each session is a stand-alone session, so you can attend any, whenever you would like to.

Dress Code: Dress how you feel! Onesies, ballgowns, jeans – dress up or dress down. Wear whatever makes you feel you. Don’t feel like being on camera? No pressure to have it on – up to you.

Refreshments: Tea, coffee, smoothie, champagne, whisky – come prepared with anything you would like to raise a glass/mug with!

Please note these sessions will not be recorded and will not be public. Zoom link will be sent once you book place. Email us here to book a place!

Our latest 'In Conversation with...'episode is now live! We have tempted back special guest host, Hannah Horton who chats to Tatiana Gorilovsky, available here

Born in Russia, Tatiana Gorilovsky is an award winning freelance photographer based in London. She started to photograph jazz musicians around 2008 in Moscow and continued after moving to London with her family in 2015. Tatiana’s pictures have been published in Jazzwise magazine, The Guardian, The Times, Financial Times, Time Out and many other printed and digital media. She is the winner of several photographic contests and her photographs have been exhibited in Moscow, Stuttgart and London. Tatiana loves to convey the atmosphere of the gigs with creative shots which use long exposure and multiple exposure.  She also often photographs in the studio or outside to create portraits for different promotional purposes and album covers. Tatiana’s Covid innovative lockdown pro-ject, a ‘Women in Jazz’ calendar, presents 125 black and white portraits of female jazz musicians with the QR codes leading to the music for each one.

 http://www.tatianajazzphoto.com/

Hannah is a British Female Jazz Saxophonist who’s music is rooted in jazz, folk and funk. She has performed with many great jazz artists including Ian Shaw, Amy Winehouse, John Etheridge, Tina May, Georgia Mancio, Polly Gibbons, Natalie Williams, Esther Bennett and Irene Serra; and at venues including Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express Dean St, The 606, The Pheasantry, Love Supreme Jazz Festival, Royal Festival Hall and The Barbican. She has also toured in Europe and USA with her own and other groups. Her latest album has been going down a storm across the world. “Hannah makes the big beast of a baritone sax sound like an angel” – Ian Shaw https://hannahhorton.com/

Our new Women in Jazz Media Playlist is now out: Volume 11. We publish a new playlist each month and try to share a wide range of women from across the world - new releases, legacy artists, new and established artists and also some women we think you should know about but maybe don't! We keep it to 15 artists per playlist to give you time to discover, listen and share these incredible women. Do please get in touch if you have music you would like us to include - either your own or recommendations. We are especially keen to share music from female instrumentalists and composers.

As always we would encourage you to buy directly from the artist, and all the links are on our site here:

Emily Francis Trio The Fabulous Red Diesel Tokunbo Michele Osten Faye Patton Melody Dornfeld

Pearl Cutten  Alina Bzhezhinska Teagan Faran Alexis Lombre Geri Allen Regina Carter Tiny Davis

Joy Ellis Germana Stella La Sorsa

Welcome to our monthly team news! We like to share some of the work the team have been doing both inside and outside of their Women in Jazz media work and we have all been very busy with the recent International Women’s Day too! We have been overwhelmed by the reception of our magazine and have been having an amazing time sharing some incredible women with you all. Thank you for all of your support.

We are thrilled to have Tatiana Gorilovsky join our team and you will find some of her incredible photographs in our latest magazine. As per usual, Tatiana has had many incredible photoshoots including the 606, Pizza Express, The Cockpit and Jazz Café. She is starting to work on a second edition of her Women in Jazz Calendar. Tatiana shares with us ‘probably the most important photoshoot was in the Cockpit for "The concert for Ukraine" organised by Alina Bzhezhinska. It was really amazing line-up and very emotional gig’. You can support here

Jiaowei Hu has been busy exploring the rich jazz scene in China and shared her thoughts with us in our latest magazine in her article Jazz HER’s in China: Part of HER’s, Part of the Global Community Her latest article for Blue Note Jazz Club ‘Into the Frame: Welcome to the world of Jazz’ brilliantly explores artwork in Jazz.

Wendy Kirkland’s latest album ‘Latin Lowdown Live’ has had some more incredible reviews ‘Lowdown Live is proof that some good came out of all of this; some great music, that started life in Wendy’s living room, but is now being heard by hundreds of thousands of people. Highly recommended’ and she is, as always, busy gigging across the UK. Do check her site here to buy tickets and her music.

Wendy interviewed the fantastic Zoe Rahman in our latest magazine, which you can read here: Where Worlds Meet

Esther Bennett recently interviewed Emily Francis for her ‘Something New’ series on our Jazz in Europe Column, which you can read here and her next gig is at The Red House on March 26th, singing some original classics and some jazz standards. Tickets here Photo by Monika S Jakubowska and talking of which...

Monika S Jakubowska has been out and about as per usual taking incredible shots and her photo of the brilliant Cleveland Watkiss was chosen for the front cover of the brilliant Echoes. You will also find her photos in our latest magazine and she gets a special mention in this review of Alina Bzhezhinska gig at Ronnie Scotts on International Women’s day – read here

Diana Torti shared her thoughts on the inspirational Jeanne Lee in our latest magazine in her ‘Women Who Inspire’ article here

Kim has brand-new music coming soon and is thrilled to have some of her original music featured in a new release audio drama 'The Humanist' by WE Roberts and published by Blackstone. Keep an eye out for her new release music and forthcoming music video!

Kim is also busy performing at jazz clubs and music venues, with many clubs inviting her back this year to perform her 'Great Music, Good Times' show with her band of top UK jazz musicians. Most recently her return to 'Jazz at the Manor' in Tamworth saw a record number of audience members keen to get back to happier times. Forthcoming 'live' performances include a collaboration with phenomenal jazz violinist, vocalist and pianist Ben Holder on Friday 25th March and a return to Chapel Arts in Cheltenham on Wednesday 13th April following two sell-out gigs last year. Tickets available here: The Draycote Chapel Arts Next month Kim is also embarking on a mini tour with her US guitar buddy B.D. Lenz, performing at Nantwich Jazz, Blues & Music Festival, The Bear Club Luton and Smokey Joe's Cheltenham. 

And lastly for this month, we don’t normally include Fiona Ross, but she has interviewed some incredible women lately, so we wanted to share some of her recent articles. Molly Johnson The Woodshed Network Women in Live Music and Alina Bzhezhinska

Thank you for reading some of our updates!

We are all devastated by the horrors happening in Ukraine and we are doing as much as we can to support the incredible fund raising initiatives and projects happening across the world. We would like to highlight the following:

Alina Bzhezhinska Support Ukraine

Solidarity with Ukraine Charity Evening

Housing for Ukrainian Refugees

Ladies that do so much than Lunch! Our new zoom series!

After the huge success of our ‘Ladies that do so much than Lunch’ event in London as part of the London Jazz Festival, we are launching a series of online events.

One of the key things we hear from women is that they feel alone and unsupported. Wondering if their experiences are the same as others, from small things to big things – who does your PR, how do you get gigs, how do you find the time, juggling life and work, can we really do it all… sharing experiences and having the opportunity to ask questions in an open and transparent environment is vital.

Each session is an opportunity to meet other women working in the jazz industry, ask questions and share experiences and stories, very relaxed and open. We will have a special guest for each session and will begin with a Q&A with our guest to get the conversations started.

Finding a time when everyone is available is of course, impossible, so we will run these sessions at different times and different days, every couple of months, so hopefully, if you are interested, you will be able to attend one, some or all! Each session is a stand-alone session, so you can attend any, whenever you would like to.

Dress Code: Dress how you feel! Onesies, ballgowns, jeans – dress up or dress down. Wear whatever makes you feel you. Don’t feel like being on camera? No pressure to have it on – up to you.

Refreshments: Tea, coffee, smoothie, champagne, whisky – come prepared with anything you would like to raise a glass/mug with!

Please note these sessions will not be recorded and will not be public. Zoom link will be sent once you book place.

Our first session is on April 1st at 6pm UK time and our guest is Kim Cypher! Email us here to book a place!