The oldest book in my considerable collection is ‘A Pictorial History of Jazz’ by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer Jr. which I bought from a local book shop when I was 15. I’d seen it in the window and every day as I passed the shop looked longingly at its cover. I saved my pocket money, bought it and read it over and over. It was lavishly illustrated with lots of grainy black and white photographs of jazz musicians. Aged 15 I knew what Charlie Parker, Miles, Monk, Ellington and Coltrane looked like, some time before I’d actually heard their music. I was in love with the image of jazz having only had a limited experience of the music itself. I learned about the chronology and history of jazz and its innovators. I bought the book in 1968, a time which now seems like a part of that jazz history – just before the coming of fusion. It was the music of Miles which finally got me hooked about 18 months after the scraping together of enough pocket money to claim my exciting purchase from the bookshop window display.
In the years since that time I must have attended hundreds of gigs.
In 1976 I was managing a record shop in the Birmingham Shopping Centre. I was listening to a great deal of music. Birmingham Jazz was just starting up. I remember the then chairman, George West, calling to see me and asking if I wouldn’t mind putting up a poster or perhaps having a few flyers on the counter of the shop. I was delighted to do my bit to promote jazz in Birmingham. I remember attending the first Birmingham Jazz Society gig, Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia - at the Grand Hotel on Colmore Row (September 26th. 1976). I’m not sure if it was a sell out but remember it being well attended.
In the years since then I’ve enjoyed many great evenings of jazz thanks to Birmingham Jazz.
The Rush Hour Blues concert series has proved to be a fantastic success. The Friday evening gigs draw audiences in the hundreds. For some time now I’ve been recording the event with my camera and the present collection of photographs you see in this exhibition are a small selection of many hundreds of images I’ve made in recent years in an attempt to capture something of the event for posterity. The seeds sown by the purchase of ‘A Pictorial History of Jazz’ all those years ago are represented here – my own grainy tribute to the music I love.
In the years since that time I must have attended hundreds of gigs.
In 1976 I was managing a record shop in the Birmingham Shopping Centre. I was listening to a great deal of music. Birmingham Jazz was just starting up. I remember the then chairman, George West, calling to see me and asking if I wouldn’t mind putting up a poster or perhaps having a few flyers on the counter of the shop. I was delighted to do my bit to promote jazz in Birmingham. I remember attending the first Birmingham Jazz Society gig, Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia - at the Grand Hotel on Colmore Row (September 26th. 1976). I’m not sure if it was a sell out but remember it being well attended.
In the years since then I’ve enjoyed many great evenings of jazz thanks to Birmingham Jazz.
The Rush Hour Blues concert series has proved to be a fantastic success. The Friday evening gigs draw audiences in the hundreds. For some time now I’ve been recording the event with my camera and the present collection of photographs you see in this exhibition are a small selection of many hundreds of images I’ve made in recent years in an attempt to capture something of the event for posterity. The seeds sown by the purchase of ‘A Pictorial History of Jazz’ all those years ago are represented here – my own grainy tribute to the music I love.
I offer them with thanks to all of the musicians, Tony Dudley-Evans and his colleagues at Birmingham Jazz, Tom Cahill-Jones and Symphony Hall and to my Friends at Rush Hour Blues.
I hope you enjoy my album.
Garry Corbett
I hope you enjoy my album.
Garry Corbett
email feedback to : bluejazzbuddha@googlemail.com
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