British Modern Jazz is overpopulated with unsung heros. For over forty years there has been a group of musicians in this country who, having initially been inspired by American jazz of the 50's and 60's have constantly developed their own way of doing things and have matured into musicians that are the equal of those that inspired them. Appleby Jazz Festival has evolved from a desire to promote these musicians and the music they create. It is run by Appleby Jazz Society, a non-profit making society which exists with the sole aim of promoting the best in modern British improvised music
How it all began
At the festival I am often engaged in conversation by a members of the audience who are extremely knowledgeable about the history of jazz - people with the ability to quote sleeve notes from 1940's LP's and tell you who played third trumpet in a rare live recording by the Benny Goodman Orchestra. I am always forced to admit guiltily that I know extremely little about the History of Jazz and feel I am letting them down in their expectations of what a jazz festival organiser should be. I didn't actually set out to become a jazz festival organiser. I didn't wake up one morning and say I think I will start a jazz festival. The whole thing sneaked up on me.
I used to listen to jazz as a student in Reading in the late 60 's where my room mate Pierre, who was a fanatic about avant garde jazz, introduced me to John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. We used to take regular trips up to London to listen to jazz. One week we went 3 nights in a row to see Archie Shepp, afterwards going on to the old Ronnie Scott club to catch John Surman and Mike Westbrook, falling out of there at 3.30 in the morning to find an all night café in Covent Garden where we sat until the tube stations opened. We then took a tube to Chiswick and hitchhiked back to Reading to sleep all day instead of going to lectures. Also at Ronnie's that week was Stan Tracey doing a solo slot, but he didn't seem as appealing to us 20 year olds as the hip Black Power activist Archie Shepp.
About twenty years later having settled in Appleby I noticed that Stan Tracey and John Surman, these two names from my student days, were appearing together at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal only 26 miles away so I decided to go along. I was stunned by the evening. Whereas at home I mostly listened to recorded classical music I had never found live performances of classical music very exciting but I found that these two musicians who actually created music on the spot in front of my eyes extremely exciting. They were making music there and then - not recreating someone else's music, and I had forgotten how addictive that experience could be.
Addiction is probably the right word, the experience of being in a small room listening to musicians create, being aware that your reaction to what is happening is an element in it all and the buzz that you get when things really start to happen is compelling. What makes it all the more intense is that it doesn't always happen, the chemistry isn't always right but the potential for something extraordinary to happen in this sort of music is always there.
Anyway, having had this addictive experience once, like all addicts I went in search of a repeat dose. The opportunity arose a little while later while working in London. I spotted the name of Stan Tracey in the press as one of the musicians appearing regularly at The Bull's Head, Barnes so I started going there. It was the perfect place to retreat from all the other less pleasant aspects of being in London. A small dark room, with excellent sound, a bar in the corner to lean on and the best jazz musicians in the country appearing on a regular basis. It rapidly became my home from home and in the next couple of years I enjoyed some of the greatest musical experiences of my life listening to the likes of Stan, Peter King, Art Themen, Don Weller and Bryan Spring. My addiction was now beyond cure.
On returning to Appleby, where the only chance of live music was the occasional extremely bad country and western band, I started to suffer from withdrawal symptoms and began to fantasise about Stan Tracey or Bryan Spring playing in the local pub to such a degree that one day I cracked and decided I would bring some jazz to Appleby. I looked around for a venue like the Bulls Head, but couldn't find one suitable, so I decided to use the ground floor of Bongate Mill where I live. I set about knocking down a few walls to make it a suitable venue and booked the Stan Tracey Quartet, in the days when Roy Babbington and Art Themen were in it. I advertised and suddenly Stan Tracey fans started appearing from everywhere. On the day before the concert I found I had sold over 200 tickets!
That same day I had a phone call from the local council informing me that as I didn't have an entertainments licence I would have to cancel the concert. Facing the consequences of disobeying this dictate seemed a better prospect than facing two hundred disappointed Stan Tracey fans so I went ahead.
The concert was great success with a wonderful atmosphere and tremendous music and could be considered as the starting point of Appleby Jazz Festival. However 3 weeks later I read in the local paper that I was to be prosecuted for endangering the lives of hundreds of jazz fans. I went to speak to the council solicitor who was bringing the prosecution and was curtly informed that I had broken the law and was to be punished and that there was nothing more to discuss. The local magistrates took a much less serious view of things and fined me a token £100.
However the council took it all rather badly and blocked all my attempts to gain a licence for any further events. This was the state of play the following year in May 1990 when I decided to stage a jazz party at the Mill and booked Don Weller and Bryan Spring. Without a licence I could not sell tickets or drinks so the whole affair had to be done with private invites and voluntary contributions to costs. The music was great, the beer was donated by Colin from the Royal Oak and about 150 people had a wonderful night, despite the arrival of the police who noted down all the car numbers.
A month later a nationwide police enquiry was launched with police officers up and down the country being wastefully employed interviewing people who had been at the party as to whether or not any money changed hands. I was dragged off to the local police station for interrogation. The result of this ridiculous waste of resources was that the whole affair rightly came to nothing and no prosecution ensued.
Because of these licencing difficulties, it looked unlikely that jazz would continue in Appleby, but then the managing director of Ferguson International who owned Appleby Castle and had been to both events offered the use of the castle as a venue. The next year I booked the Stan Tracey Octet and the festival as it is now grew from there.Neil Ferber, Chairman, Appleby Jazz Society