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Yesterday I went to Wavendon to The Stables 'Music in the Garden' event. It featured various brass and sax players, particularly John Dankworth and Alan Barnes, but also one of my favourites, Jimmy Hastings. They were admirably backed up by Dave Newton (piano), Andy Cleyndert (bass) and Steve Brown (drums).
It felt like a real privelege to see John Dankworth - a living legend in British music - still playing, albeit a little hesitantly, at the age of 81. Alan Barnes was, as usual, amazing (and hilarious in his compering). Jimmy Hastings, a fine player in his own right, will always impress me purely for having played with the seminal 1970s Canterbury bands: Caravan, Hatfield and the North, and Soft Machine, as well as (in more recent years) Radiohead and, of course, Humphrey Lyttleton's band.
What was interesting though (and at risk of going off topic), was that there were hardly any people there under the age of 60. There are now more opportunities than ever for young people to play, and study, jazz up to degree level if they wish - and there seem to be plenty of takers - but why aren't they at these gigs? It was hardly expensive at ?11 and ?12 for each gig featuring two hours of quality jazz. There could be a marketing factor here, ie. the volunteers at The Stables (those who were visible at least) were all in the retirement age group themselves, so perhaps don't understand how to target a younger audience. I really don't know for certain, but there seems to be a missing link here somewhere and it's a bit of a worry in terms of the future of jazz audiences.
Also, in school and college bands, there are usually at least as many female sax players as males. So why are there so few professional female players (none at this particular event featuring 11 musicians - across the age range - in total)?
It felt like a real privelege to see John Dankworth - a living legend in British music - still playing, albeit a little hesitantly, at the age of 81. Alan Barnes was, as usual, amazing (and hilarious in his compering). Jimmy Hastings, a fine player in his own right, will always impress me purely for having played with the seminal 1970s Canterbury bands: Caravan, Hatfield and the North, and Soft Machine, as well as (in more recent years) Radiohead and, of course, Humphrey Lyttleton's band.
What was interesting though (and at risk of going off topic), was that there were hardly any people there under the age of 60. There are now more opportunities than ever for young people to play, and study, jazz up to degree level if they wish - and there seem to be plenty of takers - but why aren't they at these gigs? It was hardly expensive at ?11 and ?12 for each gig featuring two hours of quality jazz. There could be a marketing factor here, ie. the volunteers at The Stables (those who were visible at least) were all in the retirement age group themselves, so perhaps don't understand how to target a younger audience. I really don't know for certain, but there seems to be a missing link here somewhere and it's a bit of a worry in terms of the future of jazz audiences.
Also, in school and college bands, there are usually at least as many female sax players as males. So why are there so few professional female players (none at this particular event featuring 11 musicians - across the age range - in total)?
