Is Brighton the UK ’ s top city for jazz ?
Peter Chrisp , who ’ s been going to jazz gigs here since the 1970s , gives his Verdict . ( Verdict . It ’ s a jazz club . Oh , never mind )
Ever feel like the sun is spent , and now his flasks send forth light squibs , no constant rays , the world ’ s whole sap is sunk ; and you are every dead thing , rebegot of absence , darkness , death : things which are not ? Jeez Loueeze lighten up buddy , it ’ s just the usual January bullshit of darkness … Get your dispirited ageing meat envelope along to JAZZ NIGHT AT THE BEE ’ S MOUTH and feel the surge of molten Vril coursing back to put that spring back in your step …”
That ’ s from bassist Eddie Myers ’ s ‘ beat ’ ifully written weekly posting promoting the Monday night jazz jam he hosts at the Bee ’ s Mouth in Hove . Here Eddie always contrasts the misery of the season or the bleak news cycle with the life enhancing pleasures of listening to , and playing live jazz .
The Bee ’ s Mouth jam is just one of more than thirty regular weekly jazz gigs across our finger-popping city . On a typical Sunday , there are eleven of them . As an experiment , you could try sampling a few minutes of each Sunday gig , starting at the Walrus at 12.45 and ending at the Hand in Hand at closing time . When I posted a list of Brighton gigs online , even the musicians were surprised at how many there were . Saxophonist Arabella Sprot said , “ I ’ ve never seen this density of jazz gigs anywhere else I ’ ve lived and that includes Bristol , Birmingham and Berlin .”
To make a jazz city , you need venues , musicians and appreciative audiences , and we have all three . A big turning point took place in March 2012 , when Andy Lavender turned Drury ’ s tea and coffee shop in Edward Street into the Verdict , our city ’ s only purpose-built jazz club . Managed by the drummer Tristan Banks , the club hosts jazz jams on Thursdays and international acts on Fridays and Saturday . In 2024 , the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group gave the Verdict their Jazz Venue of the Year award .
New Generation Jazz , set up in 2015 , is an Arts Council funded Brighton organisation whose aims are “ to help young artists develop audiences outside the capital , and introduce young people in Brighton and the South-East to jazz and demonstrate what a vital , living tradition it is today .” Partnered with the Verdict , they run the September Brighton Jazz Festival , with sold out shows in Horatio ’ s Bar on the Palace Pier .
Brighton has always been a great place to hear jazz in pubs . Growing up in Essex , I thought that modern jazz was something that happened in the past , on an old Charlie Parker LP my dad bought by mistake . Soon
after I moved here as a student in 1976 , I came across Geoff Simkins playing lyrical alto sax in the King and Queen . Geoff is still regularly gigging , and I make it a rule never to miss him if I can help it .
More than twenty pubs now have regular jazz , and most of them are free . The pubs pay the musicians , to bring in pubgoers . Several are organised by guitarists Jason Henson and Paul Richards , trumpeter Chris Coull , saxophone player Alex Bondonno and bass player Nigel Thomas . You can also hear jazz in churches , such as All Saints and St Andrews ’ in Hove , where Chris has an early Friday evening concert . The audiences at these gigs listen attentively and applaud the solos . The jazz community is also a good place to make cross-generational friendships . I love listening to the old timers ’ stories of magical nights at Ronnie Scott ’ s in the 1960s .
As for musicians , we have loads , the most numerous being the bass players , followed by guitarists and keyboard players . There aren ’ t so many drummers , so Angus Bishop , Milo Fell and Joe Edwards are kept busy . Look out for the female singers too : Sara Oschlag , Sam Carelse , Lucy Pickering , Rachel Myer , Ela Southgate and Imogen Ryall . There ’ s a shortage of male singers , apart from swinging crooner Dave Williams .
Once a month , on Sundays , big bands play in the back room of the Brunswick , and everybody should listen to the mighty sound of a big band playing in a small room at least once .
Another thrilling sound to hear in a pub is that of the massive 1964 C3 Hammond organ , played by Bobby Aspey with his band the Lost Organ Unit . Their tunes sound like 1960s classics , yet they ’ re all Aspey originals . Check Bobby ’ s feet , always in red socks , bouncing over the bass pedals as he plays .
The quality of Brighton rhythm sections and the enthusiasm of audiences attracts visiting horn players . Saxophonists Alan Barnes and Simon Spillett both regularly make a 100 mile journey to Brighton to play gigs here , and Simon has been known to stay for mini tours . Following them from one pub gig to another , I like to imagine that I ’ m not in Brighton in the 2020s , but bouncing to bebop along 52nd Street in 1940s New York , and that the Brighton pubs are clubs like the Famous Door and Birdland .
Most locals I know don ’ t realise that they ’ re living in a jazz city . But wasn ’ t that probably true also of most New Yorkers in the 1940s ?
https :// thejamboreebag . blogspot . com / 2024 / 12 / brighton-jazz-listings . html https :// www . verdictjazz . com https :// chriscoull . co . uk / gigs-2 / https :// www . jasonhensonmusic . com / gigs / https :// www . newgenerationjazz . co . uk / about