BLACK BRITISH SWING VARIOUS ARTISTS TSCD781

TSCD781 THE AFRICAN DIASPORA'S CONTRIBUTION TO ENGLAND'S OWN JAZZ OF THE 1930s AND 1940s

BLACK BRITISH SWING tells the story of the most exciting jazz musicians in 1930s and '40s England - how they came to Britain and took the popular music scene by storm. It is all too easily forgotten that Britain had its own hot jazz scene in the '30s and '40s when the American Kings of Swing seemed to take centre stage. The music was so popular in Britain that it lured the West Indian Jazz musicians here to record and tour to wildly enthusiastic British audiences. These audiences were stunned to find that these musicians were not pale imitations of American musicians, but great artists in their own right, able to match anything, anywhere in their day.

Rare recordings, from commercial discs, radio broadcasts and previously unissued acetates, show why the all-black big bands of Ken "Snakehips" Johnson and Leslie "Jiver" Hutchinson were the envy of the British mainstream. There were also swinging group sessions including killer tracks by Lauderic Caton, Britain's pioneer of the electric guitar - recorded more than twenty years before the 1960's beat group explosion.

The CD contains a 40-page booklet with many rare photographs of the musicians and an 8000 word essay on the Black British Swing scene by Andrew Simons, Jazz Curator of the National Sound Archive at the British Library. Outstanding audio restoration and re-mastering has produced astonishing sound quality - recreating the fire and excitement of these cutting edge performances.

"What a fantastic piece of history" Gary Crosby, Time Out

"handsomely presented with copious notes ... high quality of research ... revelations inherent in the music" Jazz Review

"This unusual and appealing compilation looks at black British dance bands of the 1930s and 1940s and its full of pleasant surprises - a must-have." The Yorkshire Post

CARRYING THE TORCH VARIOUS ARTISTS TSCD782

TSCD782 THE EVOLUTION OF THE TORCH SONG IN POPULAR MUSIC

As Andrew Simons, the compiler and annotator of this wonderful collection, says in the notes to this record "Carrying the Torch is a compilation for anyone who's ever been left standing at the bus stop of love". The songs here embrace a wide range of the Torch Song style, from ballads to dance music, each paying special attention to that most ironic of relationships. Re-mastered to the highest of standards from original sources contained in the Jazz Collection of the National Sound Archive of The British Library, the resulting sound is lively and astonishing in its realism. The detailed booklet contains a wealth of contemporary photographs and an in depth essay on the history of Torch Song, with notes on each song that outs them into the perspective of the music industry of the 1930s and '40s.

"A thoroughly entertaining and interesting selection of songs and singers from more than one era of popular music - the sound quality is very good indeed". Jazz Journal