Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers: British Jazz, 1960–1975

Duncan Heining [+–]

Writer

Duncan Heining has been writing about jazz, improvised music and 20th century composition since 1996. He has written for Avant Magazine, Record Collector, The Independent and The Independent On Sunday. His main outlets currently are Jazzwise, Jazz UK and the All About Jazz website. In 2010, Scarecrow Press published his biography of African-American composer and musical theorist George Russell, George Russell – An American Composer.

Nominated for the 2012 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research

Click here to view an article by Duncan on British jazz in The Independent

The 1960’s was a decade of major transformation in British jazz and in British popular music in general. The British jazz scene had been, arguably, the first outside America to assert its independence. At first slowly but with gathering speed, it began to define an identity that drew increasingly on sources from within its own culture, as well as those from African-American jazz, and from its shared European cultural heritage. This process would in itself prove highly influential, as French, Italian, German and Scandinavian scenes began to follow suit. The nature of jazz, its scope and potential were re-examined and reformulated in this period with important implications for its musicians and its audience.

The external forces acting upon the British jazz scene were both global and local in origin. Jazz was not immune from the economic, social and cultural changes that occurred following the Second World War and which continued apace in the 1960’s. Its development was both affected by and reflected those changes and the new ways of thinking and acting that arose from them. And yet wider global economic and political changes, in particular in America, would continue to have a major impact on British jazz.

For these reasons, any history of British jazz in the 1960’s must explain these trends and describe which were global and which were local in origin. It must show how forces outside the music acted upon it and both created and limited its potential for development. But it must also define the personalities, as well as the context in which they functioned. Jazz is made by its musicians and is ultimately changed by them. What were the records that they made which defined the era? From where did their inspiration arise? And how did their audience respond?

Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers follows a number of themes – class, education, drugs and addictions, relationships with rock and blues, race and immigration, gender issues, the arts, politics and that sixties buzzword: ‘freedom’. In doing so, the book challenges many conventional understandings of British jazz and its scene. This is the definitive history of British jazz in the 1960’s.

Series: Popular Music History

Prelims

Contents v-vi

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction [+–] 1-3

The development of British jazz between the early sixties and early seventies was an example of art affected by a sense of liberation and freedom. The aim of this history of British jazz is to locate the music within that broader social, political, economic and cultural context.

Ancients and Moderns [+–] 5-34

This chapter presents the story of jazz in Britain in the 1960s. It is argued that in order to understand the story, one must understand the sixties when the traditional power in Britain refreshed itself and continued, while adjusting to prevailing economic winds.

Class Will Out! [+–] 35-58

This chapter discusses class in terms of the backgrounds and social positions of both British musicians and fans. Class became more than just a socio-economic or sociological category; it became a barometer for social mobility and change.

Education, Education, Education [+–] 59-90

Education had begun to create new possibilities in British society, not just in terms of access to it but in terms of what could be taught in schools and colleges. A new generation of jazz musicians were emerging during the sixties, and their backgrounds reflected changes in education that had followed the Butler Act.Education was not the only force that would shape British jazz in the period but it was, nevertheless, a very important one.

Coming of Age in Soho [+–] 91-122

The transformation of British jazz has been attached by various commentators to a singular event – the arrival in Britain in 1964 of the South African group, the Blue Notes. The chapter argues that there were conservative strains in British jazz, but that was only part of the picture. British musicians adopted jazz as a creative practice, and only by that, they were already innovating.

Can’t Stop the Rock [+–] 123-154

This chapter discusses the rise of beat, R&B and rock music. Jazz did not become entirely separated from these popular styles; a number of jazz musicians played crucial roles in the development of British R&B and, later, rock music.

The Brain Drain [+–] 155-182

Jazz and rock music continued to connect throughout the sixties and influence flowed in both directions. However, finally, jazz came to lose out eventually to rock music; it is considered that a very different approach from that adopted by many of the key players in jazz should have been adopted.

One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer [+–] 183-218

The chapter presents the context for drug use in British jazz. In order to provide a comprehensive picture of the context, it looks at musicians like Tubby Hayes, Bobby Wellins, Peter King, Alan Branscombe, Ginger Baker and others.

Rivers of Babylon, Rivers of Blood [+–] 219-246

The British jazz scene can be described as “sexist” in its attitude and behaviour towards women performers. With respect to racism, the wider British society in the fifties and sixties was most certainly racist. It is probable that non-white jazz musicians were not always treated equally in the fifties and the sixties. This chapter seeks to understand how immigration contributed to British jazz, and the different experiences of white and black musicians coming to Britain to work.

A Race Apart [+–] 247-272

The chapter examines the context of immigration in Britain and seeks to understand what it meant in practice and for British jazz, the fact that immigration from different parts of the world was viewed differently.

Sisters of Swing, Brothers in Arms [+–] 273-302

This chapter discusses how far sexual behaviour changed in the sixties. A more educated population, access to a wider range of information sources, an increase in social mobility are important factors in the creation of a growing consensus that the Victorian attitudes were unnecessary in a modern society and constrained rather than enabled social, cultural and commercial life. The chapter further discusses the role and opportunities of women in jazz. British scene at the time is considered to have been highly unfriendly to women.

The Best Things in Life Are Free [+–] 303-350

“Freedom” as a desirable state to be sought in life and in music was the feature that linked American and British jazz. However, what separated British from American jazz is considered more important: a desire to produce a music influenced by but no longer dependent upon African-American forms. Notions of freedom began to influence the social practices of certain sectors of society. Ideas such as communitarianism, sexual libertarianism and the replacement of “work” with “play” came to the fore. Musicians, mainly but not entirely from the world of jazz, began to explore a music without predetermined form or structure, in which spontaneity and responsiveness were its crucial elements.

The Artsman Cometh [+–] 351-396

The sixties had created many possibilities in the arts, allowing new forms to emerge in dance, music, theatre, literature and, to a lesser extent, film. A sense had begun to emerge that jazz as a developing practice, one as reliant on composition as upon improvisation, was becoming a separate musical sphere, similar to that of contemporary art music.

Lutte Ouvrière [+–] 397-422

This chapter starts examining the connections between British jazz in the sixties and wider political events and concerns, with an emphasis on what can broadly be described as “issue-based politics”. In examining the links between jazz and politics, the chapter seeks to show the differences between the situation in Britain and that which applied in the USA and elsewhere in Europe. In this respect, it is considered necessary to reflect upon key elements in the contrasting origins and histories of jazz and African-American soul music and how these reflect upon the differing fortunes of these forms.

Lotta Continua [+–] 423-444

This chapter continues to examine the connections between British jazz in the sixties and wider political events and concerns. However, it focuses on the nature of the music itself, its aesthetic and ethical underpinnings and its position within the context of a capitalist market economy.

End Matter

Conclusion: What is this Thing Called, Love? [+–] 445-448

The sixties were unusual times, when many questions about how we might live on this planet were asked. The sixties raised issues and awareness among many; the women’s movement, anti-racism, antisexism, the peace and environmental movements were some of the causes which found expression in the 1960s.British jazz in this period represented a musical form and practice that embodied an aesthetic, cultural and also a political challenge to bourgeois culture and ideology.

Appendix: 100 Essential British Jazz Records, 1957–76 449-452

Bibliography 453-464

Index 465-486

Reviews

Nominated for the 2012 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research

This is a powerful and insightful book with an outstanding breadth of musical and critical erudition.
Chris Searle, Morning Star

The most ambitious attempt at a history of this music and period to date.
The Wire, February 2013

A must-read for anyone interested in British jazz, and a thoughtful assessment of a radical period in British history.
Mike Hobart, Financial Times

The definitive history of British Jazz in the '60s. A survey that's both erudite and right on.
MOJO

His primary information sources are 70 (yes, really!) of his own first hand interviews with musicians and associates. The fact that Heining is dealing largely with his... musicianly peer group... brings with it a sense of involvement in a text which, though densely-packed, is compellingly articulate. Substantive and scholarly, is also Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers is also an enjoyable and rewarding read.
Roger Thomas, Jazz UK 103, November 2012

Heining deserves much credit for this epic tome exploring British jazz in one of its most exciting, if exasperating, eras. [He] has undertaken very thorough research: he has interviewed countless musicians, while his own spry style keeps you charmed. Trad Dads is a special contribution to jazz writing.
Jazzwise
Heining's magnum opus is a mammoth undertaking. It's a richly erudite book – a formidable oeuvre with a dense text punctuated by some black and white photos and resplendent with a succession of illustrious names that will send readers scurrying to check their music collections.
Russell Newmark, The Beat

This is a quite remarkable book.
The Jazz Rag, Winter/Spring 2013

The text is erudite, well-researched and politically charged. It would be no exaggeration to suggest that this book is simply essential for anyone even remotely interested in British jazz.
Roger Farbey, iancarrsnucleus.net

In this engaging book from Equinox, Duncan Heining sets out to locate the development of British jazz between 1960 and 1975 within the broader social, political, economic and cultural contexts in which it operated. More importantly, the book shines light on much music that has suffered neglect in recent years and yet remains rich, intriguing and often frankly wonderful.
Perfect Beat

This book is certainly one that fills a gap in the historical literature on jazz in Britain, by focusing on British jazz (that is, jazz played by native British or immigrant musicians) during a time of substantial political, socioeconomic and cultural change.
Jazz Research Journal

A much-needed modern history on a seminal period.
The New York City Jazz Record

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Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers

British Jazz, 1960-1975

Duncan Heining [+–]

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