Book Review

Conversations in British Jazz - Interviews and Essays with some of the Greatest Players in UK Jazz
Mike Pearson
Soundworld, 2004
ISBN: 1-902440-06-4
£12.99
Available from the publisher's web site at : FMR Records

Let's get the bad bit out of the way first; the proof reading isn't up to much, 
especially with the misspelling of the names of some of the musicians mentioned. 
However, this is a small deficiency in an otherwise great book. Mike Pearson has 
done a good job in assembling new interviews and embellishing these with quotes from
major jazz texts such as Ian Carr's 'Music Outside', the liberal use of which the 
author acknowledges at the outset. Pearson's choice of musicians here is excellent 
and in many ways reflects much of the spirit of Carr's earlier book. But there is a
also a continuum in that the reader is shown insights into the progression of artists' 
careers from the early 1970s to date. There is also a wonderful, unique opportunity to
gain insights into the lives of these jazz stars. The anecdote by Don Rendell regaling 
how he managed to meet and talk to John Coltrane is worth the price of the book alone.
From a historical point of view this work is essential as it places the musicians in 
their rightful context of jazz in Britain. I would have liked to have seen more 
conversations with others of this ilk, such as Tony Oxley, Derek Bailey, Howard Riley, 
Barry Guy, Keith Tippett, Mike Westbrook, Django Bates, John McLaughlin, Jack Bruce, 
Ginger Baker, Tony Coe et al, but maybe that would yield the contents of another book 
(Conversations Part 2?). As it is the contents of this volume is mouth-watering with 
interviewees - some, perforce, posthumous(!) - including Peter King, Ronnie Scott, 
Peter Ind, Gary Crosby & Julian Joseph, Kenny Wheeler & Harry Beckett, Evan Parker, 
Bryan Spring & Art Themen, Gordon Beck, Trevor Watts, John Etheridge & John Marshall, 
Jon Hiseman & Barbara Thompson, Don Weller, Clark Tracey, Michael Garrick & Don Rendell, 
Louis Moholo & Chris McGregor, Stan Tracey, Bobby Wellins, John Surman and of course Ian 
Carr himself. There is also a collection of fine and previously unpublished photographs. 
This is exactly the sort of book that made me regret I was not holidaying on a sunny beach 
somewhere and able to relax whilst reading this edifying and yet entertaining book. To say 
that Conversations in British Jazz is an essential purchase for anyone interested in British 
modern jazz is something of an understatement. As with its predecessors in this field by Carr, 
Godbolt and Wickes, Pearson's new work stands as another major testament to the eloquence and 
sublimity of this music. Highly recommended.

Roger Farbey, 
10 February 2005

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