It is with profound heartbreak that the board of the Scottish Jazz Archive bids farewell to the Queen of Scottish Jazz, our dear friend and poster-girl, Fionna Duncan who passed away in the early hours of the 6th of December. Fionna was the very first to be interviewed for the SJA and performed at our inaugural event. Fionna has been at the centre of Scottish jazz life for over 60
SJA are sad to hear of the passing of pianist and eminent scientist Jim Vincent. Jim graced us with a remote interview from his home in the USA during the time of Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 in which he talked of his time in Scotland playing with drummer Bill Kyle and others and his association with Platform. At the end of his reminiscences he plays us out with a spellbinding
Graham Blamire looks back on the life of pianist Tom Finlay
We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of one of the North East of Scotland’s most celebrated musicians, drummer Bill Kemp, at the age of 80. Neil Drysdale has written a fitting tribute to Bill’s place in the hearts of the Scottish jazz community for The Press & Journal.
SJA Board Member Graham Blamire has put a considerable amount of ink to paper in producing an excellent outline of traditional jazz and mainstream in and around Edinburgh. Click HERE to read In the picture, taken in the mid to late 1940s: Drew Bruce (clt), Bob Fairley (tpt), unknown (drms), Bob Craig (tbn), Bill McGregor (bjo), Chris ‘Ma’ Bruce (pno)
We’re delighted to have had the opportunity in these toughest of times to speak to Rob Adams, Graham Stark and Hamish McGregor who have regaled us with their jazz reminiscences. Head over to the ‘interviews’ tab to take a look.
We’ve added four new interviews conducted online during these times of social distancing. We were joined by Martin Taylor MBE, Lennie Herd, Alan Wallace and Stewart Forbes for reminiscences of their illustrious careers.
An appreciation of the remarkable seven-decade contribution to Scotland’s traditional jazz scene by Graham Blamire. Jim Petrie – An appreciation
We recently prepared a teaser video featuring clips from a selection of our growing body of oral history interviews for screening at this year’s Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. Full interviews can be accessed via the ‘Interviews’ tab on this site. We hope you enjoy!
In response to our Scotland-wide request for materials relating to jazz ephemera, these just in from Dundee:
We’ve added six more interviews filmed for SJA to the site. Contributors joining our existing roll-call of Scottish jazz stalwarts are Kenny Ellis, Jim Petrie, Freddie King, Dick Lee, Colin Steele and Bob Busby. The full roster can be accessed via the ‘interviews‘ tab in the main menu.
It was with great sadness that we learned this week of the passing on Tuesday, 11th December of Mike Hart (pictured, 2nd from left), founder of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. An appreciation is available from the Scotsman newspaper HERE. You can view a brief history of Mike’s legacy, the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival HERE Graham Blamire has written an appreciation of Mike’s contribution to jazz in Scotland which
Again courtesy of Edinburgh Jazz Archive, a selection of posters and tickets from gigs gone by in the capital city (when entry cost between 2/6 to 4/-).
Edinburgh Jazz Archive has been on the go for some 10 years in which time an intrepid group of enthusiasts has collected a treasure-trove of memorabilia detailing the capital city’s long and colourful relationship with jazz. Below is a small selection of photographs from the collection which is housed at City of Edinburgh Central Library on George IV Bridge.
Below is a small selection of digitised assets made available to Scottish Jazz Archive by Phil Croal. These combined assets, comprising posters, programmes, fliers, photography and audio recordings, document the years from 1973 during which Platform were active as promoters of jazz in Scotland. Click HERE to read an introduction to the activities of Platform currently being compiled by Graham Blamire (the full document is under preparation and will be
During July 2018, Scottish Jazz Archive presented an exhibition of memorabilia at Edinburgh City Library to mark the 40th anniversary of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. Items on display included a full set of programmes dating back to the 1978 prototype festival edition alongside tee-shirts, badges, beer mats and coasters, and other related articles of interest.Click HERE to access a brief historical overview of the festival compiled by Haftor Medbøe