Swinging London’s cultural melting pot was channelled into vibrant jazz by John Surman, Alan Skidmore and others – and it has inspired the resurgent scene of today
It was in the dusty depths of Birmingham record library in 2000 that Shabaka Hutchings first discovered the wonders of 70s British jazz. “I was 16 and I’d just moved back to England from Barbados,” explains the Sons of Kemet saxophonist. “The first record I played was John Surman and Stu Martin Live at Woodstock Town Hall, which starts off with this really gnarly synthesiser and sax. I remember thinking: this is pretty crazy. I know this sounds like a cliche but without it being punk music they were playing with this almost punk attitude.”
The scene Hutchings is talking about was a brief golden window, from 1965 to 1975, when London record labels and recording studios opened their doors to British jazz stars creating a unique sound that combined the US influences of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Gil Evans with the London blues, folk and rock scenes plus West Indian and African rhythms. It’s a progressive and thrilling sound – “rawness, freedom, experimentation,” Hutchings says – that is now being documented in depth under the umbrella title British Jazz Explosion, with a scene-spanning compilation alongside a series of remastered original LPs.