Interviews - Intergenerational Jazz Reminiscence

In 2015, the National Jazz Archive was awarded an Our Heritage grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund for an 18-month oral history project. The interviews recorded during this project have been curated by the Archive and can be listened to by searching the collection below.

The ‘Intergenerational Jazz Reminiscence’ project built on previous work to increase access and public engagement with the Archive’s collections. The project included

• Workshops held around Essex and in London, UK
• A series of interviews focusing on jazz professionals and conducted by the University of Essex (see below)
• Celebratory performance events at jazz clubs in Essex, and
• Promotional and final exhibitions

Community groups involved included Loughton Youth Project, University of Essex, Age UK, Black Cultural Archives, Open University, Eastern Roots and local jazz clubs.

Here you can read or listen to over 40 interviews with musicians and others involved in the UK jazz community, some of which include video recordings of the interview. Collectively these interviews explore the investments that different generations make in promoting, performing, supporting and documenting our jazz heritage.

You can also read about the experience of one of our volunteers, Matthew St Pier, who was involved in editing and curating this collection. Complete transcriptions of every interview are included, and recorded excerpts or the full audio file can be accessed for most of them.

The interviews are arranged alphabetically by surname and you can explore them using the search facility at the top of the page, or by simply scrolling through.

We have three unique collections that are based on personal interviews and provide the basis of our oral jazz history archive.

• Jazz artists - More than 350 interviews with visiting American and British jazz artists by jazz writer Les Tomkins recorded between 1963 and 1987 for Crescendo magazine and supplemented by interviews by trumpeter Ron Simmonds for his Jazz Professional website, plus others
• Jazz in Essex - 50 interviews with people who have been involved in the British Essex jazz scene over many years.
• Intergenerational jazz reminiscences - Over 40 interviews with musicians and others involved in the UK jazz community, which explore the investments that different generations make in promoting, performing, supporting and documenting our jazz heritage.