A new face for the National Jazz Archive

Following from the recent retirement of David Nathan, we are delighted to introduce Lily Ashley as a new face for the National Jazz Archive.

Thanks to the continuing generosity of Essex County Council, Lily was appointed as the National Jazz Archive’s new Jazz Collections Associate earlier this year.

Based at our Loughton headquarters, Lily holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Durham University where she researched jazz literature around Avant Garde jazz for her dissertation. She then went on to complete a Master’s Degree from Kings College London in Contemporary Literature and Cultural Theory.

She is a musician, playing the saxophone and clarinet, and is a regular at local jazz concerts.

A member of our core team, Lily is our front-of-house face at the National Jazz Archive and works alongside other members of the Essex Library team. As well as providing research direction, her focus is to develop our process and systems and ensure our collections are accessible and maintained to professional standards.

If you need help with your jazz research, Lily is the person who can assist you with your project and can be contacted by email or telephone in the first instance, for which contact information can be found here.

We're sure all of you will join us in welcoming Lily to the National Jazz Archive family.