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Jazz 625


Jazzjet

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Sorry if this has been raised before but I'm looking for a definitive list of recordings and broadcasts made by the BBC in their Jazz 625 series. These TV shows were recorded and broadcast between about 1964 and 1966 and included some of the best performances of the period. There have been a few reruns in the UK over the years, mainly in the 1980s and 1990s, which has added to the stock of show recordings in private hands but there seems to be no reliable list of all the shows made. The BBC don't seem to be interested in researching their archives ( the money being better used to pay Jonathan Ross's salary ). The British Film Institute does have some information but it is clearly incomplete and sketchy : BFI .

The Jazz On Film site also carries a list ( which differs from the BFI list ) but is again a bit sketchy. Interestingly, this list includes a session by Joe Harriott and John Mayer's Indo Jazz Fusions, which would be fascinating to see : Jazz On Film .

So, can anyone come up with other lists or potential sources of information?

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Sorry I can't help with a list of 625s (indeed I would also be interested in one) but maybe we should petition the BBC to re-show the whole series (or what's left of it, after all the tape wiping to make space for Blankety-Blank etc.)

I have a wet dream where BBC4 airs the entire series.

Edited by sidewinder
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Sorry I can't help with a list of 625s (indeed I would also be interested in one) but maybe we should petition the BBC to re-show the whole series (or what's left of it, after all the tape wiping to make space for Blankety-Blank etc.)

I have a wet dream where BBC4 airs the entire series.

Couldn't agree more. I read somewhere that the shows were originally telerecorded to 35mm film from a feed of the studio output so were not wiped liked a lot of shows from that era. The shows keep turning up even now, from Japanese sources for example, but it would still be nice to have a complete list so that we could see what was still missing. Even the 'Andorran' labels are issuing some Jazz 625 shows now, such as the Thelonious Monk programmes. BBC4 is actually pretty good on broadcasting jazz - compared to what we used to have - but they have a wonderful resource already sitting in their archives.

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In the summer of 1964 I was hanging out at the Marquee club a lot ad I'm sure I was there for one 625 taping. But I've always remembered it as being with either Mose Allison or Jimmy Witherspoon. But neither of them is listed. I may have seen them at the Marquee Club but not being taped. It may have been Mark Murphy. I know I saw him a couple of times during that period and his show seems to have been while I was there.

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In the summer of 1964 I was hanging out at the Marquee club a lot ad I'm sure I was there for one 625 taping. But I've always remembered it as being with either Mose Allison or Jimmy Witherspoon. But neither of them is listed. I may have seen them at the Marquee Club but not being taped. It may have been Mark Murphy. I know I saw him a couple of times during that period and his show seems to have been while I was there.

Probably was Mark Murphy. He was recorded with the Tubby Hayes Quintet, possibly at the Marquee which was one of the places Jazz 625 used for recording. According to the BFI it was 18th August 1964. The Mose Allison show was a week earlier but apparently recorded at the National Jazz Festival in Richmond.

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I met a guy on a gig a couple of months ago who was at the (in)famous Ayler Jazz 625 session...This guy was an essentially straight-ahead alto player, who said that he did sit next to a guy in a big band section once who 'I think was a bit well-known...Mike Osborne?'! He didn't have too much recollection of the date, other than being exceedingly impressed by the drumming.

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I met a guy on a gig a couple of months ago who was at the (in)famous Ayler Jazz 625 session...This guy was an essentially straight-ahead alto player, who said that he did sit next to a guy in a big band section once who 'I think was a bit well-known...Mike Osborne?'! He didn't have too much recollection of the date, other than being exceedingly impressed by the drumming.

Interesting. Never heard of an Ayler Jazz 625 session before. I assume no recordings were made?

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I met a guy on a gig a couple of months ago who was at the (in)famous Ayler Jazz 625 session...This guy was an essentially straight-ahead alto player, who said that he did sit next to a guy in a big band section once who 'I think was a bit well-known...Mike Osborne?'! He didn't have too much recollection of the date, other than being exceedingly impressed by the drumming.

Interesting. Never heard of an Ayler Jazz 625 session before. I assume no recordings were made?

Wasn't the tape wiped? (no suprise there) - I've a feeling it wasn't for Jazz 625 but for a slightly later Terry Heneberry-produced series.

Edited by sidewinder
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Albert Ayler at the LSE - I'm happy to report I was there. Totally unforgetable. What sticks in the mind is Albert's sound, astonishing. Yes the session was wiped, apparently broadcast was vetoed by Bill Cotton Jr and the tape reused. Reusing tape was a common practice in those days.

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Albert Ayler at the LSE - I'm happy to report I was there. Totally unforgetable. What sticks in the mind is Albert's sound, astonishing. Yes the session was wiped, apparently broadcast was vetoed by Bill Cotton Jr and the tape reused. Reusing tape was a common practice in those days.

What a crime! :angry:

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