The development of Jazz in Britain - Part 2
Extracts from The Bald Soprano, written by Jeff Nuttall and published by Tak Tak Tak

Jazz, as a quality, seems to disperse as soon as the musician develops a certain self-consciousness. Bix was the first with his obvious yearning towards atonal Impressionism, with his pathetic adultation of Whiteman as a man who might fish him out of self-taught razzamatazz and set him amongst the composers. Thelonius Monk and the late Pee-Wee Russell were men who had made a special asset of playing music which was a conscious commentary on their own musical situation. In the cases of both Monk and Russell it was a case of necessity mothering invention. Neither were capable of the competitive skills of Tatum, Hawkins or Goodman. Both found a way to distinction by an entirely cerebral stage stage direction of their own limited abilities and this demanded constant distanced appraisal, icy control and self-deprecating irony. For this Monk became the idol of a significant clique amongst his brilliant contemporaries and Russell a minority cult-figure amongst the intellectuals of the 50s and 60s. It should also be added that whilst jazz may be seen to be set in certain perspectives in Russell’s late work the man is so indelibly stained from a lifetime in raunchy Dixieland bands, so much residue of bathtub gin remains inevitably imbued with authentic jazz quality. Jazz is a dialect. As soon as the speaker is conscious that he has a dialect he starts to either guy it, camp it or lose it, but in some cases the dialect is so ingrained it creeps through authentically in unguarded moments A syllable here, an intonation there, will invoke a dispersed community, a lost time.

Coxhill obviously has an enormous amount in common with Monk and found himself, at a remarkably late stage in his development, sharing significant ground with Russell. Monk’s breaking off in the middle of a chorus of “Well you Needn’t” to arise and closely scrutinize the Festival Hall organ while the audience waited in silence clearly anticipate Coxhill behaviour patterns, while it was Russell, he says, who first clarified for him the “importance of the spaces between the notes,” an important realization in a time when Tubby Hayes, Johnny Griffin, early Rollins et al were cramming as many chords arpeggios into the bar line as possible, leaving no time or use for silence.

“I had a few friends at the time who were interested in what was then the new jazz. They introduced me to Charlie Parker and I went on from there to try and find out as much as I could about all his associates and then I came to like Konitz. I still have most of the 78s I had at the time, including several Savoy Parkers, which is of no great importance except it’s just nice to have them. I also have albums of all the music so – they’re just something I like to keep …”

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