Congratulations to the National Youth Jazz Orchestra celebrating fifty years

There was a leader article, “Opera is often derided as elitist”, in the Guardian on the 28th September 2017. Regrettably the article ignores the fact that opera in the UK receives a disproportionate amount of public subsidy compared to other art forms and like the banks are too big to fail. In a time of…

Arts Council England has been conducting a “conversation” which is arts speak for consultation. The word that should have been used is debate. The consultation has been running for 12 weeks and concludes on the 12th April 2018. The Arts Council asked a number of questions under the following subject headings: Looking to the future…

In the glorious surroundings of Southwark Cathedral the politicians  nonsense of broken Britain was kicked firmly in the seat of the pants and into the Thames. The National Youth Jazz Orchestra and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain ably led by Mark Armstrong and Ben Parry produced an evening of memorable music of Duke…

Open consultation on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence + The Culture, Media and Sport Committee State of Play Consultation Ambrose Bierce in the Devil’s Dictionary said consultation is “to seek another’s approval of a course already decided on”. there is some truth in that,  but then if you don’t respond,  the cosultation will truly be a lost…

There was an article in the Guardian on the 12th June 2021,  “Oliver Dowden – The paymaster who is calling the tune in the culture wars”. The article highlighted what a wonderful smokescreen culture wars are for the inadequacy of the Secretary of State for Culture and the DCMS. They serve to reinforce the findings…

There was an article by Sarah Marsh in the Guardian on Monday 29th July 2019 reporting that rising numbers of younger fans have sparked a UK jazz renaissance and streaming sites report growth in young listeners and festivals are signing up more jazz acts. However there are two caveats. Streaming as a marketing tool allows…