Last weeks’ Jazz on 3 programme featured a great set from the French state-supported Orchestre National de Jazz, playing music written by John Hollenbeck recorded live at the London Jazz Festival in November. You should really check it out on iPlayer while you still can (available until tomorrow night only!), not only for the amazing ONJ set but for a really interesting discussion between host Jez Nelson, Nick Smart (Head of Jazz at the Royal Academy in London) and John Cumming (director of Serious) on the subject of whether this model of a national big band funded by the taxpayer could/should be thought about in this country. During the debate (its about halfway through the programme), John picked us out as an example of a big band thats operating successfully at the moment and producing exciting music (very kind!) and as I’d been thinking about the issue for a while anyway I thought I’d get some of my thoughts down…
I think that the national jazz orchestra debate essentially boils down to a debate about finance, and whether a newly established national orchestra would be better placed to receive funding and therefore better able to support and promote both the outstanding existing repertoire of British large ensemble composers and help them to expand this catalogue with brand new commissions. It’s been well documented that jazz as a wider artform is underfunded when compared to classical music or opera for example (there’s plenty of posts on this on trumpeter Jack Davies’ blog), but I think that establishing a single focus point for large ensemble jazz funding in this country could be extremely dangerous… Although I’m not for a second suggesting that funding would be consciously diverted towards a national orchestra and away from smaller independent groups, it would be very easy for funding organisations to lend their support to this flagship ensemble and consequently increasingly difficult for them to help others.
During the Jazz on 3 debate, Nick Smart pointed to Kenny Wheeler’s band, and the fact that despite his legendary status across the jazz world he can only afford to get his big band together ‘when he is fortunate to live for another 5 years’ on a birthday tour. I saw Colin Towns’ Mask Orchestra at Ronnie’s in August, which was their first UK date for years. There’s been some great big band writing by British composers in the past couple of years – sets by Julian Arguelles (Momenta), Mark Lockheart (Days Like These) and Gwilym Simcock (Hamburg Suite) spring to mind – but they’ve all been commissioned and/or recorded in Germany, with publicly supported radio big bands. Instead of fighting for a well supported brand new ‘national’ ensemble, why not focus on creating a system where Wheeler, Towns, Arguelles, Lockheart and Simcock to name but five can afford to either gig their own existing bands more often or establish their own bands for their brand new works? (Obviously such a system would hopefully also work out well for us, but even if I didn’t run a big band myself I think I’d still feel the same).
The big bands in Germany such as the hr-bigband in Frankfurt or the WDR Big Band in Cologne are professional, full time ensembles supported by public broadcasters, the equivalents of the BBC (which incidentally no longer supports the band that still bears its name). As well as being paid for by their parent organisations, the German bands enjoy generous radio airplay and coverage and as such their projects are well promoted and therefore well attended; funding for rehearsal time and space and bums on seats for the gigs in turn means that they can spend lots of time rehearsing to do full justice to the music they perform. Would supporting regional ensembles in a similar fashion in England not be a much better way to support large ensemble music, rather than concentrating on a single national orchestra? (I’m restricting this to England rather than the UK as Scotland already has its own Scottish National Jazz Orchestra). Obviously Germany is a larger country than England so there is maybe a better argument for it to happen there, but regional orchestras and organisations to support large ensembles still exist and are producing amazing work, both in this country and elsewhere in Europe. The amazing Danish ensemble Blood Sweat Drum & Bass Big Band that I’ve written about on this site before is supported by the City of Aarhus, and in Finland the UMO Jazz Orchestra is supported by the City of Helsinki. Here, the Voice of the North Jazz Orchestra for example is doing an amazing job of promoting the work of both young and established British composers; its website lists recent gigs under the direction of Henry Lowther, Jason Yarde and James Hamilton. Hamilton’s own orchestra is ably supported by Jazz Yorkshire, as is (I think) Tommy Evans‘ new project, whose formation was commissioned by the Marsden Jazz Festival in 2010. Manchester’s very own festival has been at the forefront of commissioning brand new work for years, often on a large scale (Mike Walker’s Ropes project for example involved over 25 musicians), and was rewarded for this by being granted the power to administer its own funding through the amazing mjf originals scheme.
I accept the argument put forward by Nick Smart on the Jazz on 3 programme (where he also specifically mentioned the London Jazz Orchestra) that often these projects are a labour of love for both their leaders and musicians, and so often the musicians will be underpaid and the music under-rehearsed, which is by no means ideal for either musicians or music of this calibre. This is not just the case in this country though – Darcy James Argue has recently been blogging about the financial and organisational problems his own (internationally feted) Secret Society have to deal with to even just gig outside of New York City (read his whole blog post here, its a great read and highlights the difficulties the leaders of large ensembles face). But the very fact that these bands are still going strong is a testament to the continuing dedication and commitment of their leaders and members.
So to sum up; shouldn’t we be concentrating on building on the amazing work thats already going on by the groups I’ve mentioned above so that it becomes impossible for funding organisations to ignore (obviously even though their hands are often tied in the current economic climate) rather than responding to the difficulties these ensembles face by creating a brand new ensemble that will by default have an increased media profile, reputation and therefore audience base, making it more attractive to funders? Would that not be an unfair advantage compared to the rest of us? Obviously, all of the UK groups that I’ve talked about are at least in part funded by money thats ultimately trickled down from Arts Council England and/or the PRS for Music Foundation, which although they’re often the easy target are still doing amazing work supporting the arts in a difficult financial environment (of course along with other similar organisations), but in order to secure greater sustainable funding for our art we as jazz musicians need to find a way to build a case to put forward both to these organisations and to the powers that be in the Government who dole out their funds – a case that I do not believe would be strengthened by a National Jazz Orchestra.
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Posted by on 06/02/2011 at 23:37 in misc and tagged funding, jazz on 3, national jazz orchestra, secret society, serious.
Interesting post Ben, nice to keep in touch with the current issues from back home
it’s you and The Guardian who keep me informed… Oh dear…
There are big bands in Scandinavia who still have state funding, not necessarily national orchestras, normally local ones who book featured artists and showcafse their music. I’ve seen some great concerts with these bands, but often I’ve heard complaints that the guaranteed salaries and continued funding hasn’t encouraged the band to develop and grow over the years. I think a certain pressure to deliver arises when large amounts of funding are involved, and therefore audience numbers can become more of a burden – or maybe responsibility is more the right word.
The most exciting big band projects I’ve come across are the ones that evolve from a shared concept, and that are (inevitably) driven by the leaders vision. The Blood, Sweat, Drum and Bass Big Band from Denmark (who you’ve mentioned here already) are one good example, each member contributes compositions and the whole thing is driven by the fantastic (bottomless??) energy of their leader, Jens “Chappe” Jenson. This band has done a huge amount over the last few years, and I know much of it has been thanks to the funding support they have received.
I guess I’m on the same line of thought as you Ben, and this doesn’t only apply to the big band world. I think it’s hard to generate the same energy and sense of camaraderie that you can through a project that is driven from the grass roots by the individuals when you conceive of a project to fit a certain demand (for example – we need more UK Big Bands = start a National Jazz Orchestra) and therefor implementing it from the top down. Goal first, process after.
I think the tough thing for funding bodies is to have enough wide-spread knowledge to be able to pinpoint the projects that really need help and then assist them in a way that best suits there circumstances. I think assisting exciting projects to continue there work is where I’d put my lottery winnings (one day, one day…). This obviously happens already with several schemes in the UK, more so here in Norway though (well, they have got all the oil though).
Ok, this is all a little too much for a Monday morning now. Keep up the good work Ben!
See you soon.
S
(Also, lets not forget the Conservatory Big Bands, they have a fantastic opportunity to make really interesting new music, and often do!)
I hadn’t really thought about the fact that a UK Jazz Orchestra could draw funds away due to… “it would be very easy for funding organisations to lend their support to this flagship ensemble and consequently increasingly difficult for them to help others.” My previous thoughts started and stopped with “if they’re getting ACE money, then there’s less for the rest of us.” Every seminar I’ve been on about funding always says “funding breeds funding”, so your point seems to be a valid one.
However, I think this whole thing is a bit of a non-issue at the moment really. In this climate of cuts (don’t get me started on that either, plenty of people have written much more eloquently than I on the necessity or otherwise of these), let’s look at how much it might cost…
(I do love maths you know)
Orchestre National de Jazz have got 6 gigs in the next 6 months, so let’s work on a basis on 12 gigs a year. Let’s assume a 16 piece big band, plus musical director and an orchestral manager who, for the sake of easier maths get exactly the same fees as the players.
Let’s assuming also two rehearsals per gig, so 24 a year. Some would require more, but ideally gigs are grouped into short tours, reducing the gig-to-rehearsal ratio.
MU fees are about £65 per two hour gig, but a UKJO would need excellent high-calibre players, so let’s pay them £100 a gig and a rehearsal (nothing to do with making the maths easier…)
18 * £100 * 12 = £21,600 gig fees
18 * £100 * 24 = £43,200 rehearsal fees
So we’re at £64,800 already, before we’ve commissions exciting new works, or bought exciting old works from composers. Not to mention paid for a promotional campaign to get the most exposure possible. The Manchester Jazz Festival received £63k for 2011/12, Jazz Yorkshire £55k. Both referenced above as having either commissioned or helped with exciting new large-ensemble works alongside many other musicians and fans.
In the face of such big cuts to arts, I don’t think you can justify getting rid of either of these two institutions, or countless others doing great work to pay for a UKJO. And unfortunately, until I win the Euro Millions, that’s what it boils down to, it’s a luxury I don’t think we can afford.
Anton Hunter, Bsc (Hons)