Talk by Simon Spillett on his new book

Further Shadows presents an eclectic overview of perhaps the most vibrant era in the music’s development in the UK, a time when modern jazz consolidated its base, got buffeted by the fads of early rock and roll, of R&B, found itself battered by Beatlemania and even face an onslaught from pernicious forces within its own ranks.

Covering fifteen years in which the schools of cool, hard bop and the avant-garde each fought for primacy, Simon’s narrative records the ups and downs of many of London’s leading jazz voices of the day -Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Stan Tracey and Jimmy Deuchar among them- together with the tales of heroes perhaps less widely known, such as Harry South, Allan Ganley and Peter King.

Within this span we encounter populism (Dudley Moore), hard-core idealism (the Spontaneous Music Ensemble) and even something close to nihilism (the story of forgotten drummer Benny Goodman). There is…