“50 Years” by the Doncaster Jazz Alumni, is released on Ubuntu Records. It marks 50 years of the Doncaster Youth Jazz Association, founded by John Ellis. Alumni playing on the album include Pete Beachill, Mark Ellis, Reuben Fowler, Sarah Potts, Nadim Teimoori and Andy Vinter.
The Doncaster Jazz Alumni’s new album, 50 Years is a swinging, powerful, big band recording, a double CD featuring compositions and arrangements from top names in jazz. It’s also a celebration of the Doncaster Youth Jazz Association’s [DYJA] fifty years of existence: a substantial proportion of the album’s proceeds will help to continue this charitable organisation’s work. The DYJA arose thanks to the vision and enthusiasm of John Ellis MBE, who became a peripatetic brass teacher in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1973. It started small, with just half-a-dozen young musicians, but soon established itself and grew from strength to strength. After five decades, John Ellis is stepping back from his role as director. He spoke with London Jazz News about his work, the creation of 50 and his hope for the future of jazz.
In the early days of the DYJA, John wrote what he calls “simple swing and blues tunes” for the small group. Then he received a donation of £12, which enabled him to buy the first of many big band arrangements. Two of his early favourites were Neal Hefti arrangements for the Basie band, “Li’l Darlin’” and “Cute”: “I thought they were perfect for my work at the time,” he says. As the DYJA grew in popularity and the arrangements grew in number, two of its first members turned professional: trombonist Pete Beachill and pianist Andy Vinter, both of whom appear on 50. More alumni followed this pair, while other talented students moved into different careers such as teaching, law, accountancy, etc. but continued to play. A total of 43 alumni perform on this record: “There are quite a lot,” John is pleased to say, adding “My apologies to those I haven’t mentioned.”
Doncaster is at the heart of brass band country and plenty of John’s early students came from that background, including Beachill who was a member of the Grimethorpe Colliery band. John recalls that for many of those students jazz was “an unfamiliar music.” He had a way of breeding familiarity: “What we had then was the ability to go and see the big bands on stage. Coach trips to concerts were very much part of the programme, to get these young players to meet as well as see these bands.” The bands of Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman were all on John’s programme, as was the Basie band with Ella Fitzgerald. John remembers that the musicians were encouraging towards his students and still has an abiding memory of Beachill “having a great conversation with Jimmy Pugh from Woody Herman’s orchestra.” John also put together a library of LPs for his students to borrow — it still exists but now consists of CDs — and has also built up a programme of masterclasses and workshops at Doncaster Jazz Centre.
The students have changed a little over the years, Ellis reflects. They are still keen and talented, but the brass band scene is no longer the starting point for most. Today, they arrive with many musical interests: hip-hop, grime, rap, rock and more. “They do listen to a plethora of other things,” John says. As a result, “progress is not always as rapid as it was in those halcyon days, but I know they’re listening to other things. I’m not criticizing that, but I do encourage them to listen to jazz.”
Progress may be slower in the 2020s, but 50 has contributions from DYJA alumni from every decade. During covid lockdown current and former players kept in touch and discussed plans to celebrate fifty years. Trumpeter Reuben Fowler, who John calls “an inspirational musician and a lovely player,” had the idea to make the CD and a small group got together to finalise plans. Rehearsals began post-lockdown, with John directing, and a further discussion ensued about the selection of the 12 tunes, with John, Fowler and Al Wood making the final decision and directing the performances. The aim, John explains, was for the album “to represent who we were [and also] to pay tribute to the writers we’ve worked with over the years.” The album is a Who’s Who of writers and arrangers, with tunes from, among others, John Coltrane, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Wood and Allan Ganley. Reuben Fowler brought in “Bitter Suite,” written and arranged by his friend, bass guitarist Laurence Cottle. There’s also a specially-commissioned tune composed and arranged by Tom Kubis, called “You Know It Makes Sense” and named for one of John Ellis’ favourite sayings. Spreading the tunes across two discs gives each one plenty of space for some fine solos from band members including Fowler, Vinter, tenor saxophonists Nadim Teimoori and Sarah Potts, bassist Sean Hodgson, drummer Joe Sykes and John’s son, saxophonist Mark Ellis.
The way John explains it, the process of creating 50 was an enjoyable one — and that enjoyment comes across on the record. John also enjoyed a recent trip to France with the Doncaster Jazz Alumni [DJA] on the album’s release day, when the band played a concert and heard some impressive young French musicians in the interval, a jazz quintet aged between 15 and 18. “They were amazing,” as John puts it. It all makes him hopeful for the future, as he moves towards retirement: “I think I’m more optimistic than I was. I think there will always be a future for jazz.”
50 Years by the Doncaster Jazz Alumni is available on Ubuntu UBU0150CD.
