Jazz in Hull a current information site and historic archive
Publications
Dex, Laurie: Hull Jazz and Jazzmen
Beck Books, Cottingham, E. Yorks.
1991 ISBN 0 9514750 2 9
Larkin, Philip: All What Jazz:
A Record Diary
Faber & Faber, London 1970
ISBN 0 571 13476 9
Larkin, Philip: Jazz Writings
Continuum, London 1999
ISBN 0 8264 7699 6
Plater, Alan: Doggin' Around
Northway Publications, London
2006 ISBN 0 9550908 0 6
Poet and author Laurie Dex compiled and edited Hull Jazz and Jazzmen from a series of written contributions from various local musicians and jazz enthusiasts during the 1980s. It has proved an essential reference in the creation of this website.
Philip Larkin (1922-1985) was librarian at the University of Hull from 1955 until his death in 1985. In addition to his reputation as a major British poet, he was also a jazz devotee with a penchant for the early music who wrote reviews for the Daily Telegraph, often scathing in their response to modern jazz, which are collected in All What Jazz.
Later reviews, articles and essays for numerous publications are brought together in Jazz Writings.
Read about Larkin's life-long jazz obsession here: http://www.larkin25.co.uk/musical-infatuation
Doggin' Around (the title taken from a Count Basie jazz composition rather than it's more recent connotation!) was described by Hull-based author Alan Plater (1935-2010) as being the "...memoirs of a jazz-crazed playwright..." and describes his many creative jazz collaborations with leading musicians.
Writer, illustrator & musician Ted Lewis (1940-1982) was brought up in Barton-upon-Humber and attended Hull School of Art from 1956-60. His first novel All The Way Home...(1965) is a fictionalized account of that time. He played piano with the Unity Jazz Band before going on to a career which included working on the animation for the Beatles' film Yellow Submarine (1968) and writing the screenplay for the gangster movie Get Carter (1971) which was based on his novel Jack's Return Home (1970).
There is an excellent new exhibition centre in Barton dedicated to his life and work. https://thetedlewiscentre.org/
Local writer Dorothea Desforges compiled her 2001 book Bands Booze and Ballrooms mixing stories, anecdotes and an excellent collection of period photographs. Although primarily concerned with the hugely popular dance bands and social venues from the 1940s to the 1960s, there is much cross-over material with reference to the Hull jazz scene and the musicians active during that era.
Lewis, Ted: All the Way Home and All the Night Through 1965
Re-print Soho Books, London 2015
ISBN 0 9842125 7 4
Desforges, Dorothea: Bands Booze and Ballrooms Buttercup Press, East Yorkshire 2001 ISBN 0 9539190 6 4