STEVE JOHNSON recommends that you catch an unforgettable tribute to Woody Guthrie
‘An ability to marry flawless technique with passionate spontaneous creativity’
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to saxophonist and jazz historian Simon Spillett about Tubby Hayes, whose self-taught virtuosity was emblematic of the ’Swinging London’ of the 1960s
MARJORIE MAYO recommends a punchy demonstration of the the way class politics are being fragmented by the right
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends a deliciously dark thriller that explores the complex loyalties within a marriage
JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Last Breath, Sister Midnight, Opus, and The Electric State
HENRY BELL is moved by the account of scientists under seige in Leningrad who preferred to starve rather than sacrifice their life-saving work
RUTH AYLETT recommends two anthologies: one that bears witness to refugee and immigrant experiences, and the other to our political relationship to water
THERE have been many rediscovered tapes of Tubby Hayes’s (1935-1973) live sessions from the 1960s, when the tenor saxophonist was playing at his creative apex. Tubby’s punctilious scholar and biographer and a powerful saxophonist himself, Simon Spillett, considers his double album, No Blues: The Complete Hopbine ’65, to be one of his best and most illuminating.
The Hopbine, a London pub-jazz club in North Wembley, organised by fellow tenor saxophonist Tommy Whittle, who doubles up with Tubby on two of the album’s tracks, was a familiar and receptive venue where Tubby felt much at ease, and his performance is relaxed, full of discovery, impetus and creative energy, and lucky were the patrons who heard it.
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