MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Sunny Dancer, Tony, Songs of Forgotten Trees, and The End of Oak Street
Jazz and Cricket: An Unlikely Combination
Matthew Wright's compendium vividly evokes the links between the music and the sport
Frank Parr, trombonist and wicket keeper, leads the Ravers from the field
JOHN GREEN relishes a powerful and moving drama that explores the lived realities of west London’s Punjabi community
MARTIN HALL welcomes a plea for greater compassion between believer and non-believer via the framework of philosophical enquiry
MATTHEW HAWKINS welcomes an engaging and nourishing account of the queer subculture that flourished in London between WWII and partial decriminalisation
RON JACOBS welcomes the political lessons for today, about organisation and withdrawal from conflict, made by an erudite and conversational biography
AS A jazz lover and fanatical cricketer who played his last match two years ago at the age of 76, I have often mused on times when the two pursuits seem to have been in sync with each other.
Was it when Jim Laker’s 19 wickets at Old Trafford in 1956 — with Australian batsmen walking out to the wicket and back to the pavilion in repeated misery — created an Aussie Blues and Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott and their friends recorded the joyous Laker’s Day at London’s Marquee Club?
Or when Gordon Greenidge’s double century and his fantastic square cutting at Lord’s in 1984 rose out of the match like a joyous stomp to win victory for the West Indies?
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