Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion

Long before it was paired with wine and sold to the white middle-classes, jazz had been the ‘unapologetic expression’ of an oppressed people, a music defined as much by its rhythms and harmonies as it was by the transatlantic forces of slavery and imperialism which shaped it. Now, generations later, Andre´ Marmot charts the story of a new wave of British musicians who have reclaimed jazz for themselves and their communities, performing across the country and around the world. Countering austerity politics, gentrification and discrimination, and harnessing postcolonial diversity, intergenerational knowledge and new industry models, these artists have crafted a sound which reflects Britain as it is today – a sound connected to the very origins of the jazz itself. Drawing upon over eighty interviews with key architects of this jazz renaissance and the forebears who came before them – from Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd to Gilles Peterson, Courtney Pine and Cleveland Watkiss – Unapologetic Expression captures the radical spirit of a vital British musical movement.