Talking the Groove: Jazz Words from the Morning Star

Talking the Groove: Jazz Words from the Morning Star
Chris Searle (foreword by Mike Westbrook)
394 pages
ISBN: #978-1-9163206-7-3
Jazz in Britain
2024

Talking the Groove collects Chris Searle's more recent reviews, articles and interviews from the British socialist daily paper, the Morning Star, acting as a follow-up to Red Groove from 2013. The sheer span of artists covered in this book is astonishing. From the U.S.A, older statespersons like Anthony Braxton, Archie Shepp, Charlie Haden and Terence Blanchard fist-bump comparative youngsters such as Mary Halvorson, Cory Smythe and Abraham Burton. From the UK, Europe and beyond Mike Westbrook and Barry Guy rub shoulders with any number of younger Brits like Binker Golding, Laura Jurd and Alexander Hawkins. While, further afield, readers will find Aki Takase, Satoko Fujii and Omar Sosa inside these pages. That the book combines with a double cd of previously unreleased material from a variety of British artists featuring rarities by the John Stevens' Sextet, Mujician and, most of the Chris McGregor Group and Brotherhood of Breath make this a must-have purchase.

On the one hand, all this is evidence of Searle's catholic tastes in jazz. On the other, what unifies his remarkable subjects is the fact that they shine like beacons across a sea of reaction, musically and politically. Lest any readers think that Searle might have stacked the deck in his choice of subjects, the sheer breadth of artists and approaches covered here tells otherwise. Moreover, the author's understanding of jazz arises from a lifetime's listening but also a dedication to political struggle, notably against the twin evils of racism and exploitation. His Wiki entry barely hints at a life lived richly but without riches, while the bibliography on the site puts many a cosseted academic to shame.

As to the quality of the writing, it is simultaneously committed, insightful and elegant. The uncommitted reader will be pleased at the absence of anything resembling political dogma or theory herein. Searle's focus is always on the music and on the artists themselves. I know Chris Searle—a bit. We have met a few times at gigs and chatted on the dog occasionally. But I think I know him well enough to know that his personality—his integrity, honesty and warmth—is to be found in every word he writes. I suspect also that I know him well enough that he will be slightly embarrassed to read such comments. No matter, the reader needs to know this of him.

Those who see jazz, or indeed any music, as little more than entertainment, will find much to annoy in these pages. Those with more open minds will find convincing arguments—from the artists as much as from the author—that jazz is one of the most potent expressions of creative energy on the planet and, to boot, the sound of freedom, while those already convinced will find in Searle a kindred spirit. Having read Talking the Groove, many of those in the last two categories will want to check out Searle's two previous books on jazz—Freedom Groove (2008) and Red Groove (2013). The freedom is in the grooves.

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