Ian Cruickshank

Ian Cruickshank
Ian Cruickshank's Gypsy Jazz performing at the Pizza Express, London, 1986
Background information
Birth name	Ian Cruickshank
Also known as	Spit James
Born	1947
Origin	United Kingdom
Died	2017
Genres	blues-rock, gypsy jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, author, educator, promoter, producer, record label owner
Instruments	Acoustic & electric guitar
Years active	1965 – 2017
Associated acts	Keef Hartley, Ian Cruickshank's Gypsy Jazz

Ian Cruickshank (born 1947 approx.) was an English electric and acoustic guitarist most associated with the blues-rock and gypsy jazz genres, also well known in the U.K. as an educator, author and columnist, record producer and record label owner, festival organiser and promoter of artists in the gypsy jazz world. He achieved some success in the 1960s in the Keef Hartley Band playing electric guitar under the pseudonym "Spit James" before becoming enamoured of the gypsy jazz style originated by Django Reinhardt in the 1970s and devoting almost all of his energies to educating, performing and promoting activities in this area up till his death in 2017. He published several influential books on gypsy jazz, was producer and music co-ordinator for the TV Documentary Django Legacy, was the owner of the Fret Records record label, and organised the U.K. "Gypsy Jazz Guitar Festival" annually from 1997 to 2000.

Ian Cruickshank grew up in the south-east of England where he formed his first band, The Ian Lloyd Bluesmen, in 1965 at the age of 18. One night in 1968, after a gig supporting John Mayall's Bluesbreakers he was approached by Mayall's drummer Keith "Keef" Hartley who was leaving Mayall to form his own band, and asked Cruickshank to join; turning professional by this means, and with the stage name of "Spit James" (coined by Hartley so as to sound more like a bluesman), Cruickshank went on to record two albums with the band (Halfbreed and The Battle Of North West Six) before leaving after 18 months. His work on Halfbreed caught the ear of many fans, one retrospective reviewer stating that Ian/Spit was "rather the star of the album".

After leaving Hartley, Ian concentrated on teaching and session work, and at some point he became fascinated with the playing of the late jazz guitar legend Django Reinhardt and taught himself to play quite effectively in this style - a feat given the dearth of gypsy jazz stylists in the U.K. at that time. Eventually in May 1978 he made his way to the village of Samois-sur-Seine to attend the Django Reinhardt memorial jazz festival which in that year was celebrating 25 years after the death of Django and discovered how the living tradition of gypsy jazz was flourishing among the Manouche gypsies of France and northern Europe. Documenting his experiences in a magazine article the following year entitled "Django Re-visited", he described his discovery of players such as Boulou and Elios Ferré playing with their father Matelo, Raphaël Faÿs, Christian Escoudé as well as those of the older generation then still performing including Django's brother Joseph Reinhardt and Django's first son Lousson, who were by then playing more in an electric style. Ian also taped a number of these performances on a small portable tape recorder and later made the performances available on a subscription-only cassette entitled "Gypsy Jazz from France" which for many U.K. enthusiasts was their first opportunity to access performances of this style of music by living musicians.