Oxford University Jazz Club

The Oxford University Jazz Society, also known as JazzSoc, is the focus of jazz music at the University of Oxford, England. Formerly known as the Oxford University Jazz Club, the society now provides the main arena for student players to interact musically, whilst also encouraging a non-student contingent.

The music critic Peter Gammond (born 1925) was involved with the band that formed the original Oxford University Jazz Club. The conductor, composer, and pianist has studied the early history of the Club.

In 1951, the Club held meetings in St Michael's Hall every Saturday at 8 pm. This consisted of two sessions of live Jazz presented by the Club's musicians, a record interlude, and often a recital by a guest soloist. In 1953, the club started to hold its meetings on alternate Fridays in the Green Room of the Kemp Restaurant where the Club's resident band would perform. The writer and documentary maker Tony Cash played clarinet and saxophone in the Club's band and became its President during the 1950s.

In the 1960s, there were two different jazz clubs at the University: the larger Oxford University Jazz Club, which met at the Carfax Assembly Rooms and had dancing, and the OU Modern Jazz Club which met in seated venues at the Wheatsheaf Inn on the High Street, founded by the saxophonist, clarinetist and composer Bill Ashton (born 1936).

The columnist and bass player Miles Kington, then a trombonist, was a musical organiser of the Modern Jazz Club in Trinity Term 1962. He refused membership of the Club to Nigel Tully, founder of the Dark Blues band, because of his love of Buddy Holly's music. Performers in the Michaelmas Term 1962 included Dickie Hawdon(trumpet), Alan and Jimmy Skidmore, and the Fat John Band.

In 1963, the OU Jazz Club started the Big Night, initiated by Marcus Wigan on the OU Jazz Club Committee, and hired the entire Johnny Dankworth Big Bandfor what was a significant financial risk, but in the end turned out to be a successful event. The controlled capacity of the Carfax Assembly Rooms was strictly observed, and counters were allocated to check people in and out of the dance and performance hall itself during the evening to maintain these numbers. To the regret of the organisers, with a good profit in a queue extending well back through Carfax, the University Proctors arrived and stopped any more tickets being sold... nevertheless, the night was a financial success and became an annual institution for as long as the OU Jazz Club continued.This first Big Night was held on 4 February 1963. Shortly after Marcus Wigan presented a large cheque for the Big Night, John Dankworth gave a talk to the very different Modern Jazz Club (where Wigan was also on the Committee): the Pat Crumly Quartet, the Ronnie Ross plus Trio and Art Themen plus the Pat Crumly Quartet all presented.

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