Derek Leckenby

What if there was an award given out for being the British post-jazz musician of the year, or the decade, or come to think of it the century, seeing as how whatever we think is the best thing of the past few years, since 2000, is of course the best thing of the century, although in the case of Amy Winehouse I would suggest you check back in a few years, much the same way you should check back about the position of Oasis in the greater scheme of things, and the idea is that this jazz musician is not necessarily a jazz musician who plays the sax, trumpet or drums, but a jazz musician who has taken the fluid, liberating, genre cracking spirit of, say, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Derek Bailey, John Surman, Dave Holland, Evan Parker and Ovary Lodge, and transfers that spirit so that it fits into a 21st century world that is post the pop of Aphex Twin, Lemon Jelly, Prodigy, Tortoise, 808 State, Orbital, Leftfield and the Chemical Brothers, post the experimentation of Fennesz, Broadcast, Burial, Panda Bear, Notwist, Madvillain, post the jazz of Matthew Shipp, Jon Hassell, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, then this award, for being the British post-jazz musician of the decade, who operates with an awareness of electronica, hip hop, serialism, psych folk, minimalism and Sonic Youth, so a jazz musician who functions as an improvisor and an experimenter and a pleasure seeker and a theorist who also functions as a disc jockey and curator and post modern technician, then the award goes to... Read More