The Central Library tonight launched its recently gifted Edinburgh Jazz Archive covering over 60 years of jazz in Edinburgh. An exhibition Capital Jazz, drawing on the archive, charts the rise of local jazz stars such as Sandy Brown and Al Fairweather and includes Sir Sean Connery, who was also once a member of the Edinburgh Rhythm Club in the late 1940s/ early 1950s. One of the various jobs that the former Bond actor took was as a bouncer at the Jazz Band Balls, which were held at Oddfellows Hall on Forrest Road.
The archive and exhibition features a range of memorabilia that tracks the unique jazz scene in Edinburgh since the 1940s.
Councillor Ron Cairns, Vice Convenor of the Culture and Leisure Committee, said: “It’s a great honour for our Central Library to become the guardians of such an amazing collection of books, records, CDs, posters, photographs and other memorabilia telling the story of the beginnings of jazz in Edinburgh through several decades. The Edinburgh Jazz Archive demonstrates the unique flowering of music that emerged in the city during the 1940s and has continued to this day.”
A special part of the archive collection will be dedicated to the Royal High School, which has seen almost 30 performers educated there, reaching both local and international fame.
The exhibition has been compiled by the Edinburgh Jazz Archive Group, a group that Jim Keppie, Bill Strachan, Drew Landles and Donald ‘Chick’ Murray. It is dedicated to the memory of Janol Scott, a jazz record collector and enthusiast who inspired the creation of the project.
The exhibition's launch marks the beginning of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, an event that has been running for 32 years in the city.
Capital Jazz is at the Edinburgh Central Library until 5th August