The Long Shadow of the Little Giant - The Life, Work and Legacy of Tubby Hayes (Second Edition) - Simon Spillett

The Long Shadow of the Little Giant - The Life, Work and Legacy of Tubby Hayes (Second Edition) - Simon Spillett

Introduction

The Long Shadow of the Little Giant - The Life, Work and Legacy of Tubby Hayes (Second Edition) - Simon Spillett

Simon Spillett [+-]
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Described by Jazzwise magazine as “the world’s leading Tubby-ologist”, Simon Spillett is an award-winning British jazz saxophonist and author. His performing accolades include winning the tenor saxophone category of the British Jazz Awards in 2011, scooping the Jazz Journal critic’s choice award for best new release of 2008 for his album ‘Sienna Red’ and securing a victory as ‘Rising Star’ in the 2007 British Jazz Awards. Alongside his career as one of the busiest musicians on the UK jazz circuit, recording, broadcasting and featuring at many major festivals, Simon is also a writer of note. He has collaborated with veteran British jazz legend Vic Ash on his autobiography (I Blew It My Way – Northway Books, 2006) and regularly contributes articles to magazines including Jazz Journal, Jazz Rag and Record Collector. His much-awaited biography of Tubby Hayes, The Long Shadow of The Little Giant, is to be published by Equinox in spring 2015. He has also provided sleeve notes for over sixty albums by artists ranging from Artie Shaw to Stan Tracey, as well as working with a variety of record labels compiling material for reissue. His main sphere of jazz interest is in the work of post-war British musicians and he has been praised for his “astuteness and expertise at marrying music and factual narrative” (BBC Music Magazine).

Description

Over forty years have elapsed since the death of the British jazz legend Tubby Hayes and yet his story still continues to captivate. Beginning as a precociously talented teenage saxophonist, he took first the local and then the international jazz scene by storm, displaying gifts equal to the finest American jazzmen. He appeared with none other than Duke Ellington and proved almost single-handedly that British jazz need not labour under an inferiority complex. Hayes’s triumphs during the 1950s and 60s enabled still later generations of English musicians to take their music onto the world stage. However his story, distorted by the folklore surrounding his tragically early death, aged only 38, has rarely been accurately recorded. Much of what has been written, broadcast and recounted about Hayes has added only confusion to our understanding of his short but brilliant life. In this new, expanded paperback edition, award-winning saxophonist and writer Simon Spillett, widely regarded as the world’s leading authority on Hayes and his work, painstakingly outlines a career that alternated professional success and personal downfall. Using credible eye-witness recollection, drawn from conversations with Hayes’s family, partners, friends and musical colleagues, unique access to Hayes’s own tape, photographic and personal archives – including papers that have only recently come to light - and extensive contemporary research material, Spillett has reconstructed the trajectory of his subject’s life both candidly and respectfully.

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Citation

Spillett, Simon. Introduction. The Long Shadow of the Little Giant - The Life, Work and Legacy of Tubby Hayes (Second Edition). Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 1-11 Jul 2017. ISBN 9781781795057. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=30675. Date accessed: 28 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.30675. Jul 2017

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