Evidence of jazz discovered near ancient ridgeway
One of the first jazz musicians?
Jazz is widely believed to have its roots in the bars and brothels of C19th New Orleans, but British bassist and Leighton Buzzard resident Arnie Somogyi recently discovered evidence that could shock the jazz world - placing the origins of the music to the end of the last ice age.
“It was a sunny, crisp morning,” recalls Somogyi, “and I was out on the Greensand Ridge, an ancient track near here that dates back 12,000 years. I was hoping for some compositional inspiration when a peculiarly-shaped piece of flint caught my eye. To my surprise, it fitted very comfortably in my hand, almost as though it had been deliberately shaped for that purpose. Not far from where I’d found the flint, I came across a fossilized hollow log.
“Being a musician I couldn’t resist trying one out against the other and with a bit of effort, managed to produce a dull thud … a kind of “doink” noise.
“I took both objects to my gig at Ronnie Scott’s that evening and was amazed when drummer Chris Higginbottom improvised a fairly complex rhythm on the log using only the flint - something subsequently replicated by top British jazz drummers Clark Tracey, Steve Brown and Winston Clifford.
“I find it hard to believe this was purely coincidental. It’s well documented that our ancient ancestors used readily available materials to make similar simple instruments."
“Like jazz, Neolithic music must have been improvised. It would have pre-dated composition and notation by centuries, and objects like the flint and log must have been fairly ubiquitous around here a few thousand years ago. So the connection between the Greensand Ridge and these earliest improvisations is pretty clear."
“Given a few millennia, and a plethora of cultural, musical and geographical influences, it’s not hard to imagine how this Neolithic improvised music may have developed into what we now think of as ‘jazz’."
“In my opinion there is, in all likelihood, a direct connection between the Greensand Ridge and the origins of jazz music,” postulates Somogyi. “This may explain why so many contemporary jazz musicians have been spiritually drawn to the surrounding area. John Dankworth and Cleo Laine set the trend with their move to Wavendon in the late 60’s. Since then we’ve seen many other notable figures on the British jazz scene move to the area: Karen Sharp, Bruce Adams, Ollie Hayhurst, Mike Gorman and Allison Neale - to name just a few. There are rumours that Keith Jarrett has his eye on a 30’s-built semi in Bletchley. Apparently he’s had enough of rural New Jersey and wants to get closer to the source.”
To celebrate this local connection with the ancient origins of jazz, Arnie and a few like-minded friends have now set up Greensand Jazz which will promote three pilot gigs at a brand new local venue - The Heath Inn, Heath and Reach in Bedfordshire - only a flint’s throw from the Greensand Ridge itself. They hope that it will become a regular and equally historic musical event.
“It was a sunny, crisp morning,” recalls Somogyi, “and I was out on the Greensand Ridge, an ancient track near here that dates back 12,000 years. I was hoping for some compositional inspiration when a peculiarly-shaped piece of flint caught my eye. To my surprise, it fitted very comfortably in my hand, almost as though it had been deliberately shaped for that purpose. Not far from where I’d found the flint, I came across a fossilized hollow log.
“Being a musician I couldn’t resist trying one out against the other and with a bit of effort, managed to produce a dull thud … a kind of “doink” noise.
“I took both objects to my gig at Ronnie Scott’s that evening and was amazed when drummer Chris Higginbottom improvised a fairly complex rhythm on the log using only the flint - something subsequently replicated by top British jazz drummers Clark Tracey, Steve Brown and Winston Clifford.
“I find it hard to believe this was purely coincidental. It’s well documented that our ancient ancestors used readily available materials to make similar simple instruments."
“Like jazz, Neolithic music must have been improvised. It would have pre-dated composition and notation by centuries, and objects like the flint and log must have been fairly ubiquitous around here a few thousand years ago. So the connection between the Greensand Ridge and these earliest improvisations is pretty clear."
“Given a few millennia, and a plethora of cultural, musical and geographical influences, it’s not hard to imagine how this Neolithic improvised music may have developed into what we now think of as ‘jazz’."
“In my opinion there is, in all likelihood, a direct connection between the Greensand Ridge and the origins of jazz music,” postulates Somogyi. “This may explain why so many contemporary jazz musicians have been spiritually drawn to the surrounding area. John Dankworth and Cleo Laine set the trend with their move to Wavendon in the late 60’s. Since then we’ve seen many other notable figures on the British jazz scene move to the area: Karen Sharp, Bruce Adams, Ollie Hayhurst, Mike Gorman and Allison Neale - to name just a few. There are rumours that Keith Jarrett has his eye on a 30’s-built semi in Bletchley. Apparently he’s had enough of rural New Jersey and wants to get closer to the source.”
To celebrate this local connection with the ancient origins of jazz, Arnie and a few like-minded friends have now set up Greensand Jazz which will promote three pilot gigs at a brand new local venue - The Heath Inn, Heath and Reach in Bedfordshire - only a flint’s throw from the Greensand Ridge itself. They hope that it will become a regular and equally historic musical event.
