Roger Fagge – författare

New Jazz Conceptions: History, Theory, Practice is an edited collection that captures the cutting edge of British jazz studies in the early twenty-first century, highlighting the developing methodologies and growing interdisciplinary nature of the field. In particular, the collection breaks down barriers previously maintained between jazz historians, theorists and practitioners with an emphasis on interrogating binaries of national/local and professional/amateur. Each of these essays questions popular narratives of jazz, casting fresh light on the cultural processes and economic circumstances which create the music. Subjects covered include Duke Ellington’s relationship with the BBC, the impact of social media on jazz, a new view of the ban on visiting jazz musicians in interwar Britain, a study of Dave Brubeck as a transitional figure in the pages of Melody Maker and BBC2’s Jazz 625, the issue of ‘liveness’ in Columbia’s Ellington at Newport album, a musician and promoter''s views of the relationship with audiences, a reflection on Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis and Eric Hobsbawm as jazz critics, a musician’s perspective on the oral and generational tradition of jazz in a British context, and a meditation on Alan Lomax’s Mr. Jelly Roll, and what it tells us about cultural memory and historical narratives of jazz.

Drawing on private and published sources, Roger Fagge takes an in-depth look at J.B. Priestley''s work, seeking to reclaim him as an important English thinker.  Priestley grew up in Bradford, and served on the front line in the First World War, before attending Cambridge and embarking on a career as a writer.  A committed radical, he wrote widely for the press, as well as producing autobiographies, social criticism and plays.  This work revealed a growing interest in the meaning of Englishness and the start of a long-running relationship with America.  Priestley achieved even greater influence during the early years of World War II via his popular BBC radio ''postscripts''.  His later career, however, saw his faith in the people give way to a disillusionment with the spread of the Americanised mass society, although his critical response to the latter maintained a perceptive engagement with world. The Vision of J.B. Priestley charts the continuities, strengths and weaknesses in the author''s long career, and his vision of an outward looking radical Englishness.