Melody Maker Readers Poll (1969)...

For 74 years the "Melody Maker" was the weekly 'trade paper' for the dance band and jazz musician as well as all those interested in the modern music scene. One of it's continuing features and talking points were the annual Readers Polls where readers voted under different categories for individual musicians, singers, big bands and a host of other categories. The annual jazz polls were a major event in the jazz world but were also an important historical record of the state of British jazz through the years and preserve some of the historical perspective on British Jazz. This page carries the full results of the 1969 poll result published on February 28th, 1970.		1969 New names continued to appear in the results as the 'New Wave' of modernists began to receive votes. To the older jazz enthusiast from the 1950s many of the names and much of the music was becoming un-recognisable. The names of some of the groups gave little help - what type of music did the "Spontaneous Music Ensemble" play. The music and musicians seemed to be increasingly pretentious, writing much of their own music and recording with large groups using instruments such as the oboe that had never been used in jazz before. The old jazz, apart from a few outposts, was withering and the ultimate demise of jazz as a popular music was fast approaching...
Top Musician 1 John Surman 2 Tubby Hayes 3 Mike Westbrook... Trombone 1 Malcolm Griffiths 2 Chris Pyne 3 Paul Rutherford... Organ 1 Alan Haven 2 Gordon Beck 3 Brian Auger... Bass 1 Jeff Clyne 2 Ron Mathewson 3 Dave Holland... Arranger 1 Mike Westbrook 2 Johnny Dankworth 3 Stan Tracey... LP of the year 1 Extrapolation (McLaughlin) 2 Alex Welsh and his Band '69 3 Marching Song (Westbrook)...	Big Band 1 Mike Westbrook 2 Tubby Hayes 3 Stan Tracey... Clarinet 1 Sandy Brown 2 Tony Coe 3 Don Rendell... Alto sax 1 Mike Osborne 2 Joe Harriott 3 Peter King... Baritone sax 1 John Surman 2 Ronnie Ross 3 Johnny Barnes... Vibes 1 Frank Ricotti 2 Bill Le Sage 3 Tubby Hayes... Drums 1 Tony Oxley 2 John Marshall 3 John Stevens...	Small Group 1 Alex Welsh 2 Spontaneous Music Ensemble 3 Tubby Hayes... Tenor sax 1 Tubby Hayes 2 Alan Skidmore 3 Ronnie Scott... Flute 1 Harold McNair 2 Tubby Hayes 3 Bob Downes... Miscellaneous 1 John Surman (Soprano sax) 2 Karl Jenkins (Oboe) 3 Trevor Watts (Soprano sax)... Composer 1 Mike Westbrook 2 Stan Tracey 3 Johnny Dankworth... Female Singer 1 Cleo Laine 2 Norma Winstone 3 Annie Ross...	Trumpet 1 Kenny Wheeler 2 Ian Carr 3 Henry Lowther... Piano 1 Stan Tracey 2 Mike Pyne 3 Gordon Beck... Guitar 1 John McLaughlin 2 Chris Spedding 3 Terry Smith... New Star 1 Keith Tippett 2 John McLaughlin 3 Alan Skidmore... Male singer 1 Georgie Fame... Blues Artist 1 John Mayall 2 Georgie Fame 3 Jo Anne Kelly...

This page was last updated during February, 2014.
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