Jazzscript.co.uk is a specialist website, devoted to books
on jazz (and jazz in general), and is run by a 'proper' bookshop,
based in Wendover, which is on the edge of the Chiltern Hills in England.
We are enthusiastic about the books we sell. I hope that if you have
visited this site you share this passion, or at least have a budding
interest. We
have tried to build a website that is useful to both the devoted jazz
fan and to the merely curious.
If you have
any comments about the website, we would like to hear from you, so
please contact us.
We started
to stock these books in deference to the owner's interest, put the
costs down to personal whim and public service, and didn't expect
much other than polite interest. "You'll never sell these,"
said one of the local gentry, who imagined that interest in jazz was
corrupt and led to narcotic addiction.
The local
gentry are wrong about most things, and whilst I await the next batch
of government statistics to tell me that drug consumption in central
Buckinghamshire has risen, we did find that the more books on jazz
we stocked, the more we sold.
Wendover
is the sort of place Londoners come to at the weekend for what they
call a "walk" (they wear slacks and slip-on shoes, don't
carry maps, visit tearooms rather than carry a thermos, and usually
leave their umbrellas behind in one of the antique shops along the
High Street). To some visitors it is a surprise when they see that
we have shelves and shelves of books on jazz. Some back away and return
to the antique shop from whence they came, but others stay, fondle
the books and occasionally buy one or two when the wife isn't looking,
happily humming one of Charlie Parker's more famous alto breaks as
they leave.
The
books we highlight on our site are all currently in print. Books do,
from time to time, go out of stock, both with us and with the publisher.
We would like to have each book listed on our website in stock at
all times; if we are ever out of stock, our aim is to replace it as
quickly as possible.
We are anxious
to hear of any book that you know is available and not listed on our
database.
We do have
some second-hand books on jazz, so please enquire if you are after
a particular title, although we make no claims to specialise in this
area.
If you have any jazz books to sell, please contact
us. |
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Jazzscript.co.uk
is a trading name of :-
Wendover Bookshop
35 High Street
Wendover
Buckinghamshire
United Kingdom
HP22 6DU
tel / fax :- +44(0)1296 696204
www.wendoverbookshop.co.uk
VAT no:- 537 3115 59
proprietor:- Dennis Harrison
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| Established
in 1990, Wendover Bookshop is a small, independent bookshop on the
edge of the Chiltern Hills in England. It sells both new and second-hand
books. |
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PERSONAL
TASTES
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I started listening
to jazz in my early-teens, as there were a few jazz piano records
about the house. Then I stumbled across Brian Priestley's wonderful
Tuesday evening show on Radio London. He even read out a juvenile
letter I wrote in which I snottily damned Monk, and I still treasure
his reply which gently suggested that I listened to a bit more: and
I did.
Despite this, I still like jazz and play a little like Oscar Peterson
myself (not the Canadian Oscar, mind, but the one who lives in a Battersea
council house with nine fingers missing and a musically-challenged
ear). I dream of playing like Dudley Moore: Genuine Dud (recently
reissued on CD) is still my desert island choice.
I am only just, after thirty years of listening, beginning to enjoy
New Orleans and early jazz. I adore the Kansas City bands, and find
the early days of bebop exciting. My favourite jazz artists are Duke
Ellington, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis (of course) and Clifford Brown.
I struggle to get to grips with jazz-rock. Of the current British
jazzers, I think Michael Garrick is wonderfully inventive and, like
all great jazz men, plays only his own cliches; I'd travel to hear
Matt Wates and his sextet; Alan Barnes, too, is superb. |
Dennis
Harrison
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