"What am I meant to do," asked Jack Massarik
after being told that his diabetes was masking
advanced pancreatic cancer. "Sue the fella?"
Quick-witted and dry-humoured, with a lust
for life and an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz,
Massarik was a writer, musician and the
Evening Standard’s jazz critic from September
1979 until his death last Sunday, aged 74. His
loss to both journalism and the British jazz
scene is keenly felt.
Massarik’s reviews had warmth and colour; like
his favourite tempo, they had swing. Massarik
had a passion for the old masters: Al Jarreau,
John McLaughlin, Dianne Reeves, Sonny
Rollins. Whoever he saw, he was often at
Ronnie Scott’s in Soho, sitting at his regular
table, making notes on the back of his ticket
with his illuminated pen — if the music had
heart he’d say so.
For the past few years he’d been championing
British newcomers such as singer Lauren
Kinsella, guitarist Nigel Price and tenor
saxophonist Simon Spillett, whose fiery
tributes to the late Tubby Hayes resonated with
the post-bop-loving Massarik, an alto-sax
player himself.
“Jack was a very good jazz musician,” says
British blues icon John Mayall, who in the
early Sixties fronted the Blues Syndicate, a
short-lived outfit that Massarik had co-founded
in Manchester with Gillespie-style trumpeter
John Rowlands. “He knew his instrument and
could communicate the excitement, which of
course was something he later did with his
writing.” Evening Standard.
BN
Someone of Bete Noire status for those boredees of an age....his "Torrents of Hate" re Coltrane still seems remarkably ill judged and offensive but he cared deeply about the music. So, So long Jacko.
after being told that his diabetes was masking
advanced pancreatic cancer. "Sue the fella?"
Quick-witted and dry-humoured, with a lust
for life and an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz,
Massarik was a writer, musician and the
Evening Standard’s jazz critic from September
1979 until his death last Sunday, aged 74. His
loss to both journalism and the British jazz
scene is keenly felt.
Massarik’s reviews had warmth and colour; like
his favourite tempo, they had swing. Massarik
had a passion for the old masters: Al Jarreau,
John McLaughlin, Dianne Reeves, Sonny
Rollins. Whoever he saw, he was often at
Ronnie Scott’s in Soho, sitting at his regular
table, making notes on the back of his ticket
with his illuminated pen — if the music had
heart he’d say so.
For the past few years he’d been championing
British newcomers such as singer Lauren
Kinsella, guitarist Nigel Price and tenor
saxophonist Simon Spillett, whose fiery
tributes to the late Tubby Hayes resonated with
the post-bop-loving Massarik, an alto-sax
player himself.
“Jack was a very good jazz musician,” says
British blues icon John Mayall, who in the
early Sixties fronted the Blues Syndicate, a
short-lived outfit that Massarik had co-founded
in Manchester with Gillespie-style trumpeter
John Rowlands. “He knew his instrument and
could communicate the excitement, which of
course was something he later did with his
writing.” Evening Standard.
BN
Someone of Bete Noire status for those boredees of an age....his "Torrents of Hate" re Coltrane still seems remarkably ill judged and offensive but he cared deeply about the music. So, So long Jacko.
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