The prolific promoter of jazz and world sounds music in Shetland, Jeff Merrifield, has just resigned from any more promoting, citing in large part difficulties in working with the current Shetland Arts management, but also the increased pressures of putting on gigs in Shetland. “It seems to have stopped being fun anymore,” he says.
Since arriving on these isles in 2008, Merrifield has been at the forefront of bringing some of the most influential and innovative jazz musicians from all over Britain and beyond and staged some of the most exciting jazz concerts. After spending more than 45 years in Community Arts, mostly in Essex, including the running of a very successful jazz project, Monkeys Jazz Club, he gravitated up here to find some peace and quiet and to get on with his own writing of plays and books.
However, he met up with a small group of jazz enthusiasts and was drawn into a web of new jazz promotion. His first workshop and gig with Gilad Atzmon and Frank Harrison at the Town Hall was a significant success and over the last seven years Merrifield has brought here bands such as Tim Garland’s Lighthouse Trio, Tommy Smith’s Karma, Phil Robson’s Immeasurable Code, the Nova Scotia Jazz Band, Trio Tarot from Amsterdam, Kenny Milne’s Criterion Jazz Band, NeWt, Brass Jaw, Chris Stout’s Brazilian Theory, Trio Red, Stu Brown’s Raymond Scott Project, and the Christine Tobin Band.
The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra were presented in concerts several times, once with Bobby Wellins, once with Brian Kellock playing Rhapsody in Blue, and once with Eddi Reader.
Solo artists have included guitarists John Etheridge, Jim Mullen and Nigel Clarke, percussionists Asaf Sirkis, Bruce Ncube, Adriano Adewale and Sura Susso, Derek Nash and Dave Newton, Rob Hall and Chuck Lyall, Tom Gibbs, singers Becc Sanderson, Melanie Harrald, The Bevvy Sisters, Fionna Duncan & Ronnie Rea.
A commission where Tommy Smith worked with Shetland poets Christine De Luca and Alex Cluness, on newly written work, was performed at Mareel and then moved to the Edinburgh Jazz Festival. A rare festival film about Albert Ayler made by a Swedish director, a documentary film about Annie Ross and the famous Jazz On a Summer’s Day film about Newport Jazz Festival and featuring a plethora of jazz stars.
Last year Shetland Jazz Club transmogrified into Shetland JAWS to engage with the work Joy Duncan undertakes for World Music.
That seems like a pretty comprehensive seven years of work, mostly enjoyable, mostly driven by enthusiasm for the music and the people as well as dollops of adrenalin. However, Merrifield has decided to throw the towel in, largely because it is becoming increasingly difficult to promote in Shetland and it has stopped being as enjoyable as it used to be. The promotional difficulties have not been helped by strained relationships with Mareel and Shetland Arts, under its new management.
Over the last few months Merrifield says that gigs he has promoted have been ruined for him by the off-side difficulties. The final straw was with the Blockheads gig which he had been waiting for years to put on, but was ruined for him on the night by an uncooperative attitude at Mareel. Other obstacles have been: a refusal to consider a concerning complaint that door numbers paid did not, for one reason or another, match the audience attendance, which was summarily dismissed out of hand; refusal to hang a nicely made large banner for our latest and most expensive promotion at Mareel, even though three banners were hanging for the same film featured in the cinema; drastic rise of charges without prior notification, some of which were partially repaid but not without a deal of unpleasantness; lack of support, that used to be very nicely forthcoming, for community enterprises, which are now treated with some disdain. And a great deal more distastefulness.
Merrifield is at pains to point out that he has no complaint with the technical and backstage staff at Mareel: “They could not be better and are indubitably pleasant to deal with and most cooperative. However, it seems the change of management of recent times has not been for the better at Shetland Arts and has certainly been a big factor in my decision.”
He will not be turning his back totally on the jazz and world music. Merrifield says, “There is quite a bit of rising young jazz talent in Shetland right now that deserves to be nurtured. There is much to be done locally and work needed to reconnect with a significant audience.”
Merrifield will continue to work with the Shetland JAWS committee in a fund-raising and financing role, but will somewhat regretfully be stepping down from the promotional side of things and returning to his own writing projects, the reason he came here in the first place.
