Jazz Forum: Quarterly Review of Jazz and Literature
- Place of Publication: Fordingbridge, United Kingdom
- Language: English
- Date of Publication: 1946-1947
- Publishers: Delphic Press
- Type: Citation Only
Another project of the British jazz writer Albert J. McCarthy (1920-1987), Jazz Forum (subtitled Quarterly Review of Jazz and Literature from no. 2) was a five issue journal published by the Delphic Press from “The Black Hut” in East Mill, Fordingbridge, in Hampshire. The reasons for this McCarthy makes clear in his first editorial: it took one year to find a printer who was reliable, this during the post-war period of rationing and scarcity. Regardless, each issue was handsomely printed, with striking covers provided by Stanley Jackson (1917-1961), abstract and playful works which complement the jazz and literary content found in each issue.
McCarthy intended Jazz Forum to be something of a “little magazine” with jazz writing representing two thirds of each issue and jazz-inflected literature (poetry, essays, reviews) the final third.1 McCarthy notes that such a formula was then possible as writers began to take jazz more seriously, passing beyond the "puerility" of jazz books then on the market. The regular contributors on jazz provided thoughtful and probing essays on jazz’s social and economic roots, its aesthetics as conveyed by different artists, its relationship to dance and other arts, and the state of jazz in various locations, including India, Canada, France, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States. Writers included Charles Payne Rogers, Roger Pryor Dodge, R.G.V. Venables, Hughes Panassié, Charles Delaunay, Jeff Aldam, Max Harris, Roy Carew, Charles Fox, and Frederic Ramsey Jr., who also served as editor for the United States. Stanley Dance contributed a two-part essay, “On Criteria” in the first two issues, examining methods for critical judgement and analysis of jazz. Other articles discuss jazz and surrealism (Eithane Wilkins), modern anxiety (Arthur Stieg), multiple aspects of dance (Dodge), and spirituality (“The Peroxide Saint” by George Woodcock).
Poems are contributed by George Leite, David Boyce, Langston Hughes, Eric L. Thacker, Raymond Tong, Louis Adene, Aime Cesaire, W. S. Graham, Howard Sergeant, Eithane Wilkins, Kenneth Patchen, and Roland Gant. Although the quantity of literary contributions slows after the first two issues, the focused writings on jazz which comprise the remaining issues remained at a high level. Following the cessation of Jazz Forum, McCarthy worked on discographical projects until the founding of Jazz Monthly in 1955.
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1 Albert McCarthy, “Introduction.” Jazz Forum 1, no. 1 (June 1946): 1.