Mark Coles reports on the fortunes of British jazz

Young performers, such as Courtney Pine, Andy Shepherd and Steve Williamson were not only selling well from the CD and record racks, they were also adorning the pages of style magazines.

British jazz was hip.

But somewhere along the line the bubble burst. British jazz has once again become marginalised. More to the point those few high profile British jazz musicians have struggled to retain their recording contracts on larger labels.

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One such musician is Andy Shepherd, the impressive saxophonist who hails from the West Country. His affiliation to Island records has ended.

Disillusioned with the late 1990s, Andy told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's a hard slog. It's tough. Gigs are hard to get and it doesn't pay very much.

Andy Shepherd: "It's a long hard road"

"Record labels are geared towards selling a lot of units. We don't get the attention required."

Diggin' deep

Nowadays, it is the compilation CDs which sell well in the record stores and the release of back catalogue material. The large labels, EMI and Polygram, have relaunched vintage label names from past decades: the Verve label and Blue Note.

According to HMV records in London's West End, the British artists tend not to sell that many CDs.

Nevertheless, a considerable number of them are actively recording, albeit on smaller independent labels. Just a few of those artists currently producing excellent work include: Dave O'Higgins, Dave Newton, Alan Barnes, Gerard Presencer, Iain Bellamy and Gordon Beck.

Courtney Pine: New venture into jazz/hip hop fusion

Courtney Pine has moved on to Talkin' Loud Records where his latest work has moved into the world of jazz/hip hop fusion.

As for Andy Shepherd he is now recording on a small independent label set up by British musician Colin Towns. His new CD, Making Waves, has sold well, confounding some of those marketing people who said jazz has limited commercial potential.

My way

Colin Towns is ploughing considerable sums of his own money into his new label, Provocateur.

It too came about because of bigger label indifference to jazz.

After a career as a keyboardist in the world of rock, Colin moved into composing television and film scores. He then formed his Mask Orchestra, which performs his own jazz works.

Those compositions too were spurned by the bigger labels so he has established his own label instead.

Although this business may lack the financial clout of some competitors, it does have the ability to nurture homegrown talent.