MATERIAL including footage of legendary jams in smoke filled clubs and personal letters of the jazz greats, will be available online soon after the National Jazz Archive received a grant of over £300,000.

The National Jazz Archive in Traps Hill, Loughton, has received a £350,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The grant will mostly be used to digitise the archive’s exhaustive collection of jazz recordings, books, posters, letters and memorabilia, making the collection easily accessible to students, researchers and jazz afficionados worldwide.

Among the other projects that the grant will be used to fund is a website of music and rare recordings from the archive, a jazz history website featuring British jazz greats discussing their music and careers and a number of educational projects.

Digby Fairweather, the founder of the Jazz Archive, said: “This is easily the biggest grant we have received, it is a major step forward for the archive.

“It is fantastic that we will be able to open up the to so many new people around the world. We have material including the first book ever published on jazz in 1926 and a uniquely detailed collection on British jazz.”

He said that they applied for the money a year ago and had been supported in their fundraising efforts by eminent jazz fans including Sir Michael Parkinson and for deputy prime minister John Prescott.

“Sir Michael has been a major support in the latter months of the campaign. He has been terrific is a major jazz fan and I have had some great conversations with him”, said MrFairweather.

Fiona Baird, whose consultancy have helped the archive raise money, said: “This is great news and will also help create jobs in the area as new staff will be needed with the projects.”

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