1980s Channel Four jazz programmes to be made re-available.

Friday, November 04, 2022

Neil Anthony, one of the original producers of the "Jazz on Four" strand, is intending to re-release some of these programmes, made during the midst of the 1980s jazz revival. Press release attached.

We have received the following press release;

As Channel 4 celebrates 40 years of broadcasting, it is sometimes forgotten that in its first few years the station featured a significant amount of jazz performance in the “Jazz on Four” strand.  Now, one of the original producers is intending to re-release some of these programmes, made during the midst of the 1980s jazz revival. 

Neil Anthony, of The Bright Thoughts Company, was there at the very start of Channel 4’s jazz legacy.  His profile of the Art Ensemble of Chicago - Great Black Music - was one of the first music programmes broadcast by the station in November 1982, and gave a rare glimpse of the legendary American group at work. Until recently the programme had been thought lost, but a copy was discovered in 2020 and hailed as a remarkable find by both jazz fans and academics.

Bright Thoughts also made Hoarded Dreams, a televised recording of the late Graham Collier’s 1983 composition being performed by an international 20-piece band made up of some of the major jazz performers of the time, and also an insightful profile of Collier and how the piece was created. 

Crossing Bridges brought together six renowned and pioneering ‘free-improvisation’ guitarists (Ron Geesin, Keith Rowe, Fred Frith, Hans Reichel, John Russell, and Brian Godding) and gave them a platform to push the conventional limits of their instruments to the point where it becomes a work of performance art.

Neil is now working to make these programmes re-available to jazz lovers worldwide.  More details can be found on his website: https://www.bright-thoughts.co.uk/jazz

For further information please contact Neil at Bright Thoughts Company: https://www.bright-thoughts.co.uk