Chapter 20
Robeson Hands on the Torch

When the blues slipped into Britain in 1950 African American creativity had been influencing the nation’s mainstream entertainment for more than a hundred years. This time, Britons marvelled at not banjo, but guitar virtuosity. With story songs of real-life events and tragedies, the blues put a rocket up British pop that sang of love and dreamy kisses delivered with a high shine, and brought it back down to earth with a bass heavy thud. It was an influence aided by the singular advantage American blues artists had over their jazz equivalents in Britain. I grew up with the sound of jazz. My father was a lover of all kinds from Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, to Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Bing Crosby and Ella. As a result, I’ve always been aware of how big jazz has been in Britain and I found it curious that so few jazz artists came over to Britain during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Especially since the likes of James Bland, the Bohees and Layton and Turner had no trouble staying indefinitely in England.