The 18-month project, made possible by a £79,900 grant from HLF, conserved and professionally replicated in both analogue and digital a collection of live 1960s jazz recordings from clubs in London, including the infamous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

The London-based record label aims to make the music available to everyone and to educate and inspire a younger generation of jazz enthusiasts by providing the most authentic listening experience possible.

The height of London’s jazz scene

Gearbox Records are releasing 15 rare and never-heard-before recordings of some of the most legendary jazz musicians of all time.

Les Tomkins, journalist and jazzophile, recorded the tracks at the Jazz Club with Ronnie Scott’s permission using his Ferrograph tape recorder, amassing a collection of 242 live recordings. These recordings have been painstakingly analysed and researched, and the best have now been restored and cut to vinyl using true-to-the-time techniques and all-analogue valve equipment.

Twenty vinyl copies of the recordings have been given to archives and educational establishments, including the British Library. The digitised archive will available to everyone online via the London Jazz Archive website - a dedicated site for jazz aficionados.

The archive is of such great cultural and heritage importance as the tracks date to the height of London’s jazz era. During the 1960s, British musicians were unable to travel to the US to perform with their American contemporaries due to a visa restriction enforced by the American Musicians’ Union. London became a centre for jazz ensembles to congregate and perform without restrictions based on their nationality.

Saving valuable skills

The project included training an apprentice to learn the rapidly declining skills of analogue production.

Gearbox Records also held interpretation and listening sessions for people new to jazz music, as well as a hands-on introduction to equipment and techniques at their studios.

You can listen to the jazz archive for free on the London Jazz Archive website.