ABOUT THE HI - HAT
I started as a D.J. before becoming a Percussionist, but first and foremost I am a Percussionist. As a D.J. I buy and play the heavy end of Jazz, Funk and Soul and their different denominations, but I've always veered towards a Jazz bias.
Way back in 1978 when RUSS BURCHAM, GRUMPY and I
(under my old D.J.
name of Mad Marx) used to hire the legendary club THE
GOLDMINE (on Canvey Island, Essex) monthly on a Wednesday to put on our 'JAZZ
FUNK-TIONS', my sets were always more Jazz slanted than the usual and that was
that. The interest was born.
This isn't meant to be my career history, but I want to set the story right for the HI-HAT. So, moving swiftly on 8 or 9 years through various residences and also the birth of my recording career; in Westcliff on Sea (one mile from Southend On Sea), Essex, BOB JONES, myself and unsung hero PHIL LEVENE started a night at a venue called THE MOONRAKER. Promoted by SIMON ABEL, who still promotes the legendary LACY LADY revivals in Ilford, I suggested that the night be called THE HI-HAT. This was 86/87 and it was a Funk free Hard Core Jazz Dance session, kicking against the watering down of the scene at that time and we never had less than 200 in with guest D.J.s CHRIS BANGS, GILLES PETERSON, SYLVESTER, BAZ FE JAZZ and, I think, KEVIN BEADLE.
It was hardcore. I can't remember why it finished,
but PHIL and myself ended up at a venue in Southend called SAKS. We were on
rotation with D.J.'s RICHIE COX, The ALKALINE BROS, GARY DENNIS and one of the
promoters, DAVE ELMER. The night was called FLOOR WORKERS and was bloody packed
with 80% Jazz being played. Along the line, PHIL and I remained and with
co-promoter GARY LUCAS and a change of name, 'BACK TO THE TRACKS', we enjoyed a 7
years hard core run with perhaps maybe half an hour of vicious Funk 7's thrown
in.
The point is, this session came to a screeching halt
because of the HI-HAT. It got to the point that 60 to 70% of the punters at
'TRACKS' were travelling from London and the home counties because there was no
heavy scene in London any more. Well, when EDDIE PILLER,
the owner of this brand
new club, THE BLUE NOTE, and ACID JAZZ records (the label I was on at the time),
asked me to start a hard core Jazz Dance session ( "You're always going on about
bloody heavy Jazz Dance, so do something about it . . .!" ) - I did.
When the session opened on the first Sunday lunchtime of January 1995, there was no need for the faithful to travel to Essex monthly when it was here in London weekly. I decided to revive the name of 'THE HI-HAT' and the club started with a bang! Unbelievable. The best dancers came from everywhere. It was fantastic. I originally used two young D.J.'s from Kent called IAN and ROB to be my back-up D.J.'s as I was trying to encourage new young Jazz D.J.'s and we had classic guest D.J.'s BOB JONES, CHRIS BROWN, SEAN FRENCH, JONATHON, SYLVESTER, ERIC X, MARK WEBSTER, SIMON MANSELL AND TIN TIN (from Amsterdam).
IAN & ROB left after 3 months and were replaced by another
up and coming Jazz D.J. from Southend, JONNY KANGO, who was a regular. We tried
bands as well but they didn't pull in any extra people and like any club, we had
ups and downs but the main thing is we became a home for the neglected Jazz 
Dancers. The scene had changed drastically since the Acid Jazz scene had started
and the root musics of Latin, Fusion, Be-Bop and Afro Beat were kept to a
minimum. For what was a uniquely British scene, dancing to JOHN COLTRANE and
AIRTO to unknown and forgotten Fusion artists (making them cult artists on the
dance floor) the explosion of ACID JAZZ as a scene nearly destroyed the hard
core element altogether.
The amazing dance styles and music were there though at this dark basement at THE BLUE NOTE, establishing many many new tracks as dance floor fillers as the rest of the scene floated obliviously by. Along the way, JONNY KANGO also left, due to work commitments, so who do I get to replace JONNY? There are no more up-coming young Jazz D.J.'s - Phone for good 'ol PHIL LEVENE! From his days upstairs at THE WAG with Sylvester in the mid 80's and onwards, he's always been there with his heavy selection.
Three years, almost completely ignored by other
D.J.'s and the media but
with the most loyal supporters (and THE very best
dancers ANYWHERE), I heard rumours that the club may close. I phoned my great
friend, and promoter of the U.K.'s No. 1 Jazz venue, THE JAZZ CAFE, ADRIAN
GIBSON. I needed to move the HI-HAT. We'd built the session into such a family,
a community, and I couldn't let it end. ADRIAN said "Yes" immediately
and it was with much regret leaving the atmospheric dark basement in Hoxton
Square, and on the other hand, excitement, we started almost straight away. A
different club, a different atmosphere. Some preferred it, some didn't. We lost
a few punters and gained more.
THE JAZZ CAFE started with a bang and, mirroring the BLUE NOTE, ADRIAN said after 6 months, "Look, the session's brilliant. There's a family atmosphere and regular crowd. How can we take this on to the next level?" He was right. We were playing the heavy tunes we had a hard core crowd, but we wanted to make THE HI-HAT an event. Something that, if you're REALLY into the scene you won't want to miss.
We went monthly, and with the
clout that THE JAZZ CAFE has, we started to 
bring in, for each HI-HAT, one of
the all-time legendary Jazz Dance acts from the U.S. We started with BOBBY MATOS
and continued to have artists such as EDDIE PALMIERI, PUCHO, TANIA MARIA DAVE
VALENTIN, JON LUCIEN and many more.
It has always been a tradition to have live acts at Jazz Dance sessions going back to PAUL MURPHY'S legendary sessions in the 80's at the HORSESHOE and THE WAG in London and, of course, GILLES PETERSON'S 'DINGWALL'S' sessions in the late 80's, but no one ever could offer the consistent legends one after the other that we have, and as I write, the current state of play is that we have many many new Jazz Dancers and such a communal atmosphere that some months the first hour resembles an excitable family reunion!
The thing is, the scene is fresh and vibrant with
a positive and almost
protective, possessive and caring attitude. we are unquestionably the U.K.'s
No. 1 JAZZ DANCE SESSION. After 3 years at the BLUE NOTE and 5 years at the
JAZZ CAFE: from January the 26th 2003 THE HI-HAT moved to the heart of Soho
in London to the club MADAME JOJO's. As from November the 19th 2004, The Hi-Hat
returns to the JAZZ CAFE to begin high profile quarterly sessions there.
Click here to read the latest HI-HAT newsletter
This session is currently not happening.