Jazz 625

Jazz 625 is a BBC jazz programme featuring performances by British and American musicians, first broadcast between April 1964 and August 1966. It was created by Terry Henebery, a clarinetist recruited in 1963 as one of the new producers for BBC Two. The title of the show referred to the fact that BBC2 was broadcast on 625-lines UHF rather than the 405-lines VHF system then used by the other channels. Other programme series included Theatre 625 and Cinema 625. The theme tune for the show was written by presenter Steve Race. Later presenters included Humphrey Lyttelton and Peter Clayton. The programme began at the end of the dispute between the UK Musician's Union and the American Federation of Musicians. This meant that well known musicians from the United States could come to Britain for the first time since the 1930s. It also coincided with a fertile time for British jazz, with the such musicians as Tubby Hayes, Tony Coe and John Dankworth becoming known internationally. Bill Cotton, then Assistant Head of Light Entertainment Group (Variety) at the BBC, commissioned the first series. Henebery's initial format idea, however, a programme with interviews and profiles, was denied because of budget constraints. The BBC were keen "to turn it around and get something on the screen quickly." Henebery, a clarinettist by training, had joined the BBC Television Service in 1955 as a sound operator, after several years serving in the Grenadier Guards, interspersed with study at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1958 he had moved to radio light entertainment at Aeolian Hall as a producer. He had a growing love of jazz, initiated by his friend saxophonist Ronnie Ross and spent four and a half years with Jimmy Grant producing Jazz Club. He returned to television in 1963. The first jazz show was a gala presentation of Duke Ellington entitled Ellington in Concert, recorded at the BBC Television Theatre and hosted by Steve Race, the presenter of many of the early programmes. The first part was broadcast on BBC2 on 21 April 1964.