It is a sad fact that we sometimes learn about the great achievements of a person’s life when we gather to mourn their death. This was certainly true of Anthony Wood, whom I had met only two or three years ago.
Over a lunch in our garden one day, Anthony told me two stories that exemplified his extraordinary life. He had been a jazz promoter and in 1998 had organized three concerts by Miles Davis, the great American trumpeter, bandleader and composer. Davis’ management was very demanding when it came to finance, and Anthony had little or no financial backing. Nothing daunted, Anthony somehow managed to meet Davis’ managers’ demands.This, I have learned was typical Anthony: he was not deterred by risks that might intimidate others, and enthusiasm trumped business sense. But his enthusiasm could produce extraordinary results. Not only did he pull off those three concerts, he arranged a rare interview on network television with Davis by Jools Holland.
Anthony’s other tale touched on another of his enthusiasms – riding his BMW motorbike. He had recently completed a feat known as the Iron Butt Challenge, which requires the biker to ride 1,000 miles in 24 hours without stopping (other than for essential bodily functions or fuel). Anthony had worked out that, if he drove to Berlin, and from there north to the top of Finland to see the Aurora Borealis, he could drive for 24 hours in daylight, which reduced the risks of the challenge. He had also begun plans to join a bikers’ ride in Jordan. He could not afford to ship his bike to the Middle East and he told me that one cannot hire motorbikes in Jordan. However, he had a plan: to hire a bike in Beirut, ride it to Petra, and there join the ride. Alas, Covid, the Beirut explosion and death frustrated Anthony’s plans.
Anthony the biker, August 2021
I learned from his obituaries and by “attending” his funeral online that Anthony was much more to the jazz and avant garde world than a man who had once organized three Miles Davis concerts against all financial odds. From early in his life Anthony developed an unbounded enthusiasm for music. He became a fan of Alexis Korner, “the founding father of British blues”, travelled widely to attend performances, and persuaded Korner to give a series of interviews at his home which Anthony recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder.
Anthony at an Actual Events concert at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 1981
Anthony spent the little money he had on his collection of vinyl records and soon branched out into avant-garde jazz. One of the music musicians he met, in 1978, was the improvisation guitarist John Russell, who invited Anthony to stay in his home and encouraged him to become a music promoter. Anthony founded Actual Events to introduce the music of avant-garde British and international musicians to the British public. Audiences were sometimes very small, so this was a labour of love and certainly not a money-making exercise. Then in 1982 Anthony founded the seminal jazz magazine entitled The Wire: Jazz, Improvised Music and …”. In classic start-up style, Anthony financed the magazine, produced it from home, managed distribution and persuaded music friends to write for nothing. However, Anthony could not sustain the magazine without external finance and in 1984 he sold it to Naim Attallah’s Namara Group. Within the year Anthony had lost his magazine as a result of a boardroom coup. This setback and financial problems ended Anthony’s career in music promotion and publishing, but The Wire lived on to become an important part of the jazz scene.
An early issue of The Wire
Anthony now turned his enthusiasm to his other love – motorbikes. He joined long bike rides and wrote articles for biking magazines. He also had an interest, awakened during his family’s holidays, in Spain, and had made several friends there. Anthony was a regular at a biker’s café in London which had an affiliate in Barcelona. When terrorists attacked the city in 2017 Anthony got on his bike, contacted the biker’s café there, rode to Barcelona and organized a bikers’ ride into the city as an act of solidarity. Before they set out Anthony was invited to address the crowd and to ride at the head of the procession.
In his later years Anthony lived on the bank of the Thames in sheltered housing. He sat on committees to represent the interests of tenants and of social housing in general. He was never wealthy, but never daunted by adversity. He lived his life according to his great loves. He encountered many setbacks, which at times must have dispirited him, but they never quite extinguished his enthusiasm.
Anthony’s particular love of Spain made him a committed European. His friend and former colleague on The Wire Chrissie Murray quoted Anthony in the obituary she wrote: ‘There are too many walls being erected, physical ones by governments, physiological [sic: perhaps he meant ‘psychological’] ones by individuals, both trying to retain the illusion of perceived past greatness or racial purity. All intended to keep out either people or ideas. Bridges, on the other hand, close gaps, cross divides, bring people and ideas closer together. Despite the dangers of falling off, I would rather be on a bridge than behind a wall.’
I wish that I could have joined Anthony on his bridge earlier and that I had asked him more questions about his life and achievements.
For those curious to know more of Anthony his obituaries and memories of those who knew him can be found at:
https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/anthony-wood-7-june-1948-15-september-2021
https://londonjazznews.com/2021/10/05/anthony-wood-a-tribute-by-chrissie-murray/comment-page-1/
https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/10/06/anthony-wood-free-jazz-flame/
