Award for founder of Black Bull Jazz Club at Milngavie

The founder of the legendary former Black Bull Jazz Club at Milngavie has received a top honour.

Ken Mathieson is the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, courtesy of the Scottish Jazz Awards.

The local musician co-founded the Black Bull club in the popular former hotel in the 1970s with Ken Stewart, when the club regularly played host to visiting American jazz greats.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ken Mathieson then went on to run the very first Glasgow International Jazz Festival.

He was one of a number of stand-out artists from Scotland’s vibrant jazz scene who were honoured at Sunday’s awards.

Ken was selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award by a panel of industry specialists, including press and promoters from across the UK.

A spokesperson for the awards said: “Ken ran the very first Glasgow International Jazz Festival in 1987 before devoting himself to playing and arranging for Fat Sam’s Band, Picante and his award-winning Classic Jazz Orchestra.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He joins an esteemed hall of fame which includes Fionna Duncan, Carol Kidd and last year’s winner Martin Taylor.”

Sunday night’s virtual awards ceremony was hosted by jazz and blues musicians Suzanne Bonnar and Luca Manning.

Glasgow-based nu-jazz collective corto.alto scooped two awards – Best Band and Best Album – for their collection of releases.

Jill Rodger, director of Glasgow Jazz Festival and producer of the Scottish Jazz Awards, said: “The awards have given us a chance to look back on what has been an incredible year for Scottish jazz, despite the challenges thrown our way, and to recognise some of our most talented and revered musicians.”

“I hope everyone took the chance to raise a toast to 
the wealth of talent in the 
industry.”

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.