Solly Lipsitz, RIP

We lost Solly Lipsitz at the weekend, aged 92. He was a jazz head, a writer, a broadcaster and an instigator. He was a sometime musician and a friend of poets and painters. Back in 1971 he was writing for Michael Longley in a book called ‘Causeway: The Arts In Ulster’. In his essay, he declared the following:

“We should be proud that the art of jazz flourished in Ulster for two or three decades, that we owe a small corner in the history of this music, that we manned for a while an outpost of the New Orleans tradition”.

I visited Solly at his home once, on the way to Lisburn. He pulled out records and pictures and articles that he had written for Melody Maker. There were mementos of triumphal nights and visiting legends. He was a little wary when we first met, and I was aware that he didn’t suffer fools. But soon he was revving about the music and respectful of the story that he had partly energised.

He ran Atlantic Records on High Street and it was there that George Morrison, father of Van, had bought his tunes. The empathy between the jazz fans lasted until the end and Solly was commissioned to write sleeve notes for Van’s 2012 release, ‘Born to Sing: No Plan B’.

He passed away just as Belfast was celebrating that other record shop, ‘Good Vibrations’ and a film about culture change. But it would be arrogant of us to suppose that the revolution started in 1977. Further back, and Solly had carried the torch for a time. We all owe him.