1. Ian Cruickshank was an English electric and acoustic guitarist most associated with the blues-rock and gypsy jazz genres, well known in the UK as an educator, author and columnist, record producer and record label owner, festival organiser and promoter of artists in the gypsy jazz world.
Ian Cruickshank achieved some success in the 1960s in the Keef Hartley Band playing electric guitar under the pseudonym Spit James before becoming enamoured of the gypsy jazz style originated by Django Reinhardt in the 1930s and devoting almost all of his energies to educating, performing and promoting activities in this area up till his death in 2017.
Ian Cruickshank published several influential books on gypsy jazz, was producer and music co-ordinator for the TV Documentary Django Legacy, was the owner of the Fret Records record label, and organised the UK Gypsy Jazz Guitar Festival annually from 1997 to 2000.
Ian Cruickshank grew up in the south-east of England where he formed his first band, The Ian Lloyd Bluesmen, in 1965 at the age of 18.
One night in 1968, after a gig supporting John Mayall's Bluesbreakers he was approached by Mayall's drummer Keith "Keef" Hartley who was leaving Mayall to form his own band, and asked Cruickshank to join; turning professional by this means, and with the stage name of "Spit James", Cruickshank went on to record two albums with the band before leaving after 18 months.
Ian Cruickshank taped a number of these performances on a small portable tape recorder and later made the performances available on a subscription-only cassette entitled "Gypsy Jazz from France" which for many UK enthusiasts was their first opportunity to access performances of this style of music by living musicians.
Around this time Ian Cruickshank was contributing a monthly column "Guitar Django Style" to the UK's Guitar magazine, which were eventually collated to form the nucleus of Ian Cruickshank's first published book, "The Guitar Style of Django Reinhardt" which included numerous original photographs as well as notes on present-day gypsy practitioners of the style.
Ian Cruickshank was active in promoting gypsy jazz performances in the UK by bringing over artists such as Waso, Raphael Fays and Bireli Lagrene as well as performing with his own groups, entitled first Swing Guitars and later, Ian Cruckshank's Gypsy Jazz.
In 1994 Ian Cruickshank produced a second book entitled "Django's Gypsies: The Mystique of Django Reinhardt and his People" which was subtitled "a unique collection of photographs, illustrations, memorabilia and quotations" and included reprints of a number of articles along with numerous original and rare photographs related to the gypsies and gypsy jazz.
Ian Cruickshank organised the UK "Gypsy Jazz Guitar Festival" annually from 1997 to 2000, and appeared as a guest artist on three compilation albums from these for the years 1998,1999 and 2000.