Mike Gerber, born in 1953, is a London-based journalist, and now also a partner in the Vinyl Vanguard record shop – “the best shop for jazz vinyl in London”.

Gerber left school at 16 and worked in dead-end jobs before taking a history with Spanish degree in his thirties, and then a post-graduate trainee journalist course.

His career in journalism, as a writer and editor, began in the late 1980s. As well as covering a wide range of industries, his features have appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, Financial Times, New Statesman, and on various TV station Channel 4 websites, the latter including a thousand-word piece on black music connected to a documentary that the station broadcasted.

Gerber’s music journalism includes features in: Cadence – the quarterly journal of improvised music; in the IAJRC Journal of the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors; in fRoots (formerly Folk Roots); in Songlines, and additionally in various non-music specific magazines.

His interest in Jewish connections in jazz dates back to 2000, when he was commissioned to write a feature for the magazine Jewish Socialist. A book followed, Jazz Jews, and then a related radio show, Kosher Jam, which Gerber presented on UK Jazz Radio.