Career

A music critic for the London Sunday Times for twenty-three years, Jewell wrote extensively about jazz, and also introduced British audiences to avant garde jazz, rock and improvisational music, especially through live performances on his British Broadcasting Corporation Radio show, Sounds Interesting. In addition to producing columns of music criticism for the Sunday Times (he also wrote periodically for the now-defunct Illustrated London News), Jewell was the author of a number of books about popular music including The Popular Voice (1980), Duke - A Portrait of Duke Ellington (1977), and Frank Sinatra (co-written with George Perry, 1985). Created in 1967, British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 3 was dedicated primarily to broadcasting live and recorded performances of classical music

Derek Jewell hosted what was known as the only "rock" show on the radio station, the weekly Sounds Interesting, although in addition to rock, Jewell hosted performers playing a wide range of experimental and even improvisational music