Due to a brain fart back in early January, I managed to buy myself a £20 standing ticket for this gig, then forgot that I’d bought it and bought another one a week later. Didn’t discover my error until it was too late to request a refund for one of them. Anybody here interested in going? Message me if so.
Doubles, Doppelgangers, Clones, Secret Twins.
A few days ago I was mistaken for film composer John Altman by jazz bassist/music educator Gary Crosby, when I greeted him and wished him happy 70th birthday. This is not the first time it’s happened. The third in recent years, in fact. There is indeed a resemblance, as can be seen in the photo in the first comment.
Does anyone else here have a double? Who is your evil twin?
Very Late To The Party But..
Of course those outside the UK moight have to use devious means to watch this but..
The four finalists of this year’s competition were saxophonist George Johnson, bassist Ursula Harrison, pianist Nils Kavanagh and trumpeter Klara Devlin. Playing their pieces in front of an audience at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London’s South Bank, the house band accompanying them was pianst Zoe Rahman, bassist Alec Dankworth and drummer Sophie Alloway. First up was George Johnson playing a seamless set. He was very accomplished but I was not engaged by what he was playing. Drummer Sophie Alloway didn’t really seem that engaged too. A difficult thing, being the first one on in a live show. He drew the short straw, warming up the rhythm section.
Next was bassist Ursula Harrison replacing Alec Dankworth and playing three distinct pieces. The first and third were her own compositions, the middle one was her arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil”, which is one of my all-time favourites and her arrangement was superb. The house band really perked up on that one. A great choice to play and it went down really well with the QEH audience.
Third on stage was pianist Nils Kavanagh, » Continue Reading.
Blue Note’s Post-Bop Playlist
Jazzy goodness on the streaming service of your choice. 69 tracks. More than 8½ hours of the stuff. I’m going in ..
Utterly Gratuitous.
Clips. Got one you want to share? Stick it here.
Wot a Larf.
The Onion has bought Alex Jones’s “Infowars” site at the court-mandated auction of his assets and plans to fill it with silly stuff and ads supporting gun control. Jones is reportedly unhappy about it. “A total attack on free speech”, he said.
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
Lou Donaldson, Alto Saxophonist Nov 1st 1926-Nov 9th 2024
Obituary
A soulful, bluesy, funky player as you will hear in the clip I’m putting in comments. Blue Note Jazz that you can wiggle or even dance to.
Photo copyright Todd VanHoosear.
Back on the BBC iPlayer: Ideal!
One of the finest cult comedies ever shown on TV (IMO). Johnny Vegas stars as small-time Salford dope dealer Moz, in an icreasingly bizarre and surrealistic 7-season series created by and featuring Graham Duff.
Those of you unable to access iPlayer by standard means are strongly advised to fire up a VPN to avoid missing out.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006w7b3/ideal?seriesId=p008vhpq
Misty In Roots/Ruts DC Electric Ballroom October 6th
This is one I’d love to go to, but sadly beyond my current spending limit, what with car and computer repairs coming along at the same time as needing a new freezer. Some here may not have heard about this and will want to go. I well remember seeing them on a double bill with The Passions many, many years ago at Acklam Hall, underneath The Westway near Ladbroke Grove. That was a very good night.
A London Puzzle
It has been drawn to my attention that it’s possible to walk from London’s Bank tube station to Waterloo station without crossing any roads. How?
A couple of definitions seem necessary. By “walk” it is meant that the journey must be solely on foot and no other means of conveyance are allowed. “Crossing” a road in this case refers to directly stepping onto a road to get to the other side of it.
So how can it be done? The answer will be posted in a while after you’ve had some time to ponder.
In Your Dreams
Dreamed that I was assisting in the refilling of several ATMs (bank cash machines) just now. For some reason the last one of these also involved de-seeding a much, much larger than usual orange pepper.
YouTube: “I Block Every Ad On YouTube And I’m Not Ashamed Of It”
Computer magazine staff writer Michael Crider has a good old rant. Article © PCWorld. (The magazine, not the retail outlet). There are links you may not want to click on and he has a favoured ad-blocker that you don’t have to try if you don’t want to. I use an ad-blocker (not his one) which I find very effective on YouTube. Most of the time. It’d be nice to find what I’m actually looking for without having to scroll past loads of crap that doesn’t interest me, though. The article is quite a long read, but personally I’m in complete agreement with him on how Google have ruined it. YouTube sucks! Almost all the time.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2419276/i-block-every-ad-on-youtube-and-im-not-ashamed.html
Goodbye David Sanborn
Obituary
Very influential and prolific saxophonist, particularly in the ’70s and ’80s.
Jazz In Britain Bandcamp Friday (and all weekend) Offer
Friday (today, May 3rd) is the last Bandcamp Friday until September and I’ve just heard that Jazz In Britain are offering 30% off all physical and digital products in their catalogue. The offer lasts all through the weekend until Midnight on Sunday 5th and also applies to the few CD and vinyl items that are already on sale at a discount, so some real bargains are to be had!
Let us fill our boots!
The Guardian: Song Lyrics Study.
Article origin is Agence France-Presse.
What does the AW hive mind make of this? Is music getting dumber, angrier and more self-obsessed? Across the board, all genres, the article claims. I can think of reasons that this might be so.
ATM: Band Gigging in Republic Of Ireland
A musician friend, part of the Joni-covering band Hejira, posed this question on FB.
… I’m delving into the world of carnets etc for a 3 gig trip to Ireland. The official advice from the excellent Musicians’ Union pages and the London Chamber of Commerce is get a carnet, as we’re travelling in a splitter van with 7 musicians and full backline. But tales from colleagues on the road say just drive over and show the border your contracts for the gigs. How risky is this strategy in Republic of Ireland? Anyone done it recently? Thanks for your collective wisdom!
Most replies from other friends of his suggest that if you’re travelling with all your gear, instruments etc. in the vehicle with you, you probably won’t need a carnet. You’d only need a carnet if the gear etc. was in a separate truck or van. But that word “probably” leaves room for quite a bit of doubt. And some possibility of disaster. Another suggestion was to cross to NI initially and then head south, as border checks are much less strict on land crossings. Anyone here with post-Brexit experience of Irish touring or can get information from someone who has?
Great TV, Horrible Music.
Slow Horses is terrific TV. Plenty of action, good script, good characters well portrayed, black humour, interesting locations etc. Well worth watching. Best to mute the sound during the titles though, beginning and end, because the title music is godawful. At first I thought it was some young herbert channeling Mick Jagger (badly), but then I realised it was actually ol’ Mick himself. Hell’s bells..
I suppose Apple’s marketing bods thought, what with the way they were going to hype it, it would be good to have a Star sing the title song. Someone of standing, like Mick Jagger f’rinstance. Unfortunately, the end result is not exactly Mick’s finest hour. Far from it. His voice is all over the place. It sounds to me like he knocked it off quick, grabbed the cheque and scarpered. He must have known it was below par but he obviously didn’t care. The song is rubbish anyway, mind you. Not sure who else could have turned it into something decent.
https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/slow-horses/umc.cmc.2szz3fdt71tl1ulnbp8utgq5o
ATM: How To Save Audio From An MP4 Clip, Process The Audio And Replace It In The Clip.
I have a live music clip with decent clear sound but recorded from closer to the drum kit than the other instruments. The cymbals are too loud (but without distortion) and I’d like to get them more in balance with the rest of the instruments. Preferably using free Windows software ‘cos I’m a cheapskate. Anyone here done this and can explain how?
Jazzwise’s 100 Jazz Albums of the Year 2023
Nothing to see here for Rockists, Popticians or Folk Purists.
I have got, or at least heard some of these albums. A few that I ought to have heard. Some names I’ve not seen/heard of before. One or two I’m pretty sure I won’t like. Plenty more for me to give a listen to.
https://www.jazzwise.com/features/article/jazzwise-albums-of-the-year-2023
RIP Benjamin Zephaniah
Obituary
Poet, writer and performer. Aged 65 in the early hours of Thursday. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumour 8 weeks ago.
John and Alice Coltrane on the Radio Claxon.
If you can access it from wherever you are in the world, and you have an interest in their music, BBC Radio 3’s 5 days weekly series “Composer Of The Week” is featuring John and Alice Coltrane every day this week at midday. As is usual the shows, which are presented by Kate Molleson & Kevin Le Gendre, will be available on the BBC Sounds player for a month after broadcast. Presumably they have been selected because this is London Jazz Festival week, here in the c(r)apital. Link to the first of the five shows included (if it works).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001s64k
Jazz at The Elephant 2023-24 Programme So Far
05/11/2023
In case anyone in the North Fincley/NW London area is interested. 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month. 7pm start. 9.30 finish and home for an early-ish night. Thai food at decent prices until 9pm.
ULEZ Whingers.
Whilst it’s true that the intention to expand the zone could have been publicised more widely and earlier, it’s a fact that the air quality in our major cities is bad and getting worse as traffic increases. It’s a major health hazard. The petrolheads obviously don’t much care about that and, of course, the fact that London’s mayor is not only a brown-skinned Muslim but also from the Labour Party has the right-wing press and their readers foaming at the mouth and calling for his head on a spike. The Tories are hoping for a boost to their poor support (on all other matters they are behind) in London constituencies. The ULEZ Whingers are the same sort of people who whinged when speed limits were first introduced, whinged when MOT tests were made mandatory, whinged when wearing seat belts became mandatory. In an article I’ve just read from Auto Express the writer said disgruntled drivers like him would be boycotting London’s roads, rather than paying the £12.50-a-day charge. Surely that’s exactly what the purpose of expanding the zone is, you muppet! Less traffic, compliant or non-compliant, is something to be looked forward to, I think. Bet your boots the leaders » Continue Reading.
BBC 6 Music. Loss of Confidence?
Chanced upon this Grauniad article today. I’ve never been a fan of this, or indeed of any other music radio station, but that’s just me.
Apparently they want to broaden the station’s appeal to the 25-45y.o. demographic. Too white-indie-50s blokey. You know how this sort of thing has generally worked out when Auntie tried it before..
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/08/bbc-6-music-radio-station
Vivian Stanshall: Two Albums Upcoming Imminently
For release tomorrow, Friday 14th July on Madfish Records. Dog Howl In Tune and Rawlinson’s End.
