From 1985. I’m thinking that the BBC still does most of this – and more.

SEEN:

Across the freezing Fens for a concert by popular choral combo the Gesualdo 6 at Ely Cathedral. Second time seeing them in the 700-year-old Lady Chapel – a stunning venue for unaccompanied, unamplified h […]

Those of us still entranced by bright shiny CDs might be interested in the tax dodgers’ sale – looks like mainly 2021 releases with some Afterword favourites in amongst the failed latest album from 90s […]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?rh=n%3A27348743031&fs=true&ref=lp_27348743031_sar

Many thanks @tiggerlion – we watched “The Power of the Dog” this week and Greenwood’s soundtrack works wonderfully well – once you get over Benedict Cumberbatch as the grizzled cowboy main character. Will keep an […]

And then there’s the top 464 jazz albums of the year….

This is drawn from a poll of individual jazz critic’s favourite 2021 releases – I think the only UK writer involved is the esteemed Richard Williams.

The best:

Lady Blackbird – Black Acid Soul
Fergus McCreadie – Cairn
Baylor Project – Generations
Georgia Mancio/Alan Broadbent – Quiet is the Star
Joe Alterman – The Upside of Down
Kenny Garrett – Sounds from […]

Two points each:

Pharoah Sanders – Africa
Hugely enjoyable mid-80s set – inc storming version of “You’ve got to have freedom”- with top notch band featuring the mighty John Hicks on piano, Curtis Lundy and Idris […]

I think he’s great – plays with all sorts of people on various projects – including jazz smoothie Dave Koz on an album this year and a great ambient-ish set with Jon Batiste in 2020. Like this as well – scratchy […]

Always liked this – bit of a floor-filler way back when.

SEEN:

Some things I hadn’t experienced for a while – live music, Tuesday night football under the lights and the peace and quiet of regional art galleries.

Soul singer Jarrod Lawson was in fine form over at […]

Interesting list with all the great and the good in their rightful places. But surely in a list of 100 albums that “shook the world” to have just the one album led by a woman jazz player is a little strange. And […]

Art’s biography is a depressing relentless catalogue of abuse – to himself, of himself and many others. His third wife Laurie – long the keeper of his flame – is reading it chapter by chapter on Bandcamp, bringing […]

Tell your son to ignore the bragging and bling and follow the good Reverend’s message – the only rap record I believe that recommends keeping your hair combed.

The Crusaders in the mid-70s were quite something – and here’s possibly Larry Carlton’s finest solo – a minute plus of sustained brilliance from around 1.30.

Used to play this at house parties way back when – […]

Couple of quiet ones from recent releases:

Crooner/guitarist’s lovely lockdown musings on Pat Metheny’s more hummable hits.

Just a beautiful piece of solo piano from the late Japanese jazz pianist.

A couple of years ago I sat next to a chap at a record fair in London. While the rest off us struggled loading up our stalls with hefty boxes of vinyl he turned up with a suitcase from which he produced a table […]

Fine 70s style soulful vocal arrangement on what I imagine might be called a “current chart smash.”

To be honest, hadn’t given them much of a listen – but did yesterday and liked what I heard, particularly this:

Seem to be quite a big deal in the US with multiple Grammy nominations – bet they’re great live.

As a longstanding “soul bore”, I think there’s still plenty of great music about. It’s not the quality and quantity of the 60s/70s of course but here’s some recent stuff that hopefully shows the genre is still muc […]

Couple of lesser known mid-80s Manc minor classics.

First up – A Certain Ratio spin-off and released on Factory – Kalima’s “Smiling Hour” – a decent version of the Sarah Vaughan Latin gem. Great video as well […]