RogerF

WOW! Thanks for posting. Big Holdsworth fan here. Better get this before Allan and his attorneys send a cease and desist letter. I think (I hope) this was done with his blessing. Certainly it sounds extraordinarily good even from the few seconds on the MP3 samples. I know Mr H is extremely discriminating about the performances he allows into the public domain, as is his prerogative, but I think this is one of which he really would approve. Art of Life seem to take the permissions side of things seriously judging by some of the stuff they have previously unearthed, meticulously remastered and released.

this is a major find nontheless... This has just been released by Art of Life records and from the short MP3 clips on their website it sounds extraordinary. One track features Holdsworth soloing on 12 string guitar like a man possessed! This one is going straight to the top of my must buy list. 'Propensity' by Danny Thompson, John Stevens and Allan Holdsworth from 1978 and never before released. http://www.artofliferecords.com/propensity.html

Another great musician gone. Apart from all the aforementioned contributions he made to jazz, he was also a pivotal, founding member of the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble. RIP Charlie, you will be missed.

There is an obituary in today's Guardian here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/1...ary-hugh-hopper RIP Hugh

Yes that Splinters one is excellent Bev, a real piece of musical history. The Turning Point ones are also great. Very different to Splinters, think first RTF albums (circa Light as a Feather)combined with early Weather Report with a heavy does of pure originality.

Both of Jeff Clyne's Turning Point albums are being reissued as a two-fer by the UK's Vocalion label. Should be available by the end of this week. I can highly recommend these two albums which I previously bought on vinyl and have been long out of print for 30 odd years until now. More here... http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail...?prod=CDSML8448

I used to buy it in the late 70s/early 80s - there was a hole-in-the-wall newsagent on Parliament Street in Nottingham that had an extraordinary range of magazines, including Downbeat! I can't recall why I stopped buying it - perhaps it was too mainstream/pre-Miles in its affections for me to get that interested at the time. I think I'd be more open now. I've been picking up old copies at Record Fairs / Oxfam etc fromthe 1960s and 1970s. Some really fascinating stuff there. But I plead guilty to not having bought contemporary copies enough and then only when the 'cover star' took my interest (eg the one featuring Kenny Wheeler a while back). I'm sorry it's going, maybe someone could rescue it?

I'm very sorry to report the death of Ian Carr, this afternoon. He was 75 and had been suffering from ill health for over two years. He was a major figure in modern British jazz and was, of course the author of the Miles Davis biography. He will be sorely missed by many, fans and musicians alike. More here: http://www.iancarrsnucleus.net Roger __________________

Trumpeter, composer, innovator, author and teacher Ian Carr is featured on BBC Radio 3's Jazz Library! Jazz Library presented by Ian's biographer Alyn Shipton will feature the life and music of Ian Carr. This programme is scheduled for transmission on Saturday 7 February 2009 at 16:00 GMT. The following is from the press release on this programme: Few people active on the British Jazz scene have not come across Ian Carr, whether as trumpeter, bandleader, author or teacher. His insightful biographies of Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett are classics, and his work as leader of Nucleus did much to establish jazz rock in Britain. In this interview (recorded before Carr began to suffer from a long illness) he picks some of his favourite examples from his lengthy catalogue of recordings, showing how he was at the forefront of bringing some of the innovations of Miles Davis to the UK scene. The Rendell-Carr Quintet was one of the most influential bands of 60s, as was the Newcastle-based EmCee five led by Ian's younger brother Mike, which made some powerful recordings. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hgbwx

Very saddened by this news. With his bass player Danny Thompson, Martyn was one of the true jazz folk fusioneers and his heroes were jazz musicians. He contributed some stunning electric guitar work on Neil Ardley's 'Harmony of the Spheres'. RIP John. Some more obits from today's British press:- http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jan/3...martyn-obituary http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/o...icle5613933.ece http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/r...es-aged-60.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...60-1520400.html

I think this is the first domestic US CD issue. Collectors Choice reissues a lot of titles in the USA which also come out on other labels in other countries. Hmmm interesting. I first bought this on vinyl secondhand. Then found an import CD of it a few years ago from somewhere unknown but it was not a boot. Then last year it was reissued fo rth efirst time on CD in the UK on Warners but with no sleevenotes which was rather pathetic. So I too would be interested in reading some sleevenotes on this (third?) CD reissue. It's a very good album and some of the tracks can be heard on the six CD Jack Bruce compilation box set on Esoteric.

I'm terribly saddened by this. He did a beautiful version of 'Blue Monk' on 'Folk Roots New Routes' (w/Shirley Collins). He was perhaps one of the first true crossover (fusion in its purest sense?) musicians. His guitar playing influenced Jimmy Page and Bert Jansch but my theory as to why Graham was never more widely known is that he was just too good, a musician's musician, a guitarist's guitarist and didn't want to settle for just one style or genre. He deserved much wider recognition. RIP Davey.

Nest order I put in to Vocalion I'll definitely pick up a copy of this David Snell. Yeh it may not be the most groundbreaking album ever made but it's certainly elegant and the solos (there are some nice trumpet and tenor ones) are beautifully if concisely constructed. Teasing...agree about International Flight on Sound Gallery - I must fish that one out and torture my family with it.

Excuse the cross-posting from 'another place' but I am desperate for info on this album: 'The Subtle Sound of David Snell' is a rather fine album of unassuming standards played by David Snell on harp (that's the angels' instrument as opposed to the blues harp). He is accompanied by some fine musicians on this Vocalion stereo CD reissue from 1967 but nowhere do the CD liner notes or cover give a clue as to who Snell's co-musicians are. I would dearly love to know and can't find any information on the personnel on the web. Anyone able to put me out of my misery please? By the way, it was David Snell whose harp work made such a difference to John Dankworth's 'What the Dickens'. Oh and in case anyone wants to buy it, Vocalion have a sale on and it's now only £2.99 plus P+P.

Wasn't actually me that was offering it for sale, Jazzjet; Bigbandrecord quoted my original post about it. However, I am plugging this new reissue from Neil Ardley although, again I am not selling it, I just wrote the sleevenotes for this Esoteric reissue! Harmony of the Spheres

Congrats - in that case I'll have to buy it ! I have the LP of this one but it never really grabbed me like the other Neil Ardleys. Will have to dig it out and 'reconsider'. Thanks SW! I must confess I bought it when it was reissued in Japan a few years back and was initially rather underwhelmed. Then I played it again recently several times and by about the third play it really started to grow on me. I then 'got' it because it has all these different elements that go to construct it. The mathematical element of the 'harmony' of the spheres and the way Ardley interpreted this using an actual ratio of the distance of orbiting times between planets (its complicated), the use of, what is effectively an augmented Nucleus, again as on 'Kaleidoscope of Rainbows' in a jazz rock context and the sheer musicianship of those involved - Martyn is a real revelation and I was wrong to initially dismiss his playing in a sort of 'I can do that' pique, when in fact what he plays is deceptively difficult. Finally, the compositions themselves are hypnotically memorable and Ardley's use of synths was very advanced - although not unique - for the time. I just hope someone reissues 'Le Dejeuner' and 'Symphony of Amaranths'.

Neil Ardley's album 'Harmony of the Spheres' received its first official UK re-issue on CD yesterday. Featuring Ian Carr, Barbara Thompson, Tony Coe, Geoff Castle, Bill Kristian, Trevor Tomkins, and Richard Burgess (Landscape) with Norma Winstone and Pepi Lemer on wordless vocals. Another remarkable feature of the album was provided by some excellent electric guitar work from folk star John Martyn. 'Harmony of the Spheres' was Ardley's last recorded work for a major record label. The original cover artwork was designed by Storm Thorgerson. The album was recorded in London in 1978. Available on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2096. ps: Declared interest (but not commercial), I wrote the sleevenotes, all eight pages of them!

I discovered this in a bookshop yesterday and was quite impressed. There really wouldn't be a satisfactory 'jazz covers' book unless it featured say, 10,000 cover images (or more?). But this one certainly included some covers that are not often seen as well some of the usual suspects. Certainly makes a change from the usual Blue Note covers book(s). What actually caught my eye was a whole page devoted to the Ian Carr's Nucleus album 'Solar Plexus' but there are also covers of the RCQ's 'Dusk Fire' and 'Phase III' along with a Don Rendell album I have never even heard of let alone seen. I shall buy this one.

This is now definitely published (at least in the UK) as I checked with the publisher today.

I can't find the interview that you are referring to, but I remember reading an interview of that sort. In fact, he was pretty harsh in the interview I remember. When I read it I thought that he was not being fair to Estrada or Black. There's an obituary on Jimmy in today's Guardian online here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/04/popandrock

Yes the AAJ board has been down for a couple of days now. Seems they are moving stuff around with the website but it also is possible that there have been hackers around too. Not 100% sure of this. Pity because I rely on this board very much. However the Big O board is another of my faves too. Obviously.

Yeah, come to think of it I remember Dusty having that one for sale. Well snagged ! Yes indeed and I mentioned it in the letters page of the latest issue of Jazzwise (October 2008)!

Agreed! This is well overdue. In the last year I managed to buy a <>stereo<> copy on vinyl in pretty good nick so surely someone could do a very reasonable needle drop? I would have thought even Universal might consider this worth doing in the light of the Impressed Repressed hiatus - if not for Dankworth's 80th or for Kenny but for the considerable commercial cache of McLaughlin?

Received it two days after ordering it from BGO. They really do a good job and a certain Bob gets a mention too! Excellent new sleevenotes from the ever-reliable Alyn Shipton. To hear Deep Dark in stereo is a real revelation. Thanks again Roger

Thanks for the heads up Sidewinder, I have just ordered my copy direct from BGO