Michael Fitzgerald

The Beiderbecke Affair is my favorite television of all time. Bar none. Absolutely brilliant. And I'm not a Geordie by a long shot. Though I am a jazz-loving school teacher. And I may well be 'round the twist. Ordered these as soon as I heard they were out. My DVDs will arrive any day now (best price I found was at deep discount dvd with free shipping). I don't know why they haven't issued the second one. I bought all three on VHS (PAL) from the UK and had them transferred to NTSC. Also have the Affair taped off PBS when they ran it in weekly installments years ago. I probably know the entire Affair from memory. More perfect quotable lines than I know what to do with. Those catalog summaries are *completely* off. These are much closer to the mark: ========== The Beiderbecke Affair The Beiderbecke Affair is a charming mix of comedy and drama that has all the hallmarks of a classic detective thriller. This marvelous series introduces us to school teachers Trevor and Jill, an unlikely amateur detective duo who charmed their way into the nation's hearts when they first appeared on TV. The story follows the exploits of Jazz nut Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and his long suffering girlfriend Jill (Barbara Flynn) as they try to track down a set of missing records. An encounter with a mysterious platinum blonde pitches Trevor into a complex web of intrigue that begins with an exploding hedge trimmer and soon escalates to involve dodgy businessmen, 'black economies' and council corruption. This endearing and hilarious series is beautifully played by an ensemble cast and is set to the haunting sound of Bix Beiderbecke. [as mentioned, it's in the style of - not actually - Bix. There are lots of lifts and quotes that make it even more enjoyable for a Bix fan to watch. Great band playing with cornet soloist Kenny Baker and he's wonderful. The main theme music is kind of a cross between "Singin' The Blues" and "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." Elsewhere you'll hear hints of "Sorry," "Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down," and others I'm forgetting now. The score is very cleverly written to have leitmotifs or themes for the characters and as things get more complex in the plot, the music follows suit.] ========== The Beiderbecke Tapes Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn), the intrepid, if reluctant heroes of the acclaimed ITV series The Beiderbecke Affair, return for more intrigue and adventure in this feature length mystery. When Trevor is offered some jazz tapes from the barman at the local pub - a fellow Bix Beiderbecke fan, he never dreamed that he would be receiving far more than music compilations! When one of the tapes turns out to be a clandestine recording of a sinister conversation about dumping nuclear waste in the Yorkshire Dales, environmentalist Jill is alarmed. Trevor and Jill return to the pub to confront the barman, only to find that he has gone missing. The two suddenly find themselves embroiled in a mystery, which follows them to Amsterdam and Edinburgh. [this is 151 minutes] ========== The Beiderbecke Connection You've had the Affair. You've heard the Tapes. Now make the Connection. Alan Plater's third, off-beat comedy-thriller relating more improbable adventures of schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn). In this four-part series Jill and Trevor are occupied with being parents to a baby boy but their old friends Big Al and Little Norm, prevail upon them to give sanctuary to a homeless refugee. Trevor's initial distrust turns into delight when he discovers a 'Beiderbecke Connection' - the man is a jazz freak. But along with the refugee come the many visitors to Trevor and Jill's cosy homestead. As the mysterious characters gradually reveal their true colours Jill and Trevor find themselves once again caught in the middle of a complex deception. The Beiderbecke Connection is loaded with Plater's uniquely funny dialogue and features music from jazz musician Frank Ricotti who makes a personal appearance. ============ Hell, on what other TV program in the history of the universe will you find dialogue like: "Cannonball Adderley.......Toshiko Akiyoshi......and Lew Tabackin!" The Beiderbecke Affair stands very well on its own without the sequels. Possibly better without them. How could anything possibly measure up? It also might be better to see it in the actual 50-minute sets of three mini-episodes. Sitting for 300 minutes really ain't the way to do it. Mike

I think you can find just about every 32Jazz CD issued out there in used bins or online lists. I've picked up many for $5-6. Dreadful covers. Someone figured that because they bought a computer graphics program they could be an art director. As I understand it, Dorn was just running 32Jazz and Label M. He wasn't the money behind them. Hyena is the new label. Not sure if it's the same deal or not. Mike

Ah - thanks. Now, regarding the NYT - in tomorrow's issue (Arts & Leisure) I only see one small correction - where are the many letters to the editor? Were they published or just mailed? Did I somehow miss the big to-do? Mike

Send those good vibrations to Todd Poynor, whose Woody Shaw discography it is. I've just been hosting it all these years. He does all the work. But I'm happy to host only the best. Mike

When last I spoke with Laurent Cugny, he was about to come to NYC to do a strings date for Abbey's new CD. That was - beginning of January. He said the saxophonist would be Julien Lourau. No info on ETA. Abbey & Shirley - the finest! Discographies of *both* on my (new) website. Just a coincidence? Of course not. Mike

Yes, Shirley has seen a lot of adversity. But do not give up hope. She played piano for an encore at the JVC festival. If you haven't already, please visit the SH discography on my (new) website. ----------------- Shirley Horn Tries to Regain Her Other Voice by Lara Pellegrinelli New York Times, June 22, 2003 The last year and a half has been pretty tough for Shirley Horn, the renowned jazz singer and pianist. She lost her right foot because of complications from diabetes. Her bass player of 33 years, Charles Ables, died of cancer, and Ms. Horn recently underwent chemotherapy in her battle with breast cancer. Her record company, Verve, decided not to renew her contract just before she went into the studio to work on her 12th album for it, "May the Music Never End," which is to be released on Tuesday. Yet Ms. Horn, 69, prefers not to dwell on the past. Earlier this month she played four sold-out nights at Yoshi's, a popular jazz club in Oakland, Calif. This week she will perform twice at Carnegie Hall as part of the JVC Jazz Festival: tomorrow she will appear in a tribute to the singer Peggy Lee, which features some 20 singers including Eartha Kitt and Peter Cincotti, and on Friday she shares a double bill with the pianist Dave Brubeck. There was one frustration that she wanted to talk about. "I've got to get back to the piano," Ms. Horn said from her home in Washington. "I'm dying right now. It's rough." The loss of her foot has resulted in what she considers an even greater impairment, the loss of her ability to accompany herself. Her playing relies on the piano's sustain pedal to produce sonorous curtains. The shimmering chords she plays on signature songs like "Here's to Life" and "Estaté" provide the perfect backdrop for the quiet drama of her vocal interpretations. She still struggles with the prosthetic device she uses in place of her foot. "Every piano is different in the distance between the top of the pedal and the floor," she said, adding that a few millimeters can make all the difference. She hopes she will be able to play at least one song on Friday, but won't know whether she can until she actually sits behind the piano. George Mesterhazy, something of a Horn protégé, will replace her on piano; he will be joined in the Shirley Horn Trio by another newcomer on bass, Ed Howard, and Steve Williams, who will play drums as he has done for more than 20 years. Ms. Horn will also find herself in an unfamiliar place: squinting into spotlights, face to face with an audience. Her attention will no longer be split between her hands and her voice, freeing her to explore new emotional depths. What no longer flows from her fingertips sometimes finds an alternative means of expression in a few improvised scat choruses, as it did at Iridium in February. Ms. Horn is determined to work through her recent setbacks and keep making music that she loves. Asked about her future plans, she replied, "Child, I am gonna make a record. And then I'm gonna make another one. And another." ----------------- [Apparently there has been some backpedaling about the canceling of her Verve contract.] ========== (excerpt from: Bittersweet and Serious Blend Without Discord by Stephen Holden, NYT 6/30/03) On Friday Ms. Horn whose right leg was recently amputated below the knee (because of diabetes), had to abandon the keyboard because the surgery left her unable to manipulate the sustain pedal. Only at the very end of the evening did she approach the piano to perform an encore. The question that hovered over the evening was how well the 69-year-old singer would fare without the inspiration and grounding of the keyboard at her fingertips. The answer came back quickly: extremely well. Seated in a wheelchair and facing the audience, Ms. Horn exuded the authority of an amused grande dame, serenely but firmly in charge. If the communication between her and George Mesterhazy, the sensitive, deeply lyrical pianist charged with trying to read her musical mind, wasn't always perfect (a couple of her signature pauses seemed tentative), freedom from the keyboard allowed Ms. Horn to devote a keener attention to the song lyrics. The set was anchored in four elongated ballads, "A Time for Love," "Yesterday" "Here's to Life" and "May the Music Never End" that worked together to evoke a grand, ultimately optimistic summing up of a lifetime's bittersweet experience. Given the roominess of the arrangements and Ms. Horn's dynamic understatement, every accent and detail counted, and the moments she chose to ruffle her own decorum were brilliantly selected. An example was her abrupt, ferocious emphasis on the word "suddenly" in "Yesterday," the Paul McCartney song, to suggest how jarring it can be is to wake up one morning and realize how many years have passed. =========== Mike

Know it, love it. Unfortunately the DVD that came out last year doesn't have all the extra material that was on the LaserDisc. However, I got no use for the bulletin board soap operas. Mike

The Ellington/Condon shot is apparently from a private jam session in August 1939. http://www.jazzhouse.org/jpg/cp/index.php3?2 Mike

Ah - bogus Bird, true Fru. Interesting. Stupidly, the Lord discography does have that footnote - but yet it doesn't include the details of the material in question *anywhere* - and as with Fru, any Schildkraut stuff is certainly worth attention. In a couple of days, I'll have the Fruscella discography online. Mike

It actually is an old Danish folk song called "Det var en lørdag aften" that Rollins learned from his grandmother who came from St. Thomas (the Virgin Islands were Danish until 1917). Mike

To let folks know, Aric Effron has recently been banned from several email lists dedicated to CDR trading because he ripped people off and just accepted discs without fulfilling his part of the deals (and then played ignorant/righteous about the whole thing). Apparently the Money Jungle thing was just the beginning. All should beware. Now he just searches for new places to use his old tricks. He has absolutely no shame and his presence here may well mark the end of my participation. I see absolutely no reason why he shouldn't be exposed as the dishonest person that he is. The constant reminder isn't getting through to some people, it seems. Why he is tolerated at all is beyond me. Would you invite such a person into your home? Mike

I heard it on a radio interview broadcast on WBGO-FM around 1985. I thought it might have been the Ben Sidran "Sidran On Record" show from 11/85 but he published that in "Talking Jazz" and it doesn't mention this. There must have been another one. He also talked a lot about his lyrics to "Joy Spring" - recently recorded on the Manhattan Transfer "Vocalese" album. Mike

Ko-Ko was the name of the Lord High Executioner in The Mikado by Gilbert & Sullivan, set in Japan. Charlie Parker was hip to the fact that the native Americans were descendents from Asians - ergo, the Cherokee/Ko-Ko connection. Or at least that's how Jon Hendricks tells it. Something like that. Mike

Is that Getz/Fru thing the Fort Myers tape from December 10, 1954? Info I have looks like this is a gig, not a jam, but I've not heard it. I'm just about ready to go online with this Fru discography (about half again as many sessions as appear in the Tom Lord CD-ROM), but I'd like to get the OK of the original compiler first. Mike

I think it was Gitler, too. I know *I* don't have them! I'm just glad they weren't destroyed. There's still hope for the future. Mike

I am told the Atlantic session with Moore does still exist on a private tape. Mike

Ornette went to Europe in 1965, I believe that was the first time. FWIW, Europeans had already experienced Don Cherry, with Sonny Rollins and with the NY Contemporary 5 (both 1963) as well as Ayler and Cecil. But I think the situation with the Giuffre audience was probably due to the fact that maybe some people expected to hear west coast/cool jazz and weren't up to date on where Giuffre had gone since that period. Mike

I have a complete Tony Fruscella discography done by Jonathan Kutler. It may go back online in the future. Mike

Egads - must we hear tell of this on the blessedly Heaney-free organissimo board? Don't you know a good thing when you see it? The other boards are welcome to him and his close-minded zealotry. And shame on CA for having a battle of wits with an unarmed person. Mike

I am having trouble locating this new Distel set - I got my earlier Jazz In Paris CDs from amazon.fr but now I've tried amazon.com, amazon.fr, amazon.co.uk - can't see anything listed. Any ideas? Great that quite a few of what used to be quite rare Slide Hampton items have finally seen reissue. Mike

That one track is a helluva thing. Such incredible energy!!!! If you want to cry - or laugh - see if you can get a listen to the version of Free For All that is included as part of the Lincoln Center Jazz for Kids educational curriculum package. Anemic is the word that I find to be apt. Every last bit of vitality has been sucked out of it. Sucked is another apt word. And this is what J@LC wants to represent the style. Antithesis is another apt word. Mike

No, he teaches in NJ at Rutgers University (almost 25 years there). His Chicago period was from 1956-1966, with time off to come to NYC for a period around 1961. Mainly in Chicago to study at the American Conservatory of Music at the recommendation of Booker Little. Like Little, Fielder was principal trumpet of the Chicago Civic Symphony. He studied for many years with Adolph Herseth, the principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (just retired after 53 years in the same job), also with Vincent Cichowicz, the second trumpet in the CSO. Played extensively with Sun Ra, Slide Hampton, BB King, Gene Ammons, and others in the 1950s and 1960s. Various later gigs with Art Pepper, Kenny Burrell, Fathead Newman, Slide Hampton, Illinois Jacquet, Art Farmer, Teddy Edwards, Leroy Vinnegar, and others. Also toured as part of the Jazz Professors group in the late 1970s and early 1980s with a rotating cast that included Kenny Barron, Barry Harris, Cedar Walton, Charlie Rouse, Freddie Waits, Larry Ridley, Ted Dunbar, Horacee Arnold, and others. The "Love Progression" record is OK (it was rather hastily prepared), but the producer toned things down, requesting calmer retakes. I have heard the outtakes and they are incredible - much higher energy. Unfortunately, there are no records that really document him well. BTW, that is not a self-produced record. There are a few other recordings including some with Sun Ra from the 1950s, a recent track (Stolen Moments) with a singer named Lionelle Hamanaka, also minor appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner (Pines of Rome, for example) for pieces that require many trumpets. I wrote his entry for the latest edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music, a major reference work (only available in big libraries). His brother, Alvin, is much better known and better recorded (founding member of AACM and still a driving force in the music, playing drums with Kidd Jordan and others). Although I have never really discussed the matter, I suspect Blakey was frustrated, as a number of other big names have been when Fielder has decided against participating in projects (mostly due to exceedingly high standards and strong personal convictions). Mike

An excellent source is www.ejazzlines.com - perhaps not the best prices, but great selection. There are many good concert DVDs - including some things that were rare/previously unissued. Several by Art Blakey, Stan Getz, the Montreal Jazz Festival series, the Village Vanguard series, the Jazz Scene USA shows, also the clip documentaries like "Trumpet Kings," "Piano Legends," et al. Also some imports that I haven't been able to see - too pricey at this point. What is also neat is that Gunter Hampel has been issuing DVDs of all his recent concerts. Most recent is from the Vision Festival, May 26, 2003 with Perry Robinson, Mark Whitecage, Lou Grassi, Prince Aleggs, and Ruomi. I would love for more artists to do this. Mike

I agree and have frequently said that it was Hackett's presence that elevated things - even if he is not responsible for all the good things. However, to be fair, there was a big move toward pop with "Your Own Special Way" on W&W and while I like most of both TotT and W&W, there is a noticeable difference between these and the Gabriel material. Not that all the PG stuff sounds alike. I don't know that I can put TotT and W&W up there with Foxtrot and SEbtP. They're good, but they're not *that* good, which to me, says more about the brilliance of SEbtP, let's say. There was also a huge difference in the live shows. When PC took over, Genesis went from being mysterious to being mundane. It wasn't a theater anymore, it was a rock gig. And down the slippery slope they went. With Hackett out of the way, forget it. I do like FGtR and Trespass, but again, Hackett's joining moved things up. Mike

His name is William Fielder. Messengers who have studied with him include: Terence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis, Shunzo Ono, Philip Harper, Mike Mossman, Frank Lacy, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Garrett, Ralph Bowen, Ralph Peterson. Mike