BillF

Pleased he's still active. Saw him a looong time ago - with Max Roach in the 60s and Woody Shaw in the 70s. I'm jealous - have never seen him. I REALLY would have liked to see the Strata East reunion in London earlier this year! STRATA EAST LIVE SOUNDS SUBLIME AT BARBICAN Cowell and Tolliver are clearly long-term associates. They were both in that Roach group I saw in the late 60s - along with Odean Pope and Jymie Merritt. To turn the clock forward a good deal, Harper and McBee from the Strata East gig also toured with The Cookers which I saw at The Sage, Gateshead in April.

Pleased he's still active. Saw him a looong time ago - with Max Roach in the 60s and Woody Shaw in the 70s.

Barnes/Atzmon, eh? I'll be in Wilmslow for Barnes/Abate tomorrow - AND he manages to squeeze in another gig in Ruislip today!! Alan and Greg make a wonderful partnership, despite current work pressures. Alan tells me he clocks up 45,000 miles in his car per year and that's apart from train and plane mileage!

Rochdale Hornets Bury Jazz Society Warrington Minge

Drabble's first published novel and unsurprisingly showing signs of authorial immaturity. What, for example, are we to make of the first person narrator? Does she embody the author's views, or is she the target for authorial satire - or a mixture of both?

Where is that then, Scott?

Stepford Wives Essex Girls Billericay Dickie

Both first read at age 16 and became lifelong favorites.

Roy Liechenstein Rosa Luxemberg Swiss Toni

Robin Banks John Dillinger Dill Jones

Sweet William Bill Stickers

Barnes/Atzmon, eh? I'll be in Wilmslow for Barnes/Abate tomorrow - AND he manages to squeeze in another gig in Ruislip today!!

Commuters struggle through Delhi smog

He was in the lineup last night for the Tracey Octet tribute led by Clark, which included Don Weller in the saxes - still one of our most distinctive saxophone stylists, good to see him here again. Hilarity on stage as they all fumbled on the stands with the mammoth 'concertina' scores put together by Stan. Incendiary first set and a real dillema as to whether to stay or to check out Keith Nichols Blue Devils with vocalist Joan Viskant in the other marquee. I chose to switch and thoroughly enjoyed their performance of authentic early jazz, impeccably played. Nichols and co. have become a Swanage institution - they've done this Sat night slot for at least 3 years consecutive now. Gilad/Barnes Fest and shootout reunion coming up later on... Sounds like you're having a great time, SW! The Mulligan Concert outfit were wonderful. Could have listened to them all day, but they only played for 1 3/4 hours!

Always saw Stan Tracey's hairdo c.1960 as a variant on the Teddy Boy style. Bassist Jeff Clyne on the other hand has something often called a Perry Como, to which I was partial myself at the time. Crew cuts were obviously the thing with the Cool School: Even expatriate Brits couldn't resist:

Ah yes, in memory of Mr Salter. I've read it, but the earlier works, especially The Hunters, remain my favorites.

Yes, Alan is packing in the work as usual. At Wigan yesterday he began with a talk, followed up with the quintet gig and ended with a music lesson for a very promising 19-year-old trombonist whom I fell in with during the day. Today I'll see him in the Robert Fowler Mulligan Concert Jazz Band re-creation and I note he's squeezing in a couple of gigs in Swanage tomorrow, even insinuating himself into the Orient House Ensemble!

Saw the Alan Barnes Quintet at Wigan Jazz Festival this afternoon - Bruce Adams, Robin Aspland , Dave Green and Steve Brown. Superbly accomplished mainstream group - world class I'd say (even on this forum!) The echoey sports hall venue was just right for Bruce Adams' often stratospheric trumpet.

The Wright Brothers Kitty O'Shea Jeff Hawke

Muggsy Spanier Jarvis Cocker King Charles

Carling Brew Moore The Gray Boys

Saw him on keyboards with the Gil Evans Orchestra at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester in February 1978.

This EP (with Whitlock pictured on the right) loomed large in my final year at school (1957-58) when we didn't have much money to buy records and there weren't many to buy anyway. There was also a significant time lapse between American recording and availabilty in Britain, so that these 1952 tracks were still hot stuff at the time.