BillF

The Pobble Who Has No Toes Andy Peebles Alexander Selkirk

Just finished this magnificent book, the most comprehensive jazz biography I've ever read - not surprisingly as the author says he was researching it for 14 years! I do wonder, though, about the accuracy of the mass of information it contains. There are two tiny issues that I know about personally and each is marred by inaccuracy. Among those present at Monk's November 1971 Black Lion recording session in London were, according to Kelley, "young critic Alun Morgan and pianist Brian Priestley". In fact Brian, who had been at university with me, was 31 at the time and was something of a protegé of Alun Morgan, who at the time of the session was 43. Kelley's account of Monk's Manchester concert of May 1961, which I attended, is based on recollections by George Wein and a review in the Manchester Guardian and is very muddled. It is not true that there was a very long drum solo and that Monk was "jeered off the stage". Admittedly, Kelley acknowledges that this isn't borne out by a "private recording" of the concert in his possession, but he describes the recording as covering two sets by the Monk group, when in fact there was only one, the first set being by Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, a fact which Kelley elsewhere reports. I guess it all points to the immense difficulty which any biographer has of reconstructing the past. The book leaves me with an overwhelming message of sadness and exploitation. Monk was for years unappreciated and penniless, then he was briefly in the limelight and was milked for all the system could get out of him, and finally was cast aside and forgotten in his final years. A fine book!

Yes, the london final 'l' is very distinctive, as in Diamond Li(l). It only remains to mention the London sound for the vowel in "train" or "rain", which becomes something like "tryne" or "ryne". Can't leave vowels without mentioning New Zealand and Northern Ireland. I saw a New Zealand film in which the geeky teenage boy asks the geeky teenage girl, "Do you want six?" (= invitation to have sex) The one that fascinates me about Northern Ireland is the "ow" vowel, as in "now". It comes out as "noi".

I understand that's the way they talk "oop narf"? Or ithis in fact how the Northerners are referred to by the Southerners? I guess it's the latter. "f" in place of "th" is typical of Cockney (London speech), as in "yoof" or "fink" (= "youth", "think"). "oop" though is how "up" sounds with a northern accent.

The Insider The Outsider L'Etranger

You can't read the program in only a few minutes... I just went on what was on their home page. Sounds like what people said about Cheltenham this year. In contrast, recall what was recently posted about the Detroit festival.

That's how my Scottish father used to say it.

That sounds like the British pronunciation. How is it said in the U.S. generally?

Looks like another one that's taking a liberal interpretation of the word "jazz".

Charles Atlas Gary Mapp Harlem Globetrotters

About thirty miles ENE of Swansea. Gower is south west of Swansea. I'm not sure where on the Gower Port Eynon is; I've only visited a couple of times, but the scenery and bird life is very good there. MG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Eynon Looks beautiful!

Of course, regional British pronunciations are an Aladdin's cave: A student from East Yorkshire told me that where she came from "phone calls" is pronounced "fern curls". ('r' silent here in British English) A man who bought sardines in Liverpool was asked, "Av yuz gorra cat?" (="Have you got a cat")

Yes.

How is this? As adventurous as the Bud Powell composition, or fairly straight-ahead Fifties stuff? Well, I think it's wonderful. As the cover illustration suggests, an exploration of the past, but such interesting choices, including the intriguing Powell's "Glass Enclosure", Freddie Redd's "Thespian", Barry Harris's "Tadd", Dizzy's "I Waited For You" and Bill Hardman's "Just For Marty". Remarkably strong soloing from people who aren't big names: Greg Gisbert (tpt), Ralph Lalama (tnr), Gary Pribeck (alt) and Hod O'Brien (pno). http://www.allmusic.com/album/glass-enclosure-r285962

The Monkeys Elsie Tanner Bob Brookmeyer http://www.aldertons.com/money.htm

Thanks for the recent heads up on this one.

Mr and Mrs Pinch and the Nippers Pinchwife Commander Crabbe

Here's a treat for the grammarians and scourges of the grocer's apostrophe who have recently come out of the woodwork. Which words do you find people consistently get wrong? Plenty of scope too for those "divided by a common language". To get the ball rolling, here's Mr Moog on how you should say his name: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/23/robert-moog-mispronunciations

Wow! You're obviously not a believer in "cast nae a cloot till May is oot"! My Missus maintains that the reference is not to the month but to the blossom. MG Your Missus may well be right!

Apologies to the grammarians for moving off topic, but I have Dues and consider it a fine album. It's certainly a good choice for this Overlooked/Neglected thread and others have thought so too, as I was first alerted to it by Marc Myers who featured it as a "Hidden Gem" on JazzWax in 2008: http://www.jazzwax.com/2008/06/5-hidden-gems-a.html

Been curious about that one, I'm not a big martial arts fan, but occasionally I get in the mood for it. Did you ever check out "Attack The Block"? It's on my rental list. Have now moved it up to High Priority.

Titus Groan The Old Groaner Luke the Wailer

You're right! A true Overlooked/Ignored/Neglected candidate. All I have from the session is "Loose Bloos" on this 1970s twofer: P.S. Obviously things have moved on since Orrin Keepnews wrote of the "Loose Bloos" track on the 1970s twofer: "This, I'm afraid, is from a truly lost session .... things just didn't go too smoothly at this ... date, and it was put on the shelf. Later, Bill and engineer Ray Fowler began to do editing work; they put this selection into shape that Evans approved and got started on a second without stopping. They never did resume the project, and now I find that the rest of the tapes have totally vanished - leaving only "Loose Bloos" and a frustrating partial item that ends abruptly in the middle of a piano solo. My gut reaction was to get this one salvaged tune out into the world quickly, before it also disappeared." Hope I'm not getting off topic, but does anyone know how the Loose Blues album came about in view of Keepnews' comments here?

watch out. your participles are dangling! Please explain. Not proper English: whom I'd really like to read a good bio of. Proper English: someone about whom I'd like to read a good bio Participles (in this case: "of") should not be placed at the end of sentences. Having been married to a writer myself, I know that being a good one does not equate to someone who can necessarily handle grammar and syntax well. Very surprising --- these functions must be handled in different parts of the brain. Yep, that's what my English teacher taught me all those years ago, but if every native English speaker who makes this mistake would give me a cent, I'd be a very rich man very soon "All those years ago" is very relevant. All the above examples of the so-called "mistake" sound fine to me and, of course, they reflect the way people use English nowadays, which is good enough for me!

watch out. your participles are dangling! Please explain. Not proper English: whom I'd really like to read a good bio of. Proper English: someone about whom I'd like to read a good bio Participles (in this case: "of") should not be placed at the end of sentences. Having been married to a writer myself, I know that being a good one does not equate to someone who can necessarily handle grammar and syntax well. Very surprising --- these functions must be handled in different parts of the brain. This is something I never thought of. I'm sure you know what you're talking about. Good to get a bit more knowledge gathered in!