_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Jazzjet
-
Posts
487 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Donations
0.00 USD
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Posts posted by Jazzjet
-
-
Not to mention Mikel Arteta from Everton.
-
Not relevant to the thread title but fits with some of the meandering here...
Did anyone watch the David Hare drama 'Page Eight' last night? Quite slight overall but some marvellous performances.
But there was lots of jazz in it - a Dankworthesque opening sequence, a scene where Billy Nighy shows a young woman the Lester Young/Billie Holiday film from the late 50s and later buys her a Young CD. And the marvellous line when an angry ex-wife turns to Nighy in a crisis and barks words to the effect of: 'You're no use. You listen to jazz.'
I saw that last night. A rare oasis of quality TV amongst the dross.
The performances were excellent and more than made up for the thin story line.
Not relevant to the thread title but fits with some of the meandering here...
Did anyone watch the David Hare drama 'Page Eight' last night? Quite slight overall but some marvellous performances.
But there was lots of jazz in it - a Dankworthesque opening sequence, a scene where Billy Nighy shows a young woman the Lester Young/Billie Holiday film from the late 50s and later buys her a Young CD. And the marvellous line when an angry ex-wife turns to Nighy in a crisis and barks words to the effect of: 'You're no use. You listen to jazz.'
Missed it but will try and catch on the iPlayer tonight. Bill Nighy is always worth watching. Thanks for the heads up re: 'Playing Against Time' Bev, I've been waiting for this to be released for ages. Jon H mentioned in the JL programme that Barbara had entered a new phase of her illness and it was therefore uncertain as to whether she could still perform with Colosseum for much longer.
I've got an 80s video recording from a short-lived BBC series called 'A Little Night Music' which features Barbara in her prime with Neal Ardley, on all manners of synths.
-
Here's something interesting:
The BBC TV4 documentry, "Playing Against Time" is scheduled for broadcast on November 4th, 9pm 2011. It's a 75 min. 'musical-medico' documentary about Barbara's fight to keep performing, while suffering from her ever deteriorating Parkinson's condition. It's directed by Mike Dibb, who was responsible for the original film about B&J, 'Jazz, Rock & Marriage' back in '79 and the subsequent award winning Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett & Astor Piazzolla films. Good company!From Temple Music site.
Good news. Just the kind of thing BBC 4 should be doing.
-
-
It never occurred to me to take photos of the shops I regular visited - would have seemed like bus spotting! But I wish I had now!
Quite fun looking on Google Earth to see what is there now.
Here are a couple of random ones from the net:
Not so much Sputnik as CSE Woodwork project!
Great photo of Ray's, Bev.
'From Barry Harris to Harry Barris' as it said in the window.
-
Thanks for the links jazzjet. I remember HMV and Imhofs well. As a teenager back in the late 50s it was always exciting to go to London and tour the record shops, Asman's Dobell's, Collets and the Oxford Street stores. The problem was that I could only afford to buy about one album a month.
Imhofs was probably the first big record shop I visited, after little local shops and buying the latest Duane Eddy single at the in-store record shop in the Gamages department store. I seem to recall spending a number of birthday and Christmas record vouchers at Imhofs, mainly comedy albums like Songs for Swinging Sellers and Woody Allen or perhaps The Shadows.
-
I'd put the last photo as 1969 or so. 'Magical Mystery Tour' LP - I'm not sure when that came out but it was not an official UK release. Canned Heat, Fresh Cream, The give-away is the 'Sugar, Sugar' LP - the single was a '69 hit.
Why do I remember this stuff yet forget the terms of the Treaty of Westphalia almost instantly!
Great photos. A few years back they'd have looked really old fashioned but you can really see the 'space age' décor in the first few. Very Sputnik!
I remember those stairs too from the mid-70s. Jazz was up there if I remember correctly.
I'm guessing that those photos are from varying dates. The one with crowds around the cash till has The Beatles 'Help', a Julie Felix LP, the Sound of Music OST. Puts it around 1965.
By the way, I think the Treaty of Westphalia was a prog band from Ashby De La Zouche.
Until the mid 2000s I used to try and get to London twice a year to tour the record shops for all those albums you never saw in the provinces. I'd probably spend £200 on a visit.
I had a route that started at Bond St. HMV, along to the Oxford Street Borders, then the big HMV, along to Virgin at Tottenham CR and the other Borders, then down to Rays (Shaftesbury Ave when I started, latter day in Foyles), then to Tower at Piccadilly C and then perhaps an amble up Berwick Street (I think...the one with all the record shops and a market) and back to Oxford Street. Having written down a list of discs seen and relative prices I'd go back to the shops with the cheaper copies and purchase.
I last did this seriously around 2005 - I visited London for a concert around 2009 and started the tour but found the shops either gone or much depleted and gave up pretty quickly.
Bad news: the record shops have largely gone.
Good news: I can get anything I want and more via the internet either as physical CD or download.
I loved those trips (and the weekly trip to local record shops) but they are now very much things of the past.
(I did a bit of record shopping in Watford in 1972-6. Used to stay with relatives in Northwood sometimes in my late teens).
Bev,
Were you following me or was I following you?
I guess my last London record buying trip was around 2006.
-
I believe there was a thread set up for matters of interest to UK forum members but, try as I may, I can't find it so apologies.
Check out some fascinating photos of the interior of the HMV store in the early 1960s ( possibly even late 1950s ). Note particularly the 'Cosmopolitan Corner'!
Also, here is a piece about the Imhof's record store in New Oxford Street in 1962 :
-
According to Jazzwise 'Jazz Library' is shifting to a midnight slot from 17th September.
More evidence of the BBC's lack of interest in jazz? Or its conviction that jazzers are nightbirds by nature?
Probably the former. Only 2 or 3 years ago, BBC TV seemed to have at least some commitment to jazz ( at least BBC 4 did ) and showed several jazz-based documentaries, things like the rare Jazz Goes to College Stan Getz programme and restored episodes from Jazz 625. Then it all stopped - when did you last see jazz on the BBC? BBC 4 does at least seem to have some interest in music programming, mainly rock, so I assume that whoever was promoting jazz in the organisation has moved on or left.
-
[Two other things that have me incandescent with rage, while we're here:
1. Who thought it was a good idea for newsreaders to stand up in pairs while reading the news? I find myself turning into my father and screaming at the TV 'Sit Down, for god's sake'.
2. Why, on documentaries, have they started repeating things. They do this a lot on those 'Secrets of the Pyramids' type programmes just after the breaks in case you've been so mesmerised by the adds that you need a recap. But I noticed on a 'Who do you think you are?' the other night they did a recap at the end of every 3-4 minute segment - 'And so Jo has learnt that her grandma was the illegitimate daughter of a travelling trombone player...' Yes, I know. I saw her finding this out two minutes ago!
Worries me a bit, that last one. I do something similar in a lesson!]
The awful formulaic 'Dragon's Den' also does this, ie repeating what you've just seen. It's known as the 'Stating The Bleedin' Obvious Show' in our house.
And has anyone noticed the irritating trend - not just on TV - for interviewees to start their explanations with the word 'So'? As an example, you might get an interviewer ask, 'Why does the fall in retail confidence mean that interest rates will stay the same?' The interviewee will then say something like 'So, the trend is showing us.... etc etc'.
I'm starting to sound like the lefty equivalent of 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells'!
-
A few years ago BBC4 showed an improved version of Jazz Goes To College with the Stan Getz Quartet ( with Gary Burton, Steve Swallow and Roy Haynes ) from 1967.
No sign yet of any of the other concerts, which is a shame as I distinctly remember the one by the Max Roach Quintet ( with Freddie Hubbard and James Spaulding ) the first time around.
I remember reading at one time that all those 'Jazz Goes To College' were wiped to make room for 'Blankety Blank' et al so when the Getz appeared it was a bit of a shock to expectations. I wonder if they sourced it as a stray copy from one of the overseas affiliates (in the same way that 'Pete & Dud' shows sometimes misteriously reappear).
I'd be delighted if more of these were found and put on BBC4. The Max Roach/Freddie Hubbard sounds fantastic - and of historical significance.
I think there was at least one Tubby Hayes performance on 'Jazz Goes To College' which has never surfaced for TV viewing.
Would also like (massive understatement) to see the multiple weeks of Joe Harriott/John Mayer Indo-Jazz Fusions from about 1969/70 that was reputedly broadcast only on a local slot on HTV West from Bristol - shown once (no doubt on the Sunday teatime God-slot
) and apparently long lost. Maybe there is a stray Welsh copy of it still out there.. It would be a damn travesty if they cut back on BBC4. The only decent channel left.
Apparently, the plan is to cut back BBC 4 in favour of the truly appalling BBC 3 ( 'yoof' programming wins out against a channel watched by old farts like us who actually pay the TV license ). See the piece in The Guardian :
Allegedly the plan is to cut back on drama, leaving BBC 4 to concentrate on 'arts and archives', but I think we know where this is heading.
There's a Facebook campaign already to 'Save BBC 4', so please visit :
-
At least one or two live concerts (in the mid 60's) with that Miles-less quartet, iirc.
Not sure if any were ever recorded though, anybody know?
There was this date. It was recorded but the sound is very poor.
Wayne Shorter Quartet
New York City (USA), Village Vanguard
August 1, 1965
Wayne Shorter - tenor sax
Herbie Hancock - piano
Gary Peacock - bass
Tony Williams - drums
1. The Eye of the Hurricane (10:15)
2. Just in Time (9:35)
3. Oriental Folk Song (12:02)
4. Virgo (7:09)
5. Fran-Dance (6:06)
-
Thanks for correcting my faulty memory. That listing seems pretty definitive. Are there any videos from Jazz Goes to College that survive?
A few years ago BBC4 showed an improved version of Jazz Goes To College with the Stan Getz Quartet ( with Gary Burton, Steve Swallow and Roy Haynes ) from 1967.
No sign yet of any of the other concerts, which is a shame as I distinctly remember the one by the Max Roach Quintet ( with Freddie Hubbard and James Spaulding ) the first time around.
Sadly ironic as the BBC is apparently planning to make big cuts to BBC4 which is the only channel where you're likely to find jazz ( albeit infrequently ). All part of the BBC's process, named
in Orwellian fashion as 'Delivering Quality First'.
-
Speaking from my fading and sometimes unreliable memory, the story is that Ayler recorded a television slot in London; when one of the executives heard/saw it the programme was cancelled and the tapes erased. BTW it's supposed to have been ITV (maybe Thames TV or whatever it was called in the 60s?) not the BBC. The Beeb was usually pretty cool about outside/avant-garde music of all stripes. I have no idea if this is true or just urban myth...
Interesting. Seemingly it was from the BBC Jazz Goes To College series, recorded in 1966 :
Recently I heard a 1977 show hosted by rock star Ian Dury on BBC Radio 1, where stars were invited to choose their favourite records ( I believe it was called Star Choice ). He started off with an Albert Ayler record! I bet that's the first and last time that Ayler has been played on Radio 1.
-
There was an excellent BBC TV documentary a few years ago titled 'Alchemists of Sound' about Delia and the Radiophonic Workshop.
I think it's on YouTube.
-
I'm ten days late with this news, but spotify is now up and running and taking your money in the US.
http://www.spotify.com/us/hello-america/
I've had Spotify Premium for a while and I have to say that it is excellent. The quality of the streamed audio is higher than the free service.
One of the best things about Spotify is the numerous sites that provide ready made playlists, and the ease with which they can be shared.
An example is the Britify site where there are playlists to match each BBC radio show ( the 'Magic' list includes the last 100 tracks featured
on the show ). For jazz and world music, Radio 3 is the place to go ( Jazz LIbrary, Jazz Record Requests, Jazz on 3 etc ) but there are also
interesting shows on Radio 6, such as 'Stuart Maconie's Freakier Zone'.
Here's the link :
-
Oh, keep them coming. I'm genuinely interested.
Played the Cesar 830 disc you recommended yesterday - great fun! Cuban really and just a bit 'funky-wah-wah' in places for me but the percussion was demonic.
Well, there's Jerry Gonzalez and 'Rumba para Monk', particularly for the track 'Evidence'. And a Japanese album by Toki and Samba Friends titled 'Brasil'.
Then there's McCoy Tyner in his latin phase, particularly 'Love Samba' from 'Atlantis'.
Other artists worth looking out for include Jayme Marques, Barry Miles's Silverlight, Dom Um Romao, Michal Urbaniak, Janet Lawson and Clare Fischer.
And how about this batucada track from Parney de Castro ( might be Par Ney de Castro )? :
-
A few other albums in the Brazilian / Latin / Fusion mould :
New York Connection - The Harris Simon Group ( with Michael Brecker and Joe Farrell ). Sizzling stuff.
Stone Alliance - albums include Con Amigos, Heads Up, Marcio Montarroyas
Double Rainbow - Terumasa Hino. Not sure about the rest of the album but the track 'Merry Go Round' was a dance floor staple on jazz dance floors back in the 80s.
Herbie Mann - Returns to The Village Gate. Mainly for the track 'New York is a Jungle Village' ( 9 minutes of latin heaven )
Dave Pike Set - Salamao, particularly for the track 'Samba De Rhoda', another dance floor staple. Here's the tune on YouTube :
Cecil McBee - Compassion ( 1977 ), mainly for the track 'Pepi's Samba'. Here it is :
You shouldn't have got me started!
-
Another album that is worth investigating in this field ( although more Cuban than Brazilian ) is Walfredo de los Reyes and Louie Bellson with 'Ecue de los Ritmos'.
Here's a clip :
What a great track! Fits perfectly with this thread. And the album is an E-music!
Thanks, Jazzjet!
Just listened to this, which fits the bill:
His son, Walfredo Jr, is also a percussionist who has played with Santana, Traffic, Steve Winwood, Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan among many others.
-
Another album that is worth investigating in this field ( although more Cuban than Brazilian ) is Walfredo de los Reyes and Louie Bellson with 'Ecue de los Ritmos'.
Here's a clip :
-
From the early 80s jazz dance movement, this is an excellent summary of the music played, much of which fits right into the Brazilian Jazz Fusion-y bracket.
I spent many a happy hour putting together my own compliation of this music.
I would also strongly recommend the book 'From Jazz Funk and Fusion To Acid Jazz' by Mark 'Snowboy' Cotgrove. It also covers the same UK jazz dance scene in great detail.
-
I'm currently watching Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues on a rented DVD and, as a committed jazz listener, feeling pretty uneasy about several aspects of it. This reminded me that a few years ago my local arthouse cinema put on a brief Jazz and Cinema programme, which IIRC consisted of Mo'Better Blues, Jazz On a Summer's Day, Round Midnight and Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown.
If I'd been asked to choose a programme, I'm sure it would have been different. I would have kept Jazz on a Summer's Day, but would have found room for Pennebaker's wonderful short about the Dave Lambert Singers, Audition, recently discussed here. That great Swedish movie, Sven Klang's Combo, seems to have disappeared without trace, otherwise I'd have that too. I also recall a great documentary about American expatriate musicians in Europe which featured some magnificent playing by Phil Woods. Anyone recall its title? I've never managed to catch the documentaries about the life and death of Albert Ayler and the famous 1958 Harlem photograph, so these would be on my list, too. I wonder if I'd include any fiction films on jazz themes and whether I'd open my list up to actual filmed performances. If so, the film of the Joe Lovano Octet in a Paris Club and the Gil Evans Orchestra in Lugano would be in there. Then there's the question of whether to include films with notable soundtracks. First that come to mind are Anatomy of Murder with the Ellington orchestra and French cinema's use of Miles, Monk and Art Blakey in the years around 1960.
What would you like to see on a Jazz and Cinema programme?
(Apologies as always if there's an undiscovered thread covering this.
)How about Brit film 'All Night Long' with cameo appearances by Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck, along with Tubby Hayes, John Dankworth etc. Rather hammy, with Richard Attenborough, but a real curio.
-
I dearly love that combination of jazz, Brazilian percussion and fender rhodes.
Airto, Dom Um Romano, George Duke's 'Brazilian Love Affair', Jobim's Stone Flower etc.
What else is out there (either from the 70s or in that spirit)?
A difficult one because it crosses over very easily into Martini music. Be interested to hear of discs in that area with a bit of muscle that people keep coming back to. I'll probably know a fair few but I'm hoping for surprises.
There's a great album which has all these elements and more. 'Cesar 830' by Cesar Ascarrunz. Produced by Teo Macero and the band includes people like Steve Marcus, Willie Colon and Hadley Caliman. Also Sivuca live at the Village Gate ( or possibly Vanguard ).
Here's a selection :
-
If it's the one I think it is, this was a documentary commisioned by the BBC and broadcast on BBC4 a few years ago.
It's pretty good - segments on Mingus, Miles, Ornette and Brubeck. No great revelations but very enjoyable.
It was produced by Something Else productions and focused on Kind of Blue, The Shape of Jazz To Come, Mingus Ah Um and Time Out.
Dick Morrissey Releases on 77 Records.
in Re-issues
Posted
I'm a big fan of Dick Morrissey and these look intriguing, even if the provenance might be a bit obscure.
There's an excellent LP under Jimmy Witherspoon's name on the Fontana label recorded at the Bull's Head, Barnes in 1965/66 with the same rhythm section except with Phil Seamen replacing Jackie Dougan. Great playing by Dick especially but I don't think this has come out on CD yet.