Royal Oak

California Dreamin' - a Mamas & Papas documentary on BBC4. Cass Elliot was some singer, though I wasn't as keen on the clips of her from the 70s - her voice seemed to have lost something. There was a clip of her singing "Dancing In The Street", a song I've pretty much always hated (due in no small part to the Bowie/Jagger Live Aid debacle of 1985), and she made me like it.

Kenny G Jazzy B Chuck D

Thank you for making me finally buy this record (just ordered it now).

Art Pepper? I don't own much beyond the Contemporary era, but I was struck by the lack of original compositions.

Sister Sadie Father Ted Uncle Fester

Michael Parkinson Russell Harty Grace Jones

Treated myself for my birthday with "And His Mother Called Him Bill" - Duke "1961" - Jimmy Giuffre 3 Especially excited about the Giuffre. I've meant to buy it for ages, but was put off by the thought of spending twenty quid on one (albeit double) CD. I'm the same when buying plants for the garden.

I'm going to try again to read Henry Miller's "Tropic Of Cancer", which I started about 3 years ago (I read about 30 pages). I had a quick look this morning; the signs aren't good.

More chazza shop fare: Albert Camus - "The Fall".

"Where Does The Time Go?" by Julia Fordham, 1980s yuppie rock diva (though rock is probably too strong a word). "Hammer Time"

Wasn't the "Blue Break Beats" tagline something along the lines of "you've got to hear Blue Note to dig Def Jam"? I remember that as far back as 1993.

At my sister's house this evening to play my purchases from the other week: Gerry Mulligan Quartet - Volume 4 (Vogue) Jimmy Heath - Really Big (Riverside US mono pressing) Both of them played perfectly, which was nice. Duke Pearson - Wahoo (BN, a French audiophile version, no less, with an "Honest John's" sticker on it.)

I started buying jazz records in 1957, a time when older formats (78s, 10" LPs and 7"EPs) hadn't yet disappeared, but the new format of the 12" LP was coming in. The Vogue and Esquire items were 10" LPs or EPs. Some US recordings were reissued on British labels in 12" format; e.g. Monk's Brilliant Corners from Riverside on the London American label. No US imports appeared until about 1962, when the jazz press (Jazz Journal, Melody Maker) did a great deal of marketing of the arrival of selected Blue Note and Riverside 12" LPs. Stanley Turrentine's Look Out! was one of the first and they were very expensive. My copy of Monk's Music, bought in the later 60s, is still marked 42/-. Pity MG isn't posting anymore as he once calculated the cost of an imported US album at that time as a significant percentage of the average weekly wage!! I remember a fast-talking guy who'd managed to get a pile of Blue Note Jimmy Smith albums on credit being actively pursued by a record store manager! 42 shillings- that's over 2 old pounds, no? In the late 1960s? The 21st century truly is a blessed era for jazz buyers!

Thanks for the input everyone. To those who were there at the time (or know these things) - were UK licenced versions cheaper than buying US imports? Were imports even available?

I've never ridden a bike, but in my home town we have a Harley showroom. For an insignificant town like mine I've always thought it a bit incongruous, but we have a Lamborghini showroom too, so what do I know? On our Sunday run to the supermarket we pass this showroom. The car park (bike park?) is always full of bikers. Yesterday was particularly busy - I think there was an organised St George's day ride starting there (they even had a couple of police on hand.) It always looks quite exciting, with a fair hint of menace, what with all the bikers eyeing up anyone who rides onto the premises. I wonder if the showroom ever sells anything, or if it just acts as a meeting point. I'd venture the mobile burger van does more business!

Thanks Bill/Bob It feels solid and heavy. I don't currently have a turntable, so haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. I don't normally buy vinyl in charity shops, mainly because you never find anything worth buying - Jim Reeves and "Top Of The Pops" albums seem to be the order of the day. That day, I also found a mono/deep groove Riverside - "Really Big" by Jimmy Heath.

The other day I found a 10" Gerry Mulligan Quartet LP in a charity shop. The album is a Pacific Jazz session (says so in the liner notes and on the label) but is on the "Vogue" label. I'm a vinyl ignoramus, so could someone tell me if this was common practice years ago?

Bear Grylls Dani Behr Terry Christian

More charity shop fare in the form of Richard Pryor's autobiog "Pryor Convictions". I'm not overly familiar with his work (ashamed to say limited to "Stir Crazy" and a couple of stand-up shows) but I have to say, based on the first few chapters, "motherfucker!"

Deeds Not Words It's Time

It's on the iPlayer on bbc.co.uk - not sure if it's available to non-Uk users however. Give it a try, go to the TV link on the website, then to the BBC4 schedule.

Nice bit of reading with local interest, Richard! Yes Bill, always good to read about your home town through the experiences of others, especially one as interesting as Anthony Burgess. Interesting reading of Moss Side as an affluent district, given the reputation it's had for years (also, to a lesser extent, Fallowfield). I read "A Clockwork Orange" again recently. Reading the autobiography, you could tell Burgess had an impressive grasp of languages, which is obviously how he was able to invent "Nadsat".

On my recently-completed holiday: Finished the Anthony Burgess autobiography "Little Wilson And Big God" Then on to Norman Mailer's "The Fight" Finishing with George Orwell's "1984". I read this as a teenager in 1984. Reading it last week I had absolutely no recollection of ever having read it before.

Fancy that - I'm listening to James Moody as I read this thread. My first ever Moody CD as well.

Scatzophrenia? We are not worthy.