adh1907

Saw ‘Tar’ yesterday, which comes in at around 158 minutes. Judging from the number of people who had to pop out for a few minutes during the screening, an intermission might have been helpful! Mind you, this was the afternoon cheap ticket performance, so it was an older audience in attendance. I do recall an intermission during a screening of ‘Out of Africa’ in the 80s, which was (according to Wikipedia) 160 minutes. Anthony London

My copy of the Harry Beckett Flare up reissue arrived today!

Ps wasn’t there some talk about a release featuring a live concert of Jimmy Witherspoon with Dick Morrissey? I think Simon Spillett may have been involved, but I may be mistaken.

I don’t believe the original Fontana release is a live recording; the sleeve notes may be misleading in describing a Dick Morrissey gig at the Bulls Head. I understand it was recorded at the Philips studio in Marble Arch. There is a live Storm Warning CD which I have, recorded at the Gallery Club in Manchester in 1966, remastered in Brooklyn and issued by Jazzhus in Taiwan. Quite an international effort! anthony London

From this morning’s Trunk mailing: ‘I've had a load of emails about Mole Jazz tees as they sold out fast - more will therefore be made in 2023. So, something to look forward to already. ‘ Anthony London

Yes, I saw that. Seemed odd that they sold out of all sizes so quickly. I would have expected the smaller sizes to have hung around for a bit longer! I wonder who has the copyright to the logo. Anthony

“Though he professes a great respect for the work of other musicians, he seldom waits to be asked before leaping onto a bandstand with them, horn in hand —and he eyidences little awareness of the tastes or sensibilities of themusicians playing vyith him. When be is around it is always a show, and it is always Tony's show, unless a bigger ham upstages him.”. That’s a brilliant description of the only time I saw Tony Scott in London where he leapt on stage at a Peter King concert at the Bulls head in the mid 80s and blew his clarinet like a maniac and disrupted the gig. It was fun at the time but King looked too embarrassed to stop him, I recall. Someone told me who he was as I didn’t recognise him from his 50s record sleeves, he looked wild!

A bit of a dim question, but 10” records are of a harder less flexible material to old 12”LPs. So, I have always been slightly wary of cleaning them with the usual solutions on my Moth machine. Should I worry? Anthony London Ps massive fan of 10” albums, I have lots and find the sound quality brilliant. Sort of closer to 78s than 12”. For example, Bud Shank and three trombones sounds great on 10”, particularly Shelly Manne’s drums. Never found a reissue with the same punch to it.

Sorry Niko, not Niki. Autocorrect. Apologies.

Yes I see from the interesting link that Niki posted that it was claimed to be recorded in Europe to avoid problems with the local Chicago musicians union. according to the original film credits, there is a soundtrack on Saturn records, srlp0216.

Anyone familiar with “the cry of jazz”, from 1959? I saw a public screening today but I noticed it is on You Tube: Stilted but provocative dialogue for its time. it features some clips of Sun Ra with John Gilmore and the Arkestra running through jazz styles from Dixieland onwards. Plus a futuristic looped section of Sun Ra’s piano. A couple of questions, it claims the music was recorded in Europe, really? And who is the amazing trumpet player with Sun Ra? Anthony London

‘Cry of jazz’ documentary screening tomorrow, Saturday, as part of the London Jazz Festival. Anthony London

Springboard, Jeff Clyne, Ian Carr , Trevor Watts, John Stevens. Polydor Special LP. With drawings by Richie Stevens (age 6).

Interesting, thanks. Shame it is out of print as this is a great sounding reissue.

Hi, it was reissued by Emanem in 2014. I haven’t heard the original or the earlier reissue but this CD sounds very good to my ears. http://www.emanemdisc.com/E5046.html regards Anthony London

“Freddie Hubbart”.

The Floating Points thing certainly got him a lot of coverage in the UK. Found it a bit drippy myself. Sanders’ ‘Focus’

Here in the UK, Pharoah’s death featured on BBC radio 4 news throughout Saturday. I can’t remember any US jazzman getting this coverage in recent years. I am pleased to have seen him a number of times. The most memorable was a Central Park summer stage concert maybe 15 years back where he seemed to be having a lot of fun once he warmed up.

Wow, very jealous. His flute playing strikes me as much more individual than his alto and tenor work. Interesting that on his Island LP, Affectionate Fink, he is ‘MacNair’ but as Alan Branscombe is ‘Bronscombe’, I suspect this is sloppiness on the part of the record label. Chris Peers, the producer of Affectionate Fink told me via email that that Chris Blackwell stopped him producing any more jazz releases after the poor sales of The LP ( and that they all made such a shed load of cash from Millie Small’s ‘My boy lollipop’ that they didn’t think again about this decision). Hope Millie did OK too. Anthony London

Best wishes for the retirement. I jumped ship last year and haven’t looked back. regards Anthony London What a record, absolutely stunning. Also, a great way of testing out your vinyl set up. anthony london

Thanks Paul (from Camden), looks very useful. I am finding it difficult to navigate but that may reflect my IT capabilities. Anthony (from Kentish Town, Camden)

Anyone familiar with this, forthcoming release from Paul Murphy’s label. Sounds an interesting character. Not sure the band camp link will work…. https://bandcamp.com/private/Q84571W0 “Eric was involved with the Counter Culture from his time in Morocco in the early 1960's (while serving in the US Army, kind of like a Hip Elvis) until shortly after this album was recorded when under his real name, Richard Barth Sanders he was convicted of LSD Manufacture (he invented the blotting paper method of LSD distribution so could be entitled to say he was the world's first Acid Jazzer) and sentenced to 7 years in a Federal Prison.“ This might work better:

There were some very contrary views expressed in Jazz Monthly. I miss that. Current jazz journalism is pretty dull and mostly hagiographic. For example, has Kevin Le Gendre in Jazzwise (I have a subscription) ever disliked or even critiqued anything he reviewed? I miss Max Harrison. His death a few years back garnered zero coverage. Voce is a homophobe, big Mark Murphy fan for years until he discovered Mark was gay. Anthony

Rachael Cohen, fluent young Scottish alto sax player with a great quartet at the Oxford London NW5, classic small upstairs room in a pub, of which there are few left in London. No amplification necessary. Great sound. Anthony

How quaint.