kenny weir

VAN MORRISON: Lead Vocal (all), Acoustic Guitar (1, 4, 5, 11, 12), Alto Sax (2, 8, 10, 11) Acker Bilk: Clarinet (5) Keith Donald: Bass Clarinet (1) Lee Goodall: Alto Sax (6), Flute (9, 11), Baritone Sax & Backing Vocals (10) Matt Holland: Trumpet (2, 6-10, 13), Flugelhorn (3, 5, 11), Backing Vocals (10) Martin Winning: Tenor Sax (2, 5, 7-9, 13), Clarinet (3, 6, 10, 11) Richard Dunn: Hammond Organ (2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13), Piano (7) Gavin Povey: Piano (4, 5) Fiachra Trench: Piano (9, 11, 12) Ned Edwards: Guitars (2, 3, 5-8, 10, 13), Backing Vocals (2, 6, 10) Mick Green: Electric Guitar (7, 13) Foggy Little: Electric Guitar (1, 4, 12), Backing Vocals (1) Johnny Scott: Electric Guitar (9, 11), Mandolin (11) David Hayes: Bass (1-5, 7-8, 12-13), Backing Vocals (1) Pete Hurley: Bass (6, 9) Nicky Scott: Bass (10, 11) Alan "Sticky" Wicket: Congas (3, 13), Washboard (7) Liam Bradley: Drums (1, 4, 9, 11, 12), Backing Vocals (1) Bobby Irwin: Drums (2, 3, 5-8, 10, 13) PRODUCED BY VAN MORRISON TRACK LISTING 1. What's Wrong With This Picture? 5:56 Van Morrison original 2. Whinin Boy Moan 4:15 Van Morrison original 3. Evening In June 3:57 Van Morrison original 4. Too Many Myths 4:30 Van Morrison original 5. Somerset 4:05 Written by Van Morrison with music by British jazz legend Mr. Acker Bilk & David Collett 6. Meaning Of Loneliness 7:21 Van Morrison original 7. Stop Drinking 3:42 Based on a tune by blues legend Lightin' Hopkins with add'l lyrics by Van 8. Goldfish Bowl 5:57 Van Morrison original 9. Once In A Blue Moon 3:26 Van Morrison original 10. Saint James Infirmary 5:29 Traditional New Orleans standard 11. Little Village 4:25 Van Morrison original 12. Fame 5:19 Van Morrison original 13. Get On With The Show 5:35 Van Morrison original

Didn't Giddins express some misgivings about the whole RVG thing in the VV a few years back?

Bloody hell - this'll be a real blow for me, and for my newspaper. Th entire staff uses AMG while editing - and writing - stories for entertainment coverage, including CD rviews and jazz and EVERYTHING, as well as the movie site. Can't imagine Rupert allowing us to use a fee-pay site!

Like others outside, I tend to get a bit testy about claims of the blues' primacy in jazz as it sometimes tends to devalue the work of our own jazzers. OTH, I see and hear scores of brilliant jazz players - who play everything from AG to trad and everything inbetween, often at the same time! - and their playing is almost always heavily imbued with blues spirit. In an international sense, I also do not believe blues ever has or ever will travel as well as jazz. Australian jazz? Incredible. Oz blues? Blech! Perhaps jazz travels a whole lot better 'coz it's always had "foreign" influences - Latin, European, Carribbean etc Blues, by contrast, seems to lose integrity the further it gets from its geographic roots, especially when you're talking about the real downhome stuff. Latter day "Oz blues" can be some fine music but I often feel blues it ain't. I also hear enough contemporary blues from elsewhere to believe that that style is moribund. Jazz - everywhere - seem pretty healthy by comparison. I'm sure there are artists of much merit, but the blues scene - in Australia, the US and elsewhere - just seems a sad morass of boogie cliches. Part of this I think has to do with the mentoring being less a part of that scene than is the case in jazz. Sure, we all know about relationships such as Bonnie Raitt had with Fred McDowell. But by and large I think that as the older blues guys fade away, the blues just lose a whole lot that isn't being handed on. Or maybe blues is just from another age, and doesn't travel as well in TIME as jazz.

Today in the office, (sub)editing on the sports desk. Hey, I take as much pride in my Saturday work as the rest of the week, but as I'm desk bound and doing mostly football (along with a bit of other stuff), Saturday is definitely the best day for music in the office. *Jackie Mclean - Jacknife *Duke Ellington - Such Sweety Thunder *Gary Bartz - Coltrane Rules! (He's playing Wangaratta this year, so the artiistic director slipped me a rough mix of this. It sounds great. Three Trane tunes (Trasnition, Dahomey Dance, Big Nick), one Dameron (Soultrane), one standard (I Concentrate On You) and one original. I don't what label this will be coming out on). *Paul Williamson Quintet - Mutations *John bell Trio - Spirals *Hank Mobley - No Room For Bears

A bloke sees a sign in front of a house in Luton: "Talking Dog for Sale." He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the back garden. The bloke goes into the backyard and sees a black mutt just sitting there. "You talk?" he asks. "Sure do," the dog replies. "So, what's your story?" The dog looks up and says, "Well, I discovered my gift of talking pretty young and I wanted to help the government, so I told MI5 about my gift, and in no time they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies eight years running." "The jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger and I wanted to settle down. So I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security work, mostly wandering near suspicious characters and listening in." "I uncovered some incredible dealings there and was awarded loads of medals. Had a wife, a few puppies, and now I'm just retired." The bloke is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog. The owner says, "Ten pounds." The bloke says, 'This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him So cheap?" "Cause he's a fuckin' liar. He's never done any of that stuff."

I have seen just bits of this idiot, but the impression I get is that his "entertainment value" lies in goading animals into defensive action. It seems really sad - cringe-inducing, in fact. Pathetic. And, no doubt, like the Crocodile Dundee stuff, this will no doubt give very monodimensional impressions of Australia to millions around the world who believe evertything they see/hear on a screen. Gimme a break - I live in a city of 3 million that has more good coffee than the whole of the US combined! B)

Guess I should leave off my heavy-handed attempts at humour!

The first shocking, and pleasing, thing about this is the process - ordered on Wednesday, shipped on Thursday, on my doorstep on Monday morning in perfect nick! It's a far cry from my first experience of importing records. I must have been about 14, and very much still at high school (very early '70s I guess) when I ordered Lightnin' Slim's Rooster Blues from a shop, oddly enough, in Edinburgh (Peter Russell's???). I had to wait two months and then pay a large chunk to customs before I got my hand on it. I played it to death and still have it (despite having all the material on CD). That was followed by many harrowing and expensive adventures in getting blues, doo wop and various others goodies into NZ - and more than a few examples of badly warped vinyl along the way. So this sort of service is very sweet - about five days from east coast US to Melbourne. Some of the later stuff I know I won't be playing much, but the rest of it just fabulous - I played the first two discs on a sunny Saturday this morning and loved it all. One thing, though, after all this hyperbole and carry on about the Mosaic mystique, I was sorely disappointed by the bland presentation of my first Mosaic set - just a plain ol' black box, nothing special at all. Dull, in fact. No colour pics, just B&W. A real low-rent job, IMHO. (Just kidding)

Bullshit!

Rooster, I remember as a late teens rock fan in the mid '70s listening to Astral Weeks and wondering what all the fuss is about. I liked it OK but it just didn't seem that great. About five years ago, and after listening to a lot of jazz, I revisted it and was quite stunned. I would hesitate to call it a jazz masterpiece but it's not far short - and Davis and Kaye are vital to its success. These days I'm more bemused that Astral Weeks is so regularly regarded as "a rock album with a jazz feel", when to me it sounds like a purebred jazz album - and that includes Morrison's singing AND the lyrics. The connections have also helped me have a deeper affinity with albums on which Davis plays.

Hey it may not be among his more jazzy stuff, but Brown Eyed Girl is a pop classic - with one of the best (and simplest) bass solos ever. Shame on youse! I really dug Van's most overtly jazzy outing How long Has This Been Going On when it came out (1996), but it wore out rather quickly. This time out, for the likes of us, I'd say a lot will depend on who is playing on the album. A buddy of mine saw him at Umbria a few weeks back, and said he was fine if as surly as ever. Here's part of the festival review he wrote: "July 15 I was surprised to hear later that some of the Italian critics had canned Van Morrison for this concert, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Van, of course, gave the impression that he'd rather be somewhere else, but he was in good voice, and sang with plenty of feeling. The program included favourites like 'Moondance', 'Here Comes The Night', 'Days Like This', 'Precious Time' and 'Brown Eyed Girl'. He sang some jazzy numbers ('Sack O'Woe', 'Centrepiece'), and several blues, borrowed from the likes of Mose Allison, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Witherspoon. The 6-piece band was strong, and sounded especially good on the shuffles that predominated. The encore began incongruously, with 'When You're Smiling' (!), before 'Gloria' sent the fans home happy."

In my e-mail this morning ... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 1, 2003 ACCLAIMED SINGER VAN MORRISON SIGNS DEAL WITH LEGENDARY JAZZ LABEL BLUE NOTE RECORDS; MORRISON’S LABEL DEBUT, WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?, DUE TO BE RELEASED OCTOBER 21st Van Morrison has signed a worldwide deal with EMI Music’s legendary Blue Note label, which will give one of music’s most creative figures a home at the prestigious jazz label. Morrison’s Blue Note debut, What’s Wrong With This Picture?, will be released on October 21st. The album draws upon the jazz & blues influences that Morrison has explored consistently throughout his storied career. Born in Ireland in 1945, Morrison has always relentlessly followed his own muse, incorporating jazz, blues, R&B and traditional Celtic music, creating his own distinctive voice and becoming one of the most important songwriters of the past century. This distinction was officially recognized on June 12th as Morrison was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at their 34th annual induction and awards ceremony in New York City.

Hmmmm - a pity it's not on Impulse!

I own quite a few Grant Green albums and albums on which he plays, but far from all. Until quite recently I would have named Idle Moments as his greatest recording. Fine as it is, though, it is more of ensemble thing, with Green sharing the limelight with others, particularly Joe Henderson. Green Street has been on very high rotation at our joint for a few weeks now. I just love it to pieces. The sound is just so big and warm and open. The interplay with Ben Dixon and Dave Bailey is subtle yet swigning and ON. Is the Standards album as good? I'm looking forward to Grandstand.

I've had this for a week now, and I'm disappointed. *The sound is muffled and muddy, although not mortally so. *The Dameron/Birth Of The Cool-inspired stuff seems to sit uncomfotably with the Trane-esque title track. *The track length - mostly around the 10-minute mark with a couple at 15 minutes - really leaves a jarring feeling between the ensemble bits and the solos. Disappointing, for me at least, as I believe 52nd Street Themes is a cracker and the new one doesn't build on it or complement it at all.

I LOVE my three-day weekends - Sunday, Monday, Tuesday - as I get to cook!!!! Last night for din dins we had fish, mussels and pippis (I think they're called clams everywhere else) done in white, lots of garlic, parsley, white wine, onion, olive oil and tomatoes, with Turkish bread on the side (along with more wine). Hmmmm-mmmm! What really surprised us was that Bennie, 2 years 3 months, was slurping up that shellfish like a pro - picking up the shalls, scooping the meat out and chomping it righteously while putting the spent shells in the appropriate bowl. After we had baked apples, cored and stuffed with a buttery mixture of honey and sultanas with creamy Greek-style yogurt. There has been a big change around our joint, though, a bit sad really. Somewhat reluctantly I've had to curb my lust for baking. Waistlines were expanding, and all thje baking brought a few allergy issues to the surface. I miss it, but have to admit I feel better for not scoffing cookies/slices/cake/whatever after dinner every night!

Ka-ching! Have just ordered the Chico Hamilton. I'll confess the OOP factor was decisive. Not because I expect to embark on a crusade to get every set (who knows? ), but because after all the reading and asking I've done, I feel I would be saddened if I didn't have this one. Plus the clips on the Mosaic site sound very cool to me. The Tristano and Parlan are next. And what about the The Complete HRS Sessions? I'm really intrigued by this one. Anyone care to comment?

I'd sell it.

Easy - the Evans set. I recently played Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess and Skteches Of Spain in their entirety on successive weeks on my show, and have also played the fabulous second version of Miles Ahead that follows the first in this amazing box.

Freddie Hubbard - Hub Cap Fats Domino - Live at New Orleans JazzFest 2001 (DVD). Hey - I was there! Joe Lovano Nonet - On This Day Pee Wee Russell - Ask Me Now! Mulligan/Hodges - Meets The Wiggles - Yummy Yummy Paul Williamson Quartet - Mutations Paul Williamson Quintet - Talk It Up! Mark Simmonds' Freeboppers - Fire TheakTet - Gamla-Stan Roger Miller - King Of The Road (Bear Family anthology) Duke Ellington - Such Sweet Thunder Lester Young - Aladdin and Verve complete Charlie Christian - Columbia box Jimmy Smith - Cool Blues Larry Young - Unity Grant Green - Green Street. Fast becoming my fave by him. Grant Green - with Sonny Clark Grant Green - Grant's First Stand Sonny Criss - Complete Imperial. Fats Domino's label!

I've only seen one (encouraging) review, but I'm very tempted to check this out. They just don't make good old-fashioned horror movies these days!

Hey, come on down! Actually, having yerselves and Quartet Out play at one of our festivals is a little fantasy I've had tucked away in the back of my brain for a month or so now. I guess it's one of those lottery dreams, but you never know. And of course, you get to enjoy our summer coming from your winter. One thing you should know, though: Along with driving on the left-hand side we have a related, legislative dictate - our state law requires that Hammond players play bass with their right hands and that they have their instruments modified so they can play their pedals with their noses. I stand by what I wrote about our scene here in Melbourne, but I guess it could be misconstrued as being about a land of milk and honey. Like everywhere else, gigs pay badly. And there are plenty of days - and even weeks - when there vis nothing at all happening. But still, there does seem to be a really high level of creativity and insteraction between a really diverse community of players. One thing that has only been touched on here so far is what effects the weight of history might have. Players here are very hip to the great figures of jazz and the music's history. Ellington, for instance, seems to imbue the work of our plethora of mid-sized combos working in the post-bop vein. But when it comes to creating their own sound, Ellington (or Basie or Coltrane or Parker or ...) is just another thing draw on. I wonder if the "weight of history" has inhibiting effect on young musicians living/working in, say, NY or KC. And in Melbourne, there is also much genuine interplay with the traditions represented by a robust multicultural population.

Wow, I finally got 'round to reading this thread - and it's made me realise (not for the first time, mind you) just how lucky I am to be living right here in Melbourne. We're a city of 3 million people, but going by the posts here and elsewhere, it seems we have a robust, fertile scene that is equal of any US city outside NY or Chicago. Melbourne has a couple of full-time jazz clubs, but many many other venues that carry jazz on a casual basis - well as community arts centres, bars, restaurants etc. Outside of Bennetts Lane (ranges from very good mainstream to very good AND very adventurous mainstream to avant garde) and Dizzy's (mainstream with a lot of vocalists), there are faces and places with which I am only slightly familiar - the Planet Cafe, the Make It Up Club, the weekly offshoot of last year's innaugural Half Bent Festival - that present really innovative and challenging and original sounds. In bands such as Ishish and the Adam Simmon's Toy Band and many more, we have a milieu in which the Quartet Out heard on Live At The Meat House, just for instance, could feel right at home. You do hear the odd standard or bop chestnut - largely due, I suspect, to the revolving player situation mentioned earlier in the thread - but overwhelmingly the accent is on original material, or at least really original treatment of familiar stuff. Sydney has it's own thing going, although perhaps not as strongly as Melbourne, and both cities benefit from the regular influx of young players from other parts of the country. And both Melbourne and Sydney boast their share of elder statesmen - Mike Nock, Bob Sedergreen, Bernie McGann, Allan Browne, Joe Chindamo and many more - who invariably both benefit from the youth factor and inspire it. The likes of Dale Barlow and Nock used to have to move to the US or Europe to try to make it big. They both live in Sydney now. And these days young and aspiring players tend to visit overseas cities such as NY for study periods of 6 months or a year, and then return home. At the same time, international tours have become more regular - although I expect precious few of the denizens of this board (or AAJ/JC) have seen'heard an Aussie play! Between them, Melbourne and Sydney have a handful of labels that document all this, and the results can be breathtaking. It is one of the greatest frustrations of my life that this music is so little heard outside Australia - or even outside the southern hemisphere. Those who have heard some of this stuff, I'm pleased to report, are very happy campers indeed. (Check out the ongoing AAJ BB thread in which a couple of regulars, God bless 'em, are actually laying down some serious bread for Oz releases I have suggested - and really digging them). In some ways, coming from such a heavy R&B background and these days being a very serious hard bop head, I wish there were more hard bop/soul jazz things going on around here. For instance, a band called Milestones has just started a Saturday afternoon residency in an inner-city Melbourne venue/bar. They're doing the whole hard bop repertoire - Hubbard, Davis, Golson etc etc. When I first heard about this, I got real excited. But you know what? I'll probably be a little disappointed when/if I get round to checking it out. 'Coz the truth is, that through regular gig-going - and excellent bashes such as the Wangaratta and Melbourne Jazz Festivals (where experience has taught me the Oz artists almost invariably produce far greater firworks than whatever international artists are brought in) - have taught me and the rest of the Australian jazz audience to really respect and eagerly anticipate the adventurous and the unknown and the wild. No matter what your record collection looks like. (And that's probably another good thing about Melbourne audience and the Melbourne scene - there is, I suspect, relatively little presure exerted by jazz nerds such as myself. I'd guess 99.99 per cent of the paying public wouldn't give a rat's arse about the latest Blue Note reissues) If I had been living in, say, NY and could've gone and seen hard bop or something like it whenever I felt like some live music, I hate to think how much ridiculously fine magic I may have missed out on. Living in Melbourne/Sydney/Australia and digging jazz means, by definition, having big ears. I guess part of our strength, too, is that in having a relatively small talent pool means musicians are forced to pursue what must sometimes seem like incredibly unlikely relationships and unions, and also that most players can and do play in a variety of genres. The aforementioned Adam Simmons, for instance, plays EVERY kind of saxophone for a variety of raucous (sorry Adam!) avant garde/new music outfits, performs regularly in a Hammond combo setting and plays on a weekly basis with a popular for-dancers swing outfit. I guess there would be Melbourne players who would disagree with much what I have just written, and certainly being a full-time jazz musician here is far, far, far from an easy gig. But the tyranny of distance that has often been seen as such a handicap in terms of the arts in Australia has in jazz at least - delicious irony - had profound and happy consequences.