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As regards previuosly unissued recordings released in the last 8 years (I'm going off memory, I could be forgetting some other disc; and some of this releases deserved a separate thread): (the original 'Tete Montoliu Presenta Elia Fleta' album, but adding previously unissued recordings of Tete Montoliu, Giovanni Tommaso and Gege Munari backing Elia Fleta when she was invited to play for the Italian radio station RAI in 1967)

Just to keep things together, a few updates on Tete Montoliu from the last few years, as far as books are concerned: - Benjamin Fraser: "Beyond Sketches of Spain: Tete Montoliu and the Construction of Iberian Jazz" (Oxford University Press, 2022) The blurb: "Beyond Sketches of Spain: Tete Montoliu and the Construction of Iberian Jazz explores the artist’s life, musical production, and international reception within a cultural studies framework. This book moves beyond mere sketches of Spanish nationhood to challenge conventional scholarly narratives and recover links between the United States, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and Europe in the investigation of an impressive and often overlooked transnational modern jazz legacy. Eschewing Theodore Adorno’s denigration of Black American jazz, a more compelling model is found in Fumi Okiji’s notion of gathering in difference. In this work, Benjamin Fraser deftly mixes musical biography with urban history, spatial theory, and disability studies, fashioning a highly readable text for readers from all disciplines." The reality (well, "my" reality, also confirmed bysome other Spanish scholars): this is an amalgam of different and "external" approaches to Tete Montoliu (flamenco-jazz (!), blindness, catalanism, jazz in Franco's Spain). No one in the Tete Montoliu "circles" that I am in touch with, was aware that this bio was in the works at that time, so no "inside" information. And, what is worse, not a single addition to the overall knowledge on Tete. This is just a pile of topics within Fraser's agenda, wherein Tete Montoliu is just an excuse to write a book. - Pere Pons Macías: "'Round About Tete. Una Mirada Coral A La Vida Y La Obra De Tete Montoliu" (Libros del Kultrum, 2023) - Excerpts from the publicity blurb: ‘Round About Tete offers a kaleidoscopic perspective through experiences, opinions, articles, statements, letters, and other unearthed documents concerning his life and work, contributed by many who had the opportunity to know him: musicians, managers, programmers, producers, journalists, writers, filmmakers, singers, friends, relatives, lovers, entrepreneurs… The book, prologued by Paquito D'Rivera, is accompanied by transcriptions of several compositions that were part of his repertoire: standards, popular songs, and compositions by other jazz musicians. My personal opinion: Not much primary research, not too many pieces of new information or musical analysis are provided; hence, I would not deem this as a groundbreaking ouvre. Most relevant added value is, from my perspective, that some of the texts bring some 'flavour' on Tete Montoliu, the human being, from different angles.

Excellent news, Mark! Congrats’

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A good sample of Guy's work as a photographer is contained here.

Followed by all the remaining studio albums up until the plane crash... Original "Street Survivors" cover, reissued later as:

To dry out from the complex sounds of Radiohead... back to basics!

You can easily judge by yourself 😜, as the full show is already available on YouTube (see below). From my perspective, it was a good concert, particularly from a visual perspective, also sound wise. And with the plus of being sort of a mythical “comeback”. From a musical standpoint, it was a good mix of pop-rock oriented songs (which I like most, particularly their first three discs) and those heavy rhythms and hypnotic electronic riffs, which, in the latter case, sounded too powerful and abstract for my taste. And no “Creep”, as expected. All in all, I enjoyed the show. Although I would very much prefer a REM comeback 😜 (which is as likely as the return of the dinosaurs 🦕). BTW, the stadium was packed, and this was just the first of four shows in Madrid.

Although to some extent this is not totally unexpected, I am deeply saddened by the news of the passing of brownie, for many years one of the most knowledgeable, respected and generous members of this board, and who I considered a good friend. I used to interact with Guy quite a lot in the past, both on and off organissimo, exchanging info and minutiae on our favorite musicians (he was also a fan of Tete Montoliu) and hard-to-find recordings. I visited him twice at his home while in Paris. He and his wife were among the nicest persons I have ever met. I had the chance to see and wander through his invaluable LP and CD collection (at some point he sold his vinyls). And, like in Flurin’s case, Guy also guided me through second-hand jazz CD shops in Paris. Last time I was in contact with him was during the pandemic; he had been diagnosed with Parkinson and already had some difficulties for typing. As I could follow by his scarcer posts on the board, the disease evolved unfavourably. The world is a colder place without him and I will truly miss him. However, wherever he might be, I am pretty sure he will be enjoying some Lester Young, John Coltrane or Clifford Brown, while smoking a good cigar and tasting a cup of and old vintage Armagnac. Tete was “el Gran Señor de Catalonia”; Guy was “le plus grand gentleman de Paris”.

Tomorrow night, first concert of Radiohead's European comeback tour: A lot of expectations...

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