Alexander Hawkins

I dunno...production costs are obviously low on Saturn, but other mail order stuff from that way really stings you on the postage...

Drummer on this one is Makhaya Ntshoko...great player! There's a great live thing from Willisau with him, Irene Schweizer, Tchicai, and - IIRC - Buschi Niebergall! Also, he's on some of Johnny Dyani's Steeplechases. p.s. Dudu's surname is 'Pukwana' - and wholeheartedly agree on your comments about him - a master!

Interesting - thanks!

Is this from the new version of Ekaya he's touring at the moment?

BTW - to hark back to an earlier question in this thread...Keith did actually mention the Tippett/Tippetts thing. He was originally called Tippetts. What he said was that he was so fed up of being mistakenly called Tippett (with guys like Sir Michael Tippett being in the musical mind at that time...), that he just changed his name to the spelling without the 's', so that at least people were then getting it 'right'. Julie apparently didn't want to chance name again, so just stuck with Tippetts. FWIW - I think Keith said he and Julie were performing in London this Saturday...perhaps at the Pizza Express? I forget!

Thanks for listening! Yeah, do check out that Rex Stewart session...I really love it. All the writing and playing...amazing. And Jimmy Blanton and Sonny Greer swing like absolute crazy throughout!

Thank you for that! Those guys you mention are all real heroes for me...I love ANYTHING with Abdul Wadud in it, for sure...and that's really interesting you picked up on the Anthony Davis thing, because I have been listening to a lot of his music, and his playing with guys like Wadada etc. Leroy Jenkins is another guys whose writing I'm really trying to study at the moment...the tune we do on the session is obviously a relatively simply thing, but I'm really into his composition in general. As for the tapes - I'm actually hoping to record the band again after a tour in July - I feel at this stage that there's enough new stuff 'in the book', and that the band has developed enough, to warrant another take on things...so watch this space!

Thanks - I really enjoyed doing the show. I have to say - Jez was definitely a nice guy. Very much as he comes across on the radio, I thought! Great taste too - a *real* Sun Ra fan!

Fantastic! Can't wait to check the shows out!

I spent some time this week hanging out with Keith at a festival in Spain...totally agree, a really great bloke - was really cool to hear about touring with Centipede and all that! Looking forward to checking out that programme on listen again.

I'm travelling for some gigs this week, so in case of not getting to a computer, I thought I'd just post some advance warning of a programme I recorded with my Ensemble for Radio 3 last year, if anyone's interested. It's going out on the Jazz on 3 programme at 11.15pm UK time on Monday 15th February (and will also be available to 'listen again' for a week). The end of the show also includes a solo set from Joe McPhee, which - the bits I've heard - sounds fantastic. I'm really delighted with how the session came out, and feel that we began to go to some places we didn't get to on the album. There are tunes from the album, as well as some new compositions. Also 'covers' of tunes by Braxton, Oliver Lake/Jerome Cooper, and possibly Sun Ra... Please enjoy! p.s. while I'm at it - can I recommend this week's show too? It is a live recording of a gig from Craig Taborn's trio...I was lucky enough to be at the show, and it was storming.

Hope you're playing 'Menelik, the Lion of Judah' - if not my favourite small group track ever, then in the top 2 or 3

Any story behind this, Chuck?? Just curious... I chose the studio/engineer combo because of the nature of the band. I wanted an engineer familiar with funk/blues/rock/etc in order to get the sound I wanted. Bruce Iglauer of Alligator recommended Freddie so I went to visit him at the studio. I got what I was looking for. By the time we mixed/edited the tapes Fred had moved to Streeterville Studios and we mixed it there. Curtis was not around, but his gold records lined the office walls. It was also very convenient since it was less than a mile from our apartment. I think this is answered in post 28 above. Ah - sorry, so it is! Copied in above for anyone like me who missed that first time around!

Yeah...John on theorbo would be great, although the player with 'previous' would of course be Barry Guy!

I didn't know they were renowned for catching fire...I can see a stage show coming on..!

Random question...just out of curiosity and not (I don't think!) of any importance otherwise...I notice this was recorded at Curtom studios...is there a story there? Or were these studios fairly frequently used commercial studios?

Hi Bev, Thanks for the kind comments! Actually it's strange...just because of a quirk of my own listening trajectory, I have to confess to knowing absolutely nothing about rock keyboard players - so I was intrigued in a different way when I saw the references in that blog review. Yeah...the mellotron album...didn't I see that those instruments were re-launched last year? Hmmm...it's that or harpsichord...

Point taken - although trust me - to feature jazz like that is really unusual for that programme

Stewart Lee is great! (I suspect you might recognise him if you were to see him?) He did a lovely interview with Gail Brand on a Jo3 programme in the middle of last year - had some very perceptive things to say indeed. He definitely knows his stuff...often to be seen 'out and about' at gigs in London!

Really interesting companion to Guewel, for sure!

Haven't heard it yet, although look forward to doing so. Did you see this a few weeks ago?!?

I'm not really familiar with much of his music, but I will vouch for Harris Eisenstadt's fantastic album Jalolu, where Laster sounds great.

That would be excellent! I used really to enjoy the Jazz File programmes as well - the things on at 6.00-6.30, in-between JRR and 'Live from the Met' (except for those weeks when they were doing a Wagner etc. )

The BBC broadcast his set from this year's Vision Festival, which I really enjoyed...I would certainly be interested to check out the album!