Alexander Hawkins

Let's club together and buy them some kit. What a team this could be! Effective though he was, I might lobby for Mr Matthaus to be replaced. And I suggest Mr Mourinho as our manager

Also, I think a lot of young players are so generic sounding (of course there are exceptions!) that it doesn't matter what they're playing, except in so far as it might make head/out choruses more or less attractive. Interesting point about Brubeck - I agree, there's probably mileage in there!

Many thanks for that. I can't wait to hear Amina Claudine Myers!

I understand the point about removing Barthez and concur. But Zidane? I see the point, but on his day (they're admittedly becoming fewer and further between), he can do things with a football no other player on the planet can do (I say this fully mindful of Ronaldinho, Robinho, etc.!). From an aesthetic point of view, he must play!

Carney never got the recognition he deserved as a major soloist, methinks, maybe the fact that he rarely recorded as a leader played a part. Always in the shadow of Mulligan ... and this continues even in the case of the reissue of his Verve strings LP, which was added to Ben Webster's strings albums - they should have made it a CD of its own with the magnificent tracks for the Jazz Scene anthology as bonus tracks. IIRC Carney play bass clarinet only on the first track? You might be right about it being a single track - I forget just now (is it 'Moonlight on the Ganges', or something like that?)! I agree, it's a shame it's buried at the end of the Webster. It's programmed as a complete afterthought, when it's worth so much more.

Does anybody have any suggestions for gigs that whole week (11th-18th)? I've had a look at the very helpful www.hothousejazz.com page, but having never been to NY, and the US only once, I feel a little out of my depth. I shall DEFINITELY be catching the CT big band - but anything else? I'm frustrated to see that monthly, there have been some fantastic-looking AACM NY gigs (Joseph Jarman, Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal, Amina Claudine Myers) gigs on, but nothing apparently in December...I love this stuff though - anybody know of any AACM(-type) stuff on that week? Many thanks in advance!

Ah...alto clarinet! Could be! I did a gig with an alto clarinettist the other day and remarked to myself on the particular sound. Alto clarinet is not to bass clarinet as alto sax. is to bass sax, for example: the clarinets are much more similar in character. I think you might be onto something here...damn if it helps me get the player, though! I agree on the strings track. It's most certainly not Harry Carney. Incidentally, the bass clarinet tracks on that strings record are nice as well!

Interesting, thanks! A bizarre comparison, if I may say. Beckham is a good player, no doubt. But he's not even close to being the best English player at the moment, IMO. Not even, some would say (I'd agree!), the best winger we have. Best was touched with genius, and then some. Beckham? A good, but ultimately generic, player. This comment, quoted above (and in the English press extensively yesterday) - "He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right" just about nails it. I would add that he cannot dribble a ball (granted that he has begun to attempt to do so a few times at Madrid - simply, it's not his game: he's a passer/crosser). Too bad Best never got to take Northern Ireland to a World Cup!

I wish I hadn't seen that. The game is televised at 1PM today and I am going to watch it. On the other hand I'm more than pleased to hear it. He came so close in the last match and it's been several matches since he's scored I have been fearing for his position on the team. Sorry! I should have thought of that. FWIW, that's not a final score (I don't know what is, but I posted as I heard it on the radio!) Enjoy the game!

McBride has already netted twice this afternoon!

No, but I have heard that RCA still has hours of material from the Village Gate dates that produced Our Man In Jazz safely tucked away in the vaults... I think with a bit of organisation, we could storm the place

I think the Bailey is beautiful. [i don't know what he would make of that description, mind you!] Who could argue with "beautiful"? True enough!

I think the Bailey is beautiful. [i don't know what he would make of that description, mind you!]

Luck!!! I became a self-employed, professional musician in 2001. All that money I wasted on college, pretending to be "practical" and trying to get a degree... BAH! I could've bought some serious Hammond organs with that bread!!! Know what you mean about college. Mind you, on the money front, I'm still new enough to it that there's plenty of gloss to be worn off!

First jobs a few years ago at about 16/17. When did I start trying to rely on it? About 2 months ago. Wish me luck!

Better not anybody up the Maurice McIntyre recommendations page

Certainly true! I'll give Camouflage another try.

Wolf Blitzer Peter Coyote Swamp Dogg ← Funny Rat Cardinal Ratzinger Albert Pujols

Yeah? Well I haven't read the John Paton thread either. ←

OK, maybe I was a little unfair with that comparison...I just feel that they dilute the punk, and they dilute the jazz, and don't as a result don't have a full-strength end product. But I'll certainly try to have another listen to Camouflage and reassess!

Thanks! A nice piece. I really identify with the bit about Braxton taking an alto solo. I was at the gig Leo just released as 'Quintet (London) 2004' and had exactly the same experience. The music was phenomenal all evening, but every now and then, there would be a truly visionary blast of the Braxton of 'For Alto' etc...

I've got to be honest - I thought they were dreadful on Jools Holland. The whole concept seemed completely unadventurous. There was no effort to make punked-out Hendrix (was it Hendrix? I forget now the tune they played) idomatic to their ensemble. Rather, they played pretty much the same dots a guitar band would have played, apparently hoping that the harminc fuzz of a bari would pull off the effect of heavy distortion, that a funny keyboard sound would fill out the middle of the sound, and that manic drum fills from time to time would enthral the punters... I was underwhelmed, and more than a little angry. These guys get A LOT of the gigs around, under the banner of being 'cutting edge'. Seems to me when they play like they did that night they dilute the music in a similar (if sonically different) way to the 'jazz-lite' of Messrs Cullum, Melua, Jones etc. It's just pandering as far as I'm concerned. That said (yes, it was bitter and vitriolic, sorry..!) - Pete Wareham and Seb Rochford are extremely fine players I think. For example, Wareham toured with Sam Rivers' band earlier in the year, and more than held his own, playing some really interesting solos (on tenor, IIRC). He's got a sound, and when he's on, he's ON. Seb Rochford likewise has got a lot more to him than punking-out on various tunes. I saw him on a Polar Bear gig (with Wareham and Ingrid Laubruck), and he was phenomenal. So - I really like the players in the right context, but I can't say I think Acoustic Ladyland is anything more than a gimmick. Polar Bear I think is a better showcase, but still I'd want something more adventurous for them.

I should have waited until the US discs arrived before posting. The suspense...Seriously, though, this was a fun test, and I'm looking forwards to other people's opinions/guesses etc! I hadn't anticipated it being quite so frustrating having various names on the tip of my tongue .

Flight of the Foo Birds. And then the rest!

Larry, I thought you were a cockney, and this your recording pseudonym.