A Lark Ascending

Rock comes out: UK 56.74 USA 32.20 Iceland 0.36 New Zealand 0.36 Canada 6.08 Ireland 4.13 Germany 0.12 Again very English-speaking-o-centric. Similar problems - Canada does well through Joni and Neil, though they could be equally put in USA given that the blk of their careers have been there. CSNY I put under USA, despite the claims by Canada and Manchester. Ireland does very well, even though this section contains no folk music where Ireland does very well. Guess the Iceland and New Zealand!

. The Bolden's nothing special, Papsrus. He was into a Wynton-like thing at the time it was recorded. 'Wanna trade?' as they say! About ten years! I started it way back. Can't recall how long it took to start with but I've been good at updating. I recall being a bit amazed at how I could date the year I bought things in during the 70s. Must be the historian in me. For the jazz I do a simple set of columns: performer album title recording date date I bought it format (CD/LP/CD-R) no. discs nationality I have different sheets for classical, rock, folk, MOR, Latin, World, Scandinavian (folk), country, Brazilian. There are commercial packages that link into the online databases but Excel works for me. I can read the record sleeve for the other info. The only trend I've noticed is that the more CDs I have the more I buy! And that I've not bought many rock records since 1976! The Scandinavian folk and Brazilian interests are post-2000 obsessions,

My Excel list doesn't include recording venue! I worked off nationality. Generally straightforward, though there are some questions. John McLaughlin, George Shearing (I only have 1 album and that's a Xmas one!*) and Dave Holland, for example, are Brits by birth but their music is highly Americanised. I've still left them as UK. * Not quite true...I have the MPS box with Louis Stewart/NHOP, but I count that one as a Louis Stewart record rather than a UK or Danish one! So it goes nder Ireland! And some of the McLaughlins should really be under Asia! He's easily outnumbered.

Yes, that's to be expected. The high proportion of UK jazz in my collection just represents what I bump into - most live jazz is UK, the jazz press give it a high profile. And I put him under USA! Blast! It is indeed...one of my favourite places. And, unlike Stonehenge, free and rarely crowded.

Albums (no matter how many discs...the Ellington RCA is counted as 1) in whatever format - in my case LP, CD, CD-R. I forgot to include the Buddy Bolden wax cylinder Mosaic.

Just used the wonders of Excel to satisfy my curiosity on this count. Not easy to categorise - what about multi-national bands (For Clarke-Boland I opted for France), people like Kenny Wheeler (went for UK) - but opted for who seemed to be the leader. USA 62.32% UK 23.17 Italy 3.92 Norway 2.14 Australia 1.69 France 1.69 Germany 0.89 Sweden 0.54 Ireland 0.51 Poland 0.41 Spain 0.32 Asia 0.26 Austria 0.22 Hungary 0.22 Lebanon 0.22 Canada 0.19 Czech 0.19 Finland 0.19 Netherlands 0.16 Serbia 0.13 South Africa 0.13 Tunisia 0.13 Denmark 0.10 Belgium 0.06 Turkey 0.06 Argentina 0.03 Portugal 0.03 Russia 0.03 Switz 0.03 Based on around 3000 jazz recordings. Or put another way - USA 62%, UK 23%, Rest of the World 15%! Quite surprised...I thought I was more international than that!

Impressed you are up there alongside slutload.com and guesshermuff.com.

I'm always amused by how the word 'liberal' takes on a negative connotation when crossing The Pond. In the UK it's a term of praise, suggesting open-mindedness, tolerance. Chris seems to have had such a fascinating life that he deserves a blog of his own. The things he put up here were inevitably buried in the board; hopefully a lot more people will stumble on the blog.

And an interesting one on the way: Pascoal has had a huge influence on the generation of UK jazz musicians connected with the Loose Tubes big band of the 80s. Many have played in his orchestra when he's toured here. You hear elements of his quirkiness in their music to this day. Huw Warren is an intriguing pianist. He's played in straight jazz contexts, produced his own albums which are always quirky, worked in a very different context as June Tabor's pianist for many years, done a lovely album with the vocals in Welsh (he comes fom Wales) and more recently worked with the great Italian singer, Maria Pia de Vito. So this looks very interesting indeed!

There's a Jobim Morelenbaum Quartet version on You Tube: http://www.last.fm/music/Quarteto+Jobim-Morelenbaum/_/O+Boto The vocal intonation isn't perfect but it's a nice performance...and you get the lyrics in English too! There's a nice version of the song on this album too: In fact the three Hamilton de Holanda albms I have are excellent. Similar sound world if different sources to Dave Grisman. Now what is this all about: Listening to the e-music samples (they have disc 3 and 4) it sounds much better than the cover or concept suggest!

Jobim's "O Boto" from the Jobim Morelenbaum album has been lodged in my head all month. There's also a lovely version on Hamilton de Holanda's self-titled album.

A couple of good thrillers, one exploring the murky world of intelligence in the current 'war on terror' climate (not recommended to those of an 'America is the greatest country the world has ever seen' persuasion), the other set in Germany and eastern Europe on the eve of World War II: And my favourite book of recent weeks: Marvellous story set around Penzance in Cornwall about a painter suffering from mental illness and the effect on her family. Gale is especially good at seeing the world from a child's perspective.

Good to see Ingrid playing over there. She has evolved amazingly over the last ten years or so. From a relatively straight player to one prepared to go right out into the free world. She's also heavenly playing in a Brazilian context. I've failed abysmally - did catch a low key gig at the St. Ives jazz club in August but missed June/July completely. The Autumn looks stronger - Norma Winstone/Nikki Iles, Marilyn Crispell, Partisans are all playing locally.

Nice photos, alocispepraluger102 and Noj. Hope those horses are tame...one bit my (luckily booted) foot the other week. A bobcat certainly beats the frogs I get excited about in my garden!

Due in the next few days from Intakt:

That one and the first got a reissue a couple of years back. My favourite was this one: It was recorded after Egg had disbanded and when Stewart already had the first Hatfield album behind him. A number of typical mid-length, tricksy organ trio tracks interspersed with some lovely, short wind band pieces by bassist, Mont Campbell and a sprinkling of ethereal vocals from the Northettes. This nice collection of radio/live recordings also came out a while back: I never knew the first two albums at the time though recall hearing the band on the radio and had a tape I did of one session. Hearing them several decades later they are interesting and enjoyable but hardly great lost albums. What is nice is the quirkiness and complete lack of pomp...remember they were around just as ELP got going (I believe Stewart acknowledges The Nice as an inspiration).

I'd strongly recommend the Singles compilation and, even more, 'The Big Idea'.

And my physical home! Nice photos, Bev. Glad you got some good weather - its p***ing down today. Lanhydrock is one of the more interesting estates. I am jealous...though if things go to plan, I'll be down there for good in 5 or 6 years! Did very well weather-wise 6/11 days of sun with just overcast/sea mist on the other days. Much better than last year. Yes, Lanhydrock was splendid. Didn't go inside (once you've seen one piece of porcelain...) but loved the grounds and did a nice walk to Restormel Castle (despite the poor signposting!). Here are a few from the last days of the trip...promise, no more after this!:

Yes, I often listen online to that one...brilliant if you're wanting to check out a particular musician or theme.

I always feel the best way is to find a radio programme you can listen to for an hour or two each week - you'll be constantly surprised. And you'll evolve your own taste more quickly. I'm sure posters here who live on the West Coast can point you to a reliable station/programme. Over here in the UK we have a long running weekly show called Jazz Record Requests that does a weekly hour of a complete mix of (mainly tonal...not much free) jazz - you'll hear 1920s jazz next to a recent recording followed by a bit of 30s swing followed, perhaps, by a blues song. Can be heard on the web for a week after broadcast, though I'm not sure if it is accessible outside the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnn9 Worth a try. Though I'm sure there are similar (or better) programmes closer to you.

Thanks, alocispepraluger102. My spiritual home, so to speak!

Don't know how widespread this is in world terms, but the Basho label just appeared on UK e-music. http://www.emusic.com/browse/l/b/-dbm/a/0-...00312898/0.html A small label connected with a unit that organises concerts and tours in the UK. Focus tends to be on slightly lefy of centre jazz - not totally free, nor the currently hip punk-jazz. Mainly original compositions. People like Julian Arguelles, Mark Lockheart, Chris Laurence, Liam Noble etc. I think this Anglo-American collaboration would travel well: And this is one of my favourite discs of the Noughties. Recommended if you like carefully composed jazz with the soloing emerging organically from the composition:

"Birds and Blades"

I've seen Chris' posts on jazz sites for several years and can vouch for him being a genuine enthusiast who devotes a huge amount of time and effort in supporting the Westbrooks. His website is superb.

That's the chap. He played mainly organ, piano and electric piano in three of the least succesful but most interesting late-60s/early 70s prog-ish bands - Egg, Hatfield and the North and National Health. Barbara Gaskin appeared on the two Hatfield albums as a member of a vocal trio dubbed 'The Northettes', providing ethereal and very English choral moments (more Herbert Howells than Ronettes!). They did a number of albums together in the 80s and a some great remakes of sixties singles including the one you mentioned - I especially liked their version of the old Bing Crosby/William Bendix song 'Busy Doing Nothing'. It was all very synth drenched, but Stewart is so skilled that he managed to do more than just use them for beats, background washes and twiddles. Their album 'The Big Idea' from the early 90s is a classic that virtually no-one seems to have heard - brilliant songs, wonderfully rich arrangements and Gaskin's lovely voice. I know Stewart wrote a column for a long time in one of the keyboard magazines giving playing advice. They have an infrequently updated website. They've been promising a new album for years with nothing coming. But I just looked and it has finally emerged! They even did a few gigs in Japan recently (they seem to be 'big in Japan') So maybe my millions are not needed! http://www.davebarb.demon.co.uk/ More than you need to know, I suspect.