A Lark Ascending

More than you'd ever need to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_of_Tara And here's an old compilation I have in my collection:

The hill of Tara perhaps. I recall something like that. It's where the high kings of Ireland were supposed to meet. Irish motorways are quite a new development - some toll based. The main 'motorway' from Dublin to Galway in 1989 was single lane with a hard shoulder to pull across to if someone behind wanted to overtake. ******************* Last time I looked house prices in the south-west of England were falling quite sharply whereas the East Midlands was holding its own. If that keeps up for a few more years I could realise my dream and return from whence I came (sort of).

I recall driving round Ireland in 1989 and seeing 4 bedroom bungalows with lots of land going for the same price I bought my two bedroom terrace with small garden a couple of years later. Subsequent visits have shown Ireland to be a building site with estates and individual houses springing up like mushrooms. Sounds like a lot of people are going to get caught out.

Brits of a certain vintage might be interested in a 2hr doc due to be screened on BBC4 this Friday. Seems to be a DVD already: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Amazing-Journe...s/dp/B000WBP282

'L'Ascension' is beautiful - there's also an organ version. You can get a chunky box of Messiaen's organ music played by Jennifer Bate for sixpence. I've had it two or three years and have only just skimmed the surface - a fine investment: http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//RRC6001.htm (It may be out of print or heading that way - I'm sure it was cheaper than the pirce here).

I know Tony Russell from radio broadcasts - he comes across as a real enthusiast who has done his homework. In a genre with oodles of recordings where I'm pretty adrift, I've found this very helpful when wanting to locate something suitable. But then, I find most guides useful as a starting point - I quickly learn what to pay attention to and what to ignore. I really liked Charles Shaar Murray's blues guide - like the Penguin jazz guide, it's idiosyncratic but the humour and tastes of the writer come through. Makes an entertaining as well as useful guide.

Marvellous with David Binney on recent albums (and played a storming set with him at Cheltenham a couple of years back). I really like his Criss Cross albums too.

Yippee!!!! No more holding breath for the Mosaic to arrive only to be greeted with a card saying please collect and pay customs (+ handling fee!).

I've had it since it appeared (2006 if I remember correctly!). Blues is a minor sideline rather than a major interest for me - this book does what I need with yards to spare.

Can I be the first to say that I don't think 'The Grid' is anything like as good as the old Web. There's something cold, clinical, unnatural about it it - I much prefer the warmer, human feel of 'The Web'. I do hope some networks keep the Web going for those of us who appreciate things of proven, lasting value. The good news is that Neil Young is refusing to allow any of his work to be marketed via 'The Grid' because of its inferior technology.

"I think I'll have the pheasant. Though could I come and note down its dying cries as you neck it."

Really enjoying this - built from a series of interviews with Konitz + short interviews with other musicians about him. He comes across as someone with a clear vision of what he wants to do, is not afraid to express his disinterest in things he does not like, even criticises...yet always does it humbly and with a sense that the music he does not care for is seeking different goals rather than being 'wrong'. Very open about his own initial hostility to music which he later came to understand.

Came out late last year with Fripp on some tracks. I think this new release is a development of those sessions. A really nice proggy/jazz-rock album - the guitarist in the band, Mike Outram, is especially good. Although Travis has mainly played in a jazz context, he wears his prog influences on his sleeve. He's worked with Gong quite a bit and has replaced Elton Dean in the Soft Machine Legacy band (not sure how permanently).

Just so that the boys from 'Trainspotting' can trash it a bit? Yep, the DHL option sucks in my opinion too. I've always been 'dinged' heftily with that option so tend to stick with the US Air Mail (where you get dinged also but slightly less)> I had the Hodges sent by airmail and it took 3 weeks whereas DHL is normally a few days. Is the 3 weeks the norm? You've got me being cautious about DHL!

True of Britain as a whole!

Is Big Pit still open for visitors, MG (I think that's what it's called)? I recall going down 20 odd years back - amazing because the drop was very long! I take students down the pit near Wakefield that has been turned into the National Coal Mining Museum. Fantastic place - really good museum (and I don't really like museums) and brilliant underground as it's all ex-miners with broad Yorkshire accents who show us round. I'm always a bitt scared that when they hear we're from Notts they'll call us scabs and beat us up!!!! The drop there is quite shallow by comparison with the Welsh one I remember. +++++++++ Going back to the legacy of the strike, there was a murder a few years back not 2 miles from the headstocks I pictured. The investigation had the roots of that in a working/striking miner feud!

I'm from Workshop after a few pints! Here are some excellent discs featuring Stan strongly from recent years: Don't expect the 'Saviour of the Saxophone' - but you'll find an engaging, individual voice. He's not released much under his own name but is on many British discs from the late 60s onwards. There's a fuller list on his website: http://www.stansulzmann.co.uk/recordings.htm

My experience too - I have a number of people under 30 working in my Faculty who would do my job better - more energy, on the ball with new developments etc. But, to protect my pension, I'll be sat in the post for a few years yet, doing my best but finding it harder and harder to adjust.

I think you are right - I can point to examples of both self-centred and highly altruistic young people. I'm just not convinced balance has tipped towards the former in a major way. We probably notice young people more - up to the 1950s in the UK they were being sucked into 'adult' life by 15; today they can stay 'young' and exist as a distinct subculture for much longer. Maybe that makes them appear more threatening.

I work in a faculty of just over 20 Humanities teachers, 2/3rds of whom are under 35. The under-35s are committed, professional, exceptionally hard working, immensely creative, humble and a delight to work with (as are the over 35s!). But oldies will insist on believing that young people cannot possibly be as good as they were when they were young. 'Twas ever so.

I recall you suggesting these two discs earlier and I'd forgotten about them. Thank you. Crispell plays beautifully. Her earlier stuff is very much out of the Cecil Taylor school, I think. But as you describe, her later music is lyrical and more introspective. Adventurous, to be sure, but lovely. Aside from her energetic playing with the Braxton quartet, the much more subdued 'Storyteller' is the album that really opened my eyes (ears) to her playing. And thanks for reminding me of 'Storyteller' - just playing it after a very piano-y day and it sounds glowing. I look forward to 'Vignettes' - unusually it appears in the UK a week after the US; ECMs usually go the other way. Probably to do with the tour.

http://jazz.net/pub/index.jsp So now you know.

The word 'jazz' long ago detached itself to lead an independent life from the music we associate it with. Most people may not enjoy the music but the word continues to be very powerful with its images of cool, sophistication: So, I'm never surprised to see it used as a marketing tool for all sorts of things with only marginal connection with mainly improvised music - or, as in this case, no connection at all!

I noticed a classical CD chart the other day that had CDs by Mike Oldfield, Karl Jenkins and John Lord in the top ten. Classical buffs are even more likely to give themselves a seizure over these crossover discs than jazz buffs over smooth recordings dominating a jazz chart. It's always happened. Anyone remember the 'Classics with a Beat' fad of the mid-70s? A recording of the opening of Mozart's 40th Symphony with a disco beat glued on made the singles charts at that time.

Her ECM discs are glorious - impressionistic, very much in the mood of the label, a little abstract when compared with some of the bigger selling names there. Those who know her earlier work often find them less challenging. Being of a lyrical disposition, the ECMs work for me. There are also two superb discs with Barry Guy and Paul Lytton on Intakt - 'Ithaca' and 'Odyssey'.