A Lark Ascending

I'm not quite sure the weather we've had for the last ten days or so is legal! A pic from a glorious weekend camping in Derbyshire. I have a very red head as a consequence.

I was in Stockholm a couple of summer's back. Three places I found good were: Ahlens City - Ahlens is a big department chain; their flagship store has a good CD department with lots of jazz. It's on Sergels Torg, the central square where you will probably come out of the underground at some point. The square is on two levels, like a football stadium. You want to be on the higher level. Mega Skivakademien - also at Sergel's Torg. This time on the lower level, tucked under the roof in the nortneast corner. It took me a couple of days to find it as its address referred to a road on the upper level. Those two are a couple of minutes apart. There's also a small store with a very large jazz collection just a minute to the north. If my memory serves me right it is right by the Konserthuset (concert house). There's probably other places but I never found them. Too much else to see in Stockholm...don't miss the Vasa, a reconstructed 17thC warship in a superb multi-level museum built around the ship. You'll need a few hours. It's fascinating!

Can I just add my hope that all London members are OK.

← What's the Spaniard got to smile about!

I distinctly recall hearing that broadcast. I stood with an ancient tape recorder holding the mike to the radio speaker. No idea what happened to the tape.

I don't care for sport at all but this is great. There's a wonderful upbeat mood in the UK today. [p.s. If anyone wants to book a room for 2012, just 3 hours from London, prices are currently quite low! Bound to rise closer to the date.]

I'd imagine Floyd and AMM were on the bill together at some of those legendary London all-nighters. For a short time in the late-60s and early 70s there was a coming together of experimental jazzers/avant gardists and rock players. In fact a quick Google reveals: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/27...4hourdream.html Pink Floyd apparently did a great deal of wild free improv in their early days (how else would relatively inexperienced musicians fill in sets at an all-nighter?). I seem to remember that their initial plan for the follow up to 'Atom Heart Mother' was an album recorded on kitchen implements! I'm not sure if this is of interest to anyone but it's just come out over here on DVD: Starring: Paul Jones with: Tom Kempinski and Robert Lloyd, and: Pauline Munroe and Jimmy Gardner Directed by: Peter Sykes Produced and Written by: Max Steuer Featured Interlude: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown Musical Score composed and performed by: Pink Floyd Director of Photography: Ian Wilson

Brilliant record as is:

Will this be on sale in a range of options?: Tall - a one track single Grande - the full album Venti - a double album in deluxe packaging with extended dance mixes on the second disc? (surprised they missed the chance to include a version of 'One More Cup of Coffee' from 'Desire').

I've been more than happy with Larrocha's late 80s version for Decca over the last (nearly) 20 years.

You could probably get through 'The Ring' in that time. Just ring ahead to ensure any stops coincide with changes of opera or act. You might even get the hostesses to do the safety bit as Rhinemaidens.

Whilst wandering round the grounds of Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire this afternoon, home of the Sitwells. A mix of readings of the Housman poems and settings by a variety of early 20thC composers (mainly English but Samuel Barber's in there). The poems are somewhat winsome, the music gorgeous.

Yellow Fields has been out on CD for ages in Europe. I suspect these new issues are European rather than specifically US reissues. The one I'd most like to see is 'Lookout Farm'.

Very much the most talked about comedy show on TV at present. I've never actually seen it; but then I only saw 'The Office' on its third re-run!

The last time I watched tennis it was about hitting a small ball over a net? When did it become jumping up to catch a large ball? I'm confused.

I only have one...'The Singing Detective'. Wonderful.

A lightness of rhythm, a lightness of touch, irregular rhythms, freely moving parts, richness of harmony, instrumental colour, melody that sends a shiver down my spine. I enjoy lots of music without these things...but it's these things that always touch me most. i.e. when I'm listening to Kind of Blue I'm inside it; with Jack Johnson I'm standing outside, admiring but a bit puzzled.

Not exactly Central Park, but it'll do me...

Glad you got through OK, Tony. I thought of you when they were reporting this on the news. Amazing to hear the story of the woman in Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe whose deep freeze floated away and they'd yet to find it!

I played 'Concert in the Garden' again last night - a rare sultry midsummer night in the UK. It still sounds as beautiful as a year ago. One of the discs of the decade as far as I'm concerned - suits my listening tastes perfectly.

Benedict Arnold?

I have 'London Bridge' from its original release. Very, very dense. It's not one I've returned to often; but I expect that might have more to do with my stamina over a very long piece rather than the quality of the music.

Thanks, sidewinder. I have the disc, bought back in Bath, but have not got around to it yet. I'll put it straight to the top of the list. According to a post at AAJ the Dutton 'Love Songs' is now out and a big improvement on the Japanese version sound wise.

I really like the five of these Vocalions I have - the Cameron, Lowther, Skidmore and two Garricks. I think one thing that attracts me is that the sound is so evocative of that late-60s/early 70s time frame. At times it reminds me of some of the TV theme music of that time...I can visualise grainy b+w footage of northern mill towns! I'm convinced I've heard the second track on the Cameron as a song somewhere! I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn it was a minor vocal hit for someone like Cilla Black! Elsewhere I can hear the connections with the rock music I was listening to at that time (completely oblivious of the jazz). McNair's flute has me thinking of the Jimmy Hastings contributions to the classic Caravan records; and there's a similarity to a lot of the airy-er stuff on the Island label at the time. "Black Marigolds" is odd but I find it likeable. A pity they chose a "Dah-ling Larry" type to recite but I suppose that was the time. The producers of the 'Jazz Britannia' series commented that the British music of this era was 'not the main story' but a wonderful, self-contained parallel. I think I'd agree with that - it's no match for what Miles or Carla Bley or Andrew Hill were doing. But taken on its own terms it's a marvellous little world to get to know. [strangely enough I can never really warm to Nucleus. Whereas Soft Machine were a rock group learning to be jazzers and loosening up as a result, I always feel Nucleus sound like a bunch of jazzers wanting to rock and simply glueing a fairly basic rock beat under what they used to do. I saw them c.1974 and found the rock beat heavy going; despite listening to a number of the Nucleus reissues several times I've yet to get comfortable with, what to me, sounds like a pretty rigid rock beat).

Well the Dedication Orchestra is very much a 'celebration' band; and more formal than the Brotherhood. Try the second CD - I like it better. They put very little out now - Ogun was putting out records quite frequently from the mid-70s to the start of the 80s. Since then releases have been few and far between - very much a cottage industry. The 'Blue Notes' box that is being promised for the future should be a nice way to hear some of the earlier material. One I would recommend is Keith Tippett's 'Frames' by his group 'Ark' - not the best of transfers but superb music.