A Lark Ascending

The box is selling at about £79.99 in the UK (that must be getting on for $150!!!!). UK potential buyers might like to know that 'Badlands' in Cheltenham are selling it for £59.99...considerably cheaper! There's an advert in MOJO (and I imagine the other rock magazines). Tel: 01242 227724 They don't have a website. I just ordered a set. I've not used them before, but have visited their shop. They have a good reputation as Cheltenham's most prominent independent CD shop.

I've never much cared for attempts to define jazz (or any other music) as they tend to obsess on making firm what to me are pretty liquid frontiers. But this definition I love. I don't think I've read a better one!

I imagine Lon is referring to building the curry from things like cumin, corriander, tumeric powders etc rather than the ready made curry powders. You can also buy the seeds and crush them yourself if you want to. It also helps to use some fresh herbs. Buy a good curry book and read the front pages. They usually tell you how to make up various powders and pastes. I have a fabulous recipe for a curry puree. I make a huge batch and then freeze it in small tubs. It can be used as a base for various curries. Highly recommended. If interested I'll post it. (Apologies for referring to a huge range of Indian/Asian meals as 'curries')

Top of the mornin’ to ye, Clementine. Bejezuz, that’s a grand temper ye have on ye. Now, would I be roight in thinkin’ that you learned that ridiculous Brooklyn Hillbilly posing at the Fame Academy? And would they have been learnin’ ye anything else at that place? Moight a drop of the ole Guinness calm ye down? Be sure to leave the head to settle, mind ye. Wannabee-Oirish Bev to Wannabbee-Street-Cool-With-Banjo-Clem [boi the way, ye’d be loikin a grand Proper box called ‘Farewell to Oirland’…lots of deloightful com-all-yees from Oirish-America in the Rare Ole Toimes. In fact Oi moight just boi me a copy fur the weekend, begob.]

Stan Getz - Live at Montmartre. Sometime in the 70s.

After a month of obsessing on Irish folk music I've found my way back to jazz in the last couple of weeks. I've been enjoying a number of recent UK CDs in particular by the likes of Stan Sulzmann, Nikki Iles, Liam Noble and Arnie Somogyi. I'd go as far as saying that I'm as excited by UK jazz at the present as I was back in the late-70s. Musicians seem to be finding ways to get their music out on disc on smaller labels, giving a much broader picture than a few years back. I'm working my way again through the Elvin Jones Mosaic that I bought last year. Fantastic music. I'm especially drawn to Joe Farrell on the tunes where he plays. And in a completely different world a harrowing two part documentary on English composer Malcolm Arnold has had me digging away at his music. Absolutely beautiful stuff and not nearly as well known as it should be.

Next week there's another Caber connected concert. A recording from Edinburgh of Tom Bancroft's recent tour with jazz orchestra and Geri Allen on piano. Bancroft is the drummer with Trio AAB and a regular in all manner of ensembles that play through Scotland and the UK. A very funny chap too!

A strong recommendation for tonight's Jazz on 3 (8/10/04). Two concerts I saw at May's Bath Festival are being broadcast. Celtic Feet - a group of Scottish musicians associated with the Caber label who perform jazz with a folky edge to it. In this case they are joined by a Hungarian duo on violin and cimbalon. A great afternoon. John Law's European Quartet - another excellent band that started one afternoon off...never the best spot on the bill...and performed superbly. I'm very much looking forward to hearing these again.

I'm a curry fan myself and very much enjoy making them from scratch. There are two curry traditions in the UK. I grew up eating my mums currys which come from the British Empire tradition - Brits abroad adapting recipies in India etc, bringing them home and then adapting them once more to what was available in local shops. Then there are the vast range of dishes available from Asian restaurants that really started to take off here in the 60s and have in turn created an enthusiasm for making the things. The 10 pints of lager followed by 'a curry' has become something of an English tradition! It's frequently joked that the 'curry' is now the national dish of England, it's become so popular. Fresh herbs - especially coriander - really make a curry for me. Despite not liking cream or yoghurt their presence in moderation in a curry can make a wonderfully rich experience. I'm also very fond of a cod and tomato dish with fennel seeds at its heart from and old Madhur Jaffrey book. The 'currywurst' recipe came randomly off the net! Curry wurst or bockwurst with curry sauce are a million miles from a great curry; but I really enjoy them as a fast food.

Lookee here... http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...miroslav+vitous

Try this at home: Die Currywurst-Sosse aus dem Revier 2000 g Tomaten 500 g Schalotten geschält 75 g Ingwerwurzeln 6 Knoblauchzehen geschält 3-4 Chilischoten 50 g Currypulver Madras 1 TL rote Currypaste (Tandoori) 200 ml Weißwein Alles grob zerkleinern und in einem Topf aufsetzen und köcheln lassen für ca. 30 Minuten dazugeben 3 Selleriestangen 1 Gewürzsäckchen bestehend aus: 2 EL Korianderkörner 2 Gewürznelken 1 TL Senfkörner 1 TL Muskatblüte zerkrümmelt Die Soße nun durch ein Passiergerät streichen und für ca. 60 Minuten köcheln lassen, das es sich um die Hälfte reduziert (dickliche Soße) Für je Liter Soße Nun ¼ L Apfelessig 75 g brauner Zucker 2 TL Salz 1 EL Paprikapulver und wiederum unter rühren ca. 1 Stunde köcheln lassen, bis zur dicklichen Soße.

You bet. Sometimes it's a curry sauce like ketchup. Other times it's tomato ketchup with curry powder sprinkled on it!

When in Germany I always enjoy a bockwurst with curry sauce and frites from one of these:

The ever growing chains of cornish pasty shops spreading through the UK.

Are you expecting my dishonest opinion?!!!!!! [one of those smiley faces to make clear this not genuine outrage!] 'Yellow Fields' was the first Weber I heard (apart from Solstice) and I never heard 'Chloe' until many years later. Chloe has never struck me as strongly. I actually like 'Silent Feet' and 'Little Movements' better than both. 'Yellow Fields' is very much a group record; a little minimalist in feel in that the group set up loop-like patterns but then develop them into something more organic in their solos. I think the tunes on the album are lovely. With 'Silent Feet' and 'Little Movements' the group break further away from the patterns but retain the melodicism - it just seems more natural to my ears. So in a way its hard to advise. I'm not sure what expectations 'Chloe' well set up in listening to these records and whether they'll be fulfilled. All I can say is I get great pleasure out of all four records and love that sound world. I've always felt this 'Colours' group of Webers developed a side of 'In a Silent Way' that remained largely unexplored. Where most followed the rock/funk possibilities (including Miles himself), Weber seemed to pick up on the shimmering melodicism.

Great news! Now go out and buy 'Watts at Scotts' to celebrate, his recent Tentet double CD. A hugely enjoyable disc with great playing by old codgers like Dave Green, Brian Lemon and Henry Lowther and young whippersnappers like Gerard Presencer and Mark Nightingale. With Evan Parker in there to throw things off beam every now and then. And some of the most beautiful baritone playing I've heard in a while from Julian Arguelles.

Not one I play often - I prefer Weber in a group setting, and this one is solo with overdubbing. Having said that Weber's solo concerts are very enjoyable. He's really amusing, not an impression you get from the pictures of him where he looks quite glum. 'Yellow Fields', 'Silent Feet', 'Little Movements' and his marvellous contribution to Ralph Towner's 'Solstice' are my favourite Weber discs.

Richard Cook is more angled that way. Morton, on his radio programmes, always had a modernist/avant bent, though with an ability to reference the history of the music.

Mahler's 10th is interesting. Unfinished with only the first movement in close to complete form, the rest in unorchestrated sketches. Deryck Cooke used the sketches to put together a performing edition in the 60s which I find as beautiful as any of the 'proper' symphonies. What is interesting is that it ends in a glowing, positive manner. The previous two 'symphonies' ('Das Lied von der Erde' and No.9) are almost textbook examples of the sad, longing farewell.

When did Jarman and Moye start doing the cabaret on Caribbean cruises?

Close again. Like Tim Henman she never quite got to the finals. [Clue: there's a big pink connection!!!!]

Close!

Who is THIS mystery woman?

Where do I go to collect my prize? Should I hand my notice in tomorrow?