A Lark Ascending

I've not heard the Chet Baker. I played the Miles again today and just love it. Ordered this one from jazzos.com today: 2004 Enrico Rava - trumpet John Abercrombie - guitar Salvatore Bonafede - piano Ben Street - double bass Clarence Penn - drums guests: Ralph Towner - guitar Michele Rabbia - percussion As I say, prolific.

Hi Tony, The new Stanko can be got online from HMV for 9.99 at present...credit card woes permitting! I was toying with going to see him in Brum yesterday but work overtook. Saw him last year at Cheltenham. Very, very good. The Rava Miles disc is available from Crazy Jazz for £14.95 - they take cheques! http://www.crazyjazz.co.uk/catalogue/R01.htm You might also consider this one too: "La Dolce Vita" - Rava, Bollani etc playing Italian film scores. Which makes a nice companion to this piano trio playing Morricone: Of which there is a second volume just out that I've not heard yet. Enrico Pieranunzi is one of my favourite contemporary pianists.

I first saw it in Singapore - when I could persuade the Amah (these were colonial days, we had servants...and we wern't rich!) to swap from Chinese Opera! No wonder I've got weird tastes!

At last! Some sense! (Received 'The Gift' this morning after a real hunt!)

Take a look here: http://www.wdr.de/radio/orchester/big_band/index_en.html They've played with all sorts of people. There's a long list of who they've made CDs with there. The one I know is the Gianluigi Trovesi Dedalo recording which is excellent. I have the several recordings with the NDR big band on and have seen them with Abdullah Ibrahim. Quite excellent. I'd imagine the other German radio orchestras are of a similar quality. Probably depends on what they're playing. Here's a taste of what they WDR are doing in Germany in March: »Percussion and Horns« Mike Manieri, Vibraphon/Marimba Andy Narell, steel dr Peter Erskine, dr Don Alias, perc Airto Moreira, perc WDR Big Band Cologne Leader and arrangement: Vince Mendoza »Jimy Hendrix Project « Wednesday, 26th May 2004 Hiram Bullock, voc, guitar Billy Cobham, dr Stefan Rademacher, el. bass Bernd Lechtenfeld, Ltg Christopher Dell, vib »TRIBUTE TO BILLIE HOLIDAY« Nnenna Freelon, voc Dennis Mackrel, dr »BRAZIL TODAY« Joyce, voc Marcio Bahia, dr Mingo Araujo, perc

You are completely wide of the mark there, Jazzmoose!!!!!!!! We are much more like General Baptists and Particular Baptists arguing over predestination!!!!!!!!!

I know. It's silly really. I could be doing really useful things. Like telling everybody what record I'm playing at the moment! Or grumbling about Norah Jones!

I don't think there is any doubt that EST are a good thing. Their music clearly affects lots of people (myself included). The way they have got notice in the world beyond jazz has to be good. Just beware of the hype. They might be excellent but they are not creating something new (beyond a few quite gentle imports from the world of dance music, something being done much more audaciously elsewhere). They're doing something that lots of others do - and they're doing it very well indeed. The reason why this matters is that when their music gets encountered by the experienced US jazz listener I think the reaction is likely to be 'what is all the fuss about?' And that can have an impact on the way European jazz is perceived overall. 'Oh, another European future of jazz!' A little less hyperbole and EST can be welcomed with enthusiasm for what they are. When it comes to distinctiveness I'd suggest Bobo Stenson is well ahead! Yes, he's older, more experienced, not working in the quite the same market area. But a little perspective, sense of proportion might help ESTs career in the long term.

Perhaps. I'm not suggesting that there's anything inherently wrong (or "unfun") with exploring jazz (or anything else) in a systematic manner (which is what 'serious student' implies to me). Just that its not how I imagine most people listen to jazz. They go for enjoyment (which can happen on any number of levels, including the intellectual). They encounter it in a rather scattered way based on hearing things, individual recommendation, media articles, chance hearings at concerts. And they often sit and read about jazz to find out more. 'Essential' strikes me as wanting to alter this - it's a word I associate with the 'canon of jazz' approach. With so much jazz out there you are only ever going to hear a small part. One way is to be guided by someone elses idea of what is essential. Another is to follow a more random path and end up with a view of jazz that is more idiosyncratic. I suspect the idea of 'Essential Jazz' is probably more meaningful to enthusists in the States and people who like mainly American jazz than those who follow jazz beyond those shores. Everything is so diverse and in flux in Europe, for example, that the idea of 'essential' has very little meaning.

Looks good. Stefano Bollani is a wonderful pianist. Rava is a prolific recorder. He seems to have new releases coming out every other month. Check him in the search engine at Jazzos.com. This one will hopefully reach a wider audience. I'd strongly recommend two discs from concerts in Montreal a few years back on Label Bleu. One is a disc of Miles tunes which is absolutely electric (in an acoustic sense). The other a gorgeous CD of duets with Bollani.

Perhaps for any serious student of jazz. But most people who buy jazz records are enthusiasts not serious students. The last thing I'd advise most people to do is to approach jazz as a serious student. Approach it because you're going to have a good time. I'd hope anyone who found they were loving jazz would give those names a listen. I suspect the natural process of exploration would take them there pretty quickly (most of the signposts point that way!). But I'd not want anyone to feel obliged to have any musician or recording in their collection. There are plenty of genuine jazz enthusiasts who don't care for early jazz (so don't bother with Armstrong) or bebop (so don't bother with Parker) or jazz that parts from traditional jazz harmony (so don't bother with Coleman). I'd not like them to think their collections were lacking. On the Mingus issue - 'Ah Um!' is one of my favourites. On the vocal issue. My collection would be greatly diminished without Billie H., Ella or Norma Winstone.

I'd agree that it might be possible (and quite fun) to create a list of 100 albums that act as markers in the history of jazz. The only problem is that everyone's would be different depending on their own interpretation of what was significant. (I don't imagine Wynton and Evan Parker would come up with the same list!). There might be some points of consensus...but many more of dispute. But 'essential'? This implies you 'must have' this album. Lists like that are quite interesting just to see what other people think matters. They're certainly a cheap way of filling magazines or TV schedules at present (we get a '100 best...' virtually once a week in the UK. They're currently obsessed with sitcoms!). They raise awareness. But I don't like the idea of a newcomer to jazz feeling there are a certain 100 albums you 'must' have. Half the fun is finding your own little nooks and crannies.

Man being bled with leeches:

'Essential' is a four letter word. Follow that logic and we all end up with the same record collections. I like loving records that most people think are inessential. They might not reflect what someone has decided matters in the grand scheme of things. But they certainly reflect my life and experiences. And while that life has been nothing special its been unique. I want a record collection to reflect that.Give me Django Bates over Woody Herman. Frank Bridge over Brahms. And no disrespect to either. A pox on 'essential'.

Served with vinegar and a dash of Worcester Sauce these are delicacies in the East End.

Look on the bright side, Daniel. Where you're going you get this:

More to the point where's Django Bates?

The drumming's too loud for me. I like ECM splish-splash! But you're probably right. I'm likely to be missing something.

Now The Bad Plus. That I don't get!

Here's something to make you homesick before you've gone. Taken one evening last summer! Great city. Isn't Jonkoping famous for matches? I passed it on my travels

I saw them and the Caine Trio on the same evening at last years Cheltenham Festival. I was a bit sceptical of EST - I'd enjoyed them a couple of years before but had subsequently been disappointed by their 'Stange Place for Snow' album which I found 'dull'. I really enjoyed them in the concert as it happened; as I did the Caine band. Caine strikes me as the far more original thinker, however. I'm not too sure where EST are going to go with this format. Maybe a major label with guest vocalists!!!

Hugely successful in Europe at present! In their homeland of Sweden their albums make the pop charts. Piano trio with a hint of electronica giving a contemporary sheen that seems to attract beyond the jazz world. Excellent live band - very much a trio - three equal parts. Their records are good but don't really capture their live excitement. Not the 'future of jazz' (as some would have it) or even wildly original. But very enjoyable with that something that can prick up ears beyond the cloisters of jazz fandom. Try 'From Gagarin's Point of View' or 'Good Morning Susie Soho' - there is a recent disc that I've not heard. I'd ignore the "Groups like E.S.T. help stretch Jazz beyond the stuffy traditionalism that is choking off the American Jazz scene" argument. Overrates EST and is unfair on contemporary US jazz.

I'm joking, Sundog. I've read about her but not heard her. If she's convincing in Chicago that's high praise! Devon has produced more than cream teas and finger-in-your-ear traditional folk singers! Mike Westbrook and John Surman for two!

But she comes from Devon! I've lived in Devon! Gorgeous county. But not a place to get the blues! Does she sing with a West Country brrrrrr!