sidewinder

Dexter Gordon 'Dexter Calling' (Liberty stereo) Miles Davis 'Volume 2' (Lexington 10" )

'Mode For Joe' and 'Our Thing' marginally get my vote, although they are all great (particularly 'Page One' and 'Inner Urge'). 'Mode For Joe' has a great group sound with inspired solos all round - sums up that whole era, really. 'Our Thing' is has the great Henderson/Dorham front line, most ably backed up by Andrew Hill. Hard to chose between all of them, all have their virtues.

Great news and a hearty congrats ! The 'Night Lights' show is a real class act.

Very best of birthday wishes !

Wow.. Just read that that bus explosion was in Tavistock Square. Must have walked through there hundreds of times as a student at UCL (admittedly many years ago now). This is just tragic. London has seen such incidents before though and what they tend to do is double the resolve against the perpetrators

Kings Cross seems to be totally jinxed by these things, after the terrible fire incident of years ago. I used to use that station a lot and I know Tavistock Square very well indeed.

Current reports state 2 deaths and many injured.

News over here on the media still very vague about what happened and the casualty numbers. Doesn't sound good. Tony Blair is apparently to make an announcement at 1200. He has had a roller-coaster week.

Art Blakey 'Like Someone In Love' (BN Liberty stereo) Ornette Coleman 'Love Call' (BN Liberty stereo)

Currently taking advance bookings for 2hrs from London with direct rail-link.

At a recent vinyl fair I checked out there was a guy there selling copies of every Floyd LP in every international release (Argentinian first pressing 'Meddle' anyone?). He also had a great stack of boots. If I had had the storage space and $ it would have been worth making a bulk purchase offer. I did however pick up the German Columbia first pressing of 'Piper At The Gates of Dawn'. Now playing 'Live at the Half Note' - Art Farmer Quartet Featuring Jim Hall (Atlantic mono original)

Great buy ! Can never work out why this one is so under-rated.

The construction industry in the South of England will be very happy with all of the extra work. Shares in the major companies went up steeply today. The downside of this though is that anyone else in the South who needs a builder for the next few years will have to fight for their services.. The East End of London has been a deprived area since time immemorial. Indeed there is a theory that when the Saxons settled the area in the 5th/6th century they ejected the natives to the East of the old Roman walls and that situation and inequality has persisted ever since. In recent years the area has improved significantly with new development but I can remember a time in the early 80s, walking through Limehouse, when it was still very 'iffy' and WW2 bomb damage was still highly visible. This selection is absolutely great news for London and the East-enders in particular and should add some major impetus to the new rail-link projects and infrastructure.

I hear that they are bringing up a 'special' chef from the East End of London to cook him up some jellied eels ! The tripe chefs from Yorkshire are also standing in reserve in the wings...

It must have been Chirac's comments about the food that swung it !

Rudolph Ruzicka Edward Shenton Ernest Hemingway ← Ernie Caceres Ernie Henry Cleo Henry

There's a good chapter on Dupree Bolton in the Ted Gioia 'West Coast Jazz' book too. Recommended. The only book by Richard Williams I have is the 'Man In The Green Shirt' bio of Miles, with some very fine photos in it and sympathetic coverage of Miles' career. Williams used to write some great stuff back in the UK 'Melody Maker' broadsheet back in the 1970s, back in the day when that paper actually covered jazz. I remember he did a lengthy writeup of 'Dark Magus' and 'Pangaea' when both of these were rare Japan-only imports.

'Napoli's Walls' on ECM gets a thumbs up from me !

I know its become an oxymoron but I still can't believe it's still in print !

I just saw him the once - about 15 years ago in a club gig with Louis Hayes, sharing the front line with Charles Tolliver and Gary Bartz. What a lineup ! He was very much in his prime and that's the way I want to remember him. RIP - I'll try to dig out the very fine Enjas, 'Bushman's Song' and 'Countin' On The Blues', tonight.

That's sad news. Michelot was a class act - I like his work with Miles Davis on 'Acenseur' and also the mid-sized group 50s sessions under his own name. RIP.

Viewer discretion required for certain areas of this site !

I think I read somewhere that Mingus's knowledge of the classics was encyclopaedic. Now spining: 'VSOP Mercury' box set - the Cannonball Adderley and Quincy Jones sides 'Bethelehem's Best' (Bethlehem Records 3LP box set sampler with mainly mid 50s sessions - Shavers, Mariano, Chris Connor, Pettiford etc)

Minnie Caldwell Minnie the Minx Dennis The Menace

Taiwanese Fontana?