sidewinder

Bill - I caught Robert Fowler's gig with Karen Sharpe earlier on today - good stuff, tribute to Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. Also caught the Gilad Atzmon Orient House Ensemble, the Barnes/Atzmon encounter (great !) and the Chris Biscoe Mingus Tribute. The latter had a very fine band with Henry Lowther, Pete Hurt and Kate Williams in it. The only downer today - poured it down !

He was in the lineup last night for the Tracey Octet tribute led by Clark, which included Don Weller in the saxes - still one of our most distinctive saxophone stylists, good to see him here again. Hilarity on stage as they all fumbled on the stands with the mammoth 'concertina' scores put together by Stan. Incendiary first set and a real dillema as to whether to stay or to check out Keith Nichols Blue Devils with vocalist Joan Viskant in the other marquee. I chose to switch and thoroughly enjoyed their performance of authentic early jazz, impeccably played. Nichols and co. have become a Swanage institution - they've done this Sat night slot for at least 3 years consecutive now. Gilad/Barnes Fest and shootout reunion coming up later on...

Including a copy of the behemoth Maynard Ferguson LP set !

Yep, Gilad & co are on my itinerary on Sunday afternoon.

Just back from the night in Swanage - Barnes is on deck tomorrow, having departed from Wigan with his bucket and spade. Nice to see Jean Toussaint's Blakey Project ('Roots and Herbs') with Byron Wallen and Denis Rollins and an excellent Afro-Cuban band headed up by Andy Hague and a group of Bristol musicians including Ben Waghorn.

Happy Birthday !

Saw him on keyboards with the Gil Evans Orchestra at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester in February 1978. It was about 1982/83 I saw Gil's band - I actually had a ticket for the 1978 tour at Colston Hall, Bristol but the biggest dump of snow for many a year early 1978 meant we were all holed up in my neck of the woods. So bad that the villages all had to be supplied by helicopter. I guess it wasn't meant to be. If it was Elvin's group I saw him with, that would have been about 1980. The lineup with Pat LaBarbera.

Sad news - RIP. Pretty sure I got to see him but not sure whether it was with Elvin Jones or Gil Evans. Elvin's Jazz Machine, I think. Just read the 'Do The Math' interview. Very interesting, he was a witness to the Tokyo B29 raids.

But how likely is Ray's to sell them SOON at that price? Not very, I think..

The US market for these seems to be quite different to the UK i.e dollar for £ or worse. Saw this set at £90 recently and it wasn't even mint either ! 'Ray's Jazz' in London had a whole load of the CD sets in recently - most were priced around the £200 mark so no deals there.

Cannonball Adderley 'African Waltz' (Riverside DG mono)

Very fond memories of seeing Hank Jones in a trio along with George Mraz at Catalina Bar & Grill in LA in the late 1990s. Hank was kindness personified and got his best gold pen out in the dressing room to sign my flyer (he was also wearing this very 'Monkian' paisley-patterned smoking jacket). Remember thinking at the time that the Teddy Wilson influence seemed pretty strong and that he took such care and pride in his performance and seemed to really enjoy entertaining the audience. Pretty sure I went back the next night as well. Pretty sure that the first Hank I heard was the Verve material with Parker. Have that Savoy trio set on a UK London LP.

Happy Birthday !

Happy Birthday S-Jack !

Freddie Roach 'Down To Earth' (Liberty blue/black stereo) Sounds spectaculartly good - 'Van Gelder' in the runout, these blue/black Liberties can be real sleepers. Lee Morgan 'The Sixth Sense' (Liberty) Yeah, the recording suffers a bit on that one. I have an original Savoy that sounds murky, but the music is sublime. The score of "Winter Song" (the longer piece - the titles are switched on the record) was printed in an issue of Down Beat in '65 or '66 I believe. My Savoy copy sounds as if it was recorded in the Gents.. (maybe it was?)

Only one thing worse than cassettes and that is 8 track ! Thankfully, Mosaic didn't dabble in either format..

Don't they stick their desks outside in the sun these days? Used to do that back in my day !

If you have an Ortofon cartridge, are you running a little heavier than they recommend? I find that my 2M Black tracks better and sounds a bit better when I track a little over the 1.5 gram recommended tracking force. No, I run a Dynavector moving coil. It is trial and error as to what weight setting works best but I find that slightly above the recommended level gives the optimum output. This is with the Naim Aro arm with heavy counterweight.

Why? Once you dial it in, it should be fine. Same goes for the platter level, unless your floor or equipment rack are perpetually sagging and expanding... Unipivot arm.

I use an Ortofon analog scale along with the tonearm counterweight for setting the correct weight. Re-check the setting every month or so (along with the level).

That's true - good aircon by this country's usual standards too.

Scorchin' over here this week. Too bad I have to work..

Interesting - big price on that 'Pendulum' select.