A Lark Ascending

Another classic from those years: http://youtu.be/HSNSTerj2Kc Seem to recall the hot pants causing a stir (if that's the right expression).

Have you ever thought of writing one of those Californian self-help books? Books, CDs, tours - you could make a fortune with ideas like that. Now personally, I always find a good pasty enhances the music.

Good god. I'd forgotten that one.

Never really happened here. A fair bit of rain, a bit of light wind but clearly we were spared. I will return my flagellation kit to the loft.

Absolutely, Bill. I love reading about jazz (and music in general) but so often I give up because the book (or article) is about the projections of the writer rather than a real attempt to try to explain the music. Humphrey Lyttleton's couple of books on jazz (fused into a single volume) are my benchmarks. I learnt more about what to listen to in classic jazz from those two than from any number of academic volumes. Ted Gioia's book on West Coast jazz was another classic of clear writing that aimed to explain the music rather than posture. The one that drove me absolutely nuts earlier this year was the recent book about 60s/70s UK jazz - there was a good book about the music within but it was utterly ruined by this second-hand sociogobbledegook. I'm haunted by having to read this sort of impenetrable stuff on education as part of my teacher training course 35 years ago - even as a callow 21 year old it read like bollox. And quite a bit of 'post-modern' historical writing disappears up the same orifice. Humph's books, from start to finish, give the impression of a real attempt to 'include' listeners from all walks of life. Too many of these academic tomes seem to try to claim music for a small clique of knowing insiders. [i was trying to read a book of articles on Michael Tippett earlier this year. I'm really keen to understand his music more. But I was completely floored by one about his relationship with 'English' music that spent 20 odd pages telling me that more research needed to be done.]

Porthleven in Cornwall today. Though what went through the minds of these nutters in Newquay I'm not sure: They get into trouble and other people have to come out. From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24690552 And a nice slideshow here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24694139 Still very calm here.

The perfect music for what's coming (even though it's still October): http://youtu.be/abuEGBa-C4Y And I love this from the BBC News site: Only in Britain!

Looks like a repeat of the '87 event - south devastated, north spared. Clearly God is not a Tory. Then how did he become Education Secretary?

Think Brits might need this thread. Will also stop us cluttering up the Post a Pic thread. Wind starting to pick up. I've just gone out to clear the garden of anything likely to blow around.

That's one that I got immediately when I put 'Pharoah's Dance' on the platter. 'On The Corner' took over 15 years though and when it did happen it was like a huge insight. I couldn't get past the lack of harmonic variety - I think my brain is particularly wired for rich harmony. I don't think I heard 'On the Corner' until the late 90s and was underwhelmed. But I did like some of the music from those sessions that turned up on those composite double albums. So I took a chance with a cheap download of the Complete OTC sessions and all was revealed!

True. But not 'getting' someone or a style of music does not necessarily mean hatred. Just an inability (so far) to connect. I 'didn't get' Bitches Brew for nearly 20 years - then it clicked and it's now a favourite. So I'm open to Verdi suddenly clicking.

Often. Tend to find the darker months especially effective. Turning the lights off also works well. Though, however engaging the music, there's always the temptation to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (this may be age related). Not recommended when listening whilst driving the car.

Verdi

Me wants to see that quartet - I have never seen the legendary drummer or the great bassist Ah, but think about what you do see living near to NYC. Swings and roundabouts.

Tonight: Louis Moholo-Moholo Quartet - Louis Moholo-Moholo – drums; Alex Hawkins – piano; Jason Yarde – saxophones; John Edwards – bass As expected, a tremendous concert. Two high energy, mainly continuous, sets with a couple of brief pieces to tail each set. Familiar tunes kept rising out of the maelstrom - from the Moholo-Moholo past and standards (even 'What a Wonderful World' at one point). In a way, four generations of musicians there - Moholo-Moholo going back to the 60s, John Edwards from the 80s, Jason Yarde who I first became aware of in the 90s and then Alex from the early 21stC. The revelation for me this time was John Edwards who I have seen before but I suddenly see why everyone raves about him. Had a brief chat with Alex - as humble and gracious as ever. Hope this line-up can do more - and that a recording emerges in the future. Next Week: The Full English - Fay Hield, Seth Lakeman, Martin Simpson, Nancy Kerr, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron, Ben Nicholls And in a few weeks: Camerata Zurich, Barry Guy - Barry Guy "Time Passing" UK Premiere The latter promises to take me to "an existential state of contemplation and questioning". I don't think so!

Me too! Think being the son of the owner might have had more to do with it than your choice of listening.... However discovering Fripp in the 80s didn't help me with the ladies then and is unlikely to still. He did very well. His interviews in the early 70s always had references to his many casual conquests alongside his grand thoughts on small mobile intelligent units and why all the other groups were disappointing. I don't think 'Ladies of the Road' was fiction.

I think my irony might have got lost there. I was thinking more of the waitresses.

Why has Herb got a halo round his head? They'd not let Keith get away with that.

If only I had been 22 in 1970 instead of 2... I can see why. Listening to 21stC Schizoid Man when it was still relatively new was quite something.

Hitler loved Wagner. Stalin loved Georgian folk songs. Then there's Ted Heath (no, the other one). There was even a rumour doing the rounds a while back that Thatcher loved Bartok (Bluebeard's Castle, I expect). Case proven.

Is that a fridge? Do you get magic markers too?

Treat 'excited' broadly: Not just: Can also mean:

I only re-buy things if I'm dissatisfied with the sound quality of the version I've got. As I'm not wildly fussy on the sonic front - I listen at least 40% of the time off an iPod - this is very rare now. But if a decent remastering of Soft Machine 'Third' comes along or Joni Mitchell's 'The Hissing of Summer Lawns' come along I'll be downloading it the week it comes out (what did happen to the promised remastering of the Joni Mitchell catalogue? I'd have thought that would sell by the bucketload). To be honest, most jazz records have a fair bit of care taken over them. But there are still some very muddy rock reissues out there. Maybe they are harder to reconstruct with all the multi-tracking involved in the originals.

What you do get the more music you listen to - I'm not sure that it's necessarily an age thing - is a wider context for your listening. So things you know well take on a different perspective in the light of other things you hear. What I hope to avoid is the cliche of the wise old man slimming down his choices to 'the essentials', the "things that really matter" (always seems like the dreaded 'Wine Club' territory, visions of Frasier and Niles). I'd much rather keep exploring and hear what younger musicians are trying out. That too can refresh your pleasure in the things you are more familiar with.

Paracetamol? Don't think that existed in 1972. Aspirin, perhaps.