A Lark Ascending

Don't need no tinned food. Just take one of my assault rifles and git me a ground hog or one of them doggone, downloadin' comm-U-nists. Don't need no i-pod. Just The Good Book. Anyhows, I got me Eric Alexander chained up in the chicken house. I can have live music, just as The Good Lord intended, whenever I wan it.

I still use my ox cart. Won't have anything to do with them darn automobiles. With the money I save I buy weapons so I'm ready for The Last Days.

Rumours of Fripp's retirement (expressed in print by himself) seem to have been premature. From a recent e-mail from Discipline: Maybe he's not playing. Maybe Mr. Wilson is aboard. Mentioned here too: http://www.progrockmag.com/news/fripp-announces-king-crimson-are-back/ And more specifics here: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/26/king-crimson-reform-robert-fripp

Very nice radio programme on Night Visiting songs I caught by chance last night. If you can get access to the BBC iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bqws9 Told by Tim van Eyken, a highly respected young(-er) folky (and one time Waterson-Carthy member). Includes Martin Carthy and various others talking round the theme and lots of song extracts. The one that really grabbed my attention was a wonderful multi-voice piece from this collection, just released: A sort of Englist trad folky supergroup - Fay Hield, Seth Lakeman, Martin Simpson, Nancy Kerr, Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron, Ben Nicholls. Will be seeing them in Sheffield in a few weeks.

Thanks for that, Roger.

I just download now except where music is unavailable that way; or in some music where I fear there might have been carelessness in ensuring the tracks are gapless (some older opera transfers can be a bugger about that, foxing all the gapless solutions I can find); also some boxed sets are easier to get that way. Amazon - my main port of call. E-music - I have a generous 'legacy' plan there from a time when they changed operating methods - allows me to experiment. iTunes if it's cheaper (rarely) or unavailable on Amazon. I'll also dl direct from artist/label sites if available that way. I no longer get any pleasure browsing record shops (has more to do with the dearth of anything unusual in current shops in the UK [might be different in s/h shops]). Even a relatively well stocked place like Ray's Jazz in London couldn't hold my attention for long - I was just too aware that there were loads more recordings by the performers I was looking up than the shop could realistically stock. But they are all there online. A huge change for someone who was still record hunting on foot 10 years ago (and came back from New York with a suitcase overflowing with unseen treasures from the Babylonian excess of wonderful shops there then).

Really enjoying: I've always liked solo jazz piano discs. But I have a special liking for those that don't just play standards or blues - favourites include Jarrett's 'Facing You', Westbrook's 'Piano', Bley's 'Open, To Love', the rare Stan Tracey solo recordings, Keith Tippett's many recordings, Schweizer etc. This one fits beautifully in that tradition. Highly recommended. (Apologies if that reads a bit fawning but I've enjoyed the record that much).

Finished this - thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact it reminded me of no end of things I was reading 40 odd years ago from that 1900-39 period - Huxley, Orwell, Maugham, Lawrence etc. Though I found some of the arty primadonnaism of the individuals involved more than a little irritating at times. Boy could they scratch one another's eyes out. I've now embarked on:

If the title has ever had a CD release, then the masters are already in digital format...I wouldn't think there's much additional cost in converting AIFF format to mp3, FLAC, etc. But the workload for a one (or few) man operation to change from an established approach might be daunting. I don't know. If you can start and keep a label running, recording much music yourself and then release it with little hope of selling many...well, the adjustment to downloads doesn't seem to be as big a step. I just know that if Emanen and Hat were downloadable I'd buy more. I pick up a fair few Intakt discs that way (though they don't have everything out that way).

The smaller classical labels are streets ahead of jazz on this. It might be argued that Chandos/Hyperion are medium size but just look at this from Gimell, the Tallis Scholars label: http://www.gimell.com/recording-Thomas-Tallis---Spem-in-alium.aspx A format for every fetish. The performers on Hat and Emanem cannot be wealthy people - I'm sure they could hardly object to expanding the formats available. I can see start up costs (and workload) might be considerable but once established... The big bonus comes in 'impulse buying'. If I have to order and wait I might um and ah a bit. If after being thrilled by a Barry Guy or whatever record I feel the desire for another and can access it straight away then a sale is much more likely (whether I should be so easily manipulated by a desire for instant gratification is something else). The whole audiophile thing seems to have some labels stuck and shooting themselves in the foot. Gimell make both physical and download available - the first are there for those who feel that format is superior and allows for sales at concerts (and in cathedral gift shops!); the latter helps those of us out who don't live near a decent record shop and suffer from impatience.

I especially enjoyed Martin Carthy's exuberant contributions. I've heard him talk about music live, on radio and TV and he always just overflows with warmth and enthusiasm (I just love the radiant beam that overtakes him when he's talking about music he loves). You rarely hear a negative comment when it comes to fellow performers. He also came up with my favourite quote about folk music (and I think you can apply it across music) - "The only thing you can do to ruin a folk song is not play it.'

I didn't realise there was a book. It was/is a very good exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery where I obviously didn't visit the shop on the way out Whereas I didn't know about the exhibition but have had my eye on the book for a while, since the series on British 20thC art on TV earlier in the year. It seems the exhibition was (at least partly) a follow on from the book. The exhibition catalogue is also available:

Really moving programme. Contributions from the likes of Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Chris Wood and Jim Moray alongside Nic and his family. Worth catching on the iPlayer even if folk music isn't what you normally listen to. One of the common themes is the impact of 'Penguin Eggs' when heard by chance by listeners who had never paid attention to folk.

Nash, Nevinson, Spencer, Gertler, Carrington. Only just started but I'm fascinated by the depictions of the different experiences of these people in late Victorian London, let alone what is to follow.

It might cease to be criticism and become something useful. Like explaining music.

I've only been listening to Henze over the last couple of years; I'd expected someone knotty and difficult but have been surprised with how many points of contact I've found to help me enjoy (and in some cases be really moved) by much of what I've heard. I'm not suggesting he's easy listening - there are many pieces that have yet to register. I agree. I've no problem with the term 'conservative' when it is used to denote a preference for working within an existing or past approach. As you say, in that context there are no value judgements involved. It's the use of the word as a pejorative that I find unfortunate. If a listener (or critic) has made a decision to only champion the ground-breaking then it might be useful to explain why he chooses not to listen to a particular composer/musician. But frequently that context of personal choice is omitted and the musician is rejected as if he's done something wrong by not living up to the preferences or prejudices of that particular listener.

We've had new heating at work. Last week it wasn't working properly, radiators leaking etc. We were freezing as autumn bit. This week the heating's kicked in big time - just as the weather went sub-tropical. I think we all lost pounds today.

Finished it last night. Highly recommended. Second half moves to France. Very moving.

Do a word search on 'conservative' on this article: http://www.dw.de/obituary-hans-werner-henze/a-16339037 Of course, it depends on your use of the word 'conservative'. If you use its original, benign meaning - preserving what is good from the past - then he can be considered conservative (along with many other things). If you use it to mean stuck in the past and too scared to come out then it makes no sense. Which is my point. It tends to get used lazily by critics to demean music or musicians who do not fit with the approaches they have decided to promote. As so often the use of the word says more about the critic than the music being commented on.

Third - which set the template for the Columbia era - was recorded in early 1970, before Bitches Brew was released and a year before the first Weather Report album. I suspect they would have been familiar with Filles de Kilimanjaro and In a Silent Way, the spaciness of which do relate more to that era of SM more than BB or the main WR albums. Wyatt describes himself as a long-term jazz fan who discovered the beauty of pop where the others were pop/rock musicians who discovered jazz. He'd have been well in tune with what was happening. Stuart Nicholson's book 'Jazz-Rock' does a good job on laying out the longer antecedents of electric jazz than the Miles as-sole-catalyst theory implies. I've always heard that era of SM as quite different to the US fusion developing at the time. I was part of a crowd who were up to our necks in that Canterbury world as rock music; we had little interest in the likes of Weather Report or Return to Forever.

Hans Werner Henze? The big DG box (with something like 14 discs - mostly white spines, with (literally) a rainbow of colo(u)rs as an accent at the top of the spine). Henze? Conservative? Pardon my French, but WTF?? By comparison with his avant garde contemporaries. He moved away from the radicalism of his former fellow radicals. And was seen as a reactionary by some (I recall reading that there was a walk out from one of his pieces by the great and the good of serialism). Of course his political enthusiasms could not be considered conservative; but I was thinking musically and with specific reference to his more radical contemporaries. Of course there's huge variation in his music (or that which I've so far heard) - something like 'Undine' would be unlikely to scare many horses. But the point you make illustrates why I find the use of 'conservative' unhelpful. Henze's 'conservatism' is only relative to the radical avant gardistas. It tells us nothing about the quality of his music in relation to them or anyone else.

Qualifications only get you so far. When I'm short listing I assume a level of qualification - it's the letter of application that has most influence (of course I check back to ensure they are qualified). If I have 6 or 7 very good letters I go back to the degree and sometimes A Levels as a way of differentiating - though references (when they come in, often while interviewing after badgering referees!) have a big sway. In the area I work in I'd say the quality of those who make the final field is far superior to 30 years ago; even 15 years ago. Might be different elsewhere. I don't hold with the idea that everything is poorer than in the good old days. In the good old days only 10 - 15% went to university. Some of the best teachers I've been involved with appointing have had indifferent A Levels and have gone to what are considered second division universities. The qualities needed for teaching are not necessarily those which make a good academic. But however good you are, you are going to be ruled out of court in a profession with entry requirements. Quite different if you are setting up your own business.

Talent will often out regardless of education. I've taught kids who either revolt against the system or just play lip service to it and go on to success regardless. The trouble is that most kids do benefit from working through the system and getting qualified. But they also like the idea that all they have to do is dream for the stars and celebrity will be there - a concept pushed by TV talent shows. I've seen too many who don't have that exceptional talent or independence come to grief by believing that getting those qualifications doesn't really matter because they know someone who failed all his/her exam but is now a millionaire. If you think you've got that talent/flair, no harm in getting an insurance policy from the orthodox qualifications.

There's a line attributed to Arnold Schoenberg along the lines of 'There's still a lot of good music to be written in C Major'. It would be nice to think he said that but I'm not sure it's been validated. Might be what someone would have liked him to say. More appropriate for the world of H.I.P. (the artist formally known as period performance) classical music!!!! (can I emphasise I am jesting here!)

That distinguishes master-craftsmen from imitators (though we could argue from here to eternity as to who fits in which category). But aren't many revolutionaries who focus on the new over the old also master craftsmen. Evan Parker strikes me as a master craftsman. I like the idea of 'rooted in tradition' (Froots folk/world magazine [with an editorial policy with no time for nostalgia - very much encouraging innovation in 'traditional' music], cleverly talks about music rooted in 'a' tradition) but again most revolutionaries might emphasise their radicalism but will often also celebrate where they came from. I know it's only words. It's just the lazy use of the word 'conservative' to dismiss some musicians that I think is unfortunate.