A Lark Ascending

I vaguely remember the self-produced label thing - maybe that's why my brain connected it with free jazz! For some reason he's indelibly associated in my mind with walking through the high street in Ruislip in the summer of 1977. I must have picked up a music paper and read about him there.

I'm almost sure that the chap I'm thinking of is Frank Evans: http://paulvernonchester.com/FrankEvans.htm Doesn't appear to be a free player at all - not sure what I was hearing on the radio!

You still speak Latin in Scotland?

Anyone know the Latin for 'Play that thing!' Or 'Yeah!' even.

On a practical note, very swift delivery. It's normally in the post the next day at latest.

Classical music does get a hugely inflated level of support over here compared to other musical activities for those very reasons. I'm not saying it does not deserve that support (well, I'm not so sure about opera!) - just that proportionally other areas deserve a much fairer distribution of the pot. But much of this lies in the cultural prejudices of those who make the decisions - in their eyes (ears) classical music is just more worthy than other forms of music.

Concert attendance is not a measure of popularity alone. I rarely go to classical concerts - I used to when I was getting to hear the repertoire in the 70s and 80s. It generally takes something substantial that I don't know on the programme to get me out there. But I buy oodles of classical recordings and listen endlessly. Even with all the troubles the recording industry has been through in the last 20 years there still seems to be no end of classical recordings or historic reissues (and most of it of the same repertoire). Hardly a sign that classical music needs saving (though contemporary music needs wider promotion and explanation to the non-specialist audience - I'm not sure that's where Asian musicians are directing their attention). It could do with a makeover and try and lose its 'worthy' image. But that's been tried any number of times, often with rather daft results (amplification, light shows, funny costumes etc).

Many thanks. Zimmerman and Nono are but names to me. I have no grudge against serialism or any other -ism if the music that results engages me. Feldman is someone I want to try after coming across lots of praise, especially on this site.

I'd love to do Swanage (reminds me of the sort of line-up Appleby used to do) but it tends to fall a couple of weeks before the end of term. I can only managed these things around a holiday (I know, we teachers have so many of them...). I'm not so sure that Cullum is a cause, more a symptom. I have a vision of some committee somewhere studying bar charts and deciding that a particular demographic needs to be accessed. For me the great years were when the Jerwood Foundation had a huge input, sponsoring performance, composition etc by younger musicians. For a few years you had the F-IRE collective in various permutations playing wonderful things. It was a jazz festival with a welcome public face via the likes of Jools, Van and Georgie. It just seems to have flipped to a standard 'festival' with the more challenging thing on the margins. And those artist in residence years - recall following Uri Caine from one venue to another doing everything from Latin electric jazz to Mahler. I suspect it's money - Budweiser no longer seem to have their name everywhere (Heineken are now 'official beer sponsors' though with a lower profile).

Yes, should be under Recommendations. If a mod would like to shift it that would be great. As for Incus, I was thinking of the two labels with distinct current imprints under the umbrella. I understood that some Incus material has reappeared directly under the Emanem name. Has everything reappeared that way? Iskra 1903 arrived earlier this week and I really enjoyed disc 1. Have the other two lined up for half-term holiday. I've decided to gently work my way via the SME records - 'Challenge' is marvellous; more Ornette-y than the freer stuff to come. I put in a small order last night. A couple of Rutherfords ('Gentle Charm' and the one with the Tippetts; and the Appleby 2007 disc of Evan P, Ned Rothenberg and Paolo Angeli (I saw their main stage performance that year).

Programme arrived today and a sorry sight it is. I've nothing against cross-over and am all in favour of populism but they really seem to have tipped the balance this time. We've noted the slide over recent years but this year looks particularly weak. There was a time when it was packed with events, lots of lesser known stuff, you were spoilt for choice. Now it's dominated by ladies with gardenias in their hair. The only think I'd like to see that I've not heard before is Fieldwork. I'd happily see John Taylor, Liam Noble, Bill Frisell, Kit Downes and Seb Rochford again as part of a broader diet. But Michael Parkinson and Ray Charles, Puppini Sisters, Marcus Miller, Imelda May, Paloma Faith (who?). The Everyman vanished as a venue a few years back; this year there's no Town Hall (no great loss) or Pillar Room (huge loss - that's where so much of the less obvious stuff took place). A venue called the Parabola Arts Centre seems to have taken over from the Pillar Room. Must be the recession! I've been every year since the late 90s. Sadly, this year I'll be looking for something else.

I've picked up several recordings from this wonderful label documenting mainly UK free music over the years. Found myself drawn in more and more since last autumn. Favourites, thoughts etc? Its large catalogue is here: http://www.emanemdisc.com/

Hope this thread can be added to. Prefer single works or discs with a line or two as to why the music appeals.

And more than a little old. Very much a 'Whig' interpretation of British history - how it all took place to create the wonderful Brito-centric world we lived in! I have the serialisation done in a UK magazine series in the late-60s. Tells a great tale but open to all sorts of interpretative challenges. Can't really help on 1750-1900. I did all my reading there in the late-70s and imagine most of what was written then has been superseded (in terms of overviews rather than in-depth studies). I can strongly recommend Dominic Sandbrook's series on post 1956. Three so far with a fourth due on the Thatcher years. Mixes political, economic and social history with a strong narrative drive (something that has returned to history writing after being unfashionable at the time I was studying). I no longer read the in-depth studious things - they are essentially for study. But I think there has been some fabulous 'popular' history written over the last couple of decades - books that distil the academic stuff and present it in a form that is accessible to a general audience without patronising us.

Frankie Douglas? e.g. with Sean Bergin? No idea if he died young or is still around however - just the 'Frank' guitarist who came to mind! Nope. I've been hunting through John Wickes 'Innovations in British Jazz' and the 'Simply Not Cricket' discography of UK jazz of that era and have yet to stumble.

Ogun is probably my favourite record label! From 1976 - early 80s it introduced me to all sorts of music outside my comfort zone. British jazz it littered with labels that ran for a while and died. Despite the challenging nature of the music, Ogun has kept going, despite some quiet years. Emanem is another label exploring the nether regions that has kept going through dedicated leadership and realistic ambition.

I thought it was a brilliant book.

Might not be Frank! Another free form British guitarist of that era!

I've been racking my brains trying to recall the name of a British guitarist around in the 70s who played at the freer end of things. First name might have been Frank. Think he died quite young. Recall hearing something on the radio - possibly Charles Fox's 'Jazz Today' and reading about him in the NME/Melody Maker c. 1977. Any ideas?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16879336 From a posh girls' school so these lessons probably go alongside ones on 'What to do if Daddy turns down his annual bonus because the media and vote-hunting MPs are hounding him'. Also related in the 'Don't they know anything today?' corner: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16896661 I did read Dickens at school - left me with a lifetime's hatred of him! My oversight, I know, but... Elliot, Austen, Hardy, the Brontes, fine. The difference is that I first read those from around 20. Maybe in retirement I'll try again.

http://www.tvguide.co.uk/titlesearch.asp?title=Inspector%20Montalbano Might have been on before. I've not seen it. As a fan of Donna Leon and Michael Dibdin's Italian 'tec novels I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Even if my Italian is not as fluent as my Danish or Swedish!!!!

Here's one I've enjoyed for a long time. Actually saw one of the first performances in Nottingham in the 80s (I think) before it was recorded - Rattle at the helm. It's a vast, Mahlerian piece that slowly unfolds over its 90 minute length. Probably considered a bit conservative - it clearly connects to the world of Mahler, Schoenberg (of the Chamber Symphonys), Berg. I 'got it' immediately in that concert and continue to play the disc.

Thanks, David. This is just the sort of suggestion I'm interested in (the focus on composition rather than interpretation suits me too). As it happens I downloaded a Ligeti set only last week. 5 CDs worth for sixpence. The first disc - including the Piano Concerto - made an immediate impact.

Finished last night. Absolutely superb. At the start it had a 'West Wing' feel to it - nice liberal Prime Minister, nice family, each crisis surmounted by fundamental decency. But as the weeks unfolded Borgen was forced into making more and more compromises - politically and personally. The last episode was very dark indeed, the main character transformed into something much harder, much lonelier. Good subplots too. And there's another series at the end of the year. Next week we get Italian detective drama.

For as long as I've been listening to 'classical' music (about 40 years) I've tried to listen to contemporary classical with mixed results; in the end my centre of gravity lies in the first half of the 20thC. But in the last few years I've redoubled my efforts to listen to newer music (and even older music that still sounds difficult) and found myself getting increasingly engaged (though often left a bit bewildered as to why). So... What music from the last 50 years (pretty arbitrary number but quite a bit there is still being absorbed beyond academic circles) has really grabbed you? Preferably a few examples with some reasons why rather than lists. And please, please avoid sharing what you don't like. I'm sure there's room for a 'what 'classical' music from the last 50 years is crap?' thread elsewhere. With so much out there I'm genuinely looking for things to explore.