A Lark Ascending

Your misrepresenting the point being made. No-one is suggesting that anyone should like anything they don't think is very good. I'm not suggesting that music should not be questioned or criticised - just that blanket put downs or the deliberately provocative 'ECM is poison' or 'Sonny Stitt was rubbish' type posts do nothing but inflame; and disregard the fact that each listener is processing music from a very different direction and context. It comes across like this to me: X, Y or Z are rubbish because... Implicit in that is that those who enjoy X, X or Z are unable to distinguish rubbish from quality. Also implicit is that I am terribly clever because I can distinguish rubbish from quality. Ultimately it reads as an exercise in vanity. Why the need for the egotistical 'I know the true path', the hyperbole, the venom of dislike? Only because that's what we've been used to - it's the journalistic and critical confrontational approach that sells papers. In the end 'ECM is poison' and 'Clean Feed are marvellous' is not that far from 'Zepp rool, Sabbath are crap'. ****************

Well that's the Lester Bangs school of criticism out of work!

No problem with not scolding those who express their preferences (tell me what you like and I'm interested). It's those who get off on constantly expressing what they despise. A lot of that is toady-ing (?) to a hipster agenda.

Delete ECM from that quote: The trouble is, with us all coming from such different listening contexts, we'll never agree on what records are non-great. Best to show some respect for the different listening preferences of others and avoid blanket dismissals.

Nonsense. It's the blanket dismissal that makes your stance come across like posturing. ECM has been around for as long as I have listened to jazz and was one route way in for me. Like most listeners who value the label overall, I don't like everything it does. The Italian musicians it records - Trovesi, Bollani, Rava - I generally much prefer elsewhere. And some of the Nordic stuff is just too detached for my ears. But I have no problem seeing that people listening from other contexts will hear it differently. Just do a search on ECM - there are always people falling over themselves to declare to the world how much they dislike ECM. Almost as popular a posture as Kenny G, Wynton or KJ bashing. Out of interest, are you dismissing it as bourgeois as a card carrying member of the proletariat? Or is your dismissal of it as bourgeois from a more aristocratic background - the music of parvenus and shopkeepers who should really know their place in the social hierarchy? In this day and age 'bourgeois' is utterly meaningless as criticism. And in what way is the music on ECM any more indulgent than any 'art' music that exists for the 'artist' to express themselves rather than serve a social purpose? Sound like you are hurling accusations you have picked off a shelf somewhere.

After a reading a couple of Elizabeth George's more recent Lynley detective novels I've gone back to the start and whizzed through: And have just kicked off with: Perfect reads for a busy term-time when I only get a short while to indulge - narrative drive that draws you on and a nice tension between the aristocratic Lynley and the working class Havers. Don't think I ever saw the TV series.

Criticism of criticism. Not of someone's creative output that is not to one's taste. I wouldn't congratulate yourself too much for having stimulated debate. This happens every time ECM is mentioned ('I'm too cool to like ECM' is a pose only marginally younger than the label itself). For your next trick, try telling the world that K%$£* J%$*&& isn't very good. You might...just possibly...strike a nerve.

Yes, I'm aware of Taborn but will dig back in my collection today to revisit. Recall seeing him in very impressive form with Dave Douglas a few years ago at Cheltenham. I'll also whip that solo album from ECM off e-music.

Do they have trees in Texas. I thought it was all cacti next to giant boulders.

The problem lies in taking a personal antipathy and projecting it as a universal absolute. Not 'the approach of ECM most of the time does not appeal to me' but 'most of ECM repeats a formula from 1969 and makes musicians who record well elsewhere produce less interesting work'. I know this approach is the currency of 'criticism' but I tend to find it a bit passée and ever so, well, bourgeois (if not aristocratic in its hauteur).

I keep putting off eating this Xmas grub:

This is a bit cryptic, but actually it was the British, who revolutionized Jazz in the late 1960s / early 1970s, the rest of the Continent followed, including the French, the Germans, the Dutch and the entire Eastern Europe behind the curtain (Iron or otherwise). Forged in the white heat of Harold Wilson's technological revolution, no doubt! Sure it wasn't forged in Harold Wilson's mac? Wasn't Mac the end of the 50s? Harold's Free Jazz Unit? now there's a thought The Winds of Change Quintet? First album 'You've Never Had It So Good'? ***************** Back to 'Boustrophedon' - give Furrow 6 a go if you want to dip your toe in. Quite thrilling. Really impressed with Craig Taborn on the record on this listen.

This is a bit cryptic, but actually it was the British, who revolutionized Jazz in the late 1960s / early 1970s, the rest of the Continent followed, including the French, the Germans, the Dutch and the entire Eastern Europe behind the curtain (Iron or otherwise). Forged in the white heat of Harold Wilson's technological revolution, no doubt! Sure it wasn't forged in Harold Wilson's mac? Wasn't Mac the end of the 50s?

Hair of the dog.

This is a bit cryptic, but actually it was the British, who revolutionized Jazz in the late 1960s / early 1970s, the rest of the Continent followed, including the French, the Germans, the Dutch and the entire Eastern Europe behind the curtain (Iron or otherwise). Forged in the white heat of Harold Wilson's technological revolution, no doubt!

Who's next? The French?

ECM generally travels a different path to the American jazz tradition. Best to see it as 'different' rather than 'poisoning' the holy well. I can see why its approach might not appeal to many jazz fans because its recordings can frequently leave out elements that are normally considered central. I really like Boustrophedon, especially - John Rangecroft's clarinet really grabbed me for some reason. In fact I think I'll play it in a while.

Just remember...no carrots or peas.

I think we get this cross-Atlantic confusion every time I mention the world's finest food (which I do at every possible opportunity).

I celebrate Christmas on 25th January - gets rid of that dreadful month between the end of festivities and the first signs of spring. So I'm just starting. Season's Greetings, all.

Surprisingly, here in Cornwall we are getting 'superfast broadband' rolled out thanks, in part, to a European Union grant. Just had the BT engineers here and had BT Infinity installed. And we are very rural. First impressions are good. Websites load very quickly and downloads whizz by. I have a feeling that 'superfast' means what we should have had in the first place but heigh ho. I saw something about that on one of those computer programmes they have on the BBC News channel, leading up to the hour. Does this mean you will be able to e-mail me fresh pasties?

Look forward to that at the weekend - well after my weekday bedtime but it's recorded. 'A Song of Summer' is one of my favourite Delius pieces. Always amazed given the conditions under which it was written - positively shimmers.

'Avalon' (once a popular jazz standard) and an aria from Tosca. Details of the payout from the court case: Avalon

There are some good things on the album - I really like Katia and the two contemporary ballads. Could do without all the sound effects - but that's the price you pay for always trying to be contemporary.

My Orange connection has been acting up over the last 10 days. For no reason it loses connectivity; unplugging the box and replugging seems to reconnect but often with very slow loading time. Then, after about an hour it's right as rain again. Worked perfectly today until about 9.00 p.m. Then had an hour of tantrums. Now back to smooth sailing. The tantrum hour reminded me of the early days - the difference being that in those days I was paying by the minute!!!!