A Lark Ascending

Good JRR tonight, Bill. Especially enjoyed Lucky Thompson on 'Where or When' and Curtis Amy on 'Gone into It'.

Any specific recommendations? Never heard of Fest; Fischer I only know as a name. I have some earlier Santos and some much later but this area is quite unknown to me. Thank you.

The story of the 'Swingers' or 'Jazzers' inside Nazi Germany is fascinating in this light. Young Germans doing what young people do - rebel against authority by embracing everything the system hates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Kids

The larch! The larch. THE.....larch.

Thanks for the recs. The Donato and Cesar 830 seem OOP but I will look. I have a couple of Tania Maria's...will dig them out again. Ed Motta fits exactly what I'm looking for - again, will dig those out too. Thanks for taking the time, chaps.

Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope....

I dearly love that combination of jazz, Brazilian percussion and fender rhodes. Airto, Dom Um Romano, George Duke's 'Brazilian Love Affair', Jobim's Stone Flower etc. What else is out there (either from the 70s or in that spirit)? A difficult one because it crosses over very easily into Martini music. Be interested to hear of discs in that area with a bit of muscle that people keep coming back to. I'll probably know a fair few but I'm hoping for surprises.

Were you expecting the Spanish Inquisition? Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

I can remember that influence extending into Northern England, the priests (or their sidekicks) calling round on houses to check that the registered catholic kids were going to the "right" school. I wonder if that blinkered stuff still goes on? My mother ticked all the essential boxes - mass on Sunday, confession, fish on Fridays etc. But no more. When the parish priest tried to strong-arm me into being an altar boy at about 14 she made excuses and wouldn't allow it to happen. I suspect she knew things! I recall priests visiting the house but it was easygoing, not the Spanish Inquisition.

For you, Mr Sangry: http://www.generalmichaelcollins.com/The_land_League/Michael_Davitt.html

I think you are right here. Certainly true of Britain. I have a photo of my Irish grandfather playing in the 'Athlone Jazz Devils' in the 1920s. I can't imagine he was playing anything closer.

Oh, I'm sure they gave a distorted impression of 'jazz' to classical buffs. If the only 'jazz' you'd heard was 'Johnny Spielt Auf' you'd have a very strange idea of it. But maybe no more strange than the impression some classical buffs might have of rock if all they'd heard was Bernstein's 'Mass' or one of Tippett's things with rock bits in. I seem to recall someone here posting some anti-jazz articles from the States in the 20s, again suggesting its corrupting influence. All part of that same reaction you get when new strains of popular music drawing influences from outside 'decent society' appear - rock'n roll, punk, rap etc.

Very few people would have heard Satie or Milhaud. Many, many more would have heard Louis Armstrong. The classical take on jazz is a quite separate thing. I suspect most Europeans would have heard a 'light' jazz - 'light music' or dance music with jazz inflections. Much like now. And, like now, there was a substantial minority who were aware that there was much more.

There were even stronger parallels in Ireland, BBS. The Blueshirts where Ireland's version of all those fascist groups that popped up all over Europe. As in Spain they were endorsed by the Catholic Church as a bulwark against communism, modernity and everything else that threatened its power. Many went off to Spain to fight for Franco. One of the things I liked about the film version of Angela's Ashes was the way it used mainly American or American derived music as the soundtrack rather than the expected whack-fol-the-diddle-o. Despite De Valera's attempts to foist an imaginary tradition on Ireland, most people (outside the fringes where a genuine culture had survived) seemed to look elsewhere. It took a later generation to make traditional Irish culture, shorn of state approval, exciting again.

On many a live British jazz record you'll hear "Would you like to take your solo now, if it's not too much bother? Sorry if I'm troubling you." Totally without irony.

All part of the general attempt to construct an Irish culture in the 1930s following the first step towards independence, one that was deeply conservative, drew the distance from England and the 'corruptions' of American culture. My mother grew up in that era - hated the Irish culture forced on her, loved English and American films and music.

LOL Gives the lie to the idea that student audiences were much more open to experimental music in them days. I suspect everyone else was having a really good time bopping to The Sweet and Mud in another building.

I was at that one too. Lots of breaking off mid-way, if I recall.

Been through 1-4 so far. Greatly enjoying these. Despite cramming entire books into two episodes and making the odd change here and there, these seem very faithful to the books. Brodie is a bit more 'he-man' than I remember him - there's more of a sense of haplessly stumbling into trouble and then chasing after it on instinct in the books; here he's more of a standard good guy going after the baddies. Very nice photography of Edinburgh and its environs (with the odd trip into Yorkshire). And the soundtrack - Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, Eliza Gilkyson etc (all referenced in the books) - is marvellous. No bagpipes and ceilidh fiddles!

I like Lol. Once saw him play a solo concert in a student cafeteria filled with dozens of candles. I think there were about six of us in the audience. Another time with a band playing straight bebop (much better attended!). One of the least commercial musicians I've come across. Frequrntly just stops mid performance because he's run out of ideas or got bored and just starts something else. Missed this tour though: http://www.theshed.co.uk/guardian-skip This is a great survey of his music from 1954-99:

Just when I thought they'd given up. The Skidmore and Dankworths attract me. Dutton Vocalion also do a superb line in off-the-radar British classical music. Now if only they'd get with it and start a download option. Might be able to keep some of these indefinitely in print (licensing permitting).

My body is attuned to Bartok, Stravinsky and Bulgarian folk music. This makes waltzes, polkas or any 4/4 dance completely beyond me as I constantly misstep.

Be careful to check the e-music price. In the UK they charge by the track so this comes out at a whopping £45. It's half that price as a CD set on Amazon. I tend to find e-music excellent value for normal length albums. But when it comes to historic collections with 25 tracks on a disc it becomes much more expensive than other download or physical options. The US e-music might have a saner way of pricing.

Sorry! Speed reading again!

It's on e-music if you are not averse to downloads.