A Lark Ascending

I somehow doubt that there is an 'iTunes generation' any more than there was a 'gatefold LP sleeve generation' that I was part of. I suspect most of us were exceptions rather than the rule in our listening interests in our respective youths. And regardless of what piqued our interest then, we've gone off down paths far distant from what was served up as the main course in those youths. The kid half-listening to his iPod doesn't mean there aren't some who want to explore a bit deeper today and who might want to hear the music as it was originally presented. I know at least one! This new Penguin might give them a sense of the general history and urge them onwards.

Don't know the Larkin one. Another one I quite enjoyed was (1993 I think): Very much a coffee table book - not comprehensive, a bit Dorling-Kindersley in approach. But it has a good section recommending albums in various genres with colour cover reproductions. I ended up hunting down a fair few. Very much a product of its times - a section on jazz dance, reflecting the whole Acid Jazz craze in the UK. Must have come out around the time that Courtney Pine, Andy Sheppard etc were nudging wider awareness. Didn't last. Though my Bible in those early days was Joachim Berendt's 'The Jazz Book'. Bought in early 1977. I was marooned in Cornwall on teaching practice with no record collection - spent three months reading it and imagining what the music might sound like with only Jazz Record Requests every Saturday to fill in a few details.

Seems it day may have passed. Back in the 90s - pre-internet - you had to scramble around for information here in the UK (even the jazz magazines had a habit of folding after a few issues). Availability of recordings was pretty random, especially if you lived outside London. You could get your basic jazz history easily enough and a rough idea on what was happening domestically but beyond that was pretty hard. Those first Penguins were therefore a godsend to someone who knew the main story in part but didn't know the details or that they played jazz in Italy! Other books appeared but none were so comprehensive (I still treasure an all colour 'The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Jazz' by Stan Britt/Brian Case). Now, just about everything is available and you can search out recommendations via Google or by simply asking in a place like this, getting a range of responses rather than comments limited to the authors' own prejudices. ******************* According to Amazon it's now arranged in chronological order. Might still be useful as a starting point for someone new to jazz. That's doesn't answer John's question, of course! Reducing everyting to 1000 this or 100 that seems to be a bit of a cultural marker of our times.

Really enjoyed that Teddy Wilson programme. Made me download a couple of later Wilson sessions - most of mine goes no further than the 40s. JRR was good too, though once again truncated by the utterly mannerless opera brigade. I don't think it ever crosses their mind how impolite it is to just shunt a different musical audience out of the way to accommodate something favoured by the Oxbridge elite.

Me too!

Fleurette Africaine (Les Fleurs Africaines - Little African Flowers) 1962 [Duke Ellington] One of my all time Ellington favourites - a sultry, moody glide down an African River. Would make a great theme tune to a film of 'Heart of Darkness' - and wouldn't have been out of place on The Far East Suite moodwise. The 'Money Jungle' version is, of course superb - despite having an insistent pulse, the trio somehow manage to give it slightly hesitant feel; you get the sense they are feeling their way through and creating on the spot. I've got lots of other versions, all of which are a step smoother. But it seems to bring out the best in players - the mood and circular feel clearly brings out the poetry in them. Two from Gary Burton (one on Loft Fake Anagram, one on Real Life Hits); a lovely James Newton version from his Ellington disc - The African Flower; an extremely sultry version by Renee Rosnes with marimba off Art and Soul; and a marvellous piano solo version by Vijay Iyer from his recent solo disc. Hard to have a top ten favourite Ellington tracks - but this one is definitely in my top 50! That James Newton record also has a great extended jam on Virgin Jungle. And both the Iyer and Newton have fun with Black and Tan Fantasy.

Ellington-a-thon 10 Barefoot Stomper 1965 [Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn] Blue Harlem 1932 [Duke Ellington] Cotton Tail Shuckin’ And Stiffin’ - Hot Chocolate - Cotton Head 1940 [Duke Ellington] Fleurette Africaine Les Fleurs Africaines - Little African Flowers 1962 [Duke Ellington] Hello, Little Boy Hello, Little Girl 1950 [Duke Ellington/Chubby Kemp] Homesick, That’s All 1945 [Gordon Jenkins] I Hear A Rhapsody 1941 [Dick Gaspare/George Fragos-Jack Baker] Jamaica Tomboy 1959 [Jimmy Hamilton] Mademoselle De Paris 1962 [Paul Durand] My Old Flame 1934 [Arthur Johnson-Sam Coslow]

Anything new? (Am just downloading 'Publico' to try Adriana Calcanhotto out).

I was going to flag that up. I've never really 'got' Berlioz (more to do with a general blank on the mid-19thC) but Les Nuits d'ete is gorgeous.

Just down the road from you, isn't it, Bev? Yup - I teach in the next town along - skim the north west of it to and from work. Even lived there for 5 years when I first began missionary work in the North.

Anton Webern - 6 Pieces, Op. 6 (revised version): IV. Sehr massig Whilst doing the washing up - mainly cornflakes dishes. Waschenobeninderküchemusik

Well, everyone's been killed off in Oxford so the murderers with intellectual tastes have moved. Very enoyable murder mystery - specially if you know Cambridge. Now on: Part of a great 30s/40s series (they overlap but are not a series or chronological). This one is based in Poland in 1937.

Edinburgh has a tattoo.

Yes, that's Gonsalves. Hamilton and Gonsalves both have strong, meaty sounds, but Gonsalves' is "bushier" if that makes any sense. I'm going to be late to this party - I ordered Afro-Bossa from one of my local brick-and-mortar stores a couple of days before you posted Chapter 9, based on Chuck and Jim's raves. Not sure when it will be in my hands. Yes, 'bushier' does make sense - he always sounds to me like he's tumbling beyond the regular...in a very good way! One of the reasons I'm intrigued by him is that he is cited as an influence on our own Tony Coe. You can definitely hear the similarities in Tony's tenor playing. Hopefully this is a flexible thread - room to post about Afro-Bossa at a later date.

Back a few steps, but listening twice to the Afro-Bossa/Concert for the Virgin Islands disc, I was really taken by the version of 'Chelsea Bridge' . Some superb tenor there - Gonsalves I assume (Jim's going to tell me it's Jimmy Hamilton!), snaking breathily all over the piece. In fact he seems to be very much centre stage with the other instruments just adding subtle colouring. And isn't the sound of the bass gorgeous on these discs?

Humphrey Lyttleton - 'Bad Penny Blues' Which returned in altered form 12 years later to be a hit again for a bunch of cheeky chappies from Liverpool. 'Street Life' The Crusaders w. Randy Crawford. Got to no 5. in the UK as a single, it says on Wiki.

Acker Bilk - 'Stranger on the Shore'

Given the discussion above I thought I'd put the whole of Afro-Bossa together for the next installment. I'm not sure if it was intended to be a suite but it seems to have a coherence. Ellington-a-thon: 9 Afro-Bossa (1963) Afro-Bossa (Bula) Purple Gazelle (Angelica) Absinthe (Billy Strayhorn) Moonbow Sempre Amoré Silk Lace (Caline) Tigress (Telstar) (Strayhorn) Angu Volupté Bonga (Empty Town) Pyramid (Ellington, Irving Gordon, Irving Mills, Juan Tizol)- 1938 Eighth Veil (Ellington, Strayhorn)- 1946

It's hard to appreciate unless you hear it in mono.

Cage Against The Machine

Gary Gilmore or John Gilmore? Never knew either were members. The catastrophe also wiped out an apostrophe in the final seconds. Anyway, thanks for that. Reminded me to pick up a new battery for my smoke alarm. I can get cheese on toast to simulate similar troubles.

Food Do you watch what you eat? Given my cooking skills I prefer to eat blindfolded. ******************** I stopped eating chocolate on a whim in 2001 and haven't touched it since. Had the effect of reducing the craving for sweet things in general - I used to have a very sweet tooth. Now I rarely eat more than a slice of cake in a day. I rarely eat fast food - one trip to the chip shop a week, maximum. My two weaknesses are exercise - I've never been sporty so only really do walking (a lot of that in my job!); and lack of fruit and vegetables. I'm no-where near 5 a day! Oh, and alcohol. Don't drink to excess but like a couple of bottles of strong beer on a Friday/Saturday.

She's clearly in the early stages of plotting the murder of JFK. Actually, I think she's a folk singer: Or did Ewan have a direct cell line to the tradition? Edit: what is he doing with his other hand?

New World A-Comin' I think I first heard this in a strange concert at the London Jazz Festival in the late 90s that mixed some Weimar German classical takes on jazz with this and 'The River'. My memory could be playing tricks here, but I know Fred Hersch was involved in part of the concert and I'm almost sure he played this. Not sure if it was with orchestra or not. He also did a few Strayhorn pieces from his then contemporary 'Passion Flower' album. I love the piece - the opening melody is so wistful, sad, ambiguous - in fact the whole piece seems to belie the optimism of the title. Even the rather grandiose ending doesn't seem like triumph but gritted determination. To my unschooled ears you get that opening melody followed by a number of quite ragtimey themes that get juxtaposed against one another (and the opening theme) before the grand ending. Listened to the V-Disc version followed by the two takes from the Sacred Concert. I much prefer it without the band - the orchestration tends to play up the grandiosity, making it come across a bit Warsaw Concerto. Played solo it just seems to flow better and feels less intent on shouting out how seriously it wants to be taken. A fragment is used in a fascinating broadcast on the first of the Treasury discs, the one dedicated to Roosevelt who had just died. That's a very moving sequence all round and the opening theme of NWA-C fits beautifully.

Did my first Mosaic pre-order with this - will work out at around £140 + whatever the customs might impose. But I've been waiting for this for a long time. And I like the idea of the Henderson - one to look forward to in the long term.