A Lark Ascending

I hear what you're saying, but some of my friends who have kids would strongly disagree with your assessment. I remember my dad being worried about me in the late 60s - stuck in my bedroom in my own world. He thought I should be out doing things, mixing with other kids. One of the effects of being relatively inward in mid-adolescence - something which has always been quite common, as not all kids find it easy to relate to other kids, especially at an age when children of the same age are maturing physically and mentally at very different rates - is that you easily find yourself burrowing into your own private world. Books, music, stamp collecting, train spotting. With me it was the fringes of popular music which eventually led me to jazz. Not a respone to something that was popular and in the teenage eye but a quite deliberate seeking for something different. And yet...I'd have given it all for the confidence to get out and engage directly with my peers (something I thankfully learnt in later adolescence - but by that time my taste for the odd was set). If I had, I'd probably have developed more mainstream musical tastes. I have a feeling this might be tied in with commercial conservatism - the general zeitgeist of the centre that is obsessed with remaking the past. You see it not just in the endless recycling of old songs in new dress, 'classic' songs in movies and adds but in the remakes of old movies (most of which don't need remaking). I suspect it's a phase - a bit like the dead period in pop music after rock'n roll and before the rock revolution. At some point there will be a collective weariness about nostalgia and something new will kick in. And the chances are that we'll all grumble about it!

Several of Louis Stewart's albums have just appeared on e-music. A chance for lovers of traditional jazz guitar who don't know this wonderful player to dip in.

The kids I teach very much have a common cultural experience (and, often, quite independent passions too, enjoyed separately). They still talk about, sing fragments from current popular items, get worked up about last night's soap, reality TV show etc. That extends as far as their parents' record collections - I'm always amazed at how knowing they are about people like Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin and the music of Queen seems to have become a canon to replace the English Hymnal. Kids seek the excitement of being with other kids as much as they ever did. Computers and mobiles just provide another means of such communication. The idea that they are all locked in their bedrooms, disconnected from a common popular culture strikes me as one of those ideas thought up by Sunday supplement writers. The reality is that adults never really understand young people. There's always something up with them!

Fantastic player, though you have to tread carefully. I particularly like his folksier/Brazilian music - but he also performs music that veers towards contemporary classical (which I also like) and there are some older records that are rather prog-rocky (which I'm not so keen on). I was drawn to him by his guitar playing; but he often records on just piano, which took me longer to enjoy. This band record is a thrill from start to finish, lots of humour: Rather more serious but giving two sides of the player is this double: And along with seeline's suggestions I'd also suggest:

If jazz is an insiders' music that can only be understood by the brains' trust or those who play it then it deserves to die. Pass me the hatchet.

More evidence. Want to buy some dirty pictures?

Absolutely. I listen to jazz because by some set of accidents I found myself/got directed towards it and found I enjoyed it. There was once a time when I probably thought it was 'doing me good', 'improving' me - perhaps listening to it appealed to my vanity, encouraging a belief that I was somewhat superior because I listened to this esoteric music. I don't see it like that now (at least I hope I don't). I can't think of any reason why anyone ought to listen to jazz. I can find plenty of reasons why someone who stumbles on it might gain great pleasure from it (which is reason enough to make young people aware of it). But in the end, there are lots of other ways, musical and otherwise, of gaining satisfaction, engagement, excitement in your free time!!!!! And, as MG says, there are other musics which probably do that better for 21st C young audiences.

Here's one to look forward to: Norma Winstone - (voice), Glauco Venier - (piano), Klaus Gesing - (saxophone, clarinet) ECM 24th March in the UK 1. Distances 2. Every Time We Say Goodbye 3. Drifter 4. Giant's Gentle Stride 5. Gorizia 6. Ciant 7. The Mermaid 8. Here Comes The Flood 9. Remembering the Start of a Never Ending Story 10. A Song for England I've seen this band a couple of times in recent years - marvellous, small scale, chamber jazz. The version of Peter Gabriel's 'Here Comes the Flood' was a show-stopper live. Norma has been putting out great discs recently - an earlier one by this band, one with Colin Towns and last year's with Stan Tracey and Bobby Wellins. I love her commitment to exploring songs way outside the jazz canon.

I don't think I was 'exposed' to jazz when I was young (let's say 1965-75 between the age of 10 and 20) - I received no education about it, heard it only in passing. What I did hear is a great deal of jazz-rock as part of a typical early 70s teenager diet of rock music. And then I got curious and started digging for myself. Which is - to my mind - exactly what is happening with some young people today. I can't speak for the States but in the UK (and mainland Europe, I suspect) there are scores of bands on the margin of jazz and indie-rock who have a young, cult audience (just like Henry Cow or Soft Machine drew people like me in during the 70s). When groups like Polar Bear or Fraud play a festival like Bath or Cheltenham, some of the audience stay on for other gigs. Someone who has been intrigued by the experimental music of Tom Arthurs gets the chance to hear him with John Taylor and starts to get a sense that there is something rich lying behind this 'now' music. Go to some gigs, festivals and you'll see a sea of grey hair (including mine!). But go to others - ones that connect with music young people know - and you'll see plenty of young faces lapping it up. In some cases it's just a case of performing it in a venue young people feel comfortable in. The UK is awash with talented young players - there are several youth orchestras (one of which plays annually in a workshop in the school where I teach). It's also worth asking just how deep exposure to jazz went when young people were exposed to lots of jazz - and I suspect that we're really talking the 30s/40s here. I get the impression that most went to hear the big bands for other reasons than to listen to jazz - and only some came away with a lifetimes interest in the jazz content. Why aren't more people exposed to jazz? Why should they be. They'll find their own way there if it's what interests them. O.K. Can we do 'Why aren't more young people exposed to crochet?' or 'Why do young people insist on slouching?' now. And a thread on how to cope with arthritis is long overdue.

The first Metheny I bought and, alongside the very different '80/81', still my favourite. Pastel, mellow, impressionistic - probably not jazz at all to those who worry about such things. But I greatly prefer it to the rockier records he went for a bit later with the PMG. Weber is wonderful on it.

I must transfer that one from LP. Here's another hidden Towner, only available now as part of a 3CD Azimuth box - Winstone, Taylor, Wheeler + Towner:

He toured in the UK about ten years back with Norma Winstone, John Taylor and Steve Swallow. A pity that collaboration never got to disc. I recall a Winstone/Towner ECM being slated on the old Jazzmatazz site. Never materialised. These two are also overlooked but favourites of mine:

Nice 34 min discussion about Rex Stewart between Alyn Shipton and Guy Barker here - up for the next few days: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary/pip/d5lon/

My first Towner too - opened my ears to so much more. Eberhard Weber is great here; and Jan Garbarek plays with a fire I rarely found elsewhere.

Hi PristineAudio, Looks fascinating to me - I have the Prestige version. I'd certainly welcome your information on the work you're doing.

Taking advantage of the extensive Lyritas up on e-music: Definately no cowpats here. Much knottier than the more lyrical stuff I go for, but on an initial listen, some very intriguing textures. Will need much more listening. The 'Excursions' for piano, four hands sound like Bartok at his folksiest.

Happy St. David's Day! I never knew Lionel Hampton was Welsh.

A rare abberation of taste (to good, that is). Up to a point. The piece they performed was called 'Timedance' - a three part suite-type thing that went from the mystic Celtic to 18th C drawing room to folk rock. On keyboards...and involved in the arrangement, I suspect - was a Bill Whelan who'd been providing 'extra' instruments for a while. A few years down the line Whelan had broadened the concept into a full stage show. Thus, 'Riverdance'! He became very rich.

I would hope Mosaic has a bit more integrity than that. They're going to sell all they have on their shelves anyway, whether it's this week or next month. Remember how the Ellington Reprise set went from Running Low to Last Chance to gone in about a week. I still kick myself for missing that one. So I'm glad I ordered the Hodges in time, and I'm glad for the warnings. I also wonder whether the Hodges is an end-of-lease sale or a sell-out of 7,500 copies. Probably the former. Of course - I was but jesting! Sometimes my dislike of smilies comes back to bite me!!!!!

Bowed to peer pressure and ordered this last weekend. I bet they do this on purpose - see a set not moving very quickly and announce it's imminent extinction in order to cause a rush!!!!!!!

Very true - and a good thing, in my view. I love visiting other people's houses and seeing how their record collections look, each reflecting very different experiences. The idea of 'the key works' has some meaning for academic trying to trace significance or influence and might have some use for people wanting to make a start and wanting a few sure-fire recommendations. But the real fun comes from following your own instincts off the text-book path. I find most of the mid to late 19thC (string quartets or classical music in general) has little interest for me, yet I get great pleasure in exploring supposedly 'minor' composers in the early 20th. It would be a sad old world if we all built our collections from what someone else has told us 'everyone should have'.

The four string quartets of Frank Bridge are fascinating - they chart a journey from Romanticism to 1920s abstraction. The two Janacek quartets are hardly a cycle - but are wonderfully distinctive examples of 20thC chamber music. I'm not sure if the Bridge fall into the 'everyone should have in their collection' concept (a foreign idea to me)...but they'll reward the curious listener who enjoys discovering music with its own voice.

I remember that when it was running low, Ogun/Cadillac were running out of covers - so some were sold cut-rate without artwork. Yes, I got one of those (thanks to a board member, too) - would anyone be able to offer scans of the missing cover? I asked for that before, I think, with no reaction at all. All I have is a b/w xerox copy of bad quality, you can hardly read it - of course all the info is on the EFI page, but it would still be nice to have a cover for it! It's disc 1 I'd need a scan for, would be very happy if anyone could help! I'd be happy to do that, King Ubu, if you can wait another three weeks. Work is bedlam at the moment - when we get to Easter I'll have the time. Yes, time is not a matter at all, I'll be very glad, whenever you get to it, thanks a lot! Just send me a reminder in three weeks time and I'll get onto it.

I recall a lovely Roy Haynes comment from some years back. He was saying how he loved both - but that rock was like jumping on the spot where as jazz was like running. I like that - I don't see any need for a versus.

I remember that when it was running low, Ogun/Cadillac were running out of covers - so some were sold cut-rate without artwork. Yes, I got one of those (thanks to a board member, too) - would anyone be able to offer scans of the missing cover? I asked for that before, I think, with no reaction at all. All I have is a b/w xerox copy of bad quality, you can hardly read it - of course all the info is on the EFI page, but it would still be nice to have a cover for it! It's disc 1 I'd need a scan for, would be very happy if anyone could help! I'd be happy to do that, King Ubu, if you can wait another three weeks. Work is bedlam at the moment - when we get to Easter I'll have the time.