A Lark Ascending

Yellow Fields has been out on CD for ages in Europe. I suspect these new issues are European rather than specifically US reissues. The one I'd most like to see is 'Lookout Farm'.

Very much the most talked about comedy show on TV at present. I've never actually seen it; but then I only saw 'The Office' on its third re-run!

The last time I watched tennis it was about hitting a small ball over a net? When did it become jumping up to catch a large ball? I'm confused.

I only have one...'The Singing Detective'. Wonderful.

A lightness of rhythm, a lightness of touch, irregular rhythms, freely moving parts, richness of harmony, instrumental colour, melody that sends a shiver down my spine. I enjoy lots of music without these things...but it's these things that always touch me most. i.e. when I'm listening to Kind of Blue I'm inside it; with Jack Johnson I'm standing outside, admiring but a bit puzzled.

Not exactly Central Park, but it'll do me...

Glad you got through OK, Tony. I thought of you when they were reporting this on the news. Amazing to hear the story of the woman in Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe whose deep freeze floated away and they'd yet to find it!

I played 'Concert in the Garden' again last night - a rare sultry midsummer night in the UK. It still sounds as beautiful as a year ago. One of the discs of the decade as far as I'm concerned - suits my listening tastes perfectly.

Benedict Arnold?

I have 'London Bridge' from its original release. Very, very dense. It's not one I've returned to often; but I expect that might have more to do with my stamina over a very long piece rather than the quality of the music.

Thanks, sidewinder. I have the disc, bought back in Bath, but have not got around to it yet. I'll put it straight to the top of the list. According to a post at AAJ the Dutton 'Love Songs' is now out and a big improvement on the Japanese version sound wise.

I really like the five of these Vocalions I have - the Cameron, Lowther, Skidmore and two Garricks. I think one thing that attracts me is that the sound is so evocative of that late-60s/early 70s time frame. At times it reminds me of some of the TV theme music of that time...I can visualise grainy b+w footage of northern mill towns! I'm convinced I've heard the second track on the Cameron as a song somewhere! I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn it was a minor vocal hit for someone like Cilla Black! Elsewhere I can hear the connections with the rock music I was listening to at that time (completely oblivious of the jazz). McNair's flute has me thinking of the Jimmy Hastings contributions to the classic Caravan records; and there's a similarity to a lot of the airy-er stuff on the Island label at the time. "Black Marigolds" is odd but I find it likeable. A pity they chose a "Dah-ling Larry" type to recite but I suppose that was the time. The producers of the 'Jazz Britannia' series commented that the British music of this era was 'not the main story' but a wonderful, self-contained parallel. I think I'd agree with that - it's no match for what Miles or Carla Bley or Andrew Hill were doing. But taken on its own terms it's a marvellous little world to get to know. [strangely enough I can never really warm to Nucleus. Whereas Soft Machine were a rock group learning to be jazzers and loosening up as a result, I always feel Nucleus sound like a bunch of jazzers wanting to rock and simply glueing a fairly basic rock beat under what they used to do. I saw them c.1974 and found the rock beat heavy going; despite listening to a number of the Nucleus reissues several times I've yet to get comfortable with, what to me, sounds like a pretty rigid rock beat).

Well the Dedication Orchestra is very much a 'celebration' band; and more formal than the Brotherhood. Try the second CD - I like it better. They put very little out now - Ogun was putting out records quite frequently from the mid-70s to the start of the 80s. Since then releases have been few and far between - very much a cottage industry. The 'Blue Notes' box that is being promised for the future should be a nice way to hear some of the earlier material. One I would recommend is Keith Tippett's 'Frames' by his group 'Ark' - not the best of transfers but superb music.

'Citadel/Room 315' is one of my favourites of Westbrook. That 70s RCA period is very much in need of getting to CD. There's the beautiful 'Love/Dream Variations', almost a return to jazz after the rock experiments. 'Goose Sauce' which is outstanding - it always sounds to me like Solid Gold Cadillac transplanted to brass/reed band. Some superb George Khan on that one. 'Mama Chicago', one I'd dearly love a clean CD of as my vinyl is very crackly. The live Paris double with Alan Wakeman in superb form. One I don't know at all is 'For the Record' which I believe is the first of the brass band records. I read somewhere that Dave Holland was working on getting Windmill Tilter reissued from a vinyl source.

I have this but must admit it hasn't had much play. I'm not sure it really adds to what went before in this vein. A pity as it has Jason Yarde, one of Britain's best kept (and hardly recorded) secrets, in the ranks. The strength of the Ogun catalogue is hard to gauge with so much being OOP. Essentially you've got to have an ear for music that balances between post-bop and free, tilting either way at a moments notice, often with a decided South African feel to the themes (even when written or played by Englishmen!). The two Moholo Dedication Orchestra Oguns are a very good way of getting to know some of this label; less anarchic than the Brotherhood of Breath but still with that freewheeling spirit.

The second swig came 35 minutes later. It must have been stone cold! Yuch!

It says 'every Tuesday' here: http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/main/tourdates.htm They don't seem to head to Europe until July.

I don't know if you've been before, sidewinder, but if not I'd recommend the Mingus Big Band. They used to do a Thursday night residency at the Fez at the Time Cafe, but they seem to have moved to the Iridium just above Times Square. http://www.mingusmingusmingus.com/main/mbb.htm They were absolutely thrilling the night I saw them - I'd previously seen them at Brecon but that paled by comparison. I saw at Kenny Garrett at Iridium - found it all a bit chrome and characterless by comparison; but then it was virtually empty! The place I found most welcoming was Birdland. You probably know this, but get a copy of the Village Voice when you arrive. I opened one on my first night there...the following evening I was in a university hall by Brooklyn Bridge listening to Archie Shepp, Grachan Moncur III, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille, Roswell Rudd and Leroi Jones!

I must admit within ten minutes I was counting the light bulbs - something I normally only do when invigilating exams (I normally then compare my answers with the students who were sitting the exams!!!). Actually, in the Guildhall it was the glass bits on the chandeliers. 317, by the way.

and note the whole street being tilted to the East. It's because the music shoppe is on the left hand side and Bev lives on the right hand side. And because of gravity of course. ← It's actually the pull of the European Union. You don't notice it there in Old Europe but out on the fringes... You should see Narvik!

Ba - dum....tish. I thought you had Sandy Denny tattooed on your arse Bev..... ← I'm a soft Southerner...much too nesh to have a tatoo!

I just got Marigolds and the John Cameron today (Wednesday), having ordered directly from Dutton on Friday. Excellent service - most of the big net providers seem to be taking some time getting them.

Why live in Austin when you can luxurate in downtown, Worksop. (note blood on pavements from last night's fights).

Any Shakti lover should make a beeline for this CD. Outstanding.

I saw Mengelberg do a solo piano concert a couple of weeks back...one of the most uninvolving concerts I've ever attended. People were leaving in droves...and you're talking an audience at a festival normally up for anything thrown at them. Michiel Braam played later that night with his 13-tet (!) - Bik Bent Braam - and brought the house down. Fantastic concert.