A Lark Ascending

My car CD player plays any CD when the engine is turned OFF. However, over the last year it selectively refuses to play random CDs when the engine is ON! Normally it either spits them out; or if I get the CD going with the engine off and then turn it on it just stalls (the CD, not the car!!!). Normally it suddenly comes awake later on the journey - 5 mins or 30 mins! Totally puzzled!

Post your scenes of early summer here!

And...

I know those of you at the centre of this board are experiencing atrocious weather. Hope it lifts soon! However, in other parts... How's summer shaping up? After a a very dull, damp spring the last couple of weekends have been glorious here in the UK. Today I took my bike out to Clumber Park, a former grand house (now demolished) that is a grand place for a summer's day. And saw:

Ingrid Laubrock Marvellous tenor/soprano player. From Germany but works mainly on the UK scene. Plays in a couple of Brazilian bands here - Nois and As Meninas - plus in a more searching contemporary style with her own bands and in Tom Arthurs' Centripede. Excellent player.

I'm intrigued by the thought of Coleridge Goode playing B) - what does that sound like? I've only every heard him on bass.

Bev, What's the good word on this one? If you've enjoyed Rava's other discs you can buy this in the knowledge that you're going to enjoy it. Overall it has a mid-20thC European film music ambience - not suprising as the music is mainly arrangements on Nino Rota's score from 'The Leopard' (Cam Jazz specialise in releasing music associated with film, much of it new arrangements or jazz extensions of film scores). Very arranged but with lots of space for improvising. Rava is superb helping to give the whole piece a noir-ish feel. Towner only plays on a couple of tracks but the contrast between him an Abercrombie (on electric) adds to the overall colour. Some beautiful Mediterranean moments with a contrasting city nightscape towards the end. Probably wouldn't appeal to listeners who need their jazz to have a strong blues base. But anyone attuned to the way European musicians like to 'spin' the genre should enjoy this.

For the past year it's cost me about £32 ($54) to fill up my little Peugeot 106! $28 seems like a dream to me!

Would that be the Free Mexican Airforce? Might explain it all!!!

That would fit with the account in the recent bio. It suffests that after the failure of Free Form and Abstract to take off Harriott retreated into a more conventional style.

That looks nice. I'm particularly keen to hear more Pat Smythe.

Here... ...except on Sundays when I have to walk into town.

I have Abaton which I've not yet been able to really make much sense of. Must try harder. The other looks fascinating. Another one I'd highly recommend is by the excellent Australian pianist Andrea Keller has recorded an album of Bartok tunes on "Mikrokosmos" (ABC jazz). Kenny Weir will vouch for Keller's excellence. She too is of Hungarian background.

I havn't seen any samples anywhere - this is released on Forged Records which I think is a shoe string label, possibly Somogyi's own. I suspect the JazzCDs link above may be the only direct source at present - they specialise in handling musician releases. I use them alot for UK music. That Beirach/Mraz/Hubner is excellent too. I'd also recommend two recordings by the Dresch Quartet: "Riding the Wind" (November) "Hungarian Bebop" (Budapest Music Centre), a recording with Archie Shepp. I played the Improvokation disc again today on the way to work and back and just get more enthusiastic with each listen. Especially impressive this time was pianist Bela Szakcsi Lakatos who clearly comes from a classical training yet can take the jazz route with ease. I'd very much like to hear more of him. There's clearly a wealth of jazz talent hidden in Eastern Europe which we're only partially aware of. The standard of these players in concert (and the Brits too) was exceptional. Hungarian jazz seems to be flavour of the month at present. I notice that at the Bath Festival in a couple of weeks there's a collaboration between Scotlands Celtic Feet and Hungarian musicians!

I've already enthused over this at the other place but know there's a few Bartok fans over here who might enjoy this, a jazz record stemming from the same sources as Bartok: Arnie Somogyi - bass Bela Szakcsi Lakatos - piano Mihaly Borbely - reeds Neil Yates - trumpet, bodhran and whistle Miklos Lukacs - cimbalom Tony Lakatos - reeds Beata Salamon - violin Winston Clifford - drums and percussion Jeremy Price - trombone Zsolt Bende - guitar 1 Herdsman (Arnie Somogyi) 2 Celta Rosza (Neil Yates) 3 Return (Zsolt Bende) 4 Bear Dance (Mihály Borbély) 5 Meselia (Mihály Borbély) 6 Whitsun Rose (Pünkösdi Rozsa) (trad arr. Arnie Somogyi) 7 Magic Makers (Béla Szakcsi Lakatos) 8 Two Rooms (Jeremy Price) 9 Cymbal Om (Arnie Somogyi) 10 Extra: Bear Dance - Radio Mix (Mihály Borbély) UK bass player Arnie Somogyi has Hungarian parents and has been exploring his roots in recent years. This has finally flowered in this magnificent disc combing UK and Hungarian players. Beautiful compositions with a rich Hungarian flavour then used for some superb soloing. I saw the launch concert of the album a couple of weeks back - a marvellous event showing just how many different ways you can twist jazz, giving it different flavours yet retaining its essence. Strongly recommended. Can be ordered from this excellent UK site for a mere £12 (I know, that's a whopping $20 in the USA but its dead cheap here!) with free worldwide shipping: http://www.jazzcds.co.uk/store/commerce.cg...t=Improvokation

The one I'm really looking forward to is the new Django Bates "You Live and Learn...Apparently" due in late June. Having seen Bates and Human Chain do this twice so far this year I'm keen to hear the songs on disc. I'm also eagerly awaiting the first batch of 60s UK reissues coming in the wake of Impressed II.

There are three other excellent Wheeler CDs for large orchestra that come to mind: * Kayak - from 1992 on a UK label, ah um. Similar musicians to MFLASE but a little smaller - no guitar or voice. * The two discs ('Siren's Song' and 'Now and Now Again')from the late 90s Wheeler/Taylor/Winstone did with Canada's Maritime Jazz Orchestra on Justin Time. I especially like the Sweet Ruby Suite on the second disc.

Anyone heard 'Windmill Tilter'? I played this again on the way to work and was struck again by the penultimate track of the Suite - Consolation. I'm no musician so struggle to explain what I'm hearing. But here goes. The melody is delicious running for twelve bars. But when it moves back to bar one to start again something happens - I think it shifts key and gives the whole piece an unsettled, otherworldly feel. The way the soloists glide through that is marvellous. But the moment that really gets me is just before the bass solo - Wheeler has the brass play this spine tingling counter-melody based on the chord sequence. Fantastic.

You jest but, not too far from Bossa Nova Scotia... http://www.salsaceltica.com/

Festivals are bad news. You've seen a great gig, the CDs are on sale, you convince yourself you'll never find them anywhere else and.... I'm dreading the Bath Festival in three weeks. There's a stall there that always has oodles of strange and peculiar stuff. I can never resist.

Oh don't start a Wheeler thread! I'll never get any work done!

Pete, I'm not aware of the people you mention. There's a whole Latin scene in the UK which seems more connected to the club scene than the jazz scene; all a bit young and dancey for me! I'm sure I'm missing a host of good music. There's also a big overlap into the 'World' music area which is very big here now. I came across Nois by chance a few years back at the Brecon festival.

Brits should look out for Monica Vasconcelos who regularly does the circuits in the UK. She has two groups - a mid-sized band called 'Nois' and a quartet called 'As Meninas' - that operate in this territory. Nois: Mônica Vasconcelos : (Lead vocals, Percussion, Composition) Steve Lodder : (Keyboards, Composition, Arranging) Davide Mantovani : (Bass Guitars) Ife Tonentino : (Guitar, Arranging, Composition) Ian Pattinson : (Drums , Percussion) Adriano Pinto : (Percussion, Drums) Paul Jayasinha : (Trumpet, Flugel Horn, Composition) Ingrid Laubrock : (Alto/Soprano Saxes, Backing Vocals) Paul Nieman : (Trombone, Arranging & web site) As Meninas Mônica Vasconcelos : vocals, triangle Ingrid Laubrock : saxophone, melodica, backing vocals Chris Wells : escolinha de samba, backing vocals Ife Tolentino : guitar, backing vocals Both groups include the wonderful Ingrid Laubrock who also does some nice Brazilian things on her solo albums...and much more besides. Catch them at a festival near you one of these hot sunny days!

This is one of my all time favourite discs. And by contrast with Clunky just love Norma Winstone's contributions. But I'm biased! Disc one is a full Wheeler suite - given the amount he's written over the years its amazing how infrequently he gets to record with this scale of forces. Delicious melodies that you find yourself humming, fabulous improvising. I especially like the closing sequence. Disc Two falls into three parts. * Three pieces for full orchestra including one of my favourite Wheeler pieces 'Sea Lady' with Evan Parker doing some great seagull sounds!!!! A beautiful ballad that you sometimes hear sung by others. * Then five short free-form pieces by duos and trios made up of Taylor/Erskine/Holland/Wheeler. * And then an absolutely jaw-dropping version of 'By Myself'. I've used this several times with people to illustrate why I like jazz. The way the piece starts in what seems like a random series of notes from fluegel and piano and then gradually picks up pace with Abercrombie, Holland and Erskine joining in allowing the melody to just emerge out of the mist...Fantastic. A performance by the Wheeler/Taylor/Abercrombie/Holland/Erskine quintet. I saw this band on the tour that accompanied it for Kenny's birthday (60th?) - fantastic concert. Don't miss the disc recorded around the same time by the quintet alone - 'The Widow in the Window'. My favourite Abercrombie anywhere lies on these sets. I suspect to many people here this recording will be at the fringes of their jazz interest. This one lies in my jazz heartland!