A Lark Ascending

Now The Bad Plus. That I don't get!

Here's something to make you homesick before you've gone. Taken one evening last summer! Great city. Isn't Jonkoping famous for matches? I passed it on my travels

I saw them and the Caine Trio on the same evening at last years Cheltenham Festival. I was a bit sceptical of EST - I'd enjoyed them a couple of years before but had subsequently been disappointed by their 'Stange Place for Snow' album which I found 'dull'. I really enjoyed them in the concert as it happened; as I did the Caine band. Caine strikes me as the far more original thinker, however. I'm not too sure where EST are going to go with this format. Maybe a major label with guest vocalists!!!

Hugely successful in Europe at present! In their homeland of Sweden their albums make the pop charts. Piano trio with a hint of electronica giving a contemporary sheen that seems to attract beyond the jazz world. Excellent live band - very much a trio - three equal parts. Their records are good but don't really capture their live excitement. Not the 'future of jazz' (as some would have it) or even wildly original. But very enjoyable with that something that can prick up ears beyond the cloisters of jazz fandom. Try 'From Gagarin's Point of View' or 'Good Morning Susie Soho' - there is a recent disc that I've not heard. I'd ignore the "Groups like E.S.T. help stretch Jazz beyond the stuffy traditionalism that is choking off the American Jazz scene" argument. Overrates EST and is unfair on contemporary US jazz.

I'm joking, Sundog. I've read about her but not heard her. If she's convincing in Chicago that's high praise! Devon has produced more than cream teas and finger-in-your-ear traditional folk singers! Mike Westbrook and John Surman for two!

But she comes from Devon! I've lived in Devon! Gorgeous county. But not a place to get the blues! Does she sing with a West Country brrrrrr!

I'm really looking forward to this one. Most of Stan's output in recent years has been standards and well known jazz tunes. My favourite period of his is the 70s and early 80s when he was writing lots of his own stuff. It will be good to hear him in this rather different context.

I think I was overly influenced by 'The Time Tunnel' as an 11 year old!

I love 'Stupidly Happy.' Makes me feel I'm 14! But then I like 'Shiney Happy People' so what do I know!

The lack of Tony Coe on disc is very sad. He is equally comfortable performing in a 'mainstream' style as in a more challenging environment. I would very much like to see his 70s disc, 'Zeitgeist', out again which falls in the latter category. I saw him a few years back open the Cheltenham Festival with a marvellous extended piece for large jazz band. No sign of it on record! Such a pity. One plus - his 70s disc, "Coexistence", has just been reissued. A very nice, mainstream disc. Similar to the Zephyrs. One UK tenor/soprano player to look out for is Iain Ballamy. He came out of a very fertile scene in the mid 80s surrounding a great big band (that term does them a disservice) called 'Loose Tubes'. He has a very distinctive tone, plays in a huge variety of contexts - a quartet called Anorak, in a collaboration with Norwegian musicians called 'Food' that moves into more avant-noise and electronic areas, in Django Bates various bands and in all sorts of other contexts. One of our best kept secrets. His recently released duo disc with accordion player Stian Carstensen, "The Little Radio", is a magical piece of totally distinctive music. Another marvellous sax player from the Loose Tubes school is Julian Arguelles. He's building up a wonderful set of recordings on the Provocateur label. New one due soon. Sorry. Gone right off topic!

The 2005 Grammys. Whilst there I would peruse the latest music magazines. On return I could: a) Go to the bookies and get some very good odds on next years winners. B) Make my predictions for what's going to matter in jazz next year and become revered as a pundit of incredible forsight. I'd just need to make sure I didn't go to the Grammys 2005 in 'real time'. Wouldn't want to meet myself.

Just out of interest, what are the 'vocals' that Mr. Coe is credited with on the Strauss disc? I've never heard him sing!

Thanks Geoff. Crazy Jazz are pretty good if a little slow. I'm sure they'll come through. The record's been out for a few decades. I think I can wait a little longer!

The 'Put the kettle on for tea' key. These are mandatory on all UK computers.

Now you've moved it!

Sorry, Dan. I accidentally deleted the post and reposted. So your response precedes the post now!

AAJ and Organissimo are like two pubs (or bars!) in the same street. One is rather upmarket and glitzy, has expansion plans, attracts alot of passing trade and yet has a few bunches of regulars who like to sit over their beers discussing their particular current obsessions - British jazz, Australian jazz, European jazz or whatever. The other is a bit like 'Cheers'. A closer community who tend to sit around the bar and slap one another on the back rather alot. Yet are equally welcoming of newcomers who come along a little less frequently. They're also very tolerant of the drunk in the corner singing 'Danny Boy' and shouting obscenities. They also have a great resident band! Some people feel happier in the first bar. Some feel happier in the second. Some like to drop into both. Both are likely to attract much needed interest to the neglected street they're on. Whatever pub we favour it's got to be better that we don't waste time and energy slagging off the other one!

I've had this on order from Crazy Jazz since before Xmas. The owner there says its proving hard to get hold of at present.

Cancer. The bio tells of Harriott drifting around the coutry, occasionally playing with local bands, sleeping on the sofas of friends and sympathetic acquaintances. He was eventually admitted to hospital where he died. It just sounds a very lonely end.

'Genius' is the CD made from Garrick's private collection. It came out a while back, disappeared but is back available once more. Movement is the follow-up to Abstract. Both Goode and Robertson describe it as a mixture of the free form and more conventional - a step back in their eyes (or ears!). ********* The point is made in both books that Harriott was ten years ahead of his time. I could just imagine him playing in the heart of the early 70s young Turk scene with Osborne, Moholo, Skidmore, Feza, Tippett, Charig and all the rest. I could imagine him in the Brotherhood of Breath. Sadly by the late 60s, according to both books, a mixture of illness, disillusion, lack of appreciation and loss of direction seemed to have set in. He is portrayed as a very private man who did not connect easily, perhaps preventing him from getting involved in the flourishing scene that was brewing in London at the time. Although he lived a bit longer he makes me think of people like Dolphy and Booker Little - great talents who never got to reach their potential.

You're quite right, Gary, though I missed that one. The Jazzscript site has noted for 2003: Friday 21st November Abstract - A Tribute to Joe Harriott, Purcell Room with Soweto Kinch, Byron Wallen, Andrew McCormack, Gary Crosby, Tom Skinner + special guests. The first half will feature a discussion with the author Alan Robertson of his new biography of Harriott, the second half, a star British quintet revisits Harriott's original music. Promoter: LJF with BBC Radio 3. 7.30 pm. Friday 21st November Soweto Kinch and Gary Crosby play in celebration of Joe Harriott Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London, 1.00-2.30 pm. Harriott is understandably a big hero to the marvellous generation of Afro-Caribbean musicians that have flowered in the UK in the last couple of decades. I've got the Kinsey recording (from 1957) playing at this moment. Beautiful stuff.

'Free Form' and 'Abstract' are the two discs that get most attention. They generated only limited interest in the UK (though 'Abstract' apparently became the first UK disc to get a 5 star Downbeat review) and he gradually returned to a more straight ahead approach. His recordings after Abstract are OOP but the consensus seems to be that they lack the fire of those two. He also appeared on several UK jazz recordings in the 60s - Michael Garrick's OOP records and the record by Amancio D'Silva. There's a great track from the latter on the 'Impressed' compilation. He was even on the 'Five Bridges Suite' by The Nice!!!! Anyone remember that one? He was involved in the jazz and poetry movement that was popular in the UK in the 60s - Garrick and Shake Keane were big enthusiasts of this. In the 50s he played a Parkerish bop style. There's a few recordings available of this - the recent Tony Kinsey 2CD from Vocalion has him in the latter's Quintet on the second disc 'Jazz at the Flamingo.' There's also a few 1954 tracks on the second Bop in Britain compilation. Michael Garrick has done a great deal to keep his memory alive. I think a relatively recent Harriott disc called 'Genius' is from Garrick's private tapes. I've not heard it. I'd advise starting with either 'Abstract' or 'Free Form'. On balance 'Abstract' first purely for the astonishing 'Modal.'

I don't care greatly for the Indo-Jazz Fusions myself. They seem to have an almost metronomic beat which gives the overall sound an inflexible feel. But in the context of their time they were certainly innovative. Groups like Shakti have done this with much greater subtlety subsequently. But I'd imagine McLaughlin was well aware of the Harriott-Mayer group. Possibly a source, though with all things eastern being in the air in the 60s it's hard to be sure. The Koch still exists. Very similar to the Redial. I would urge you to chase down "Abstract". There is a legendary piece on there called 'Modal' that was one of those accidents in the studio. The musicians started playing, someone said 'This sounds interesting, turn a tape on' and it just happened. Apart from the two very strong and distinctive horns (Harriott and Shake Keane) I think one of the things that makes these two discs so magical is the piano of Pat Smythe. Like Bill Evans on Kind of Blue he brings a semi-classical sensibility to the recording. There's a point during 'Modal' where he seems to move into Satie territory. I just think these two discs have a unique chemistry that makes them real treasures. And I'm not talking as a long time fan. I only bought them in the last few years and at first was little affected. But gradually they've sunk in to become two of my favourite discs.

There's an excellent new biography of Joe Harriott - 'Fire in his Soul' by Alan Robertson - that came out in the UK last year that some of you might find interesting. Take a look here: http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/books/harriottrobertson.htm A very moving story of a Caribbean musician in the UK from the 50s onwards taking him to the triumphs his great early 60s quintet and then the Indo-Jazz Fusion group; and then on to a very sad end. It had me playing "Free Form" and "Abstract" throughout January - quite magical discs. "Abstract" seems to be still in the shops but I havn't seen "Free Form" for a while. Pounce on both if you see them. I also bought Ken Vandermark's recording of Harriott tunes, "Straight Lines". Very enjoyable if very different in feel. There's also a short account of some of the major West Indian jazz musicians in the UK in the Sixties on the same site: http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/extra/art.yelbird.htm West Indian musicians and the South African exiles (the Blue Notes) had a huge impact on UK jazz in the 60s and helped shape the varied scene that exists today. There's also a nice book about Coleridge Goode, the bass player in the Harriott quintet called 'Bass Lines'. Basically a transcription of a series of interviews it gives an insight into the life of a jobbing jazz musician in the period from the 30s through to the present - not just the high profile moments but the weekly hotel gigs too! http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/books/goodecotterrell.htm

You're welcome, David. There's also a second volume of 'Impressed' due on April 1st (hopefully not an April Fool ruse!). Rumour has it that other discs from the era will follow. I'm hoping for some of the Michael Garricks.