A Lark Ascending

Brussel sprouts! It's all in the cooking. Boil for a few minutes so they're crisp and still bright green - delicious. I grew up hating them because my parents used to do them in a pressure cooker - mushy and colourless. Dreadful! Totally agree on liver and all forms of offal. Steak and kidney pie. What is that about?

It's the front cover of Fairport Convention's 'Unhalfbricking' - I believe it was taken by the house of one of the band's parents (in the foreground, band behind the fence). That would make the church a bog standard north London job. Does look like Salisbury though.

Grated Haggis topping?

One of the reasons English people refuse to stray north of the border to Scotland is this: Deep Fried Mars Bars for USA The media giant AOL Time Warner is sending a TV crew to Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire to make a film about deep fried Mars bars. The "delicacy" is said to have originated in Stonehaven and the Carron Chipper says they sell 200 Mars bars suppers (with chips - French-fried potatoes) a week in the summer. They also deep fry Snickers and even Cadbury Flake. The Food Network who are making the program say that is a "really interesting way to cook food and something quite alien to us. It seems to have developed a cult following with tourists coming back from vacation in Scotland." So that's who's buying all those deep fried Mars bar suppers... Just as well Mick Jagger didn't know about these in the late 60s!

The ballads on your debut are absolutely gorgeous. This one is way off beam but I've always felt Nick Drake's 'Things Behind The Sun' (from Pink Moon) is a natural for a jazz treatment. I can hear Organissimo playing it in my head now!

A Wilner I don't know (I swear by his Disney record...an all time favourite. Sun Ra and 'Elephants on Parade'...outstanding!). If you don't know it track down Pieranunzi's 'Plays the Music of Wayne Shorter.' Exquisite. Another recording in similar vein: Sat listening to this on my walkman on a hot day last year in the amphitheatre in Verona.

"Oops I Did It Again!" Well, Richard Thompson's recently recorded it, so...

I have my eye on that one!

Looks like the label might be a mistake. As mentioned above this looks like the German 'History' label box of a few years back. It's certainly unlike anything else Proper have put out. The picture on CD UNiverse seeems to have a crown shape for a logo. It's possible, of course, that Proper are distributing it.

No. I have the double live disc on Blue Note which passes the time but does not excite me that much. Similarly Tenor Legacy and Universal Language - I quite like the latter. I have one of the trio discs with Motion and Frisell which I don't care for - ambient standards! I saw that trio live and I'm afraid I drifted off a couple of times! I did see him with an Ornettish quartet a couple of years back that was an excellent concert, though again I didn't find myself responding to his playing particularly. Compare with players like David Murray, John Surman or Bobby Watson who I've seen in the same venue and been electrified by. There's a danger that I see Lovano's name now and expect to be unimpressed. I'll need to be caught unsuspecting by a radio broadcast or a blindfold track!

I understand exactly what you're saying, DrJ. There's something missing for you, something that doesn't completely satisfy. We all come to music expecting certain things - sometimes consciously, more frequently sunconsciously, I suspect. You can try to be as open eared as possible and still your prior experience or general preferences will keep you 'outside' some pieces of music or the work of some musicians. I'm like that with Joe Lovano. I have no problem in recognising his talent, his range and willingness to explore and take chances. Yet in the end he doesn't touch me. I'm left feeling hungry. (and like you I'll keep listening, hoping to hear that something that might crack him open!). For the same reason I don't 'get' Verdi or Bruce Springsteen! Again, I have no difficulty appreciating that they are genuine talents in their own fields who mean a great deal to millions of others. But they don't connect to me. I just put it down to something missing in my experience or expectation. And don't worry too much. There's more than enough music I do like to keep me going. *********** You may well be right about Schneider having her best yet to come. Three discs (and one freebie with a bottle of wine!) is a pretty slim catalogue. A pity she has not had the chance to record more often.

There are several different versions of Under Milk Wood. The version with Wellins is from the mid 60s and is beautiful. It's available on CD: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...4918138-0014006 The version I know best is a remake Tracey did with parts of the play read between tunes. This came out in 1976...I bought it at a live performance, my first real jazz performance. The tenor playing is by Art Themen, a superb player who was (possibly still is) a doctor by day and jazzman by night! I think there's a more recent live recording out too. ******* Bobby Wellins records seem well scattered but he's done a few recently. I love a live recording of his from the late 70s called Jubilation, sadly MIA. http://www.jazzizit.co.uk/ I keep meaning to get 'The Best is Yet to Come' disc. ******* The link above tends to focus on a limited sort of 'line-of-succession'. It obscures the sheer range of marvellous saxophonists in the UK including many great younger players coming up. I'd stronly recommend names like Julian Arguelles, Iain Ballamy, Martin Speake, Soweto Kinch and Jason Yarde just to name a handful. *********** Oh! Look what I just found: http://www.bobbywellins.co.uk/

I play Schneider's CDs frequently and have the opposite response to Dr J. I really like the way she doesn't feel compelled to do the jab in the ribs every now and then. She reminds me of Kenny Wheeler in this respect. There's nothing lacking there. It's just a different view of the musical world. And if you're coming from that direction it makes perfect sense. By contrast I find a great deal of contemporary 'big band' jazz hard to listen to. Nothing wrong with the music. Just different ears.

I believe so. Watt's bands (along with Georgie Fame's) regularly sport some front rank UK players. Parker can do fun too! Take a look here: http://www.frayed.org/1987cw.html

The SACD player? ....duck!...

Some might find this of interest: http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/extra/brit.sax.htm

http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/books/harriott...ttrobertson.htm I must get round to this one on Coleridge Goode too: http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/books/goodecotterrell.htm

http://www.spincds.com/sandydennythyme.html Horrid title though!

Oh, I can think of something even more worthless than the leaf blower. The drum machine! That's noise pollution for you. And you get those all year round in virtually every public place! No.1 for Room 101!

Played disc 1 and 2 again tonight. Extraordinary music! And I havn't even got to the discs that everyone is saying contains the best yet!

Very late in the day I've finally bought this one through CD Baby (love their humorous customer service!). What a wonderfully enjoyable CD. Real feel-good music. Like several above I especially like the ballads. But I found myself hopping up and down in the car to 'Clap Yo' Hands' today...I did keep my hands on the wheel! My favourite is 'Decoder'. So many recordings have their key tracks early on. I love discs which save the best to last. That track really brings the CD to a great climax. Well done all. I'll be much quicker in picking up the next one!

Is this like the boats out to Skellig Michael in Co. Kerry. Me: "Where can I get a boat to Skellig Michael?" Tourist Info Centre: "Oh, you can't. Though, unofficially I can give you this phone number. Ask for Paddy. But I'm not telling you this. You'll be completely uninsured..."

I've recently acquired this - I'm still working on Discs 1 and 2 which I really love. I'f the rest of the set comes close it'll have been a marvellous investment.

There's no bus service to the Faroes from Worksop. **************** Ask. How would business do this? They'd have half a dozen separate regional meet ups in posh hotels with video conferencing facilities!!!

Long story. a) Way back in the early 80s in my folk club days a local Nottingham band kept playing Swedish polskas. I was intrigued. B) In the late-80s I came across a Swedish group called Filarfolket. Heard them on the radio. Saw them at a couple of festivals, bought a couple of CDs. Other Scandanavian CDs I heard were a bit too much mixed with heavy rock. Lost attention. c) Earlier this year I heard an Anglo-Swedish group on BBC4 from the Celtic Connections festival called Swap. Bought the CD. Fascinated. d) Got recommended the Northside compilations on AAJ. Was competely smitten in the spring. (This all overlapped with an interest in 17thC Swedish History). Started picking up Scandanavian releases. e) Decided to take my summer holiday in Sweden and Norway. Bought a large number of folk-based releases. Scandanavian folk music is just very distictive and a fair bit of it has a jazzy element. 'Groupa' are remarkable. I think the thing about jazz that attracts me most is that sense of all the various parts moving pretty feely. Groupa have that same effect. Very strongly recommended to anyone who, like me, enjoys straying off into totally foreign musical fields every so often. Incidentally, Northside are very efficient! Delivery normally in a few days.