A Lark Ascending

Recently chosen as Britain's ugliest building and winning something called "The Carbuncle Cup". Can't say it upsets me too much though that skyline does seem a bit higgledy-piggledy. I get more upset by what goes on in the buildings.

There's a 2 hour period from around 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the UK when the board slows, cuts out, sometimes for lengthy periods - it's while back up is taking place so is essential for maintenance. During that periods where it can be accessed the shorter threads open reasonably swiftly. The long ones take ages and often time out. It's not life threatening - if most people prefer to keep the one thread, fine. But it would make it a little easier a this end.

Andrea Keller - Australian jazz pianist. Overlooked because she's part of a jazz scene that doesn't get much attention beyond its own region of the world. I can't comment on her pianistic skills but I've enjoyed a string of excellent records, mainly originals though including some standards and a Wayne Shorter disc. I'm especially fond of this one: Built round Bartok's music. http://www.andreakellerpiano.com.au/

They are yours!

Two CDs (not downloads!!!) that I got sent two copies of a while back: http://www.discogs.com/Steve-Lacy-10-Of-Dukes-6-Originals/release/3712793 And one from way outside the centre of this board's main listening (possibly deep in enemy territory!!!): Fiddle, accordion/guitar and voice: It's a lovely disc of slowly unfolding English folk music. Will post within Britain or Europe. PM me if you'd like either. Otherwise they go to the charity shop.

'What are you listening to right now? and 'What 'classical' music are you listening to' have been going for many years (the first since 2003!) and have stacked up thousands of pages. I suspect the former is the most posted to thread on the board and one greatly valued by those of us who like it. During the board's slower periods (I understand why that is happening and appreciate it is not a quick or costless fix) these threads can be the slowest to open and most likely to lead to a crash. Could we start a 'What are you listening to right now? II' and similar for the classical threads (there may be others that cause other posters issues). The original threads could be pinned somewhere in case people feel the need to go back through them. I don't feel it appropriate to just start one myself - perhaps a moderator could do something if there was a general feeling that it would be helpful? What do you think?

I often wonder how people end up playing instruments like the bassoon. If there is a bassoon player in the family it makes sense. But is it generally anything more than 'OK, you'd like to join the school orchestra, well we need someone on bassoon'? Or do people move across from oboe? Great instrument - like the bass clarinet it has a very distinct sound within an orchestra but it's not something that immediately jumps out.

Found this a bit dull to be honest. Some lovely photography but there didn't seem to be much substance to the story.

Being critical is a dicey thing -- especially on a board like this one. I'm neither a musician nor a critic; I'm just a guy who loves listening to music. So I'm always much more comfortable talking about music that I enjoy. Ironically, by focusing on my own subjective experience I'm able to be MORE objective -- because that subjective enjoyment is an incontrovertible fact. And that subjective part -- the "inner experience" is what's most valuable to me. Honestly, more often than not, I'm not particularly concerned about the "outwardly objective" aspects of music. (Perhaps this is due to my lack of training. Most of the time, I can't articulate in musicological terms what I'm hearing. But I know what I'm feeling!) So I guess, given those preconceptions, that I'd love to see others' lists of their five FAVORITE Thelonious Monk recordings. But I'd be very wary of any list that claimed to be the "BEST" of anything. Bringing it back to OP: I don't hate his music. Sometimes I enjoy hearing the way he plays. At times, there's something impressively athletic about it. His power is -- occasionally -- marvelous. But I also agree with other that his almighty proficiency can (often?) be an impediment to musical expression. But I know that there are many other folks who LOVE his music. And they likely love the very thing that might be turning me off. (I'm thinking of OP's biographer Gene Lees, for instance.) And why would I want to tell him (or anyone?), "Stop enjoying that. It's no good. Look at it, hear it like I do." That doesn't interest me. Excellently put. What 'those who pronounce' often forget (well, choose to ignore) is the differing contexts of listeners. What might be deemed unacceptable from those working from an experience within one tradition might sound perfectly marvellous to someone with a very different listening experience. Now your expert musicologist can do a really in depth study of a musician or area of music and come up with very clear, well supported and evidence backed reasons why piece X is 'better' than piece Y. Expressed with a degree of humility that can be very interesting. And yet...as individual listeners we might still connect more with piece Y for completely unknown reasons lying in our own contexts. Do we really need to be taught the 'correct' interpretation? When it comes to evaluating music what I do enjoy reading is the views of someone immersed in a particular musician or style explaining why they prefer or value X over Y (again with humility - the OP, Wayne Shorter or Joe Pass are rubbish line of 'discussion' is a complete turn off). It can give you a place to start with music you don't know; and get you thinking differently about music you do. Doesn't, of course mean, you'll accept their preferences. Jeff's writings on this board about Ellington are, to my mind, worth a thousand articles by the sort of critic who delights in being unimpressed. Models of actually writing about what is happening in the music in a way a non-musician can understand.

Nice Beautiful shot.

A missing link available on the Westbrook site to download: http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/westbrookrecords/downloads.shtml http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/sai/index.shtml As I understand it some of this music leaked out in other records - but this was the original 1983 piece. I'm sure Chris can tell us more.

Progressive music gets an official chart '45 years too late' Somewhat ironic given that 'charts' were one of the things we sneered at back in those days. It was all about the music, man.

Thanks for that info, Seeline. And good to see you are still popping in here every now and then. Your guidance on music from Brazil was invaluable a few years back. I very much enjoyed listening to the Fremeaux compilation 'Choro 1906-47' the other day on Spotify. Another good one there was: Cazes was someone you pointed me towards some years ago. Though I couldn't get beyond a couple of tracks on "Eletropixinguinha Xxi" - the cheesy keyboards and beats had me running for the hills. I'm all for experimenting with electric instruments but really struggle with 'beats'. Much more of this music is readily available by download and streaming now. Just a pity there is no English language website that can act as a guide to what has been made and what is emerging. I tend to use the Joe Sixpack one which can be helpful; and the Latin Jazz Network site which is a bit hit and miss but can alert to current releases. (Nice to see Lisa Knapp's 'Shipping News' on your site!)

"Danny and the Human Zoo" A BBC film loosely based around Lenny Henry's entry into show business. Enjoyable but not as gripping as I'd hoped. Sort of fizzled out at the end. Though it did get a good feel for life outside London in the early to mid-70s.

Stars and Stripes Forever by Sousa's Band

There's a 1 hour TV highlights programme of the latter on Sunday on BBC4: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b068fvks

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/the-bassoon-is-facing-extinction-10434345.html Not sure why it is thought divisive. David Cameron needs to call for a 'big conversation'. This is as civilisation threatening as seagull attacks. Always liked the bassoon - I blame Lindsay Cooper and Henry Cow.

Thanks, Scott. This is what it looked like ten years ago! Bloody wet then too! I'd never had any interest in gardening - it was a waste land for the first 15 years I lived here. I just started improvising - a real free jazz garden. I find pottering around there a great place to listen to music. The only problem is I tend to sing along under the noiseless headphones. Neighbours think I'm nuts. ******************************** Must have rained again last night as both of the overspill buckets are now full. Still cloudy but much brighter than yesterday. ******************************** UK weather: Bank Holiday downpours set to make it wettest August on record "Remember Dunkirk!"

Finished the two Roberts programmes. He's at his best when describing the military tactics. But his assessment of Napoleon throughout is very poor history. He starts with a thesis - Napoleon was a great man, misunderstood by posterity - and then collects his evidence to support it. If he ever gets bored with history he has a great future as a jazz critic!

Mad dogs and English persons...

Well, last week it was (during the day)... But today...

I read loads of William Trevor about 30 years ago during my 'Irish' phase. Excellent short stories - and I'm not a big one for short stories. Someone I've lost touch with. Remember reading a lot of Sean O'Faolain around that time too; from an earlier generation but very fragile short stories of disappointment and lost chances.

Napoleon - a BBC4 3 parter that went out around the time of the Waterloo anniversary. This one really wound me up. Andrew Roberts, an historian I don't seem to have come across apart from as a name, seems to be the epitome of the brash, over-confident, privately educated toff. Arrogantly presents the series as a debunking of myths, scathingly rubbishing interpretations he disapproves of. Yet the whole thing seems to be based around his adolescent hero worship of Napoleon (something he highlights regularly). Roberts seems quite keen on dictatorship in the 'right' hands! Reading about him on the web my antipathy was quickly backed up - inherited wealth, extremely right wing, apologist for things like Amritsar. Imagine he's in line for a peerage. Will watch part 2 and 3 if only to be further outraged. [Good lord, even the Daily Telegraph was unimpressed!: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11681648/Napoleon-episode-2-review.html]

Don't get me wrong; I enjoy lots of music in that theme-solos-theme style - after all, most historic jazz is constructed that way and an awful lot of 'mainstream' (using the term at its broadest) contemporary jazz. It was as a novice jazz listener that I found it a bit tedious. As with any musical style you adapt to the formulas (sonata form, the classical scherzo/minuet form etc) and then learn to hear the ingenuity of the musicians who choose to work within those forms. After all, to a casual listener Haydn symphonies or Mozart piano concertos all seem stuck in the same formula. Once you start to listen carefully there is so much variety and upsetting of formulas within those structures. I've always been especially drawn in jazz to music that features specific musicians on specific pieces - the obvious reference being Ellington where there are so many examples of tunes written with a particular musician in mind and consequently having a uniqueness about them.

Thanks, Sidewinder. I'll buy my ticket with confidence. I have CD from a few years back so look forward to hearing this live. Another intriguing one I've just booked into - Evan Christopher at the Marsden Jazz Festival near Huddersfield (about an hour away from me). New Orleans brought to darkest Yorkshire! Evan Christopher is my favorite living jazz clarinetist, and I base that on hearing him live, rather than on his recordings, as good as they are. I hope his performance at the Marsden fest matches what I've been lucky enough to hear from him in New Orleans. It was your championing of him that got me listening to some of his records; I'd never heard of him before. I'm rather partial to the clarinet and Christopher fit the bill perfectly. Always thought he'd be someone I'd only ever catch at one of the big festivals or in London. Never expected him to appear close to home.