I've got a handful of songs...

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 10 Oct
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton introduces listeners' suggestions for ten essential jazz recordings

It's mostly qually-ee mainstream this week, with lamented Coleridge Goode backing Django Reinhardt in 1946 on track 6, (I would have been 1, just about!), but one-time Skatalites trombone man, the lately departed Rico Rodrigues, in very fine young and slightly less so British company on track 10: listen out for Damon Brown's trumpet, should he get to solo there.

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog/

5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph presents a performance by pianist Peter Edwards and his trio, recorded in July as part of a BBC introducing showcase at the Montreal Jazz Festival. And as part of our Black History Month celebrations, Kevin Le Gendre reassesses saxophonist John Surman's 1968 self-titled album.



Side 1, says I, is a side of calypso jazz including such titles as Don't Stop the Carnival, and has the very good West Indian-born pianist Russell Henderson on it. People often ask after the likes of Russell, who virtually introduced steel pans to this country, and if he's still around I wonder if he'll be interviewed. He was featured on the Jazz Britannia three-part TV documentary of 2004, but I have to tell people that the last time I saw him he was playing beautifully, solo, in a bar in East Dulwich, to three people, of whom I was one, a few years ago now. He concluded a set of standards with that tune on the pans. I felt so embarrassed I then left, not knowing what to say to him. Haven't seen his name since, anywhere.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06gp9pq

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
For 50 years Lionel Hampton (1908-2002) ignited audiences around the world with his super-charged vibes, drums and big band. Geoffrey Smith celebrates a great crowd-pleaser and mentor to countless jazz stars. (R)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qdytv

Mon 12 Oct
11.00 Jazz on 3
Highlights from the 2015 Vision Festival held in Brooklyn, including performances by Roscoe Mitchell and his ensemble and Jason Kao Hwang and his Sing House quintet.

I may moan at the current lack of live young British acts, but the Roscoe Mitchell looks a corker. Personally however, I never sing House.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06gr2hd

Weds 14 Oct - Radio 2
Ralph Johnson: Jazz Epicenter 6-7
2/4 Veteran Earth, Wind and Fire percussionist and vocalist Ralph Johnson sets out to recreate the late-night ambience of 24-hour jazz radio stations he grew up listening to in his native Los Angeles. Johnson was originally inspired by the collection of LPs with which his brother returned home from the US Air Force. Buddy Rich, Herbie Mann, Carl Tjader, Lou Rawls and Sergio Mendes all figure in tonight's playlist.

Did anyone listen to Part 1 last Weds??

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Sat 10 Oct
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton introduces listeners' suggestions for ten essential jazz recordings

It's mostly qually-ee mainstream this week, with lamented Coleridge Goode backing Django Reinhardt in 1946 on track 6, (I would have been 1, just about!), but one-time Skatalites trombone man, the lately departed Rico Rodrigues, in very fine young and slightly less so British company on track 10: listen out for Damon Brown's trumpet, should he get to solo there.

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog/

5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph presents a performance by pianist Peter Edwards and his trio, recorded in July as part of a BBC introducing showcase at the Montreal Jazz Festival. And as part of our Black History Month celebrations, Kevin Le Gendre reassesses saxophonist John Surman's 1968 self-titled album.



Side 1, says I, is a side of calypso jazz including such titles as Don't Stop the Carnival, and has the very good West Indian-born pianist Russell Henderson on it. People often ask after the likes of Russell, who virtually introduced steel pans to this country, and if he's still around I wonder if he'll be interviewed. He was featured on the Jazz Britannia three-part TV documentary of 2004, but I have to tell people that the last time I saw him he was playing beautifully, solo, in a bar in East Dulwich, to three people, of whom I was one, a few years ago now. He concluded a set of standards with that tune on the pans. I felt so embarrassed I then left, not knowing what to say to him. Haven't seen his name since, anywhere.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06gp9pq

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
For 50 years Lionel Hampton (1908-2002) ignited audiences around the world with his super-charged vibes, drums and big band. Geoffrey Smith celebrates a great crowd-pleaser and mentor to countless jazz stars. (R)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qdytv

Mon 12 Oct
11.00 Jazz on 3
Highlights from the 2015 Vision Festival held in Brooklyn, including performances by Roscoe Mitchell and his ensemble and Jason Kao Hwang and his Sing House quintet.

I may moan at the current lack of live young British acts, but the Roscoe Mitchell looks a corker. Personally however, I never sing House.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06gr2hd

Weds 14 Oct - Radio 2
Ralph Johnson: Jazz Epicenter 6-7
2/4 Veteran Earth, Wind and Fire percussionist and vocalist Ralph Johnson sets out to recreate the late-night ambience of 24-hour jazz radio stations he grew up listening to in his native Los Angeles. Johnson was originally inspired by the collection of LPs with which his brother returned home from the US Air Force. Buddy Rich, Herbie Mann, Carl Tjader, Lou Rawls and Sergio Mendes all figure in tonight's playlist.

Did anyone listen to Part 1 last Weds??

Sorry, bad news to you, but Russ Henderson (now MBE) died August this year. Val Wilmer's v. good obit in the Guardian 24 Aug 2015. Everything is passing.


BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

Everything is passing.


BN.

Bluesnik

I was reading a review this morning of the new album by the young singer Cecile McLoren Salvant which mentioned that she has again decided to cover a song by the vintage jazz composer Clarence Williams despite being more in the mould of Modern Jazz. It prompted me to look him up on the internet and it was interesting to read how his career developed after the demise of Storyville in New Orleans and how he managed to ride the crest of a wave by jumping on the bandwagon of the then current blues craze. However, by the end of the 1920's he was quite outdated and had left music by the next decade. Everything is jazz changes. New generations come and go but those who are decent leave behind a legacy. That said, it is more interesting for me to hear Williams perform with Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong on the same record that checkout Salvant's latest offering - I heard her perform live a few years back and found her far too mannered for my taste. I don't think this implies that the older jazz is superior that the current scene.

It is intriguing to consider the younger generation of players like Salvant and Aaron Parks who I heard earlier this week. Listening to them could leave you despondent but the great players are all around you if you look in the right place. This week I've been blown over by the work of yet another ex-pupil of Jaki Byard. I had come across Myra Melford's name before but knew little about her music yet wanted to find out a bit more as her latest ground , "Snowy Egret", intrigued me as a bird-watcher. The band features Melford on piano, the Japanese bassist Stomu Takeisi , trumpeter Ron Miles and the boisterous drums of Tyshawn Sorey as well as ex-pat British guitarist Liberty Ellman. The results are pretty spectacular yet the music sounds better with each successive listen. It is something of a revelation, Ron Miles being the latter day equivalent of Johnny Coles , Ellman's spidery guitar lines being a brilliant new addition to the tradition and the acoustic and electric bass sliding all over the place. All of this is driven along by the almost over-powering drumming of Sorey who through everything and the kitchen sink behind the band. Sorey is simply terrific. On top of this, the leader's piano has echoes of Gil Evans on the more tranquil pieces, elements of boogie on others and largely elements of Cecil Taylor -like chaos. The overall result is hugely impressive.

Listening to this band and having discovered the likes of Dave McDonnell earlier in the year, I can't agree that the greats of jazz are all disappearing . the best jazz these days seems to require a degree of looking to find yet a band like "Snowy Egret" is really worth the hunt. For me, it is great that someone else seems to be taking their cues from Byard and mixing free-jazz elements in a more structured and considered orchestration.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Don't disagree Ian. My "everything passes" was nothing too deep, just that the last few weeks etc have seen a lot of "name" jazz deaths, not unusual perhaps as they were of a certain age/era. One you hit mid 60s you start getting reflective and looking at the obits!

On a positive "age" thing I see Stanley Cowell has retired from his respected university teaching and is going back to full time playing, now that clubs are "smoke free". An example to all retirees.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

I really hope Stanley Cowell visits the UK. I saw him in France with Logan Richardson, Nahseet Waits and Tarus Mateeen and it was absolutely incredible. After the gig was fortunate enough to meet him and I had a long conversation with him about the experience of playing in that group and their sense of time as well as talking about Herbie Nichols. He is easily one of the nicest jazz musicians I have met and a real gent.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

From the latest Jazz times...long profile:

"Throughout his time as an educator, Cowell took
a few sabbaticals to work on his music. He
embarked on one of these breaks in 2013, he
says, “and then just decided to stay out. They
had me come back for graduation and
commencement that year, and treated me
lovely.” At 72, he was finally retired.
Which gave him the opportunity to come out of
his quasi-retirement from live performance. Jazz
clubs around the world had adopted smoke-free
policies, which Cowell relished, and he made his
way into concert halls, including London’s
prestigious Barbican. In March, he reunited with
Tolliver, singer Jean Carne, tenor saxophonist
Billy Harper, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer
Alvin Queen to tour the U.K. as the Strata-East
All Stars. “The Brits, like the Japanese, are
forever in love with the Strata-East happening,”
says Tolliver. “And a world-famous DJ there
[Gilles Peterson], who grew up on Strata-East,
found out that we were alive and well. He put it
together.”

He is a hell of a musician. The Antibes tapes when he was with the Bobby Hutcherson/Harold Land quintet are stunning.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]