A heady selection on offer this weekend:
Sat 24 Oct
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton presents listeners' suggestions for music by two British musicians - multi-instrumentalist Alan Branscombe (1936-86) and fusion pioneer Graham Bond (1937-74)
Anyone besides Calum remember The Marquee?
5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph presents a celebration featuring saxophonist, composer and bandleader Iain Ballamy recorded at King's Place, London. Works include his quartet Anorak and the then first performance of septet Anorak XL. This programme was originally broadcast in May 2014 as part of Iain Ballamy's 50th birthday celebrations. (R),
Iain may still look much less than his years, but at least the scribes mostly manage to spell his surname right nowadays. 30 years have flown since I first saw him blowing his ass off with just Django Bates on a DX7 I'd helped him downstairs with - the first edition of Human Chain. "Careful with that!" Django said, me not knowing how light it was. He plugged it in for the sound check and produced a sound like the massive Albert Hall concert organ. You never forget things like that. We were naive about the musical possibilities afforded in new technology back then, some of us.
12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Jazz meets cabaret in the delectable wit of Blossom Dearie and Dave Frishberg. Geoffrey Smith presents the combined talents of the much-loved singer-pianists as they cast a playful eye on the passing scene.
Blossom is a taste I for one only acquired in late middle age.
If I remember right it was Blossom's British backing band including Dave Holland and John Marshall when Miles entered Ronnie's on that fateful day with Philly Joe Jones and told Philly he wanted Holland in his band.
Mon 26 Oct
11.00 Jazz on 3
Pianist Liam Noble performs left-field takes on standards and exploratory originals at the launch of his latest album A Room Somewhere, recorded at the Vortex in London.
I must have got my copy of Noble's CD off him before it was officially out. Anyway I can thoroughly recommend it - it's one of those new recordings we remember from back in the days when we couldn't take our ears off them. A few years ago I heard Liam performing strange contortions on standards in company with the German-born saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, and afterwards went up and asked him how he managed to get himself back to the starting blocks after so tying himself harmonically in knots, to which he replied, "Actually I don't, always!"
By the way this programme also broadcasts sax solos by Matana Roberts. Ma-ta-NA, as she insists.
Sat 24 Oct
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton presents listeners' suggestions for music by two British musicians - multi-instrumentalist Alan Branscombe (1936-86) and fusion pioneer Graham Bond (1937-74)
Anyone besides Calum remember The Marquee?
5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph presents a celebration featuring saxophonist, composer and bandleader Iain Ballamy recorded at King's Place, London. Works include his quartet Anorak and the then first performance of septet Anorak XL. This programme was originally broadcast in May 2014 as part of Iain Ballamy's 50th birthday celebrations. (R),
Iain may still look much less than his years, but at least the scribes mostly manage to spell his surname right nowadays. 30 years have flown since I first saw him blowing his ass off with just Django Bates on a DX7 I'd helped him downstairs with - the first edition of Human Chain. "Careful with that!" Django said, me not knowing how light it was. He plugged it in for the sound check and produced a sound like the massive Albert Hall concert organ. You never forget things like that. We were naive about the musical possibilities afforded in new technology back then, some of us.
12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Jazz meets cabaret in the delectable wit of Blossom Dearie and Dave Frishberg. Geoffrey Smith presents the combined talents of the much-loved singer-pianists as they cast a playful eye on the passing scene.
Blossom is a taste I for one only acquired in late middle age.
If I remember right it was Blossom's British backing band including Dave Holland and John Marshall when Miles entered Ronnie's on that fateful day with Philly Joe Jones and told Philly he wanted Holland in his band.
Mon 26 Oct
11.00 Jazz on 3
Pianist Liam Noble performs left-field takes on standards and exploratory originals at the launch of his latest album A Room Somewhere, recorded at the Vortex in London.
I must have got my copy of Noble's CD off him before it was officially out. Anyway I can thoroughly recommend it - it's one of those new recordings we remember from back in the days when we couldn't take our ears off them. A few years ago I heard Liam performing strange contortions on standards in company with the German-born saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, and afterwards went up and asked him how he managed to get himself back to the starting blocks after so tying himself harmonically in knots, to which he replied, "Actually I don't, always!"
By the way this programme also broadcasts sax solos by Matana Roberts. Ma-ta-NA, as she insists.
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