It's that rainy day...

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 26 Mar
4 pm Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton celebrates the 46th anniversary of the release of Miles Davis's 1970 fusion double album Bitches Brew with listener requests from the release.

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

5 pm Jazz Line-Up
Claire Martin and Julian Joseph present a special edition of the jazz showcase focusing on the BBC Young Musician 2016 Jazz Award, featuring profiles of each of the finalists and performances recorded at the Dora Stoutzker Hall at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. This year's finalists are Alexandra Ridout (trumpet), Noah Stoneman (piano), Tom Ridout (saxophone/recorder), Tom Smith (saxophone) and Elliott Sansom (piano)

Always worth a listen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074z3n3

12 midnight Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Geoffrey Smith introduces a selection of highlights from the partnership of vocal star Billie Holiday and her saxophonist Lester Young, credited as the co-creators of some of the greatest recordings of the swing era

http:/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074z53m

Easter Monday
11 pm Jazz on 3
Jez Nelson presents a recording of Jazz in the Round, featuring Empirical, Django Bates and free improv from Evan Parker, Orphy Robinson, Laura Jurd and Alexander Hawkins

A good way to go. Laura's best in this kind of setting imv, and I reckon Mr Hawkins to be the finest exponent of free jazz piano from this country since Keith Tippett.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074zdtd

And a Easter to all our protagonists.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Facey and his colleagues kicked off what turned out to be a special night even by the standards of this excellent series. The evening was being recorded for transmission (on March 28) as the last-ever Jazz on 3, which Nelson presents, and after 18 years he was understandably emotional as he introduced a bill handpicked to represent the programme’s philosophy over the years. After Empirical came Django Bates, who gave the solo performance that traditionally separates the evening’s two bands, followed by a set of free improvisation from a multi-generational quartet assembled specially for this event: Laura Jurd (trumpet), Alexander Hawkins (piano), Orphy Robinson (marimba) and Evan Parker (tenor saxophone).

Empirical were coming off a week of thrice-daily gigs in a pop-up revue at Old Street tube station: a wheeze that apparently worked as well as it deserved to, attracting crowds of passers-by intrigued by what they heard. They’re an exceptional band and they played a fine set of striking new compositions by each of the four members, ending with “Lethe”, a quietly beautiful slow tune by the vibraphonist Lewis Wright. I’ve heard them play it before, and it stuck in my head. I was delighted to hear it again, and to discover that it’s on their new album, Connection.

Bates had just arrived from Switzerland, where he is a professor of jazz at Bern’s University of the Arts. He began by singing, to his own deft kalimba accompaniment, a little song about the anxiety of a man introducing himself to a piano (which turns out to be female). Then he sat down at the keyboard to play a piece in which he doubled his improvised single-note lines in the treble register with whistling of virtuoso standard. A tenor horn solo preceded a final stint at the keyboard, which included some gorgeous gospel figurations and a song about a London pub transformed by a developer into empty luxury apartments. “Empty luxury,” he repeated, sotto voce but with emphasis.

The members of the final improvising group were chosen to show how Jazz on 3 has always reflected the way this music spans the generations, with the accent on new developments. They had never played together as a unit, but the shared qualities of musicianship and sensitivity ensured that they created a genuine conversation that not only gripped their listeners but enfolded them in the act of creation. It was, as Nelson pointed out, the best possible way to demonstrate that, in the hands of such people, the music’s future is safe."

From Richard Williams' Blue Moment Blog.

BN.

BTW there's an interview on WBGO tonight (Newark) with Bertha Hope, Elmo's wife and a v. fine pianist in her own right. She's also the subject of a new film on Women in Jazz.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks for copying that Richard Williams account of what evidently promises to be an interesting last night on Monday, Bluesie. Not without Hope.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I see from a posting on Richard Williams' twitter feed that the cover artwork on Miles' "On the Corner" is not too dissimilar to the poster art for "Mutiny on the Buses", the film of the God awful TV series with Reg Varney!

("I'll get you Butler" now has a whole new meaning! Frank Butler, the Philly Joe of the West Coast.)

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

I see from a posting on Richard Williams' twitter feed that the cover artwork on Miles' "On the Corner" is not too dissimilar to the poster art for "Mutiny on the Buses", the film of the God awful TV series with Reg Varney!

("I'll get you Butler" now has a whole new meaning! Frank Butler, the Philly Joe of the West Coast.)

BN.

Moff now on me bike to see Robert Mitchell's Panacea - he's doing a freebie in the Festival Hall bar this pm. This is from awhile back now, and I've no idea who's now in the band or if it'll feature guests, but I'm quite partial to the directions some of the British black guys and guyesses have taken basically late 1970s Herbie Hancock jazzfunk in, which is not just imitational, imo, this being a nice example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dex5GoFR9ww

[Ian Thumwood]

I saw a different incarnation of Empirical several years back and thought they were pretty good. Alexander Hawkins performed with John Surman the last time I saw the veteran saxophonist and it was nice to see him hook up with a different accompanist.

Glad to see "Impressions" sign off. The presentation style was hugely irritating and, if they played some good music from time to time, I never felt compelled to listen. It was usually a case of catching up on the I-player whenever something was of interest. The closing session is perhaps typical - a bit parochial with a combination of big bitters and novices. ( I didn't realise that Laura Jurd came from Alton which is just up the road from me. ) I sometimes felt that Jo3 presented version of jazz that wasn't familiar to me but I have friends who believe that this programme is the best of all the jazz programmes on the station because it keeps things new. The problem for me is that there was a tendency to praise really ordinary sessions / artists to the hilt and lose focus by concentrating on the fringes of the music. I don't think Jez was as bad as Jamie Cullum but he certainly lacked the gravitas necessary to present jazz in radio 3.

I was a bit shocked to see an article on the Jazwise website which mentioned the new presenters on "Jazz Now" and, for one brief and shocking moment, I misread the title and thought that it referred to Cilla impersonator Sheridan Smith! Thankfully this turned out not to be the case.

[Old Grumpy]

I was a bit shocked to see an article on the Jazwise website which mentioned the new presenters on "Jazz Now" and, for one brief and shocking moment, I misread the title and thought that it referred to Cilla impersonator Sheridan Smith! Thankfully this turned out not to be the case.

Must admit have never heard of Sheridan Smith - you must be very - erhem - culturally* aware, IT.

OG

* I use the word advisedly in this context!

[Hornspieler]

5 pm Jazz Line-Up
Claire Martin and Julian Joseph present a special edition of the jazz showcase focusing on the BBC Young Musician 2016 Jazz Award, featuring profiles of each of the finalists and performances recorded at the Dora Stoutzker Hall at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. This year's finalists are Alexandra Ridout (trumpet), Noah Stoneman (piano), Tom Ridout (saxophone/recorder), Tom Smith (saxophone) and Elliott Sansom (piano)

Elliott Sansom

Would he be a member of that very talented musical family?

I knew Gillian, an accomplished violinist and her younger sister, Carol, a very good cellist, who sadly took her own life, whilst still in her early twenties.

HS

[Ian Thumwood]

[QUOTE=Old Grumpy;549859]Must admit have never heard of Sheridan Smith - you must be very - erhem - culturally* aware, IT.

OG

* [I][SIZE=1]I use the word advisedly in this context!

Not my newspaper of choice, but this article below sums it up. Don't tend to watch ITV so I don't have to watch Sheridan Smith but am equally judicial in avoiding Sue Perkins, Clare Balding, etc. I suppose that Sheridan Smith is a marginally less annoying version of Paloma Faith who, I am advised, is not the full the shilling. I believe that PF once strayed on to a set on JLU with Guy Barker but I would have had to avoid that one. She is scarier than anything ever conjured up on Dr Who. Given his enthusiasm for jazz, it is strange that John Humphreys has never been asked to present a jazz programme, especially as Moira Stewart has had a stint herself.

.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...s-star-TV.html

[Old Grumpy]

You tell us, HS!

Perhaps this one*: http://www.elliottsansom.co.uk/#!biography/c2414

OG

* Edit:

Would seem to be the case - http://www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/new...national-award

[Alyn_Shipton]

Elliott is a terrific player and was in the Patrick Cornelius's masterclass, playing PC's compositions at Birmingham Conservatoire, a later segment of which (sadly not including Elliott) will be broadcast in Jazz Now on 11 April.

[Serial_Apologist]

You tell us, HS!

Perhaps this one*: http://www.elliottsansom.co.uk/#!biography/c2414

OG

* Edit:

Would seem to be the case - http://www.bcu.ac.uk/news-events/new...national-award

W...ell, maybe. I'm just as interested to know if we will learn if the Ridout brother and sister, possibly, are related to a certain Alan Ridout, composer particularly in the choral field, born in 1934 (maybe still living?), of whose music I don't remember anything being played on Radio 3

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

That Bruce Turner/John Chilton tribute track on JRR was interesting partularly as Alan made reference to the Jack Gold "Living Jazz" film that I've never managed to see. There's only a clip from it on YouTube with the band playing that number, "Jump".

"Living Jazz"- 1961

Jack Gold made this sympathetic film of the Bruce Turner Jump Band in 1961. The band is observed rehearsing at the Six Bells, Chelsea, and on the road playing a one-night stand in a new town's dance-hall.
Bruce Turner (alto sax) John Chilton (trumpet)
John Mumford (trombone) Colin Bates (piano) Jim Bray (bass)
John Armitage (drums) Film editor ALAN PAUL
Film cameraman BRYAN PROBYN Director JACK GOLD"

A shame the entire movie is not up there.

BN.

[Alyn_Shipton]

BN Where were your VHS tapes when needed? This was shown on the BBC's Jazz Weekend (which from memory was around 1987) presented by Peter Clayton and Russell Davies. My VHS copy now well worn, but there's the entire film! Including Jim Bray's Ford Zephyr bandwagon...

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I was a C90 purist! The only things I have recorded on VHS are Godard movies etc.

I did see this when Googling which raised a smile...

"Alan Lovell writes (Guardian) : Researching for Living Jazz, Jack Gold’s debut film in 1961 about the Bruce Turner Jump Band, I travelled for several weeks with the band and soon realised how important to it were John Chilton’s good sense and quiet authority. Bruce had a fantasy that this was going to be a Hollywood-style film, but John understood what we were doing and helped us in every way. Many years later, reading his autobiography, I remembered what a good guy he was."

BN.