The weekend's groovy offerings

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 9 April
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
A performance by American acoustic guitarist Charlie Byrd features in Alyn Shipton's selection of music requested via listeners' emails, tweets and letters.

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

5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph presents highlights of a performance by the European Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Israeli composer Ohad Talmor, who has been based in Brooklyn for the past 15 years. Plus a report from Phil Smith profiling the Polyversal Souls, an exciting Berlin jazz band fronted by Max Weissenfeldt.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0769hbw

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
A showcase of Lee Morgan (1938-72), a teenage trumpet prodigy who won crossover stardom with his groovy 1964 hit The Sidewinder

NB - This is a repeat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03y10jz

Mon 11 April
11.00 Jazz Now
Soweto Kinch joins American saxophone virtuoso Patrick Cornelius for a masterclass at Birmingham Conservatoire and Al Ryan meets keyboard wizard Bugge Wesseltoft at his 2016 UK concert appearance at the Turner Sims Hall in Southampton

The burning question: was Ian there?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075fxnn

[Alyn_Shipton]

Crumbs S-A, this is early - I don't normally post JRR til Friday... but I'd also like to know if IT was at Turner Sims! There is a mini-video preview on the Jazz Now site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03q2vhr

[Ian Thumwood]

Gents

To be honest, I had totally forgotten about the BW gig and didn't go. The spring programme had been uninspired and I must admit to not having gone to hear anything at Turner Sims since the autumn. I did try to get tickets for a Chopin recital but they had sold out almost immediately. The Anvil at Basingstoke hasn't delivered the good either in the last 12 months. Due to work commitments, I have not been to many gigs since September and any free time is usually spent either following Saints or going to watch Winchester City. Given the lack of free time, football will always get the nod over jazz at the moment with Southampton pushing for Europe and WCFC looking for promotion. The latter team also features the highest goal scorer in the top 8 flights of British football at the moment. (I am in the crowd in the top photo , just hidden by Bashley's No.3's head!! )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35916899

The jazz would have to be pretty good to replace the appeal of football even though following WCFC is even more esoteric than most jazz!

I was a bit surprised that Bugge Wesseltoft was still around and he was really part of the Nu-Jazz movement which emerged in the late 1990's and quickly fizzled out in the mid 2000's. He was at Vienne about 14 years ago on a triple bill with EST and Erik Truffaz and I felt that I was probably the oldest person at that gig! The clip was interesting enough from a technical point of view but his "version" of jazz is too far away from what I like to listen to. There was an interesting I-player programme I caught where Soweto Kinch discussed Joe Henderson with Ken Clarke and I felt that the former's comments about jazz also being about looking at the musical aspect of constructing a solo as opposed to being driven by the desire to be different. This struck a chord with me and it nicely captures what the playing of some of the greatest players is about. For me, BW is a bit cosmetic. The technique is in place and he has clearly looked at the possibilities of new technology given his music a wider palette. However, it seems a bit superficial - a bit like Pat Metheny but without the musical nous and respect for tradition behind it. I also keep thinking about Debussy's comments about Grieg's music being pink bonbons wrapped in snow whenever I hear ay Norwegian jazz. So, I am afraid that I missed this gig.