Strangers on the Shaw

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 2 July
Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton plays a broad spectrum of requests, including the famous duo of "new thing" saxophonist Archie Shepp and pianist Mal Waldron, alongside a pick of traditional and mainstream fare

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

5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Trumpeter Laura Jurd, the current BBC Radio 3 New Generation Jazz Artist, performs with pianist Elliot Galvin. Recorded in November at the London Jazz Festival

Elliot is Laura's regular quartet pianist - a genuine original. I missed this gig for some reason, but it should be good. Quirky, but good.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07j3h2c

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Clarinettist Artie Shaw (1910-2004) and his big bands and small groups produced a string of hits. Geoffrey Smith picks some favourites.

Artie Shaw was two years younger than my dad - lived two years longer. Makes yer think...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04d1jq4

Mon 4 July
11.00 Jazz Now
Soweto Kinch introduces a concert given by the Arild Anderson Quartet, with Norwegian pianist Helge Lien, recorded in May. And Emma Smith talks to saxophonist Phil Meadows about vlogging

Is that making a saxophone sound like the water draining from my bath?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07j3vnh

Additionally, of conceivable interest:

Thurs 7 July
11.00 Late Junction
Nick Luscombe presents highlights from the Late Junction session archive, including Australian improvisation trio the Necks in session with British saxophonist Evan Parker. Plus the nostalgic horror soundtracks of Polypores, the wonky pop of David West and dub pioneer U-Roy.

[Ian Thumwood]

On the subject of legendry clarinetists, this interview is quite interesting in relation to how jazz is being promoted these days:-

http://http://jazztimes.com/articles...wski-interview

I quite like some of Artie Shaw's work but have really found myself being more switched on by Benny Goodman these days. Hearing Shaw for the first time was almost an heretical experience for me as I grew up listening to Goodman who was, at that point, my father's hero. It was really interesting to hear his approach and I was convinced after hearing a couple of records that he was perhaps superior to Goodman or at least more interesting. Nowadays I am not so convinced. Not all Shaw's work was jazz and there was a degree of pretentiousness about him that convinced you with his more ambitious work but caste doubt of some of his other recordings. Records like "Frenesi" are almost unlistenable these days. I didn't realise that the Classical composer William Grant Still wrote the chart as I had always assumed it was by Jerry Gray. Still is a character that deserves further attention, a black arranger who flitted between Classical music and jazz artists such as James P Johnson and Paul Whiteman. I bet that having Still on his staff would have given Shaw a massive buzz.

The odd thing about Shaw is that he seemed to be more admired than a source of inspiration. I am not aware of too many musicians citing him as an influence whereas the Goodman influence became endemic by the late 1930s with all sorts of bands featuring clarinetists who could wail like him in front of an ensemble. Names like Buster Bailey and Jerry Blake with Fletcher Henderson spring to mind.

[Serial_Apologist]

http://jazztimes.com/articles/171965-the-ken-peplowski-interview

This link seems to work...

[Serial_Apologist]

This link seems to work...

I like him. He's like me in the sense of having an unfortunate way of putting his foot in it. On the subject of irony, Annette Peacock once told me that the reason Americans have no sense of irony was that America is a young nation: that kind of sophistication that can recognise irony only comes with maturity, was how she put it.

[Serial_Apologist]

My apologies to all for not spotting that today's JLU was a repeat.