Grace with a Cleaver, a Hallett in wonderland, and other Cliff hangers

[Serial_Apologist]

Lots to draw attention to this week. First:

Sat 16 July
12.15 New Generation Artists

The third item listed being a trio of trumpeter (from Hampshire with a fringe on top) Laura Jurd, bassist John Edwards, and drummer (and husband to Matana Roberts - you first heard it here) Seb Rochford.

4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton's pick of requests includes singer Teddy Grace, a doyenne of 1930s jazz who worked with the bands of Bob Crosby and Mal Hallett.

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

5.00 Jazz Line-Up
A performance by Swiss trio Vein, recorded in June on the Jazz Line-Up stage at the Glasgow Jazz Festival. The line-up comprises Michael Arbenz (piano) Florian Arbenz (drums) and Thomas Lahns (bass).

Another repeat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b069wyn2

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
The career of short-lived bebop trumpeter Fats Navarro, with Geoffrey Smith examining his work with Charlie Parker and Bud Powell.

Phew - some amazing line-ups listed for this programme!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jlm2m

Mon 18 July
Jazz Now
New York-based Chris Lightcap is one of America's up-and-coming jazz talents both on the bass and as a composer. Tonight, Soweto Kinch presents a concert from the Saalfelden Jazz Festival by Lightcap's band Bigmouth, featuring saxophonists Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby, pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer Gerald Cleaver.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jm05b

Weds 20 - Friday 22 July
10.45 The Essay: Meeting the Giants of Jazz - 3 programmes out of series of 4

Not to be missed! - Martin Gayford reminiscing on meetings and friendships with Doc Cheatham, Marian McPartland and Ruby Braff.

[Richard Barrett]

New York-based Chris Lightcap is one of America's up-and-coming jazz talents both on the bass and as a composer. Tonight, Soweto Kinch presents a concert from the Saalfelden Jazz Festival by Lightcap's band Bigmouth, featuring saxophonists Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby, pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer Gerald Cleaver.

I don't know this group but I did perform once with Gerald Cleaver, he's a brilliant player.

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't know this group but I did perform once with Gerald Cleaver, he's a brilliant player.

Interesting, Richard - and absolutely true about Cleaver, imho of course!

[Ian Thumwood]

The Andrew Hill track on JRR was fantastic. Curiously, I got in to a few conversations last week about favourite pianists and when I mentioned Hill, no one seemed to have heard about him apart from the French pianist Pierre De Bethmann who was fulsome in praise of the album "So in love" which is a very early recording of standards with Malachi Favors - no idea he went back so far! The more I listen to Andrew Hill, the more important he seems.

The other JRR tracks were quite interesting as well. Intrigued to hear Fate Marable ( didn't someone else request the other recording last years?) as well as hearing Chick Corea with Stan Getz. The comment about the bossa nova stuff is something I concur with but it was interesting to hear Getz with a much higher calibre of more contemporary players than you usually associate with his more jazz orientated stuff. Getz' stone remains problematic for me , rather like Lest Young but with all the grit missing, yet Corea seems to really add value to the bands he plays with. Hearing him on Monday night, I was struck at his sense of harmony and just how "outside" he actually is. He is far more interesting than most contemporary players and, at 75, remains a musician who remains relevant.

As for JLU, the provincial nature of the programme continues to be problematic but I liked the track by the Birmingham Jazz Orchestra and the Swiss trio weren't too bad either. However, there is a propensity to concentrate on singers, with Lianne Carroll scarcely having anything to do with jazz. As for Cecile McLoren Salvant, the track was worth the money for the superb piano playing. Personally, I can't abide her as she is really mannered as a life performer and I find it impossible to watch her without flinching.

[Serial_Apologist]

The Andrew Hill track on JRR was fantastic. Curiously, I got in to a few conversations last week about favourite pianists and when I mentioned Hill, no one seemed to have heard about him apart from the French pianist Pierre De Bethmann who was fulsome in praise of the album "So in love" which is a very early recording of standards with Malachi Favors - no idea he went back so far! The more I listen to Andrew Hill, the more important he seems.

Sitting as he was somewhere mid-way between Monk and McCoy Tyner, I guess Hill has been less of an easy player to be influenced by than the Usual Suspects. One who was was a British player called Roy Powell, who came from the same stable as his contemprary Nikki Iles, but sadly joined the jazz drain to Scandinavia, ending up in Norway, and if i remember correctly only returning once, in 1997, to tour and record for whichever programme it was, leading a fantastic quartet with Mike Walker, John Marshall and Arild Anderson, really on-the-edge stuff.

https://musicians.allaboutjazz/roypowell

Here he is playing a standard - it's the only utube I could find:

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

The other JRR tracks were quite interesting as well. Intrigued to hear Fate Marable ( didn't someone else request the other recording last years?) as well as hearing Chick Corea with Stan Getz. The comment about the bossa nova stuff is something I concur with but it was interesting to hear Getz with a much higher calibre of more contemporary players than you usually associate with his more jazz orientated stuff. Getz' stone remains problematic for me , rather like Lest Young but with all the grit missing, yet Corea seems to really add value to the bands he plays with. Hearing him on Monday night, I was struck at his sense of harmony and just how "outside" he actually is. He is far more interesting than most contemporary players and, at 75, remains a musician who remains relevant.

As for JLU, the provincial nature of the programme continues to be problematic but I liked the track by the Birmingham Jazz Orchestra and the Swiss trio weren't too bad either. However, there is a propensity to concentrate on singers, with Lianne Carroll scarcely having anything to do with jazz. As for Cecile McLoren Salvant, the track was worth the money for the superb piano playing. Personally, I can't abide her as she is really mannered as a life performer and I find it impossible to watch her without flinching.

Well..... Leanne's a lovely person, and I think she's OK. Her warmth people find infectious, and she should be loved for her generosity alone. At Elton Dean's funeral, afterwards in the pub all the generically disparate people he'd worked with were standing around in twos and groups looking disconsolate - there must've been at least 20 in all - and she bought all the assembled a round of drinks!

[Quarky]

As for JLU, the provincial nature of the programme continues to be problematic but I liked the track by the Birmingham Jazz Orchestra and the Swiss trio weren't too bad either. However, there is a propensity to concentrate on singers, with Lianne Carroll scarcely having anything to do with jazz. As for Cecile McLoren Salvant, the track was worth the money for the superb piano playing. Personally, I can't abide her as she is really mannered as a life performer and I find it impossible to watch her without flinching.

I've had great problems with Claire Martin's choices in the past, but these days I take a more detached attitude. I'm assuming that JRR, coupled with JLU, is designed to appeal to as much of the potential jazz audience as possible. There must be a huge spectrum of listeners out there that enjoy one aspect of Jazz or another

[Ian Thumwood]

Oddball

JLU is erratic. Jazz Now is something that U tend to listen to on the I-player but I tend to catch JLU if I am not at a football match. The issue is that the choices all seem to be pretty second division stuff or massively skewered to the provincial scene. In some ways this is to be commended yet I think the record selections all seem to be things that I wouldn't want to buy. The best music is always whenever a concert excerpt is included such as the recent Gregory Porter with the UMO jazz orchestra. That set was terrific yet I rarely feel that anything Claire Martin selects rarely reaches this level. In fact, I tend to despair whenever her name gets mentioned - not so much for her own music but the fact that I just associate her with mediocrity.

I concur that jazz is a broad church and that the producers of this programme is designed to appeal to a wider audience. However, I think it is interesting to contrast it with JRR where the music is chosen by jazz fans as it is rare to hear anything played by CM ever getting requested on JRR. Granted that a good number of the JRR audience is likely to be from a much older demographic it is not a surprise that artists like Andrew Hill, Fate Marable, Sidney Bechet and Stan Getz get selected. I would much rather hear this stuff than the JLU selection. I am not convinced that JLU is trying to appeal to a younger audience more that it is trying to be a "catch all" type of magazine which is trying hard not to offend.

For me, JLU very much mirrors the jazz programme on Radio Solent back in the 1980s insofar that it tried to reflect the artists who were currently on tour or maybe pick up new albums from artists who the presenter knew. The Kevin Le Gendre selection of "lost classics" is often the most insightful element of the programme albeit I haven't heard this done for ages. I think Jazz Now has benefited with presenters with a fresh perspective and JLU is long overdue for an overhaul. If it does serve a purpose it is that is demonstrates just how high the quality of jazz is across Europe. The Swiss trio featured today ably demonstrates this. Unfortunately, it seems to make the current jazz scene seem pretty homogenous.

[Alyn_Shipton]

S-A Roy Powell appeared on Impressions, I believe, or just maybe one of the Saturday night concerts that ran every other week in the 1990s. I interviewed him and went to the gig. First time I heard Arild live. Roy was a good player. We also broadcast Andrew Hill's trio on R3 I think the previous year with Reggie Workman and Pheeroan Ak Laff. Good concert from the QEH.

[eighthobstruction]

....that last track of the Vein set was a real cracker....

[Serial_Apologist]

S-A Roy Powell appeared on Impressions, I believe, or just maybe one of the Saturday night concerts that ran every other week in the 1990s. I interviewed him and went to the gig. First time I heard Arild live. Roy was a good player. We also broadcast Andrew Hill's trio on R3 I think the previous year with Reggie Workman and Pheeroan Ak Laff. Good concert from the QEH.

Thanks for that info, Alyn. I found those gigs listed in my wonderful filing system, and may still be in possession of a D90. I also remember Andrew Hill doing some unaccompanied solos for a programme around that time.

[Serial_Apologist]

....that last track of the Vein set was a real cracker....

Thanks 8th - I'll have a re-listen then: I must have dropped off, or summat!