Sat 18 Feb
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton introduces a selection of listeners' requests in all styles of jazz, including a track by Swedish pianist Esbjorn Svensson and his trio EST.
5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph presents a solo performance by singer Ian Shaw, recorded last April at the Gateshead Jazz Festival and including his interpretations of songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and David Bowie.
Another repeat!
12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Highlights from the career of saxophonist Stan Getz (1927-1991), who blended West Coast "cool" with tender lyricism and a bossa nova beat.
And this is yet another repeat!!! What's going on at the Beeb?? Is this money-saving, or has everyone defected post-Brexit to safe houses in Norway???
Sun 19 Feb
6.45 Sunday Feature: King Kong - the Township Jazz Musical
Soweto Kinch on the extraordinary collaboration that occurred in 1950s, apartheid-torn South Africa, inspired by the life and death of a celebrated heavyweight boxer.
I was fortunate to have seen this show on a school trip when it came to London, though I forget all the details and which year. Since when I've learned that the pit band contained several S African exiles peripherally associated with Dollar Brand's Jazz Epistles and Chris McGregor's Blue Notes, including composer/pianist Joonas Gwangwa, who composed the music for the film "Cry Freedom", drummer/percussionist Churchill Jolobe, singers Sonti Mndebele and Princess Patience (the latter subsequently murdered in circumstances I have been unable to find information for), and flautist Robert Sithole - all of whom were depicted in a 1989 TV documentary titled "South African Blues" leading heartbreakingly sad and homesickened lives in hidden away districts of London, busking on the tube etc. Apartheid had not yet ended and maybe looked as if it never would at that juncture, and assuming they are still around, one would wish to learn how they have fared.
Mon 20 Feb
11.00 Jazz Now
Kenny Wheeler (1930-2014) is tonight's focus, with Soweto Kinch presenting a complete performance of his Sweet Sister Suite, played by Alexandra Ridout (flugelhorn), with the Euroradio Jazz Orchestra directed by Tommy Smith. And Emma Smith talks to Wheeler expert Nick Smart.
Dear Kenny left us with one final punning title - such an inspiration!
Nick Smart, the affable fella who heads the jazz course at the Royal Academy, is himself no mean trumpet player. The RAM, by the way, is a 100 metres east of Madame Tussauds, and on the same side of the Marylebone Road; and for recommendation to would-be students I would like to mention that the lunchtime canteen serves a mean apple crumble with custard.
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton introduces a selection of listeners' requests in all styles of jazz, including a track by Swedish pianist Esbjorn Svensson and his trio EST.
5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph presents a solo performance by singer Ian Shaw, recorded last April at the Gateshead Jazz Festival and including his interpretations of songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and David Bowie.
Another repeat!
12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Highlights from the career of saxophonist Stan Getz (1927-1991), who blended West Coast "cool" with tender lyricism and a bossa nova beat.
And this is yet another repeat!!! What's going on at the Beeb?? Is this money-saving, or has everyone defected post-Brexit to safe houses in Norway???
Sun 19 Feb
6.45 Sunday Feature: King Kong - the Township Jazz Musical
Soweto Kinch on the extraordinary collaboration that occurred in 1950s, apartheid-torn South Africa, inspired by the life and death of a celebrated heavyweight boxer.
I was fortunate to have seen this show on a school trip when it came to London, though I forget all the details and which year. Since when I've learned that the pit band contained several S African exiles peripherally associated with Dollar Brand's Jazz Epistles and Chris McGregor's Blue Notes, including composer/pianist Joonas Gwangwa, who composed the music for the film "Cry Freedom", drummer/percussionist Churchill Jolobe, singers Sonti Mndebele and Princess Patience (the latter subsequently murdered in circumstances I have been unable to find information for), and flautist Robert Sithole - all of whom were depicted in a 1989 TV documentary titled "South African Blues" leading heartbreakingly sad and homesickened lives in hidden away districts of London, busking on the tube etc. Apartheid had not yet ended and maybe looked as if it never would at that juncture, and assuming they are still around, one would wish to learn how they have fared.
Mon 20 Feb
11.00 Jazz Now
Kenny Wheeler (1930-2014) is tonight's focus, with Soweto Kinch presenting a complete performance of his Sweet Sister Suite, played by Alexandra Ridout (flugelhorn), with the Euroradio Jazz Orchestra directed by Tommy Smith. And Emma Smith talks to Wheeler expert Nick Smart.
Dear Kenny left us with one final punning title - such an inspiration!
Nick Smart, the affable fella who heads the jazz course at the Royal Academy, is himself no mean trumpet player. The RAM, by the way, is a 100 metres east of Madame Tussauds, and on the same side of the Marylebone Road; and for recommendation to would-be students I would like to mention that the lunchtime canteen serves a mean apple crumble with custard.
Comment