The Good Shepp pours Source on the Bollani.

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 8 Dec
4pm - Jazz Record Requests

Back on track(s)!

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

5pm - J to Z
Featuring a rare solo performance from American guitarist Bill Frisell, recorded last month at Cadogan Hall as part of the London Jazz Festival. Frisell draws on classical chamber music, folk and Americana. And US saxophonist and civil rights activist Archie Shepp discusses his musical inspirations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001hln

12midnight - Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Geoffrey Smith showcases American pianist and composer Errol Garner (1921-77).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001hlv

Mon 10 Dec
11pm - Jazz Now
Soweto Kinch presents a concert given by the Avishai Cohen Trio with Shai Maestro and Mark Giulani, recorded last month at the London Jazz Festival. And Soweto catches up with Italian pianist Stefano Bollini.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001hp7

Different spellings for Mr Cohen's two sidemen on the iPlayer link write-up, so not sure if the above are correct.

Tues 11 Dec
3.50pm - Afternoon Concert - including:
Wayne Shorter, arr Guy Barker: Nefertiti.
BBC Concert Orchestra, director Bramwell Tovey (piano).

Famously, the original Miles Davis recording of 1967 is dependant on the rhythm section underpinning the front line's repeated statement of the unchanging theme with improvised variations, so it will be interesting to see what Barker will do in this version. Merely to transcribe the variations "verbatim" would surely be a cop-out? Please submit your answers for this year's Christmas cracker "crack" filler.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"The Good Shepp pours Source on the Bollani ... 'crack' filler"; still illegal in some states.

Anna Murray in her review of this event for the online Journal of Music refers to the Guy Barker arrangement as "fairly sterile".

http://journalofmusic.com/criticism/spinning-orchestra

[Serial_Apologist]

Why is it, I wonder, that I think of Annie Ross's "Twisted" as a product of the early '60s? I suppose it's from seeing her and Cleo switching her choruses on it on TW3.

[Serial_Apologist]

"The Good Shepp pours Source on the Bollani ... 'crack' filler"; still illegal in some states.

Anna Murray in her review of this event for the online Journal of Music refers to the Guy Barker arrangement as "fairly sterile".

http://journalofmusic.com/criticism/spinning-orchestra

Good review. I'd have probably felt similarly to Ms Murray: the second half of the event as being more interesting than the first.

[Tenor Freak]

Enjoyed that Parker/Holland/Taborn track just now.

Mouldy old figs in the bin...

[Serial_Apologist]

Enjoyed that Parker/Holland/Taborn track just now.

Mouldy old figs in the bin...

I was reminded of the Guiffre/Swallow/Bley trio - except that Jimmy always performed on clarinet in that, iirc.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Enjoyed that Parker/Holland/Taborn track just now.

Mouldy old figs in the bin...

Just about to post...REALLY excellent and not "quite" what I was expecting. (In contrast, the Woody Herman "Fanfare" take was dire).

[Tenor Freak]

Craig Taborn is usually excellent.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Mouldy old figs in the bin...

No need for that - I was only posting on the review!

[Serial_Apologist]

Just about to post...REALLY excellent and not "quite" what I was expecting. (In contrast, the Woody Herman "Fanfare" take was dire).

To be fair, he woody been 63 by the time of making that recording, which was after all considered old in the 1970s - how common was it back then for old Swingers to be getting down 'n' funky with da yoof?

[Serial_Apologist]

Archie Shepp's about to be interviewed on Jay to Zee, if anyone's tuned in.

"Hi, I'm Archie Shepp. You're listening to Jay to Zed"!

That caught me with my metaphorical pants down!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Soul Eyes" from "Coltrane" is such a majestic recording. The first side of that album, "Out.of this world" followed by "Soul Eyes" is a constant joy.

[Serial_Apologist]

"Soul Eyes" from "Coltrane" is such a majestic recording. The first side of that album, "Out.of this world" followed by "Soul Eyes" is a constant joy.

Yes. absolutely lovely. For some reason I'd not heard his own version of that tune before, only others' interpretations. Will have to listen to that again, as I had half an ear on what Shepp was saying, his voice putting one at ease, and the other on not just Trane's incredible poise but the utter beauty of McCoy's piano, both behind him and in his own solo - probably the best I've ever heard him play. The feel of today's programme was on a different level to what I've made of J to Z previously: Jumoke's introductions 'n' all made me feel really at home. Such a contrast with these times...

[Ian Thumwood]

Just about to post...REALLY excellent and not "quite" what I was expecting. (In contrast, the Woody Herman "Fanfare" take was dire).

This was so typical of the state of big band music in the 1970's. I first really got in to jazz when I was about 9 or 10 which was in the middle of the 1970s'. My Dad had been massively in to jazz in his youth and he had a renewed enthusiasm for this music around that time. As a consequence, I grew up in a household where the likes of Benny Goodman, Count Basie and loads of the other big bands were the norm. The music which really first made an impression on me at the time was that of Tommy Dorsey's orchestra and the recording "Boogie Woogie" in particular. When I was 9, this record seemed like the business.

What was intriguing back then was that I was growing up at a time when a lot of this music was between 30 and 40 years old. Some of the band leaders from that era were still around and performing such as Goodman, Hampton, Basie, James and even the old Heath band under the baton of Don Lusher. There were some bands which were more "contemporary" and many of these seemed to see fusion and jazz rock as being the way in which a younger audience could connect with big bands. It is interesting to look back and laugh at these arrangements now but I think you need to be appreciative of the situation for jazz and big bands at the time, It was pretty dire. Amongst those most "culpable" were Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson and Woody Herman. Of these three, I must say that there was a lot of mistrust amongst those friends I knew who were older than me but who also loved big bands. MF was always held in suspicion albeit , in fairness to Rich, his bands of the 1970s were about the most hard-edged large jazz ensembles of their time and they also had a following outside of jazz. He was probably the most famous musician in jazz around the 1970's when it was getting less and less media attention. Even Basie was forced by record companies to record Beatles songs and James Bond themes whereas Quincy Jones when extremely commercial and lost a lot of kudos with both jazz and big band fans at the time. Even Gil Evans resorted to performing jimi Hendrix numbers and these remained part of his repertoire throughout the 1980s when Hendrix' music was almost as nostalgic as Glenn Miller. The 1970s seemed like a point of crisis for big bands whose leaders chose all sorts of weird material whether it was Tito Puente recording the theme for "2001 " or Harry James performing "Green Onions." A constant topic of debate around that time was whether big bands would ever come back and how could they stay relevant. There seemed to be a crisis in belief in the music.

Regarding Herman, I would have to admit that I am a big fan. I think he probably had one of the greatest of all big bands in the 1940s in his two Herds but he was probably the most perceptive of all the band leaders in recognising where the music was going and he had his finger right on the pulse. Pour over his discography and it is clear that he was tempting to stay relevant in each decade. We can quite easily ridicule the fusion stuff from the 1970s but everyone was doing this at the time whether it was Herman, Ferguson, Rich or even Sun Ra. What I love about Woody is that he would be checking out Bird but was savvy enough to perform Horace Silver numbers in the 60's. Pick up his records from the 1980s and there are recordings of compositions by the likes of Lou Donaldson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, John Coltrane and DOn Grolnick whose "Step's Ahead" were one of the bands from the early part of that decade. I think Woody can be forgiven "Fanfare" as there is plenty in his discography that does stand the test f time and his significant to the history and development of jazz. I wonder if you had read about Woody in the excellent Gene Lees' book "Meet me at Jim and Andy's? " Woody Herman was one of the good guys in jazz and was savvy enough to appreciate that jazz had to evolve. Had he been alive now, I am sure he was still be trying to sound relevant. For me, he is one of the bandleaders who is free from criticism.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Yes, I'm not knocking Woody Herman as such (and he did employ some very good soloists in his latter bands, particularly tenor players), it was that specific track and the arrangement. And I'm not a particular fan of the "original". Funnily, not just big bands, I was listening to an interview with Mose Allison and the reason he left Atlantic was because Jerry Wexler wanted him to record an album of mostly Beatle songs, "so the record will sell for once". Despair.