Oud a thought...

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 30 Jan

Music Matters (11.45am) includes writer/poet Jackie Kay on Bessie Smith (repeated Monday 10pm); and This Classical Life (12.30pm) has composer Jasmin Kent Rodgman (anyone know anything about him? - or her??) talking about recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Arve Henriksen and the Penguin Café Orchestra, among other pleasantries.

5pm - J to Z
Julian Joseph introduces a live music session from emerging Scottish pianist Fergus McCreadie, who combines Scottish folk tradition with jazz. And Canadian pianist (and journalist and radio presenter) Renee Rosnes shares music that has influenced her.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rtjk

12midnight - Freeness
Tonight's playlist includes music from the latest album from New York guitarist Mary Halvorsen with her group Code Girl. Plus a piece full of twists and turns by vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, a blazing cut from saxophonist Courtney Pine's 1990 album Within the Realms of Our Dreams, and an improvised homage to the music of Brooklyn-born bassist and oud player Ahmed Abdul-Malik (1927-93).

Ms Halvorsen's inclusion on the programme may prompt one or two bored contributers to toon in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rtjq

Sun 31 Jan
4pm - Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton with requests including a recently discovered track by Erroll Garner and an award-winning piece from Trish Clowes and her group My Iris. Plus recordings by Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa and Ella Fitzgerald.

In my cheekier moments, I've been given to wondering if Ms Clowes's name for her band might be a punning homage to Ricky Tomlinson's famously repeated exclamation in The Royle Family.

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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rtx5

[Quarky]

[DracoM]

Tried the trad KANTELE music of Finland?

[Richard Barrett]

Ms Halvorsen's inclusion on the programme may prompt one or two bored contributers to toon in.

You're darn tootin' it will.

[Joseph K]

Yep, Freeness looks good.

[Serial_Apologist]

One thing I love about Mary Halvorsen is her utterly uncool look - one would not expect library books to melt in her hands, let alone anticipate the extraordinary riskiness of her way of improvising.

[Ian Thumwood]

One thing I love about Mary Halvorsen is her utterly uncool look - one would not expect library books to melt in her hands, let alone anticipate the extraordinary riskiness of her way of improvising.

I have always thought the same appear Mary Halvorsen too. She produces some interesting music although I think her combination with Tomeka Reid in the latter's quartet is magical. For me, the two discs this group has released are amongst the best jazz recorded in the 2000's. It will be tragic if this group does not produce more records.

I only caught a small part of JZ last night , the greater part of which was the lengthy Fergus McCreadie track and have started to listen to the programme on line. It was intriguing to hear the McCreadie track because without knowing who was playing, I had guessed it was a white, British artist. There were elements of McCoy Tyner in the mix but there was something about it which told you the person playing the piano was someone born after 1990. The track by Yoko Mika was far more appealing (she was featured in a review on All about jazz this week and it seems that she has enjoyed a lengthy career for over 20 years in the States.) I find it intriguing that a Japanese was looking to absorb herself in the American tradition whereas a Scottish piano of the next generation seemed far keener to explore a folk element in his music. I have to say that I found the McCreadie trio pretty tight although more typical of how piano trios were sounding in the 2000s. Not really a fan of this kind of approach. To be it is strange how someone like John Taylor could work with similar elements and produce music which sounded more rooted in jazz.

[Alyn_Shipton]

Fergus McCreadie has been on the radar for quite a while - and he was a finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year. The trio's development was traced as he sent occasional tracks in to Jazz Now for our BBC Introducing slot, and he played live on our final Edinburgh Festival show in 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007jzd
We were also very proud to have had the opportunity to broadcast Mary Halvorsen with Dave Douglas and Uplift at the London Jazz Festival. I think the photo from our gallery from that programme catches what S-A means: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06s87s0/p06s86d3

[Quarky]

Mary Holverson proves IMV that Free Jazz can present a balanced approach to free improvisation, giving the listener an opportunity to absorb the music. All too often in Free Jazz, the excitement builds up and we end up with a screechy screechy cacophonous free for all - headache inducing.

This programme went some way to meet criticism levelled in the past that there is no background information about the tracks broadcast.

[Joseph K]

Why was Mary Halvorson just referred to as a bass guitarist?

EDIT: New York based guitarist.

[Old Grumpy]

Why was Mary Halvorson just referred to as a bass guitarist?

Sponsored by a Brewery company, perhaps?