Seoul music - the Besson offer!

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 23 Oct
5pm - J to Z
Julian Joseph presents fine new jazz and classics of the genre, today featuring a live performance by French trumpeter Airelle Besson and her quartet. And Israeli pianist Shai Maestro shares some of his musical inspirations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wkd8

12midnight - Freeness
Corey Mwamba profiles Seoul-based label Mung Music, with founder Sunjae Lee speaking about the scene for experimental improvised music in South Korea. Plus an abstract blues-inspired track by Charlotte Keeffe, Martin Pyne and Martin Archer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wkdj

Sun 24 Oct
4pm - Jazz Record Requests

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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010x6r

[Jazzrook]

Also, a 2-hour documentary "about the life and career of the legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy, a pioneer of Chicago's West Side Sound who influenced the likes of Jimi Hendrix and more".

Sky Arts(Freeview 11)

Sat 23 Oct

9pm - Buddy Guy: the Blues Chase the Blues Away

Preceded by:

8.30pm - Discovering Little Richard

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

Also, a 2-hour documentary "about the life and career of the legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy, a pioneer of Chicago's West Side Sound who influenced the likes of Jimi Hendrix and more".

Sky Arts(Freeview 11)

Sat 23 Oct

9pm - Buddy Guy: the Blues Chase the Blues Away

Preceded by:

8.30pm - Discovering Little Richard

JR

Thanks for spotting that, Jazzrook.

[Ian Thumwood]

I caught a bit of J-Z this evening coming back from the football and expected to log on this evening finding a lot of vitriol against the music produced by Airelle Besson. For what it was worth, she was a new name to me but quite indicative of the fact that much of what has been happening in France over the last 20 years is largley overlooked by the British jazz auidence. There were elements of her music whcih reminded me a bit of Kenny Wheeler . From my listening experience, i don't think the music she produced was any less impressive than say the stuff i have hears saxophonist Sohpie Alour produce. The problem for me is that the continued conveyor belt of French jazz musicians is even more exagerated than in the UK and you feel that these player never get the chance to cement the kinds of reputations they deserve.

I have to say that I don't think Shabaka Hutchings records seem to do him justice having hear him perform live with some quite heavy hitters. He is massively appreciated in the States but I feel the records he has put out don't seem to do his justice. I quite liked the track tonight .

Wondered if anyone had heard he Shai Maestro part of the programme. I have his latest album but it strook me a being a bit lightweight and pretty. Iti is Ok but maybe indicative of where ECM now is as a record label ?????

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I caught a bit of J-Z this evening coming back from the football and expected to log on this evening finding a lot of vitriol against the music produced by Airelle Besson. For what it was worth, she was a new name to me but quite indicative of the fact that much of what has been happening in France over the last 20 years is largley overlooked by the British jazz auidence. There were elements of her music whcih reminded me a bit of Kenny Wheeler . From my listening experience, i don't think the music she produced was any less impressive than say the stuff i have hears saxophonist Sohpie Alour produce. The problem for me is that the continued conveyor belt of French jazz musicians is even more exagerated than in the UK and you feel that these player never get the chance to cement the kinds of reputations they deserve.

I have to say that I don't think Shabaka Hutchings records seem to do him justice having hear him perform live with some quite heavy hitters. He is massively appreciated in the States but I feel the records he has put out don't seem to do his justice. I quite liked the track tonight .

Wondered if anyone had heard he Shai Maestro part of the programme. I have his latest album but it strook me a being a bit lightweight and pretty. Iti is Ok but maybe indicative of where ECM now is as a record label ?????

I'm afraid the part of the program that I heard (up to halfway) just washed over me as per usual. Agree, I think, about contemporary French jazz which seems anodyne and irrelevant. And I've just heard another French trumpet player this morning "homaging" Miles et Chet, no thanks. I have however been listening to Bud Powell with Phil Woods & Donald Byrd at Birdland in 1957 which was raw, but ALIVE.

[Serial_Apologist]

We get to hear a version of Ladies in Mercedes by its progenitor, Steve Swallow, on JRR this afternoon, which will be a first for me. I don't think it will stand up without the pointed lyrics Norma Winstone subsequently put to it, so am prepared for disappointment. Coincidentally, Norma has a track from her own debut recording on immediately after it. Norma does not like her singing, chiefly her vocal tone, from this early period, but I have to say love this album for its freedom, energy, optimism and over the top joie de vivre. In the context of its time it was critically viewed as conventional by comparison with much of the British jazz then coming out.

[Alyn_Shipton]

We have featured Airelle Besson on JRR recently…

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

We get to hear a version of Ladies in Mercedes by its progenitor, Steve Swallow, on JRR this afternoon, which will be a first for me. I don't think it will stand up without the pointed lyrics Norma Winstone subsequently put to it, so am prepared for disappointment. Coincidentally, Norma has a track from her own debut recording on immediately after it. Norma does not like her singing, chiefly her vocal tone, from this early period, but I have to say love this album for its freedom, energy, optimism and over the top joie de vivre. In the context of its time it was critically viewed as conventional by comparison with much of the British jazz then coming out.

I really liked Norma et al! Hadn't heard that before. Not never. Not so struck on the preceding Ladies with Mercedes which could have been lift music. Or film background.

[Serial_Apologist]

I really liked Norma et al! Hadn't heard that before. Not never. Not so struck on the preceding Ladies with Mercedes which could have been lift music. Or film background.

Some links for you on the resuscitated Lauren order Kinsella thread, BL.

Extraordinary sounds today for Jazz Record requests: a track from Stan Kenton that sounded as though Arnold Schoenberg had evicted Stan from his studio, and as if Cecil Taylor had just pushed Nina Simone off her piano stool in that remarkable performance of "Jelly Roll"!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Just seen, many thanks! I thought her voice was wonderful...pass it on!

[elmo]

I'm afraid the part of the program that I heard (up to halfway) just washed over me as per usual. Agree, I think, about contemporary French jazz which seems anodyne and irrelevant. And I've just heard another French trumpet player this morning "homaging" Miles et Chet, no thanks. I have however been listening to Bud Powell with Phil Woods & Donald Byrd at Birdland in 1957 which was raw, but ALIVE.

That Bud Powell album is ace - Art Taylor's drumming is particularly good on this album, Art was a great drummer that never got the recognition he deserved. Unfortunately I can't find any of those tracks on youtube.

elmo

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Elmo, they are a bit elusive, but if you search Utube on Bud Powell "Birdland 1957 & Scandinavia 1962" as a title, they are all there. Here's "Dance of the Infidels" : http://youtu.be/YACKKrDJJ-Y

Agree about Art Taylor, his style seemed to change, open here in 1957, very clipped with Coltrane on Giant Steps, then really blossoming with Hamp Hawes, Powell etc and others in the 1960s & beyond.

[elmo]

Bluesie - thanks for the youtube clips, I have the album but its handy to be able to listen to this stuff without ploughing through the collection to find it.

Here is AT with Johnny Griffin playing "My little suede shoes"

https://youtu.be/nkODr8JMu4Q

elmo

[Ian Thumwood]

I'm afraid the part of the program that I heard (up to halfway) just washed over me as per usual. Agree, I think, about contemporary French jazz which seems anodyne and irrelevant. And I've just heard another French trumpet player this morning "homaging" Miles et Chet, no thanks. I have however been listening to Bud Powell with Phil Woods & Donald Byrd at Birdland in 1957 which was raw, but ALIVE.

Bluesnik

That wasn't the point I was really trying to make. For me, the issue with French jazz has been with artists who have been over-promoted or with projects that never seem to exist beyond one record. My experience has been that it has been really mixed. There is a generation of older players who have come out of the 1960s avant garde and created a cadre of players which very much reflects what we have experienced in the UK. Muscians like Michel Portal and Louis Sclavis are of a much older generation and I feel have been instrumental in giving French contemporary jazz it's own flavour. Unfortunately, there are younger musicians who have been somewhat over-praised and who often include a disproportionate number of singers. A lot of the "hyped" up projects have been interesting yet the competitions such as REZZO really demonstrate just how strong the younger generation of French players are. They are more likely to be taking their cues from Ambrose Akinmusire than Chet. You also encounter some wierd combinations like piano / drum duos but I have generally found the French scene to be hugely varied and offering a "European perspective" wholly different from something like ECM. There are a few names who have cropped up on other labels like ACT where you analogy would be entirely appropriate yet the impression I get is that French jazz is far more healthy in the regions than is the case in the UK which largely remains London-centric.

The notion that French jazz is solely anodyne has not been mylistening experience and there are projects such as the those led by Belomondo Brothers and Christophe Del Sasso that are seriously undervalued. The Airelle Besson set was ok-ish and maybe indicative of what the French music colleges have been churning out for a while as the encourage their students to look beyond the American model.

Expanding the topic somewhat to the general state of jazz, I foudn this interview with Gordon Goodwin of the "Big Phat Band" quite salutory and especially with regard to the failure to often connect with contemporary audiences. I have not read anyone make quite a negative statement quite like this for a long while but Goodwin's own connections with Disney and the broader commercial spectrum make this quite interesting. Goodwin is a musician who I would tend to admire more than actually like with regard to the music he produceswhich I find to be overly slick and not necessarily what I would associate with unadulterated jazz. I would suggest that there will be quote a few on here who strongly disagree with his comments yet it strikes me as interesting when you read it in conjunction with your own comments! Goodwin is someone whose opinion make interrsting reading because he know what he is talking about yet you sense he probably would not be delving in to Joe's collection of late-era Coltrane! Not sure Goodwin's solution is the same conclusion I would come to and I think there will be a few contributors in here who would be shaking their head in disagreement.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/take-five-with-gordon-goodwin

[Serial_Apologist]

Just seen, many thanks! I thought her voice was wonderful...pass it on!

There were a number of equally amazing recordings by British artists from around that same time which are more than worthy of attention, Bluesie. I'll see if I can dig out some links tomorrow. Meantime, here's another interview of Norma by a young German (?) pianist who's interviewed other great musicians, including Dave Holland and John Scofield, which might come up as follow ons on your computer. Zoom possibly (don't ask!!) Norma talks in depth about creative processes without resorting to mystification - something a short radio interview with limited time really can't be expected to achieve with the best will in the world, and she has some fascinating anecdotes that add to the wider story. She needs no prompts, and comes across (as always) as a wonderful personality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqhQll4UHws