Alyn Shipton on BBC Radio Scotland

[Guest]

On The Jazz House last night (repeated on Sunday at 8pm)

Stephen Duffy interviews jazz author Alyn Shipton who has helped compile and research The Smithsonian Jazz Anthology which lets the "people's music" be heard and fulfills the educational mission of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the nonprofit record label of the United States national museum.

Available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015cvq9

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thanks Byas'd it is more and more apparent that Radio Scotland is carrying the flag for jazz ... should we all move to Edinburgh?

[charles t]

" ...should we all move to Edinburgh? "

Sounds extreme, Jazbo.

Recall an interview with Burt Lancaster - about his starring in Bill Forsyth's unforgettable Scottish film, Local Hero...in which Lancaster spoke about how he approached Forsyth early in the filming and asked him how he wanted him to play the role.

Lancaster said that after listening to him for a few minutes, he realized he couldn't understand a word what he was saying and decided to go ahead and just do it his way!

[handsomefortune]

oh good, thought i'd missed it, but 4 days left to listen again on this item. thanks byas'd.

[Byas'd Opinion]

Tonight's programme:

Stephen Duffy profiles the music of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland & resident jazz educator Richard Michael profiles vocalist Sarah Vaughan in 'Anatomy Of A Classic'. Plus we hear from Scottish jazz legend Bobby Wellins in advance of his homecoming concerts with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, and Woody Herman is featured artist in 'Pocket Legends'.

The programme's always on Listen Again for ten days: the "available for seven days" runs from the Sunday repeat, not the original broadcast.

[handsomefortune]

alyn shipton is apparently also pronouncing loui, 'lewis'. why, after decades of pronouncing it one way, can it suddenly change? have lewis's relatives asked for this change? or, some other recent discovery as per pronunciation? it shouldn't matter at all, is admittedly a pretty pointless distraction.....but

fortunately, the rest of the interview was sufficiently lively, stephen duffy and alyn shipton's 'chat n tunes' flew by in a flash.

the george shearing track (1949)! chosen from the smithsonian anthology sounded to me like the 50s, 60s, and tv testcard 70s/80s .... so, shearing packed some reach, in terms of an enduring style, whether the result is considered enjoyable, or not. in 2011 shearing of 1949 sounds the height of retro kitsch, an ideal soundtrack for shopping in bejou boutiques on brighton sea front.

and still giving it lordy in 1989 berlin!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liDKC-w4NbQ

there wasn't time to also fit in john mclaughlan, or develop discussion about braxton being 'overlooked'. ella's 'cotton tail' scat was predictably impressive, as were the horn section. but essentially, it's 'unfortunate' about a 20 cd(+ text) equivalent european anthology of jazz. we're apparently waiting on the sorbonne, the eu, or the dutch to compile it. perhaps the 'open university' jazz course, (which apparently focuses on british jazz - if anyone recalls an old r3 mb chat)? might stretch to this challenge? if dr jason toynbee needs help regarding the rest of europe, there may well be european experts who'd relish the opportunity to contribute, surely?

right, i am 'off to poland' now for jo3 - thanks again to scotland, byas'd, duffy & shipton, respectively

[burning dog]

On Record and Live 'Pops' pronounced it both ways himself

What about See Sill Taylor everybody?

I think I read Illinois Jacquet's family pronounced it Jackay, but most commentators favour Jack-ette. I guess some go the whole hog and settle on Jackit


I tihink "Euro jazz" to an far greater extent than Amercian, lacks any defining style, people often allude to the Nordic branch of ECM because this music divides opinion so much. An academic study and archiving of jazz from Europe would be most welcome however.

[charles t]

B.D. - Your thoughts re 'Euro jazz' & ECM (Nordic) made me look down at what's currently on my desk:

Eleni Karaindrou & Jan Garbarek - The Beekeeper Soundtrack
Tom Harrell (w/Bob Berg) - Stories
Jacob Anderskov/Accident) - Agnostic Revelations
David Binney/Jeff Hirshfield - A Small Madness
Samuel S. Soria - Organ Pieces Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Evan Parker (w/Paul Dunmall) - Birmingham Concert
Evan Parker/Louis Moholo/Barry Guy, etc. - Bush Fire
Bendik Hofseth - Colours & IX
Marius Neset - Golden Explosion
Marius Neset/Oleamund Gjersvik - Duo Improvisations
Ken Vandermark/Nate McBride/Curt Newton - TriplePlayGambit
Johannes Enders & Alex Jung Quartet - Love And The Inception

DVD: Sounds And Silence - Travels With Manfred Eicher

[Serial_Apologist]

Speaking of Euro jazz, whatever means, off to see Evan Parker, John Tchicai, Louis Moholo & Tony Marsh tonight at the Vortex. "Waheeey!" as Louis (Louie?) will doubtless say.

[charles t]

Serialist: Good for you!

Remember to practice your Circular Breathing (exclm mark inferred)...

[handsomefortune]

have fun tonight serial apologist, "Waheeey!"

here's some more george shearing to wax your moustache, polish your spats to!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAYmjb47DQ&feature=fvst

and out the front door to this, 1974

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnIcYYW2A4w&feature=related

[burning dog]

[burning dog]

[Ian Thumwood]

That Shearing clip of "Conception" was fabulous. Thanks for posting that - it is great to get some idea of how the instruments work to make that sound although it is disappointing that the camera peels away just at the point in Shearing's solos where he moves away from playing Bud Powell like runs in the right hand and shells in the left to playing the improvised line in locked-hand harmony.i love the way that the left and right hand also play some of the phrases in unison. Interesting to see just how much of the piano is played in the middle register where the harmonies will sound clearer. You also get this with more modern players like , Hank Jones, Bill Evans or Red Garland and suppose that pianists only re-discovered the full range of their instrument from the 60's onwards.

I agree to a point about this style of jazz moving towards cocktail music but the above clip is be-bop at it's finest. It is funny how quickly a style that was one "hip" get appropriated into another context and becomes corny or wall-paper music. Piano players are really susceptable to this and it is a problem which I think affects musicians as diverse as Fats Waller or even some of Keith Jarrett's solo work which sometimes reminds me a bit of Elton John who I would suggest is probably the ultimate hackneyed pianist in popular music today. Luckily Jarrett "on form" is just about one of the most compelling jazz pianists although I would quickly add that I prefer his trio to his solo stuff. The solo recitals can sometimes be a bit cloying or get bogged down to my ears You could also argue that pianists like the bizarre Eroll Garner or Gene Harris could also sound corny at times. Shearing probably suffers insofar that he went through a phase of deliberated courting popular appeal and was perhaps too successful insofar that the piano / guitar/ vibes sound was heavily borrowed by marketing executives. It is strange to listen to the unashamed be-bop of "Conception" to think that the Shearing group's sound probably gave this tune more appeal than if the same arrangement had been performed by the usual quintet line-up with horns!

[burning dog]

Cocktail pianists used to sound like Shearing or Garner I remember a rather good one in a hotel in Spain in the late 70s. He must have been on the run from a wife/taxman/policeman as he was a Cockney and much better than he needed to have been for such a small and not too distinguished venue. His stlye was pretty typical of that era.

In the 90s there was cocktail pianist in quite a posh French restaurant in Clerkenwell who sounded like Bill Evans with a bit of Ahmad Jamal thrown in, though his hero was Herbie Hancock I learned. His style was pretty standard for THAT era.

I raised many a (sceptical ) laugh when I said Jamie Cullum sounded a bit like Jarrett for idiots at times but an acquaintance of mine who is a pianist agreed (It's the occasional faux gospel stylings not Jarrett's superb technique)

I saw Elton John just before he started playing megastadia (though he'd have played those in the USA). He played at my cousins school** which he had attended. Odd now to ponder it was the last period he was wearing ordinary clothes at gigs, had an acoustic bass and drum backing, plus 'jazz' guitar rather than rock, though these were probably chosen because of the small venue. His ballad piano playing was ok then but his rock n roll/boogie was already a bit corny. This was him in that mode, dodgy shirt, but it was normal for the era.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsC3g3N_qUQ&feature=related

**I just discovered via wiki Gordon Beck went there too (Three Cheers) as did Ron Goodwin (polite applause) and Simon Le Bon... ....so they do produce non musicians as well.