How was it for you darlings 9 10 11 June OH12!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Geoffrey does Porgy & Bess

Drawing on interpretations from Louis Armstong and Ella Fitzgerald to Sidney Bechet, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis, Geoffrey Smith presents on all-star omnibus version of the opera.

what's not to like?



a rarebit treat in JLU

Michael Garrick’s Lyric Ensemble Home Thoughts, From Abroad

Performers: Michael Garrick (Piano), Matt Ridley (Bass), Tony Woods (Reeds), Chris Nickolls (Drums), Nette Robinson (Vocals) Composer: Michael Garrick

Home Thoughts, Jazz Acacemy JAZA 20

else it's a duo on the ivories ...


er i declare an interest, i am nuts about Vijay Iyer

Jez Nelson presents American pianist Vijay Iyer in concert with his trio at The Vortex jazz club in London. Drawing influence from Indian, modern classical and pop styles, Iyer has gained a reputation as one of the most original and daring voices of his generation, creating music that is at once rhythmically complex and direct. His already prolific career has included numerous notable collaborations that reflect the breadth of his musical influences, including with saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and the poet Mike Ladd. This trio - featuring Stephan Crump on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums - caused a stir with the release of their first album, Historicity. Celebrating the release of their much-anticipated follow-up Accelerando, they continue to reinvent familiar repertoire and deliver stellar originals.

so Jon3 is a no brainer for me

how was it for you darlings?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Geoffrey's Porgy & Bess miscellany was orgasmic ....love it! ... some rare big band selections ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

We're still coming down from last week's cathartic performance by Robert Glasper, but this week's gig is the perfect pick-me-up. Like Glasper, fellow US pianist Vijay Iyer has a revisionist take on what 21st-century jazz is all about, but his music could scarcely be more different.

An obsession with rhythm and groove is at the heart of everything this trio does, whether it's pulling apart the jazz canon or dabbling in minimalist techno. This week's performance has a bit of both, with plenty in between. The set opens with an Iyer original, drawing on south Indian Carnatic music and laying out the group's dynamic, where nothing is quite as it seems: the line between tune and improv is often blurred, while apparently straight grooves skip and stretch time without losing their thrust – thanks in large part to bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore. The penultimate tune, Human Nature, is a real highlight - the group conjures a really ecstatic feel from a simple idea, quelling any suggestion that Iyer's music is all brain and no heart.

Later in the programme, studio guest Kevin Le Gendre explores the respect and love that Stevie Wonder engenders among jazz musicians today. He sits in on an exclusive session by Orphy Robinson and Cleveland Watkiss that reimagines some of Stevie's music, with a Wonder-esque amount of effects and multi-layering bringing the music into the 21st century.

Join Jez on Monday 11 June from 11pm to hear all this, or listen online for seven days after broadcast.

Jon3 Newsletter

[grippie]

Some more wise words to ponder



Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have remained a virgin..'

- Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)

<><>

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: - 'No good in a bed, but fine against a wall.'

- Eleanor Roosevelt


<><>

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement..

- Mark Twain

<><>

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible

- George Burns

<><>

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.

- Victor Borge

<><>

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

- Mark Twain

<><>

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.

- Socrates

<><>

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.

- Groucho Marx

<><>

My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe.

- Jimmy Durante

<><>

I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.

- Zsa Zsa Gabor

<><>

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.

- Alex Levine

<><>

My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.

- Rodney Dangerfield

<><>

Money can't buy you happiness .... But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.

- Spike Milligan

<><>

Until I was thirteen, I thought my name was SHUT UP .

- Joe Namath

<><>

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.

- Bob Hope

<><>

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it..

- W. C. Fields

<><>

We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.

- Will Rogers

<><>

Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.

- Winston Churchill

<><>

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty .. But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out..

- Phyllis Diller

<><>

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.

- Bill y Crystal

<><>

If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all

-Ray Charles


And the cardiologist's diet: - If it tastes good spit it out.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

it's the way you tell em grippie ...

the Vijay Iver set was well worth catching and the extended riffing on Stevie W was worth lissenin to ... v good prog this week

[handsomefortune]

thanks for the reminder to listen darling!

since jez asked for feedback .....to my ears, a promising start with the bristol trio, named 'Dakhlar' (phonetic spelling alert - sorry i don't have time to check listings - now adjusted) .... the opener was apparently from the section where new artists send stuff in to jez......

followed by the vijay iyer set... imo a real shame about vijay's ryhthm section - i couldn't hear, wasn't aware of the bass much tbh. the drums seemed to be plodding out the same even stevens regular bish bash on a dull snare ...quite regardless of what the piano and bass were doing. despite vijay's speed, brevity and cunning it became empty, tedious after only a couple of tracks, though track 3 stood out iirc.

frankly, i found the stevie wonder 'impro' nauseating, and what was achieved musically was created using pc software, (which IDEALLY should have been mentioned, not that there's anything whatsoever wrong with this method per se....but it might have led to potentially interesting discussion as to the value of spontaneity, error, and real time improvisation v economy and the dexterity of contemporary pc tools WIDELY available)? relevant at a time when apparently the lso are miming to cds, and other strange 'progressions' ensue, sometimes in the name of 'economy' and 'speed' amongst other excuses. all a bit odd, as le genre made much of the 'heaps of musical instruments' bought along for the session, but then completely omitted how instruments were manipulated post production.

instead, the sw analysis was presented as the results of the two musos actually improvising together, and supposedly recorded 'at bbc studios'? (wasn't it it allegedly maidevale)? since the beeb are supposedly touting for new, younger listeners - they surely shouldn't under estimate listeners' ability to decipher the difference between live impro, and less spontaneous efforts, altered and effected on a laptop?

a dull discussion followed, between the two musos, and then le genre and jez pitched in. dizzyingly, the thing no one could apparently 'quite put their finger on' about sw, was that his early work, besides being unique and technically brilliant, still has an urgency, angst, and heaps of soul, in part due to the lyrics being pretty political - sw really means it, but doesn't want to get us down in the dumps with his albums, but aims to unify us instead. (the lyrics are not typical late 70s US mainstream - and perhaps appear positively 'outrageous' by today's comparatively flabby, vacuous mainstream standards) .... i love his early stuff, but by the 80s it all goes pear shaped, as predictably sw cools off, ....rather than still hitting a creative jackpot, taking the risks required. imo sw had 'done it' by the 1980s, ...but it matters not. therefore, arguably, singing sw lyrics and melodies in a crooning, bing crosbyesque style is best done alone in the bath, if at all. even if currently crooning's considered fashionable by some, there are some sentiments which totally resist being on trend..or off.

so, imo NOT a v good prog last week, typically annoying, and for successive weeks on the trot. there's much better jazz, and jazz fusions played on 'late junction'..... to my ears.

whilst i also listened to last saturday's 'porgy fest' - i have little recollection. but perhaps that's djing for you - easy come - easy go, especially if nothing stands out particularly. i did think how totally unlike karen dalton and billy holiday actually sound...... and how people are so quick to make lazy, stereotypical comparisons often based on life experiences, rather than the actual vocal sounds made. however, i did love the roy haynes edition presented by dj geoffrey smith - so can we have another similarly focused show 'about a brilliant jazz artist' some time soon please?

[handsomefortune]

as yet i haven't done 'jlu' - but agreed it looks intriguing, as random selections go.

[Ian Thumwood]

I was at the Ageas Bowl today watching the ODI against West Indies but managed to tune into a part of JRR during a point was play was stopped for the bad weather. Although there were a few favourites tiday like the brilliant Ellington / Hawkins collaboration and Bob Crosby's "Spain," the stand out track that I heard was Art Pepper's "Here's that rainy day" - a serendipitous choice given the circumstances! You forget how great Art Pepper was. Given the woeful state of the current "Windies" team, I do wonder if "I don't stand a ghost of a chance" would have also been a good choice! Perhaps by Chu Berry with Cab Calloway but think there might also have been a good by Dexter Gordon that I have heard in the past!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yep Ian El Senor Bluesnik would never tire of telling us how great Art cam be .... heard that track and it was a stopper eh? i sat mouth agape listening to his passion ...

[Serial_Apologist]

I was at the Ageas Bowl today watching the ODI against West Indies but managed to tune into a part of JRR during a point was play was stopped for the bad weather. Although there were a few favourites tiday like the brilliant Ellington / Hawkins collaboration and Bob Crosby's "Spain," the stand out track that I heard was Art Pepper's "Here's that rainy day" - a serendipitous choice given the circumstances! You forget how great Art Pepper was. Given the woeful state of the current "Windies" team, I do wonder if "I don't stand a ghost of a chance" would have also been a good choice! Perhaps by Chu Berry with Cab Calloway but think there might also have been a good by Dexter Gordon that I have heard in the past!

By coincidence, I managed to pick up an only slightly scratched copy of "Fisherman's Blues" yesterday for sick squid at the local market - quite a find, I told the perplexed lady.

[Serial_Apologist]

I only got around to hearing this sesh last night, but I do feel handsomefortune's considerable response is deserving of some recognition.

since jez asked for feedback .....to my ears, a promising start with the bristol trio, named 'Dakhlar' (phonetic spelling alert - sorry i don't have time to check listings - now adjusted) .... the opener was apparently from the section where new artists send stuff in to jez......

My wish would be for this programme to present more extended trracks from new recordings to give at least some impression. The track in question basically just presented material - though I do see there's a link to the band's website offering further - snippets? - I intend trialling as soon as time allows

followed by the vijay iyer set... imo a real shame about vijay's ryhthm section - i couldn't hear, wasn't aware of the bass much tbh. the drums seemed to be plodding out the same even stevens regular bish bash on a dull snare ...quite regardless of what the piano and bass were doing. despite vijay's speed, brevity and cunning it became empty, tedious after only a couple of tracks, though track 3 stood out iirc.

I was more disappointed by the thinness of the materials used in the more "experimental" tracks than the underwhelming tone of the bass (poss down to poor mixing) or degree of interplay: typical in this regard the second track's doing a simple Steve Reich cliche to death. This, and the following jazz-rock number, came over as preplanned for the (albeit laboured) effect of the drummer's prominencing to succeed within minimal(ist) requirements, as though through-composed with nothing left to chance.

frankly, i found the stevie wonder 'impro' nauseating, and what was achieved musically was created using pc software, (which IDEALLY should have been mentioned, not that there's anything whatsoever wrong with this method per se....but it might have led to potentially interesting discussion as to the value of spontaneity, error, and real time improvisation v economy and the dexterity of contemporary pc tools WIDELY available)? relevant at a time when apparently the lso are miming to cds, and other strange 'progressions' ensue, sometimes in the name of 'economy' and 'speed' amongst other excuses. all a bit odd, as le genre made much of the 'heaps of musical instruments' bought along for the session, but then completely omitted how instruments were manipulated post production.

instead, the sw analysis was presented as the results of the two musos actually improvising together, and supposedly recorded 'at bbc studios'? (wasn't it it allegedly maidevale)? since the beeb are supposedly touting for new, younger listeners - they surely shouldn't under estimate listeners' ability to decipher the difference between live impro, and less spontaneous efforts, altered and effected on a laptop?

a dull discussion followed, between the two musos, and then le genre and jez pitched in. dizzyingly, the thing no one could apparently 'quite put their finger on' about sw, was that his early work, besides being unique and technically brilliant, still has an urgency, angst, and heaps of soul, in part due to the lyrics being pretty political - sw really means it, but doesn't want to get us down in the dumps with his albums, but aims to unify us instead. (the lyrics are not typical late 70s US mainstream - and perhaps appear positively 'outrageous' by today's comparatively flabby, vacuous mainstream standards) .... i love his early stuff, but by the 80s it all goes pear shaped, as predictably sw cools off, ....rather than still hitting a creative jackpot, taking the risks required. imo sw had 'done it' by the 1980s, ...but it matters not. therefore, arguably, singing sw lyrics and melodies in a crooning, bing crosbyesque style is best done alone in the bath, if at all. even if currently crooning's considered fashionable by some, there are some sentiments which totally resist being on trend..or off.

Yes, there's creativity to be had from digital technology - one only needs to hear Evan Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble for one example. Here, the looped effects were akin to patina or more like aural grouting; I had the impression of a rushed project in need of pre-thought and preparation. For Cleveland Watkiss and Orphy Robinson, as for others of that generation, conversance with Stevie Wonder was inscribed into the very fibres of their teens. Watkiss has spoken eloquently elsewhere about the influences informing his viewpoint; here he sounded just tired, I suspect...

so, imo NOT a v good prog last week, typically annoying, and for successive weeks on the trot. there's much better jazz, and jazz fusions played on 'late junction'..... to my ears.

Yes but Late Junction is rather like Womad - a bit of this, a bit of that, divorced and re-contextualised.

[handsomefortune]

i had hoped jez Himself might reply serial apologist - that'd be a first eh! (but thanks for being sociable)

ideally, the new jon3 section specifically set aside for homegrown talent might be the extended part of the programme logically. rather than recent US gigs of stuff that's essentially pop fusion, rather than jazz. still, iirc at least jez mentioned something about a 'manchester music festival' to be broadcast soon, in which newly noticed bristol trio 'dakhlar' may feature.

jez hasn't noticed, or doesn't apparently deem worthy of mention, that 'dakhlar' are at least the third uk outfit (featured on his own prog), to feature 'bass melody' as supplied by other instruments, ie not a bass guitar, or upright bass. since the beeb champion shebaka hutchings as its very own 'new generation artist' odd that they then fail to mention (amongst other related hype), that 'sons of kemit' may well have influenced, or perhaps at minimum provide a link between new homegrown trios, quartets etc featured ...it's confused, and confusing imo. where's the long term sense of continuity and overall programme objective?

why only one band featured per week? - when it's pretty obvious that there's much more talent in the whole uk, that might well be featured, and may add a sense of identity, importance to a homegrown jazz scene....? in 2012, if we can do this for sport - why not jazz? bearing in mind there's scotland, ireland and wales ...as well as (not just the south of) england to potentially choose from. jlu sometimes features whole gigs, so it's not as though the 'live' section is TOTALLY ignored exactly, but the odd bits and bobs covered live by the beeb on r3, hardly make up for all other sins.

nothing left to chance.

perhaps suffices to say a metronome would have done just as well. or listeners booting a wet cardboard box every few bars would at least add an element of chance, as well as a new element to radio participation. tbh i couldn't help but wonder what troyka's josh blackmore would have sounded like with vijay and the (invisible) bass player? terrific probably.... instead of creatively 'thin'. or mr sebastian rochford for that matter.... even 'leafcutter' might be preferable, as he could presumably record, mix the bass audibly....which is important. especially where live broadcasts by trios are concerned.

aural grouting

segments of water joined, make ice cubes in bubble wrap presumably! (definitely not a waterfall, or stream meandering through the music)) arguably, if sw was water - he was the pacific ocean - or a hefty waterfall!

mine is not a criticism of the sw proteges themselves, it's just that the supposed 'analysis' was weak, falls between incomplete and rambling, as well as being misrepresented by hosts. at one point one of them is singing a sw phrase live, as part of the interview, and someone just cuts in and interrupts him. is it surprising in these circumstances that guests may appear 'tired'?

Evan Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble yes, take the hint s-a.

but arguably this confuses my main point about beeb claims ie, when is 'recorded at maidevale, not maidevale'? john peel didn't used to pretend he broadcast from maidevale - if he was at home - so 'economy' is nothing whatsoever to be ashamed of exactly. but merely illustrates the wonders of broadcasting, and contemporary software technologies respectively. (i am posting this from kashmir btw )

Late Junction is rather like Womad - a bit of this, a bit of that, divorced and re-contextualised.

'lj''s fiona talkington and verity sharp, in particular, don't go in for the big pre ramble prior to tracks, as others often do. i am not aware of either forcing superficial contexts and links where there are none either.....minus hype i'm usually much more open to ANY music ..... so the 'divorce' isn't quite as violent and unhinged as the supposedly 'contextualised' broth of jez on 3 hype. thankfully, sometimes people actually sing on 'lj' tracks, and whereas it might be via a nose pipe ... at least it's not beeb friendly creamy crooning, or other ubiquitous yet hideous styles.

arguably, due to the musical stylistic 'range' that 'lj' strives for around the world, i never have to listen to a whole gig of US's latest promo export ..... not everyone is 'deaf as a post' in europe, funnily enough! plus i sometimes doubt that US jazz audiences are ALWAYS that keen on what get dumped off here tbh! but perhaps that's a personal hope - rather than a doubt serial apologist!

[Serial_Apologist]

when is 'recorded at maidevale, not maidevale'?

Must be today's depression(s), sorry, but I can't resist, "When it's Maida Valeable?"

I'll get me brolly and flotilla off.........

[handsomefortune]

very nearly paralleling your 'all bran new buildings in londres' post, on the old r4 'tciy' mb s-a!