JRR 29th Sept 2012: a victory over The System

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Excellent interview etc. clips on Utube with Wyatt who is getting to look more like Uncle Karl by the day.

Well dug, old Mole.

BN.

[Tenor Freak]

Robert Wyatt is a regular JRR listener and has had at least one request played on air. FACT.

[Jazzrook]

Robert Wyatt is a regular JRR listener and has had at least one request played on air. FACT.

Robert Wyatt is on Radio 4 today(2 October, 11.30am). Could be interesting.

[Byas'd Opinion]

Alyn, thanks for tracking down and playing the Benny Waters - Alex Shaw track. I enjoyed it a lot. I was a bit worried that Shaw was going to turn out only to have seemed to be good at the time because the Scottish scene in the early 80s wasn't anything like as good as it is today, but I thought his playing definitely stood the test of time.

Benny Waters also seemed to be the most modern sounding of the horn players, despite being far and away the oldest musician on the record. I saw play in Edinburgh a couple of times, but I can't remember who the rhythm section was.

[Alyn_Shipton]

A pleasure to play it, Byas'd and I agree about BW. It wasn't me up there with him in Edinburgh, I think the farthest North I went with Benny was Nottingham (played there with Snub Mosley as well). But I played a lot of gigs with Benny over the years, of which my favourite was at the Bull's Head somewhere round 1979 with Fred Hunt on piano and (for one set) Freddie Kohlman - from New Orleans - on drums. Robin Jones played drums the rest of the evening, and some geezer called Ruby Braff sat in - I could get quite nostalgic about it....

[Ian Thumwood]

It must have been fascinating working with Benny Waters and to hear first hand the accounts of his days as a jazz musician in the 20's. He is one of those musicians you see cropping up from time to time in the line ups of bands like Fletcher Henderson and King Oliver. Checking him out on Wicki, it is incredible that he attended New England Conservatory of Music as ealry as 1922 - rather slaying the myth about early jazz musicians not being musically educated. I didn't realise that he had been Harry Carney's teacher too. He is one of the subjects in Chip Deffaa's highly recommended "Voices of the Jazz Age."

Despite his involvement in the early days of jazz, it is fascinating to learn that he also checked out more "modern" layers like Art Pepper. Also intriguing to learn that he didn't necessarily just play jazz to begin with and his career was far more rounded even from the early 1920's. He must have been one of the first musicians to use the saxophone in a jazz context.

[Lateralthinking1]

Congratulations Byas'd for getting your record played.

Jazzrook mentioned the programme featuring Robert Wyatt on R4. It was interesting to hear about this life and he came across well. Better, I thought, than expected. I was a little surprised how he distanced himself slightly from the political use of 'Shipbuilding'. The song though is sufficiently strong to make its own statement.

but my main reason for posting here is that it is a JRR thread. I especially wanted to mention the JRR of 6 October as I very much enjoyed it. In fact, there wasn't a track on the programme I disliked. And pleasingly it was very wide ranging - from Duke Ellington to Horace Silver; Art Tatum and Ben Webster to Don Cherry.

The opener by Zoe Rahman indicated to me that there is some scope for a new jazz-folk crossover. It sounds awful as a label but that 'Kindred Spirits' CD is really growing on me. Leo Watson's 'Avocado Seed Soup Symphony Part 1' was also a real pick-me-up and great fun. I have listened to it a lot during the past few weeks.

Beyond the music, I feel that Alyn is one of the BBC's best presenters. I very much like his presenting style and his accent on information. He can't put a foot wrong for me. While JRR is a very good programme, I also hope that the podcasts will remain accessible. I'm taking them in slowly and tend to want to listen to them twice.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Theres a great Art Pepper/Hamp Hawes ballad coming up on a few weeks!

Many thanks Alyn, apologies for being such a pest. Now, where did I put that long list of Elmo Hope tracks........

BN.