Feb. 16th, 2019

jazzy_dave: (Default)
The latest Buffy review from TPN - To me, this is the best episode of the season with its complexities and almost surreal take on what has happened before. If you have not watched beyond Season 5 then I recommend his Non-Spoiler version. Watching this episode again, I also noticed factors that I had missed before, but then the episode is chock full of details that on one reading alone can be missed.


TPN's Buffy Guide S04E22 "Restless"




Non-Spoiler version

jazzy_dave: (black jazz)
Martin Williams "Jazz Changes"  (Oxford University Press)







This book collects articles published in magazines like Saturday Review and Down Beat, as well as a wide variety of liner notes. Martin writes in his characteristically clear prose that thankfully avoids technical jargon and he is not afraid to make definitive judgements about the quality of a musician's recordings.

Among the many jazz artists covered here in portraits, accounts of rehearsals and specific live performances,and in-depth reviews of recordings are: Earl Hines, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Eric Dolphy, singers Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday, and Duke Ellington.

Martin does not restrict himself to the established jazz masters, but also has some interesting observations about the blues singer, Robert Johnson, and the black poet, Langston Hughes.

One of the most interesting pieces is an interview with Ross Russell of Dial Records about the famous recording sessions with Charlie Parker that generated much controversy within the jazz community.

Martin presents an unusual but highly informative glimpse of three jazz bassists in his appealing piece on Scott LaFaro, Steve Swallow, and Gary Peacock.

Although Martin was a recognized authority on early jazz and the author of books on both New Orleans jazz and Jelly Roll Morton, he does not limit his writings to this period. For example, this book offers an extended profile of Ornette Coleman, as well as an analysis of a recording of a 1969 concert by Coleman at NYU. Martin also discusses the musical career of pianist Steve Kuhn and presents an interview with "outspoken" trumpeter Ruby Braff.

The centrepiece of the book, however, is certainly the 54-pages of extensive notes written to accompany the release of the multi-volume set of historic recordings made in 1938 by Jelly Roll Morton at the Library of Congress. In a series of 12 brief essays, Martin blends historical, biographical, and musical analyses to produce a fascinating set of commentaries on some of the most important recordings in the history of jazz.

Like Martin's other collections, including Jazz Heritage and Jazz Masters in Transition, 1957-1969 (Macmillan Jazz Masters Series), there are essays in this volume that should interest just about any jazz fan.

My only criticism of this collection is that it contains material published in other books by Martin. For example, his account of Thelonious Monk playing at the Five Spot, the piece about a rehearsal with Milt Jackson, a similar treatment of a rehearsal with Jimmy Giuffre's trio, and a critical appraisal of four over-rated pianists, all appear in one of Martin's other collections. But this is a relatively minor shortcoming, as everything contained in Jazz Changes is worth reading and probably twice.

Highly recommended for all jazz fans who want to expand their knowledge of jazz and its many "changes." I totally agree with the dust-jacket blurb from the Washington Review: "Read anything of Williams you can get your hands on...His knowledge of jazz is all but unmatched."

jazzy_dave: (Default)
What do you think is the best show on TV?

What do you think is the worst show on TV?

What show do you really miss?

What show do you never want to even hear the name of again?

What show do you think should be revamped?
jazzy_dave: (Default)
Just popped over to the island to do a supermarket cafe visit.

Had jacket potato with prawn cocktail.
Quite filling.

On my way home soon, as I cannot afford to do much else right now.
jazzy_dave: (Default)
Do you correct peoples mistakes?

Have you ever helped out an injured animal (that wasn't your own)?

Do you think babies are little bundles of joy or smelly noisy things?

In Town

Feb. 16th, 2019 10:05 pm
jazzy_dave: (Default)
After the visit to Sheppey, I came back into Faversham to get some milk and other provisions. I sold some books to Past sentence and received a fiver for them and posted off an item from eBay - a BBC CD for about three quid - which I found for fifty pence. It is a radio dramatisation of one of Agatha Christie's books.
I then went into the library and read pieces from the latest New Scientist periodical and after taking a quick pic from outside of the library, I then went home to read.




Most of the morning was slightly foggy and dull but by late afternoon it had turned sunny and still mild especially from the vantage point of the seating area just outside of the library where I took this pic.
jazzy_dave: (Default)
Time for some music methinks -

Lou Harrison - Suite for Violin and American Gamelan




00:00 - First Movement
07:23 - Estampie
12:33 - Air
16:56 - Jhala I
19:22 - Jhala II
20:42 - Jhala III
22:45 - Chaconne

Tōru Takemitsu - Autumn


Katsuya Yokoyama, Shakuhachi
Kakujo Nakamura, Biwa
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra diretta da Ryusuke Numajiri.


Steve Reich - Variations For Winds, Strings and Keyboard





Complete recording by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Edo De Waart in 1983 of the Steve Reich masterpiece.

Enjoy.

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