Jazzy D's Soul Notes

Frank Zappa was a musical magpie like myself. He loved doo-wop, jazz and Edgard Varese as well as blues and other byways.

And the reason he loved doo-wop



..and my fave Zappa doo-wop song is -

Frank Zappa — What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?

Iconic Blue Note jazz album covers. Cool man!

A brilliant documentary about the birth of electronic music in Britain.

Listened to some music this morning, particularly that great Robert Glasper CD “Black Radio” again. Has to be one of the best jazz fusion albums of the year. I then went and did an hour in Teynham library.

I watched one of the films that my brother gave me recently.. Totally absorbing documentary by Werner Herzog, and the true story of Timothy Treadwell, “Grizzly Man”.


Werner Herzog is noted for making films that include 'animals doing unusual things' and 'long, extended landscape shots' (IMDB). Grizzly Man fulfils both criteria, but more unusual than the behaviour of the bears that feature in this brilliant documentary, is that of film's protagonist - Timothy Treadwell - an authentic American outsider who spent 13 long summers in a remote Alaskan wilderness documenting these wild creatures. It's an examination of this obsessive, eccentric and ultimately deluded man, who is misguided into the belief that he is able to 'make friends' with some of nature's most fearsome predators.

What makes this film especially interesting is the way Werner Herzog pieces it together as a kind of poem to man's relationship with nature, intercepting Treadwell's own - often inspirational - wildlife footage, his on-camera soliloquies, and interviews with family, friends and contemporaries. What catches the eye the most is the footage of Treadwell himself, ranging from his amusing wildlife 'presentations' to egomaniacal rants against the park authorities, poachers and other visitors to his remote hideaway.

What becomes apparent, and is expertly pieced together by Herzog, is that while Treadwell is selflessly committed to what he sees as the preservation of the bears, he may well be doing them as much harm as good, and he has falsely seen in them a mutual affinity that ultimately costs him and his girlfriend their lives. Is Treadwell's obsession with the bears emblematic of his more problematic relationship with human society? What is it that he is escaping from? As Herzog himself points out in monologue, there are moments in Treadwell's films that are 'pure cinema'. What makes this film great is that he allows these moments to breath, while building up a sensitive but unromanticised portrait of a troubled soul. Surreal and fascinating..

Also included on the DVD is a short ten minute interview with Werner Herzog by Mark Kermode from the BBC Culture Show, and just as fascinating , the making of the music behind the film done in an improvisational style by top musicians including British folk guitarist Richard Thompson, and avant-garde musicians, Henry Kaiser and Jim O’Rourke.

Yesterday I watched “Atonement” on DVD , and I haven’t read the book it is based on, despite the novel being in my collection. Something I will have to remedy before the end of the year.

I surprised my cousin this morning by being up early to nip over to Margate to do a final charity shop visit this month before the new list of visits kick in February. Left on the 8.30 am bus. Bought a hair dryer and some books to sell over at Play trade. None of the books really interest me so they all went on the site or will be used for donating when I visit Ashford and Rye next week.

I quite enjoyed the Jean Shrimpton biopic last night on BBC 4 “We'll Take Manhattan” although the guy who played David Bailey tries to be too cockney. It was followed by a very good documentary on the work of David Bailey. Some of his photographs are really iconic, such as the Kray Brothers.

I took the Age of Anxiety book with me to read , and it should be finished sometime tomorrow, so a short review will be forthcoming. Meanwhile, I have been dipping a bit more into Plato's Republic.