JLU 16.v.11 Tasty ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Claire Martin meets Mulatu Astatke, appearing at this year's Brighton Festival. Vibraphone and keyboard player as well as master arranger, Astatke is one of the all-time greats of Ethiopian music and the creator of his own original art form - Ethio-jazz. He pioneered his signature fusion of Western jazz and traditional Ethiopian melodies in New York in the late 1960s, before returning to 'Swinging Addis' at the end of the decade where he became a pivotal figure in its music evolution. In recent years he has found a whole new audience.

Kevin Le Gendre returns to feature a disc that may not have hit the "Big Time" on its first release. This time he chooses Leon Parker's CD, "Awakening".
Music in session comes from British pianists Nikki Isles and Kate Williams recorded at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho in London during its recent Steinway Festival.

.. JLU (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0112d05) doesn't get more interesting than this week ...

[Byas'd Opinion]

Looks good. Pity the programme's web page gets Nikki Iles' name wrong, and gives two different spellings for Mulatu Astatke's surname (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0112d05).

OK, I know I'm being picky, but it makes the BBC look sloppy and unprofessional.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

that look reflects their work .... still i'm not one to talk ....

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the first track is stonkingly good; a review of Marius Nesset's Golden Xplosion (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/21/marius-neset-golden-xplosion-review)


some music is meant for live performance innit ... the Clarke Tracy Seven Steps would be great in a club and the Leon Parker would be great in a smallish concert hall [Phoenix in Leicester say] but the Tracy would wear out fast on repeated cd listening and the vocals .. ok live ... would drive me nuts on the Leon Parker cd .. great groove though ... [surely must have been sampled a zillion times in the electrogroove industry?]

..Leon Parker is a major talent, alive and well and living in France ... an appreciation here (http://jazzwrap.blogspot.com/2010/02/leon-parker-world-is-drum.html) and here he is on a full kit live in 2009 in St Chamond (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6MadrSHt2c) and here in a quartet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Gr_gJ9jWg&feature=related) many thanks to Mr Legendre for telling us about this artist ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Byas'd it took less than five minutes to search Google and Youtube for Leon Parker ... so all the professed ignorance by Legendre & Martin was what? faux or just slip shod gliding past the idea of working for a living ...