Happy New Ears to all our listeners!

[Serial_Apologist]

I've had one heck of a job locating. First of all my computer informed me that the first of the previous programme links I've always used to find the next programme quickly could well be dodgy; then I had to go all around the mulberry bush in order to dig out these.

Sat 2 Jan
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton's selection of listeners' requests includes the most contemporary of jazz sounds, instrumental, vocal and with crossover into other styles of music

Is this a New Year change of policy?? One sincerely hopes not

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Claire Martin looks ahead to some forthcoming highlights of 2016 in the company of award-winning jazz writer and author Kevin Le Gendre. Plus the latest batch of new releases from the UK and beyond.

Doubtless we'll be hearing about the award...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06v9zkb

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Geoffrey Smith surveys the career of Mary Lou Williams, a renowned pianist and composer who counted the likes of Duke Ellington as colleagues, and managed to achieve fame in the traditionally male-dominated world of jazz

NB this is a repeat of what was a very good programme

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04t928j

Mon 4 Jan
11.00 Jazz on 3
Manchester big band Beats and Pieces perform music from their latest albumAllInrecorded live at London's Ronnie Scott's club in July

This too is a repeat of a programme... I switched off after a few minutes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06tks34

[Serial_Apologist]

For future links divulgers, the above-described problem consisted in typing https at the start of the link. The s is not required, it seems - so it's back to square 1.

[Ian Thumwood]

Sat 2 Jan
4.00 Jazz Record Requests
Alyn Shipton's selection of listeners' requests includes the most contemporary of jazz sounds, instrumental, vocal and with crossover into other styles of music

Is this a New Year change of policy?? One sincerely hopes not

Happy New Year

It was nice to be able to have my own request played last weekend. Seeing that the request was a 2015 record, I think that what continues, in fairness, JRR's propensity to feature new discs by artists numerous requesters have thought need a wide audience. My last three requests have all been contemporary records released at the time and, with the case of the Josh Berman track, very much on the avant garde side of things.

To be honest, the variety of requests is what makes the programme more interesting. You can hear jug bands, big bands from the swing era, bop and contemporary jazz. If you want to hear something more "challenging", you could do no worse than follow Jazzrook's example - a veritable education in jazz that deserves a wider airing. In my opinion, this is the one programme you can't grumble about as you have it within your gift to affect the play list! Isn't it about time you requested something that you believe is in need of being brought to the attention of the wide jazz audience, SA? What about Trish Clowes who you have raved about ? Everyone else on this board has had a pop. You should give it some thought.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Happy New Year

It was nice to be able to have my own request played last weekend. Seeing that the request was a 2015 record, I think that what continues, in fairness, JRR's propensity to feature new discs by artists numerous requesters have thought need a wide audience. My last three requests have all been contemporary records released at the time and, with the case of the Josh Berman track, very much on the avant garde side of things.

To be honest, the variety of requests is what makes the programme more interesting. You can hear jug bands, big bands from the swing era, bop and contemporary jazz. If you want to hear something more "challenging", you could do no worse than follow Jazzrook's example - a veritable education in jazz that deserves a wider airing. In my opinion, this is the one programme you can't grumble about as you have it within your gift to affect the play list! Isn't it about time you requested something that you believe is in need of being brought to the attention of the wide jazz audience, SA? What about Trish Clowes who you have raved about ? Everyone else on this board has had a pop. You should give it some thought.

Enjoyed your request Ian when I caught up with the program, and in fairness Alyn has always done very well by me and my requests. In the last program he was calling for jazz based on/around folk tunes (part of a R3 upcoming theme) and I was going to request Johnny Griffin's "Black was the colour of my true loves hair" from Griff's last 60s "Kerry Dancer" album on Riverside. Gorgeous and a very unsuspected reworking with Barry Harris. But I'm toooooooo tired.

Happy Happy New Year Baaaaaaaaabie, as Elvis said. Eating a jumbo greasy chicken bake, bbq pork chop and fried egg on triple jam starter. Elvis and Nigella, now that would have been a Festive couple.

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

Happy New Year

It was nice to be able to have my own request played last weekend. Seeing that the request was a 2015 record, I think that what continues, in fairness, JRR's propensity to feature new discs by artists numerous requesters have thought need a wide audience. My last three requests have all been contemporary records released at the time and, with the case of the Josh Berman track, very much on the avant garde side of things.

To be honest, the variety of requests is what makes the programme more interesting. You can hear jug bands, big bands from the swing era, bop and contemporary jazz. If you want to hear something more "challenging", you could do no worse than follow Jazzrook's example - a veritable education in jazz that deserves a wider airing. In my opinion, this is the one programme you can't grumble about as you have it within your gift to affect the play list! Isn't it about time you requested something that you believe is in need of being brought to the attention of the wide jazz audience, SA? What about Trish Clowes who you have raved about ? Everyone else on this board has had a pop. You should give it some thought.

How do you know I haven't???

Jeesus, I only asked!

I have to take you seriously, Ian, because there are no smileys in your call to me. We don't always agree, but I thought we'd agreed not to. Tacitly.

[charles t]

To be truthful, I peruse this board with the H O P E of discovering (preferably) contemporary Brit musicians/groups that miss the U.S.A. radar.

Luckily, there was one gold nugget shining in peering at your posts, namely: Alex Merritt. Thanks!!!

[Serial_Apologist]

To be truthful, I peruse this board with the H O P E of discovering (preferably) contemporary Brit musicians/groups that miss the U.S.A. radar.

Luckily, there was one gold nugget shining in peering at your posts, namely: Alex Merritt. Thanks!!!

A very happy New Year to you and yours from across The Pond, Charles!

And thanks. You echo my thoughts and feelings.

[Ian Thumwood]

S-A

Apologies if you thought my post seemed like a criticism as it wasn't posted in that spirit - hence the thumbs up sign.

Ian

[Serial_Apologist]

S-A

Apologies if you thought my post seemed like a criticism as it wasn't posted in that spirit - hence the thumbs up sign.

Ian

OK man - crossed wires on my part. All the best for 2016.

[Ian Thumwood]

I'm pretty staggered by some of the stuff on JLU. Not impressed by the selections with the Phronesis track being the onne of the only thing worth pursuing. The Laura Perrudin track was pretty unique in it's shear awfulness. Kevin Le Gendre's enthusiasm for this track was really surprising even setting aside any reservations most jazz fans will have regarding the use of the harp. You could sometimes get quite depressed with JLU and it's sanitised world view of the current jazz spectrum. Quite like the Avishai Cohen track which sounds pretty good. The less said about the likes of Go Go Penguin and Erik Truffaz.

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm pretty staggered by some of the stuff on JLU. Not impressed by the selections with the Phronesis track being the onne of the only thing worth pursuing. The Laura Perrudin track was pretty unique in it's shear awfulness. Kevin Le Gendre's enthusiasm for this track was really surprising even setting aside any reservations most jazz fans will have regarding the use of the harp. You could sometimes get quite depressed with JLU and it's sanitised world view of the current jazz spectrum. Quite like the Avishai Cohen track which sounds pretty good. The less said about the likes of Go Go Penguin and Erik Truffaz.

We agree!!!

The brass band jazz-rock track with boring-boring repeat backbeat just now on is the sort of thing you'd hear on the park bandystand back in the 60s - local brass band of octogenarians playing Beatles numbers.

There was some lovely trumpet on the Avishai Cohen, and Laura Jurd is always worth a hearing, but what's with these arrangements brimfull of Mozartian harmonies that seem to be the in-thing these days? I never much liked that kind of Neo-Classical appropriation when the MJQ did it in the 50s, though there was some excuse for trying it once for a bit of cache - but repeating it 60 years later just confirms my dogma that culture gets stuck when civilisation doesn't move forward. Modes man, modes, Lydiana - not tonic/dominant - even modernist composer Robert Sexton was talking about those on Composer of Tomorrow, earlier on!

[Ian Thumwood]

As far as I am aware, none of the artists on JLU this afternoon were black. This seems a common theme with this programme as well as the propensity to choose to play things from the fringes of the music as opposed to getting to grips with the more "traditional" aspects of the music. The selections were quite depressing.

I was reading a review of the recent Robert Glasper CD this afternoon where someone commented that the general consensus of the album seemed to spew out the same mantra when, in reality, the music wasn't actually that great. One salient comment was the failure of the pianist to deliver the kind of performance that a musician from an older generation would have given to a standard - there was a real sense of the absence of craftsmanship. A lack of ideas or shear laziness was also attributed to the record which was another selected by Le Gendre for album of the year. Le Gendre's appreciation of albums from the 80's / 90's have been shown to be spot on when allowed to do his feature on JLU but his enthusiasm for contemporary stuff often seems misplaced.

JLU sometimes seem to go for the more fringe or exotic recordings that, whilst approachable and unlikely to unsettle the horses, rarely seem as good as a lot of the more genuine mainstream stuff that gets overlooked. I'd rather hear new issues by past masters that make up the roster on labels like Criss Cross, High Note, sunnyside than the selections that only have a passing relationship with jazz. The choices all too often seem to favour here one minute, gone the next European artists as opposed to artists who have established a following over the years from more genuine jazz fans. With Jazz on 3 allegedly catering for the more adventurous elements in jazz, if your tastes are more conservative it is unlikely that Radio 3's output is likely to appeal beyond JRR. I wonder how many people actually turn off after JLU or indeed find Robbie Savage on Radio 5 more appealing? JLU is a mishmash and maybe it needs to be revised more in line with Humphrey Lyttleton's old "Best of jazz" as opposed to the erratic selections of Claire Martin which is probably an anathema to many. Granted that the programme does have a UK based orientation, it is strange that there is still a propensity to pursue some extremely mediocre European artists at the expense of their American counterparts who are more likely to appeal to the broader jazz audience. Sometimes I enjoy what JLU turn up yet, for the most part, it is a lottery what might be played or even debatable as to whether it is jazz. Too much attention is given to piss poor UK acts too . How the **** have GO GO Penguin ended up on Blue Note?

[Jazzrook]

I gave a rare listen to JLU today as Kevin Le Gendre is usually a guarantee of quality but there were some truly dire choices.
In the current Jazz Journal, Claire Martin OBE reveals that the producer(Sushil Dade) "picks most of the discs".
Perhaps this partly explains some of the awful non-jazz being foisted on the listener?

JR

[Ian Thumwood]

It is quite interesting to hear what gets requested on JRR. Today there were selections by Duke Ellington, Marty Paich, Benny Goodman and John Kirby. There were also some pretty obscure selections and more "niche" requests for artists like Kate Westbrook. Given that these tracks reflect the varying tastes of the Radio 3 listeners, it is fascinating to contrast with the play list for JLU. It is more of a magazine type programme that the producers seem to feel reflects the tastes and interests of jazz fans. The impression is that there is a bit of a disconnection and Jazzrook's comments only serve the impression that JLU probably doesn't appeal to a good number of jazz fans.

I agree with the comments about Le Gendre but am staggered that the discs seem pre-picked by a producer. I haven't seen Jazz Journal for years and haven't seen the article in question and whilst I would concede that jazz programmes need to reach out to a younger generation of jazz fans, I think it should at least consist of jazz and not fringe stuff. Go Go Penguin are ok as a pop act but they produce little that has to do with jazz. Having caught them perform last year, I walked out of the gig unnoticed after about thirty minutes as it was pretty boring. Jazz shouldn't be inoffensive , dance music. They are a Smooth Jazz act at best. The Truffaz disc would have been better suited to a World Music programme - at least the track was better that the god-awful sh*te I heard him perform about 12 years ago during a "Nu Jazz " concert. Don't even get me started on the woeful Laura Jurd record which was absolutely unforgivably bad !

You can't expect to like everything on a jazz programme as the range of the music is so diverse and encompasses 99 years of recorded music. However, JLU seems more of a testing ground for music graduates as opposed to a meaningful representation of the best of jazz in 2016 whether on record or in concert. There is far more out there that is more interesting and genuine and which obviates the need to feature the marginal stuff that JLU regrettably likes to feature.

[Alyn_Shipton]

Just to pick up on Ian's comment three posts above this, although Kevin didn't mention it, I am sure he is aware that Theo Croker is Doc Cheatham's grandson. I thought, despite the funk meets programmed synth background, there were real shades of jazz tradition in his trumpet. Also, as I am sure BN knows, Truffaz is a sort of demi-god in France. The new album isn't IMHO anywhere hear the last one, which I reviewed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/2xwx