SUITES

Oh lordy, lordy. More snow today.

Not, it has to be said, another "for F sake" worth. But another "oh, Jesus more?" worth.

Seriously affecting my return to running. That's been over a week now that we have had snow covering the place.

To be honest I don't mind it too much when it is just that - "snow". At least you can get out running in that. It's when it melts a bit then freezes over that the problems start.

For a few days I tried to get over this by going up the back of our bit into the hills. Now, that was good fun. Especially on Tuesday when I tried to go round the perimeter road of the new wind farm. In some cases I was running/walking/crawling through drifts that were about three foot deep!

Elsewhere on planet "holiday" I've just been getting into a nice groove consisting of jazz, coffee, cake, chocolate and strange flights of fancy....going wherever my CD collection takes me.

For example. Yesterday was the Godfather of British jazz's birthday. The truly mighty Stan Tracey was 83!

To celebrate I started off by playing one of the CDs I got for Christmas "Senior Moment". Recorded earlier in 2009 when Stan was a sprightly 82 year old this has more verve than a lot of albums by pianists a third of his age. As well as some new compositions ("The Grandad Suite") he re-visits some of his older numbers including "Afro Charlie Meets The White Rabbit" from Alice In Jazzland (a sort of follow up to the more successful "Under Milk Wood").

Anyway. Got into a bit of a "Stan moment" and then listened to his tribute to Duke Ellington "We Still Love You Madly". This I realised had a young(ish) Guy Barker on trumpet.

So this led to Guy's album "The Amadeus Project" getting a wee dust down. This too is a great piece. Or to be more accurate it's two pieces. The first of these pieces "DzF" is a piece of "music noir" complete with narration that tells the story of Bobby a young trumpet player who gets involved with all manor of hoodlums, gangsters and "lady's of the night". Very atmospheric and very evocative of 40's films.

And so it went on... the "narration" part of the suite is something that either works - or it dosen't (in this case it does). And this led me to another album I've listened to a few times where narration works - Alan Barnes "The Sherlock Holmes Suite" - 15 pieces all based on Holmes characters or stories and interspersed with narration. Love to see/hear this live.

With the Guy Barker album the narration is part of each track, but with the Alan Barnes one the narration is contained on separate tracks on the CD - so I've ripped the CDs but only ever load the music to my MP3 player. I might rectify that I think I'm missing something.

BUSY DOING NOTHING

Getting nicely adjusted into a wee routine here.
Get up - lazy breakfast - watch a bit telly - wee run - listen to jazz - watch a bit telly and bed.
It's like a form of Winter semi-hibernation.

Unfortunately all the snow we had turned to slush - which then turned to ice. The temperature has dropped from "nippy" to full blown "brass monkeys", so sadly it looks as though the ice is here to stay for a good bit. This in turn has limited our options for running.. So, ironically, it's better to head off road and into the hills. Today I went out for an hour and a half and went up into and round the windmills at the back of us. Great fun, at one point I was running through two feet of snow.
Probably a good time to go up there as there's nobody up there working at the moment. So I can show my contempt for the new development by peeing on their unbuilt windmills without fear of being caught!!

LOOKS GOOD ON A CHRISTMAS CARD....

The stately piles have been liberally doused in snow - again (well, applying ice to inflamed injuries is beneficial).
This morning shortly after 6:30 it started to snow and we have had yet another "Oh, for F sake" worth of snow. I know this as I had cleared the small patch in front of the door - by 7:30 there was about two inches of snow on it. And it has snowed on and off since then.
I have not seen or heard a postman or indeed a bin man for two days now.
Luckily, however, today at least the paper delivery van reached us (he arrived before the snow). Yesterday he only made it as far as the farm and our paper had to make its final voyage to us thanks to a kind lady, her friend, and their quad bike!

As long as Santa makes it through the snow with his "big bag of mellow jazz tunes" I'll be OK.
Tomorrow's morning run might be a slippy affair though!

IN THE BLEAK MID WINTER

The weather is playing a large part in my recovery plan and return to running.

It had always been my intention to lay off the running and concentrate on other forms of exercise - until Christmas Day when I would try a 4 mile run.

However, those plans have been altered. On Sunday when I looked out we had a wee bit of snow and ice on the roads. Not too much, but enough to make me decide against going out on my bike.

The thought though of getting no exercise at all was killing me, so I decided to bring my running return forward a few days and just go out for a gentle jog. I thought that even if I only got a mile or so down the road before my leg started to niggle I could just walk home. Good news though. It didn't bother me at all.

So confident was I that I decided to go a couple of other runs during the week.

Now, today we have had a LOT of snow. In fact, see if you can spot the difference:

Me (on Sunday) "Oh look, snow".
Me (today) "Oh, for F sake.. look at that snow".

See? that's how much we got today. Anyway, the large amount of snow was beneficial in that it kept my speed down and my distance down when I went out for a wee run today (probably gave me a softer surface to run on as well).

Like most runners, while I enjoy being back out doing what I enjoy, the first few runs after injury are always tense times; as you run along waiting on something going "twang", "ping", "rip", "crunch" or simply seizing up mid-stride. So far, so good though and everything appears to be well.


The weather is also dictating my musical consumption and my mood.

The roads were really bad this morning. I was working from home but Anne was travelling into Edinburgh. So I said I'd go with her till just before Innerwick. Then if she got that far OK I'd get out and walk back. She did... so I did.

I decided to walk back through the woods though. Given that it was only about 6:15 I had my head torch with me, but didn't really need it as all the snow really reflected what little light there was.

It was fantastic. Really, peaceful and quiet. Not a soul around. I was quite happy to walk along in the quiet without music, but for some reason I decided I wanted to listen to John Taylor's trio playing "In The Bleak Mid Winter". Wonderful stuff.

One of my regrets of 2009 will always be that when I finally got the chance to see Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor playing live I didn't enjoy it as much as I should because I was ill at the time.

Anyway. Put the music off just before I went into the woods though, and glad I did. Or I might have missed the badger that was scuttling around in the road just ahead of me at one point.

We just stood there for a few seconds and stared at each other, but it felt like ages. Then he got bored first and tootled off (quite quickly it has to be said). It was a real sort of Jack Hargreaves moment.

Took me about 40 minutes to walk the two miles home - but it was worth every bit.

Pic: a gnarly old badger

HOW DID THAT GET THERE?

I have about three different rucksacks that I use for day to day transport of stuff to work or for running etc.

The other day I was in one of them that I haven’t used for a wee while looking for something (can’t remember what). Anyway, while rummaging around in the darkest recesses of this bag I chanced upon a little white polythene bag – almost exactly like the type I get purchases from a little second hand CD shop in Glasgow in. In fact – it was a little bag from that shop. And, unsurprisingly, it contained a little CD – Ahmad Jamal “The Awakening”. There was also a little receipt. Dated July!!

Jesus wept. It’s a sign that either I’m getting too much that I can forget about something for 5 months (either that or a sign that my short term memory is going).

Anyway. Really surprised that I forgot about this so long because it’s quite frankly a beautiful collection. I obviously got it when I was really going through a  piano trio “thang” and this is a wonderful example of that.

It has on it one of the best covers of Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance” that I think I’ve heard (and I’ve heard a few). A faster tempo than the original, but still at a pace that keeps that sort of lyrical modal fluidity that makes it such a wonderful tune.

Why did I leave this for so long?

SNOW

Yesterday we had a light dusting of snow. Nothing to write home about really.

So I felt quite happy this morning getting "old (t)rusty" the bike out of the hut and setting off for a little spin. I had planned to be out for about two and a half hours.

Best laid plans and all that though.... Although there had only been a little bit of snow yesterday it had melted - then frozen again on some of the roads. And, while I don't mind cycling, I'm not really that "into it" to risk falling off and compounding my injury woes this close to Christmas.

I turned round and came home early - so today's "running substitute" was a mere 55 minutes. Pitiful.

But as if to raise my spirits, though completely bugger my chances of getting out on the bike tomorrow, it started to really snow later on. Reckon we must have got over an inch of snow in half an hour.

Time to don ancient hiking boots, manky old anorak, get the old thermals on under the trousers, grab the camera and head out for a wee walk.

Very festive!

SARAH VAUGHAN NEVER FELT THE NEED TO ACT LIKE THAT...

My leg appears to be getting a little bit better daily. Certainly, I’ve been walking pain free for a bit and “running” over the road to avoid traffic appears to be OK.

I have been attempting to keep fit and keep the old Body Mass Index at the thin end of the “ideal” category by swimming (boring), cycling (ok) and visits to the gym (baffling).

Strange that I’ve been spending so much time on the bike, and then when I go to the gym? Why yes.. I spend time on a bike (only, going nowhere).

Now. It’s a universal truth, possibly explained by boffins such as Stephen Hawkins or somebody equally clever, that the piped music in gyms is crap. I’ve been forced therefore to take my MP3 player in with me and listen to proper music. Music for adults and those of us with an IQ that actually reaches into double figures.

However, it would appear that the rhythmic “boom..boom..boom” that passes for music nowadays is not enough stimulus for today’s youngsters.

Each of the cardio machines it appears is fitted with a telly… A telly that transmits visual clues as to what the f* these “pop stars” are actually warbling about.

Anyway, the telly fitted to the front of my bike was showing videos by today’s young lady entertainers. Young chanteuses who go by names such as “Lady Ga Ga” and Rihanna (I was about to make a flippant remark about whether or not the title “Lady” was hereditary – but then I remembered a man who listens to Duke Ellington and Count Basie should maybe not cast the first stone).

Their “act”, from what I could figure out, seems to involve singing badly, while writhing around in various costumes each getting progressively smaller.

Despite trying to turn off the telly I was forced to watch this while attempting to cycle at a relatively vigorous tempo.

My MP3 player at this stage decide to play Andy Sheppard’s “I Wish I Knew”. Strange, but music and video worked. (find the track and listen to it) J

Yesterday saw me sans MP3, sans “Rihanna” and on a proper bike pushing out a steady twenty odd miles in the piddling rain and cold. With nothing but my own pure thoughts to keep me company. That’s more like it.

TRAD

Ask me what sort of jazz I like and I probably couldn't pin it down to one sort. Bebop would be at the top of a very long list. It has to be said though that the list changes week on week.

Certainly on the list but somewhere near the bottom would be "Trad" ( probably below "free jazz" but way higher than the music of Jamie Cullum).

So what possessed me the other day to buy three CDs, two of which can be defined as Trad (or in one case "Dixieland")? Answer: they were cheap, and I am weak.

We were in one of Leith's many many many charity shops (again). And came across a little "gold mine" of four or five jazz albums.

I had to get a couple (it's an illness I tell you).

First up is Sidney Bechet at Storyville. One of the true giants of jazz I suppose and a pioneer of the soprano sax (often confused by some people as a clarinet). A contemporary of Louis Armstrong and a product of the early Dixieland jazz bands. His stuff just swings joyously.

I had hoped that this being one of his relatively late recordings it would be very good quality. Well. It is and it isn't. It's a recording made by the piano player, George Wein, at the gig, and I don't know what the recording medium is but there's a few "hiss, crackles and pops" on it. But probably still better audio quality than a lot of Bechet stuff out there.

Next up was Jonah Jones at the Embers. Trumpet led quartet. Now, I like the British trumpet player Kenny Baker and this CD really reminds me of him. This is a full on 50's "trad" record. Good fast tempo tunes and a couple of blowsey trumpet led blues.

It also reminded me, when I was listening to it, to the sort of thing you used to hear Kenny Ball play on TV in the late 60's and early 70's. Only, I thought, without the singing. And then right on que half way through Basin Street Blues, Jonah lets rip with a couple of choruses. Thanks, but you needn't.

Last one was areal bargain. A double CD of Johnny Hodges and Wild Bill Davis. And this is a wee bit closer to "my kind of thing". Hodges was alto sax player for Duke Ellington for years and has a real soft syrupy sound from his alto. Strange then that my pick of the bunch is a Neal Hefti number made famous by Count Basie ("Lil' Darlin").

Drawbacks? Well one. I've never been a massive fan of the Hammond organ - I can take it in small doses but I couldn't sit and listen to it all night. Which is a shame because I could probably listen to Hodges all night.

So. All in all good value. But (ooh, there's a "but") I think these are CDs that will get played a couple of times and stored, perhaps to make the odd appearance, but they probably won't be regular visitors to the CD player.

AT LAST! A CURE FROM THE COLD MISERY

To all those people who feel compelled to bravely drag themselves into work in the run up to Christmas – despite being full of the flu/cold and looking like crap – rejoice I have a cure. No need for you to sit there a moment longer. All sweaty, and nose running and coughing and sneezing all over the place. Hell no.

A hollow point bullet through the back of your ignorant skull! That should do it.

ENVY

Helping out the club with a cross country race yesterday.

This involved trudging along a small part of the course with Frank and Jim and poking lots of garden canes with red and white tape tied to them into the ground. Starting the runners off and then standing about getting chilled to the bone waiting on them coming back.

And feeling nothing but envy for each and every one of them.

Three weeks I’ve been off the running now and, while cycling and swimming etc at least “take the edge off”, I’m getting terrible withdrawal symptoms.

But the good news is my shin isn’t really hurting nearly as much as it was and yesterday I did manage a wee jog down as far as the farm barn at the end of our road and back (probably about 200m) without any pain or discomfort. So, it looks as though the recovery seems to be going well. In fact it would be tempting to get the old kit on and try a wee run… but I’m going to give it another couple of weeks before I even do that. Err on the side of caution I think.

Can’t rule out a wee 4 mile run on Christmas day though…..

LETS MAKE CHRISTMAS EVE "ELLA" DAY..

Well. It's getting close to Christmas.

And to prove a point we went out and bought our tree today (won't put it up till tomorrow though).

I was warned by Anne, before we went, not to do what I usually do ... pick the runt of the litter. I've been accused in the past of taking pity on sparse, stunted and lop-sided specimens. So this year we've opted for a fully formed well adjusted tree.

It's sitting outside at the moment in the back garden - much to Fatso the cat's confusion.

Another way to tell it's nearly Christmas? Well, when I got back from my cycle today I had a piece of Christmas cake with my coffee - last years Christmas cake! Thirteen days till we can cut into a new cake and I've still not finished last years!

Anyway, the tree will get decked in lights and sparkly stuff tomorrow. And, I'm happy to say, my modest collection of Christmas jazz albums will be decanted from the dusty box that they stay in for 11 and a half months of the year. I never listen to my Christmas music until 12 days before Christmas. Why? I do not know. But I don't, and anyway 12 days is more than enough. I really feel sorry for people who work in shops and have been listening to Phil Specter's bloody Christmas album since October.

Two new ones to add to my collection this year. Including one by the blessed Ella - looking forward to listening to that.

One of the few vocalists that I have any time for. I've yet to hear anything that Ella sang that I didn't like - she could probably have sang the menu from a Chinese takeaway and made it sound good.

The UN should pass a resolution stating that on one day a year all your Madonnas and your Beyonces and your Lilly Allens and what nots should shut the f*** up and just listen to Ella for a day (especially Lilly Allen). They might actually learn a thing or two.

POLICE

You can’t please all of the people, all of the time.

Certainly not when it comes to jazz….

I got an email the other day thanking me for the music I’d put together for the radio. Quite pleased that the chap who is doing the show is going to use a few of the tunes this week and some next. Believe it or not, we can’t get the FM reception required to listen to the show at home, so I’ll just take his word for it.

Now. When I was putting the tunes together I erred on the side of SAFE. Or at least I thought I had. I didn’t put anything too fiery and hard hitting on it. Though thinking back to what I said the other day, I should have given him old Pharaoh and “The Creator…” That would be a DJs dream that – 32 minutes – just pop that on and tootle off to the pub for a quick pint or two J Rather, I was thinking of late night listeners and loaded my selection with the likes of Lester Young, Ben Webster etc. But I did think I’d throw in one or two more “modern” offerings (don’t know what they’ll make of the Portico Quartet).

Anyway, it seems that what one jazz fan thinks is safe may not always be what another thinks. He’s come back and said that he doesn’t really rate one of the albums – “The Nine Mile Burn Sessions” by Brian Kellock and Julian Arguelles, which to my mind is a set of very mainstream piano and sax duo’s. Ah well there you go.

At least he didn’t get the police on to me. Jazz fans can be very, VERY picky it seems as this wee story from the Guardian makes clear http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec/09/jazz-festival-larry-ochs-saxophone How weird is that? Though to be fair, I do get a bit upset myself if exposed to “non jazz” for any great length of time.

I’ve been to see a bands who deserved the police called out to them. Luckily I forget their name, but there was one Canadian band who supported Andy Sheppard once …. Bloody awful racket.

DON'T FORGET...

Managed to get out on the bike a bit today at lunchtime - after I fixed the front derailleur this morning.
At 6:30 this morning to be exact. There I was with the bike propped up against the fence, using my head torch for light and frantically going at the derailleur with the most sophisticated piece of kit I have. To wit....

And the amazing thing is... it's worked! Perhaps there's a lesson in there for me. Maybe I should clean my bike more often (OK. to be fair you could probably just delete the words "more" and "often"). If I do decide to wash my bike in future I will try to do it at a more civilised hour. For once I really can't blame the neighbour's cat, Fatso, for sitting there staring at me as I crouched there in the dark, with a torch strapped to my head, attacking a bike with a toothbrush!

So lunch time saw me off for a quick spin around some of the local roads for just over an hour with the old HRM reading a brisk 154.
Like I say cycling really isn't "my thing". Though it was, very much so, twenty odd years ago, and, if I say so myself, I've still got a fairly good cadence and pedal action. Still,at least it's a pretty good "filler in" during these times of convalescence.
Last night I was off to the gym for about 50 minutes followed by a wee swim for about half an hour, after which I met up with some of the running club at an Indian restaurant in Musselburgh and negated all the good by filling my face with korma and nan bread. Nice though.

"CALM DOWN DEAR... IT'S ONLY AN INJURY"

Well. Don’t know how much longer I’ll be away from competitive running – or even any proper running training. BUT I now, at least, know that I can run, quite quickly, about ten metres. Note to self: Do NOT time a visit to the cludgie so that a return to your desk coincides with the arrival of the sandwich trolley! It’s amazing how quickly some of them can move and god help anything that gets in their way!

Anyway, not happy about it, but I’m getting used to the possibility of a lengthy period of recuperation. Plan to cycle three times a week and gym/swim twice.

The cycling would be better if I didn’t have to use my right foot to “nudge” the front derailleur every time I switch chain ring. I’ve only had the bike ten years – perhaps it’s due a service. I’ll try to scrape the worst of the crud off the mechanism tomorrow and get it working. Failing that I’ll try to get it repaired. Quite happy to “have a go” at most cycle repairs myself – but this involves splitting the chain and I don’t have to proper kit.

I’ve also been using jazz as a “musical balm” to ease those jittery, bad tempered, moods I get into when I don’t get our exercising. Or indeed the jittery, bad tempered, moods I get into even when I do get out exercising.

Last night I switched up from Big Band jazz and bebop and increased the dosage to the full 32 minute harmonic waves of sound that is “The Creator Has a Master Plan” by Pharaoh Sanders. An old stand by this that I always dig out and bung on when I’m having a crisis. I love it. Avant-garde “free jazz” at it’s most spiritual and it’s best.

This anthem of optimism should be played LOUDLY on a  continuous loop through massive speakers built into the Queen Street tunnel and the tunnel between Haymarket and Waverly.

32 Minutes – probably the ideal thing to listen to tonight on the cross trainer at the gym. Just the right length of workout. J

CHEAP JAZZ? ON YER BIKE.

Feeling a bit cheerier. Still not running (looks like it may be a long lay off), but at least I can cycle without too much discomfort, and importantly without pain.
So it looks as though I'll be "confined" to a bike for a bit! Have to try and talk Anne into letting me get a new one!! Been out twice this weekend each time for over two hours with the old heart rate monitor averaging about 151 - so, thank god, I'm back into the cake burning zone!

Anyway. There are other reasons to be cheerful... Like cheap jazz thanks to UK copyright laws!!
When I first got into jazz the shops would be full of a plethora of cheap, and annoyingly badly packaged, compilations of jazz from the old trad bands and big bands of the thirties and forties.
If that's your bag - great. And I must admit that I did buy one or two. But most of the jazz that I listen to is more contemporary - a mere 50 years old in some cases. And that's the important bit... 50 years. Because in the good old UK after 50 years copyright expires (much to the disgust of Sir Cliff-scrotum face-Richard apparently). This means that everything recorded before then can be freely distributed and shared (I think - though I may be over simplifying).
So what does that mean in real terms? Well, the fifties were a very productive time for jazz. Productive in terms of both output volume and creativity. And it means that a lot of that good stuff is now becoming cheap - very cheap.
"Avid Jazz" have released a series of double CDs of albums all recorded prior to 1959. So for £5 you can pick up four albums by Sonny Rollins or four by Stan Getz.
I've picked up a few of these bargain CDs (Dizzy Gillespie, Zoot Simms etc.) and I have to say that I'm quite impressed.
Now, there are drawbacks - just because the copyright has expired that doesn't give any old distributor free access to the original master tapes. So these "re-issues" are I think simply copies of good quality first pressings. They have been, apparently, "digitally remastered" but I think that means nothing more than they have been quickly run through some standard software to eliminate the worst crackles or tape hiss. The result can mean that sometimes you don't quite get the crystal clarity you would hope for - but the sound is more than adequate. Lack of access to the masters means that the albums are pretty much presented the way they were when they were released in the 50s - no "extra" tracks or alternative takes here.
On the plus side Avid have gone to the bother of reproducing the original linear notes from the albums as well. So quite nice packaging.
These double CDs are great value and offer a good way to "get into" and "discover" some of the great jazz men of the 50's and at £5 for 38 tracks even work out cheaper than downloads.

SKYLINER

Ooh.. I hate when that happens. I've had a tune stuck in my head for most of this week. And it's all been jug-eared political journo' Andrew Marr's fault.

Jug ears

I've been catching bits of his series "The Making Of Modern Britain" (and very good it is too). Anyway, the other night they were talking about WWII and the effect of an "invasion" of GIs into our backward shores. Anyway, to emphasise the point they showed a squad of American troops marching along to a Big Band tune. And for once they didn't use a Glen Miller song! No, it was "Skyliner" by Charlie Barnet - and bloody good it is too. One of only a handful of "hits" for Mr Barnet, but there you go.

Bringer of joy

Anyway. Since seeing this the tune has been stuck in there. I've been on the train, listening to music by a hundred and one different people - and I'm still humming along to Skyliner.

I'm at my desk trying to get on with something - and I burst into a few bars of Skyliner. Quite often complete with band-leading style arm waving and pointing at completely imaginary saxophonists.

I'm thrashing around in the swimming pool (yes - I did try it) - and I'm humming Skyliner.

I knew I had a copy of this. I knew it was on one of the many compilation CDs I've got, but I could not remember which one - or more importantly where it was! The problem is when you have a fairly small abode and a relatively large collection you tend to end up with music in just about every room.

Finally tracked it down to a little wooden box tucked away in the bedroom.

Bunged it on the CD player and cranked up the volume; though I'm led to believe that modern "young" peoples parlance is to "pump" up the volume. Whatever, two sessions of this and a good old "dance-like-no-one-is-looking" around the room should have exorcised this from my soul.... Didn't do my sore leg much good though.

GLUM?

The ancient Celts had a term that best summed up how I felt last night. The term? "Ahh ... FECK!!"

A visit to my GP confirmed what I already knew - my right legs "buggered" He just puts it into fancy jargon - something to do with tendons and protective sheaths?!!? So there you go all you runners - if you don't want any nasty little accidents - look after your protective sheaths...

Anyway no "real" exercise for me for a few weeks. Though he did suggest something called "swimming" that I vaguely remember from my school days.

Bottom line? No exercise - no cakes!! No cakes - no joy. No joy - much glumness.

So to try and relieve my glumness I decided to seek out new jazz .... and guess what? I found it.

An excellent site called Boggard's Jazz Tapes wherein someone (I'll assume called Boggard) shares their jazz tapes! Simples.

Now. If anyone were to ask me to name my top ten saxophonists we'd be there all night. No doubt I'd spend about three hours getting my top ten... and then suddenly remember someone like Cannonball Adderly or Steve Wilson. Quite simply, there are so many that I like the real difficulty is whittling it down to ten.

But one man who must be there (and very close to the top) is Jan Garbarek. And "lo it came to pass" that Boggard has shared with the world a two hour concert by Jan and his group from Berlin in 2006.

Well, I don't know who Boggard is but lets track them down, kiss both cheeks and pin a big medal on their chest. Because this is a cracker..

For one thing, it's got Eberhard Weber on bass. A long time collaborator with Garbarek, Weber is sadly missing from the latest "official" live recording after having suffered a stroke that's left him unable to play.

I don't know the provenance of this recording but I suspect it's originally from an FM radio broadcast (might even be DAB) but the quality is crystal clear.

I've been lucky enough to see Garbarek twice but each time he played the same set (almost). More or less exclusively from the album "Visible World" - full of lots of slow brooding seascapes and "theme music" for some as yet un-filmed ancient Nordic epic.

One of the many things that's often said about Garbarek and his music is that he is, like me, a bit "glum". I did read a recent interview however, where he says that is just "lazy stereotyping" - well I'll hold my hands up and admit to that in the past - but to be fair, both times I've seen him he's not exactly skipped or danced about the stage much (didn't even talk).

This gig however, really seems to put the band in a different light and "glum" is not a word that you can use to describe the music. Quite uplifting in lots of places and, like the "official" live recording "Dresden" it harks back to Garbareks earlier catalogue with a few numbers from "Twelve Moons" and "I Took Up The Runes". So it looks like Jan and his group had already started their slightly "retrospective" journey before Webers stroke in 2007. In one way while I don't want to detract from bass player Yuri Daniel's work on Dresden, given the history that Garbarek and Weber have it's a surprise that this concert didn't get chosen as the official release.

Certainly lifted my spirits - bit of cake wouldn't have gone amiss mind.

Jan Garbarek is coming to Scotland for a couple of gigs in January - going to try and get to at least one of them.

SMASHIE AND NICEY

Give me a couple of hours free time (oh yes. Please do), give me a nice cup of coffee and a bit of cake. Then ask me to rummage through my CD collection and amuse myself and I’m in heaven.

I’ll go off on flights of fancy. I’d probably start by playing something new(ish) – say Jan Garbarek’s latest - “Dresden”. That might get me into a sort of ECM’ish/Nordic groove. Norway? Scandinavia? Its all the same to me …Next thing you know I’ll be rooting through the old ACT part of my collection for a bit EST or a little track or two by Nils Landgren – maybe one of his covers of an ABBA song! That’ll get me to thinking about how jazz musicians can take any old “pop” tune and make it better – so that might lead to Steve Swallow’s album of Elton John cover versions (I kid you not) or Brad Mehldau doing a bit Lennon and McCartney or Colin Town’s covering Frank Zappa.

And so it would go on and on. With one remote and spurious link leading to another then another – for hours and hours I could just go on and on.

Until, that is, somebody asks me to do that very thing. And then it appears I just dry up.

A local radio station is being set up for a 4 week trial period. If it’s a success they can then get a license and broadcast full time. Anyway, the chap who is doing the jazz and blues show heard through a mutual acquaintance that I’m a bit of a jazz nut. So he got in touch.

Could I help? Yes. I said I’d be happy to – though not behind the mic!(being as I am a shy and retiring type). I said I’d gather some tunes together and help him out with his “playlists”. His “bag” is firmly rooted in the Big Band era with a liking for vocalists – where as I’m more a “jazz-didn’t-really-get-up-and-going-till-the-late-40’s-early-50’s” and onwards sort of a guy.

If the show was themed  (i.e. Scottish jazz, film jazz, cover versions etc etc.) it might be a bit easier. But it isn’t. And I don’t really know who the listener is and I’m having to try and pick music for an “imagined other”. So far, I’m veering too far towards the “safe”. If I try too hard to please everyone and offend no one then I’m in danger of inspiring no one.

Anyway, I’ve used some of my time over the weekend to get some stuff together – so we’ll see what happens.

Probably just be best though to broadcast directly from my living room….. flask of coffee … big pile of cakes

GENTLY DISTURBED

Hmmm... Give your "staff" (i.e. Civil Servants) the day off because it's St Andy's Day... Try to encourage other employers to do the same..... End year of "celebration" and "Homecoming" with *cough* climactic concerts and events ... and happen to launch your proposals for Independence the very same day!!

Cynical? Me? Why not go the full hog and post a box of shortbread, a Broons annual and a copy of Braveheart on DVD to every home in the land... Prick.

Anyway. At least it's given yours truly a day off work.

Bit of a shame that yesterday I wasn't able to take part in a race I quite fancied (injury). But that also gave me a bit more time. More time that is to stand about in the freezing cold wind and rain waiting for everyone else. It also gave me a rare opportunity to take my MP3 player to a race (not that I ever run with one you understand).

Strange sometimes, when you've got a player on "random" that it seems to be anything but. It's often as though those tiny buds in your ears not only let the music in but somehow let your thoughts out, through the ears, down the flimsy wires and right into the microchip - influencing what it plays. I'm sure it often reads my mind.

GENTLY DISTURBED

As I watched a hundred or so poor souls spend their Sunday by trudging up a muddy windswept hill the player switched to Avashi Cohen Trio playing "Gently Disturbed". Disturbed? Yes. Gentle? No.

Thing is. I don't know if this unintentional irony applied to the runners... or to me for having nothing better to do on a Sunday than stand and watch them.

SOMETHING NEW. SOMETHING SAFE

Bit of good news today (good news that is other than the fact that it's a long weekend).

Dan Berglund, bass player in the late Esbjörn Svensson Trio, is bringing his new band to the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh next March. Dan and drummer Magnus Öström took the sensible decision after 2008's tragic death of Svensson that it would be impossible to simply bring in another piano player and try to continue - so they are both pursuing separate musical paths (though with luck they will team up again along the way).

I always felt that both Berglund and Öström could easily have "settled" for very successful careers as session musicians for almost anyone - so it's good to see Berglund try to carve out his own niche.

I'm looking forward to it.

Today's normal Friday "coffee, cake and jazz" routine was brought to me by Alan Barnes and his album "Thirsty Work". Ten tracks on this 'un that are made up of various quartets, quintets and sextets all led admirably by Mr Barnes. No real surprises here, a couple of bop numbers, one by Ellington, one by Ben Webster and a few originals.

I really like Alan Barnes and enjoy the fact that he seldom strays beyond the comfort zone of mainstream jazz. That's not a criticism (I hope). I do enjoy listening to jazz that pushes the boundaries at times - but in the same breath it's handy to have certain players who you know will always deliver the goods but without being bland. A bit like Scott Hamilton as well I suppose.

New is good - but so is "safe". It might be nice every now and then, for example, and push the boat out and try one of those fancy new "themed" or "flavoured" whiskys that I see being advertised in an attempt to try and make it hip and groovy with "the young". Most of the time though your happy to sit back with a nice malt and know your going to get exactly what you got the time before - something that's been produced to the highest standards in time honoured fashion. That's what Alan Barnes and Scott Hamilton are - they're the jazz worlds fine malts ... eh.. for people who don't drink.. but you get the idea (told you my descriptive writing needs working on).

Anyway, I got this CD the other day from my favourite second hand CD shop in York - "Rebound Records". I picked up this and an Art Farmer album recorded live in Munich in 1970.

I love going into this shop and really need a good bit of time to browse.

Unfortunately, as is always the case, I left and immediately regretted not buying an album I had looked at, thought about, then put back.

Sadly the chap who runs Rebound doesn't have a web site! Luckily - he does at least have a phone! Double Enrico Rava album winging it's way to me already!

STARTING OVER (AND A BIT MORE FOCUSED)

To begin at the beginning – (again!).
OK. Here we go. What’s all this about and what happened to all the usual crap on this site? Well. I felt like a change – and this is the start of it.
My previous blog had come a wee bit adrift and was floating aimlessly between three ports – “running”, “jazz” and “moaning”. The running side of it can be covered elsewhere (my running club’s site) and the “moaning” about the uselessness and futility of modern life I have decided to jealously keep to myself. Instead of sounding off about things over which I have no control I’ve decided that the best course is to sit quietly in a corner and have a good old “seethe” (could be the start of a new tradition on a Friday – “coffee, cake, jazz and a nice little seethe”).

So that leaves the jazz….. So, from now on what I will be trying to do is look at what jazz is important to me at any given time (“look at”? surely I mean “listen to”). Describe new jazz acquisitions and finds and, hopefully, make some recommendations.
The role of this exercise is also to help me. I want to hone my woefully inadequate writing skills. Especially my critical writing. I want to try and avoid the dreaded and stereotypical “hmm…nice!” when describing a tune/song/opus etc.

This isn’t to say though that running and moaning won’t make the odd appearance – but if they do it’ll hopefully be to a jazz beat.

So. Where to start?