ONE TRIBE, TWO BILLS AND A GLIMPSE INTO MY OWN FUTURE.

It's not easy being misanthropic. Well that's not entirely true - it certainly seems to come easy to me!
In any case. I'm what you would call a "selective" misanthrope. I don't hate all of humanity. Most of it "yes", all of it? No.
Like most people I inadvertently identify with and gravitate towards certain social groupings - "tribes" if you will.
I met and struck up a conversation with one of my "tribe" yesterday. I was in "Missing", a second hand CD shop through in the *ahem* "Dear Green Place" minding my own business looking through their limited jazz section when I heard a voice that I assumed was aimed at me....
A scruffy little object, in woolly hat, manky hiking boots and an anorak that's seen better days peering at the CDs through rain soaked specs. But fairs fair it was particularly foul weather and he was dressed the same way as well! In fact it was like looking at me thirty years from now (or if you want to be unkind..now).
Anyway, I digress with detail of our tribes lack of sartorial elegance...
He was studying, with great detail a CD, when he suddenly became quite animated and turned to me..
"Nob-end"
"Pardon??" (I assumed he was not only talking to me but about me).
"Him" Wildly gesticulating towards the CD he has in his hand.
"Who?"
"Him!! 'Bill Evans'. He doesn't play saxophone"
Starting to understand - "Ah.... There's two Bill Evans's the piano playing one, and him - he plays sax".
"What? Two! He's no' the piano Bill?"
"No"
"So why does he call himself 'Bill Evans'?"
"It's his name!"
"Oh." Pause.... "Still a nob-end though".
"Right"
"Played with Stan Getz"
"What him?"
"No! The real Bill Evans"
"I know. I've got a couple of their albums".
"Aye. He was a nob-end an' a'. That Stan Getz. Great player - but a nob".
"Yeesss...I have heard that. Certainly Stan Tracey didn't get on with him".
"There you go then!!....Must be true. Stan Tracey's sound".

I left the shop empty handed and with my spirits full of dread for what the future holds for me.
The tribe of second hand jazz CD collectors - a scary tribe!

B "S" T ??

Remind me. What does the "S" in BST stand for?
Left the house this morning and it was snowing! Admittedly not a lot - but it was snowing!
Got home tonight after a particularly shitty day at work (all too familiar these days) and was at least looking forward to getting out for a run, now that the "light" nights are here.
Well. I did get a run, but it was anything but light. Horrible black, heavy, doom laden sky that looks like its about to descend and slowly crush what little joy is left out of your soul...
And rain.... Oh lordy, the rain.
With all the snow and what not we've had the first part of this year, it's easy to forget that we've actually had very little in the way of rain.
Well, it's making up for it now.. big time.

And yet..... for some bizarre reason, I did go a run and I felt really good. Just over nine miles at seven minute pace and the old HR kept nicely in the low "green zone". First part was a bit tough running into the cold head wind and driving rain, but that just meant that I had a nice tail wind to bring me back home. I may have enjoyed myself out in the rain, but I got the distinct impression that some of the new lambs were none too impressed with their first introduction to a Scottish Spring.

Lifted the mood no end (perhaps I should have gone before work).
Let that be the first of many. The sky may have sprung a leak, but spring has sprung!

HEADLINES

An average "bop" fan relaxes at home...

"Mad Men", "Life On Mars" and "Ashes to Ashes". Three TV shows with one thing in common.

They're all set in the, fairly, recent past. Or to be precise the 60's, the 70's and the 80's - in that order (could be a sign of getting on a bit - calling the 60's "recent").

Or are they? Because to me they seem to be set in a distilled and concentrated essence of those decades.

I've experience of those three decades. And while I don't recall too much about the 60's I'm fairly certain that in the 70's and the 80's no one, or no one that I knew, had a "stereotypical" 70's or 80's lifestyle. In these TV shows everyone has everything that we now associate with the 60's, 70's or 80's. Be it clothes, cars, food, homes or gadgets.

Whereas in the 70's "real" people still clung onto some 60's styles and furniture. In the 80's not everyone had an Audi Quattro etc. In real life there is more gradual take up of innovations and social trends than TV people would have us believe. But these shows work because it's what we want to remember.

Anyway.. last weeks jazz find, that was lurking on the shelves of a second hand shop, has the same distilled essence approach. "Headlines" by Dutch group the Houdini's (in New York) sounds more like an Art Blakey and the Messengers album than any Art Blakey album that I own (and that's a few). Recorded in 1991 this album positively oozes with classic 60's jazz sounds.

Piano, bass, drum, alto sax, tenor sax and trumpet - this is a classic jazz combo lineup.

It's not an exact copy of Blakey and the Messengers (all bar one of the tunes are original for a start).

It is undoubtedly helpful that the album was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at his studios - the man and the place responsible for almost all the famous Blue Note recordings. It was, if I'm honest Rudy Van Gelders name on the sleeve that encouraged me to buy this.

Pianist Erwin Hoorweg writes a few of the tunes and seems to write primarily for the others. It's not an album of "solo-combo-solo-combo-solo-bring it all together" type numbers and more often than not the horns are to the fore.

The Jazz Messengers were never a fixed group but more like an ever changing school roll in an academy for up and coming jazz greats. The list of musicians that passed through Blakey's hands reads like a who's who of jazz and therefore the pressure must be on for any group trying to recreate that sound, to live up to and recreate the sound of some of these luminaries. But the Houdini's pull it off simply by not trying to sound like Lee Morgan or Wayne Shorter or Horace Silver. By not trying to imitate the individual elements of the Messengers they manage to somehow replicate the whole.

It's a wonderful find and an amazing album. Needless to say I shall seek out more.

Oh. Strangely enough, I also started to watch a new box set of Mad Men DVDs :-)

WHY I RUN #401 (just don't ask for the other 400).

My legs are completely “empty” today, nothing left in them at all. Eight runs in six days culminated, last night, in quite an intense interval session on the track.

1 mile followed by 16 x 400m. with just over a minutes recovery between each one.

Completely knackered at the end of it, but comfort myself with the [probably] deluded belief that “it’s all doing me good”.

It’s very easy to slip into the mindset that perhaps a night in front of the telly might “do me good”.

But then again, I come into the office to listen to the  gut-buckets and lard asses picking apart the *cough* intricate plot twists of Eastenders or Corrie and I think to myself – “perhaps the sore legs is a price worth paying”…..

BIRD

Ever since I’ve been listening to jazz I’ve been a huge fan of Charlie Parker. In fact, I’d probably go as far as to say it was a tape of Charlie Parker’s music that first really got me hooked into the whole jazz “thing”.

From there I’ve moved (forwards and back) and branched out to other styles and “flavours” of jazz. But then his influence also spread far and wide.

Anyway. I was fascinated yesterday to read an article about a hitherto little known statue of Parker – that’s turned up in Edinburgh (article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/mar/21/charlie-parker-julie-macdonald-sculpture ).

For what it’s worth, my opinion is that it would be nice to have this on public display, even if only for a short time or a limited period.

I think it has the quality of a death mask, so given that it was started before Parkers death this gives it a strange premonitory quality. The other surprising thing is the aura of peace and calm that it exudes, which certainly is at odds with most accounts of Parkers last few years.

I also think it looks very late-modern and therefore compliments the late-modern feel of bebop. You could look at that statue, listen to bop and know they were of the same era (well, I could).

Imagine owning that. Get it out there man, and give us all a look.

Bird Lives!!

LSR

Busy doing nothing at the weekend didn’t actually equate to doing nothing.

Went out for a really good long slow run (LSR) on Sunday. While it was a wee bit chilly when I first set out I soon warmed up and luckily the weather was a lot better than had been forecast.

Started off by heading up into the hills at the back of our bit, and going round the perimeter of the new wind farm (which looks very close to completion). Starting a run like this means about two miles of climbing, so it’s a good way to keep the pace down near the start.

From there I went through the forest trail path/road that skirts along the eastern side of Crichness Law. You get really great views from this path, down into the valley towards the old circular sheepfold and right along towards Bothwell Farm. It’s a shame, in a way, that this stretch of path only goes on for a mile or so, because it really is great running. Highly unlikely every to meet anyone else

From there I just headed along the road past the farm, onto the “main” Duns to Gifford road, before turning off again and heading back the way, via Harehead and Elmscleugh.

As I was going along the road I thought it was very, very quiet.. There’s possibly a good reason for this. As I got towards Monynut Forrest I realised that about three trees were down over the road (so, that would explain the complete lack of cars). I think they’ve come down over the winter – simply because of the weight of the snow on them.

As, I got towards the end of the forest I met Ian running the other way (out for a long LSR). So rather than simply running straight on towards Elmscleugh and home I diverted slightly to run a wee bit with him back through the woods towards the wind farm again.

Left Ian at the wind farm then more or less just retraced the first few miles of my run back home.

All in, I think about nineteen miles at a very comfortable pace. Just going to concentrate on increasing the mileage over the next few weeks. Speed work can be saved for club nights.

CHUFF ALL

WooHoo.... I've nothing to do!!
Now, that doesn't mean there's nothing for me to do.. but there is nothing I have to do this weekend. Nowhere to go, no people to see and no starting lines to stand behind!
First weekend in a long time, and it feels quite good to be honest.
There was the usual "coffee, cake and jazz" routine before the normal Friday house cleaning routine (Stanley Turrentine & The Three Sounds "The Complete 'Blue Hour' Sessions", since you don't ask).
There was the usual Saturday morning trip the farm shop for groceries... but after that? Chuff all.

Going to fit in a couple of runs, including a fairly long one, and I'm also going to partake of some of my other hobbies. Namely; listening to jazz (obviously), reading, watching a little telly and my other favourite... sitting on the sofa staring into the middle distance (to be fair I often multi task and do this and listen to jazz at the same time).