Jazz Mag Round-up

[Tenorman]

Well the title might mis-lead a few more people to have a look, :D but what this is really about is what is in the Jazz magazines around the world. To make this a success, I will need some help. Don't know whether it will work or not, but I am willing to give it a go with some of the British Magazines.

So first off is

[Tenorman]

www.jazzwise.com
Jazzwise Dec 2003 / Jan 2004

Leads on an 8 page special about Frank Zappa
A critics poll on the albums of the year
Interviews with Evan Parker and Danilo Perez
And an article on Joe Harriott

The regular “The Way it is” feature comes to the conclusion that Jazz has lost any claim it had to be a protest music. The final sentence is “A protest music still – only at the rigidity of the classical canon and the bland ineffability of Pop. But is that enough”

World music gets a look in with a one page interview with Os Tribalistas nominees for one of the prizes on the BBC Awards for World Music

The album of the year was Let Freedom Ring by Denys Baptiste. The re-issue of the year was The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions by Miles Davis

In a short article bassist Alec Dankworth (son of John and Cleo Laine) chooses Sonny Rollins’ “The Bridge” as the album that changed his life. He occasionally raided his parents record cabinets for something to listen to, but wasn’t into Jazz as such – teenage rebellion he calls it, but it was this record that turned it all around

Some great photos from the David Redfern Gallery. This gallery has recently opened in London at 3 Bramley Rd. London W10 6SZ E-Mail gallery@redferns.com

The letters page covers a variety of subjects, at least one of which will be familiar
Criticism of Teo Macero for criticising the Jack Johnson sessions release
Support your home grown musicians by buying their albums
A support of politics in Jazz
A criticism of one of the reveiewers who apparently (according to the letter writer) put down an album because it was not new enough

[bubber]

Nice idea, Tenorman. As I mostly read Scandinavian magazines, I guess it won't be very relevant to talk about them here because just a couple of members will be able to read them. I do read some US and British mags as well, and I guess your next topic might be British Jazz Review who in the December issue have a long (6/7 pages) with Lee Konitz - one of the best jazz interviews I've read for a long time. Why can't Dpwn Beat and Jazz Times with their resources publish interviews as interesting as this Konitz-piece?

[Fran]

When I lived in Europe, (many moons ago, in the 60's), I read the French jazz publication, at this late date I think it was called, of all things, "Le Jazz Hot", you Europeans please correct me if I am wrong. It was a chore to be sure, as I had a great hand on Hotel, Taxi and Restaurant French, and that's about all. But the French are avid and astute Jazz Fans and I got a tremendous amount of info and enjoyment out of the mag.

[Tenorman]

Hi Bubber,
One of my goals in starting this thread is to get the people from the "minority" countries to post about their magazines. The very point you made about only a few Scandanavians on the board, to me, is the reason why someone from the Scandanavian countries should post a round-up of what is in the magazines. Most of us will never even see a Scandanavian Jazz magazine, much less be able to read it.

So Let's have it What are the jazz press saying in Northern Europe?

[Tenorman]

Thanks Fran
So who reads "Le Jazz Hot" who would be willing to do a monthly(?) round-up

[bubber]

OK Tenorman, I'll come back with reports of Norwegian Jazznytt and Danish Jazz Special.

[Phil Meloy]

Good idea for a thread Tenorman. Here's some info on Jazz UK...

Jazz UK is a free national bi-monthly magazine (34 colour & b+w pages), now also available online (including back issues) on the Jazz Services web site at: www.jazzservices.org.uk. As the name suggests it concentrates essentially on the UK jazz scene. It is distributed in jazz venues, record shops, music stores, etc. and has a circulation of 30,000 copies. Alternatively you can also subscribe to it for 12 pounds a year and have it delivered to your address. The magazine includes a large UK national listings section plus festival news, profiles & interviews with musicians, international artists touring in the UK, composers, Woodshedding pages, Scene & Heard, Airwaves and CD reviews (both UK and overseas artists). Jazz UK contains freelance contributions from Stuart Nicholson, Ron Atkins, Loren Schoenberg, Don G O'Vanney, Mike Butler, Les Sabina, Chris Yates, Duncan Heining, Iain Ballamy and Peter Vacher. Listings deadline is at least a month in advance. Carolyn Williams is the Listings Editor. John Fordham ("Guardian" jazz critic) is the editor. Brian Blain ("The Musician" editor) is the news editor. Pete Martin is associate editor. The November/December 2003 issue includes features on British vocalist/pianist Liane Carroll, the Westbrook Trio, swing saxophonist Tommy Whittle, 27 year old contemporary jazz guitarist David Okumu and Tommy Smith’s Evolution sextet which includes Joe Lovano and John Schofield.

[Philip]

Jazz UKs founding editor, Jed Williams, died recently. He was also responsible for the Brecon Jazz Festival.

John Fordham's obituary in the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,1086565,00.html)

[Phil Meloy]

I believe Steve Voce also wrote an obituary which appeared in the Independent last week but I didn't actually get to see a copy of that one.

[Philip]

It won't be around online (free) for long:

Jed Williams
Creator of the Brecon Jazz Festival
1 December 2003

It was brave and imaginative of Jed Williams to invent the Brecon Jazz Festival. Williams shouldered aside the image of the jazz festival in the spacious sunburned playgrounds of Nice and Santa Monica and in 1984 decided to cram one into a small Welsh market town.
The market hall was one of the main venues, but the small town was inordinately well equipped with the decent auditoria that made the festival so successful. But accommodation for an audience was a problem and as the bed-and-breakfasts were booked to the hilt far in advance of the festival, bedroom seekers spread out like the rings from a stone in a pond as they scoured the surrounding area.
Instead of sunshine, Williams offered all-day drinking to accompany the jazz acts. This brought money to the town in the shape of an army of young people who did not care about jazz but came there to get drunk. Thus the comparatively staid jazz fans had to negotiate ever renewed pools of vomit as they made their way from a Ruby Braff session to a Humphrey Lyttelton concert.
Williams was a gifted and determined organiser who worked in insurance in Cardiff after leaving Howardian Grammar School, and played drums in a local band led by the trumpeter Chris Hodgkins. Williams then managed the jazz section of a Cardiff record store. It was natural that he should become involved in the Cardiff summer jazz festivals of the Seventies. In 1980 he was appointed administrator of the Welsh Jazz Society and with the backing of a local brewery set up the city's leading jazz centre, the Four Bars Inn.
When, with encouragement from the locals, he set up the Brecon Festival in 1984, he was able to use the considerable experience he had gained in booking international jazz stars at the Four Bars Inn. Each year for a long weekend in August the whole town seemed to throw itself into the festival, not just as hosts to the visitors but as stewards, ticket-sellers and caterers. Williams generated the funding for the festival with some ingenuity from public subsidy and commercial sponsors.
In 1991 Williams joined Jazz Services, a subsidised body designed to promulgate jazz gigs throughout the various regions. Under Williams the organisation produced Jazz UK, a slender magazine that pulled together all the regional leaflets and disseminated their contents on a national basis. Williams edited it himself for 10 years until his health began to fail and he was forced to hand over the job to the jazz writer John Fordham.
Poor health affected Williams's attempts to gain sponsorship for the festival in recent years, and the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic of 2001 delivered a substantial blow. But the crowds were back in force this year, and it seemed that Williams's resurgence gave a bright outlook for the future. He was already making plans for the 20th festival when he was taken ill and died from an acute viral infection.
Steve Voce

Jed Williams, festival director and magazine editor: born Cardiff 12 June 1952; married 1981 Carolyn Oakley; died 9 November 2003.

Source (http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/story.jsp?story=468895)

(Voce pasted many of his obituaries in to rec.music.bluenote, so can hardly complain.)

[Phil Meloy]

Obituaries also appeared in the Times and The Western Mail Philip - if you haven't read them links to them can be found at: www.jazzinwales.co.uk/jedwilliams.shtml

[Tenorman]

Ok guys. International Jazz magazines (That's music type Jazz not the other type:D )

Mike has a directory of Jazz magazines, which at present only has US magazines in it. We need to fill it up with magazines from around the world, so after you have checked to see if your local magazine is already listed here: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/entity_archive.php?t=3

Add new ones here: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/entity_edit.php?t=3

Thanks all

[Tenorman]

Jazz Journal International (First published 1948)
This magazine is now in its 56th year of publication and is run by Eddie and Janet Cook, now both in their 70s. A venerable publication of the Jazz World which unashamedly covers Straight-Ahead and Mainstream related Jazz. It gets a bit of stick in some quarters, for “not moving with times”, but it has a stated policy and a format which must work since it is still here.
The leader for December is an interview with Monty Alexander
Steve Voce reminisces on Humphrey Lyttelton and Wally Fawkes
Eddie Blackwell reports on the state of live music in New York
Barry McRae goes over the history of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble
A comedy article about pantomime from Allan F. Scott, a drummer, who has played pit orchestras. Part one has him trying to explain pantomime to an American acquaintance. Along the lines of: It is a children’s comedy show. The principal boy is a girl in thigh boots and tights. The Dame is a man. There is a baddy that everyone boos. There is a comedy duo and there is plenty of slapstick. Oh and the princess is a girl, and it always ends with the principal boy and the princess getting married. Now you know why British humour is unfathomable!
The record reviews contain a review of the recently released Gerry Mulligan boxed set, and as Steve Voce points out the cover of the box is a rare picture of Gerry playing his left handed Baritone Sax

[Phil Meloy]

Hi Tenorman - have posted the Jazz UK details in the AAJ periodicals directory as suggested. Will update it as required. Does anyone have any information as regards Japanese jazz magazines? There's always a couple of them on the racks down at Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus but as they're written in Japanese I've been unable to find their contact details. Also does anyone know of any Indonesian or Thai jazz magazines. It appears that jazz is growing in popularity in both these countries with some excellent musicians coming from Indonesia especially. It seems quite likely that a few jazz jazz publications would have sprung up also.

[Tenorman]

An interview with British pianist John Taylor

John Robert Brown tries to figure out George Russel’s big idea, the man behind “The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organisation” (Being Lydian it was all Greek to me)

An Interview with Michael Moore – NO not that one, the Sax and Clarinet player

Top 10 Jazz DVDs of the year headed by Great Performances – Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis

Collector’s corner has discovered his own personal musical nightmare – a Columbia release – “The Banjo Barons Play Golden Hawaiian Hits”

The Blindfiold test victim (err subject) is Alan Barnes

An article on Lake’s efforts to re-issue the Landowne Jazz series Trad albums

Another Word with Lee – an interview with Lee Konitz (about 6 pages excluding photos)

The letters page is notable this month for the inclusion of a letter on the OGUN re-issues by our very own Bev Stapleton

An interesting editorial comment to one of the letters was “Perhaps someone from JASMINE can enlighten us on the issue of how musicians and/or their estates are benefitting from these re-issues”

[bubber]

Norwegian JAZZNYTT
is a quarterly. No website, but some info on www.jazzforum.no.
The nov issue is 100 pages, due to this being a special to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Norwegian Jazz Federation, a gathering of more than sixty jazz clubs, ca 100 big bands, 15 festivals and a couple of hundreds of professional jazz musicians (not bad for a country of 4.5 millions).

In addition to interviews with veterans of the organisation and scenes from the federation's history, you'll find reports from a number of scandinavian festivals, record reviews, blindfoldtest, desert island records etc etc.

There are interviews with upcoming Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen, Ed Thigpen, singers Magni Wentzel and Rebekka Bakken, and Michael Brecker talks about meeting and playing with Norwegian/Bulgarian "Farmers Market" during his artist in residence at Molde Jazz Festival:

"Trifon (Bulgarian saxophone player in FM) showed me a lot of things. He's a fantastic saxophone virtuoso - autodidakt and coming from a school different from most other saxophonists. He's taken what he heard from bulgarian accordion and flute and transferred it to the saxophone in a very interesting way.

(Accordion player Stian Carstensen) is one of the best musicians I ever played with.....this band are viritiuoses, but they combine being that with playing in a relaxed way and with soul and humour".

Further there's a report from a round table conference on Norwegian jazz today and in the future, people from other countries discuss why small Norway has such a busy jazz scene, and there's a report from Europe Jazz Networks conference in
Kongsberg, dealing with the situation of jazz education and the distributon of live jazz.

[nwabhu]

Originally posted by Tenorman
Thanks Fran
So who reads "Le Jazz Hot" who would be willing to do a monthly(?) round-up
I read it, so I'll let you know. It's a fun read, as the editors are rabid traditionalists, denouncing and damning left and right for the most scurrilous reasons (to be fair, they do have good stuff too, like putting Sam Rivers on last month's cover). A couple months ago a singer was condemned as "selfish" for singing only her own compositions, no standards, during a festival set!

[bubber]

Danish Jazz Special is one of the best jazz magazines on the market. It's a bimonthly, and in every issue you find offers from a Jazz Record Club who charges 150 DKR (USD 20) a year for membership, and includes the magazine. You also can buy/subscribe to the mag without joining the club.

The Oct/Nov has 104 pages (plus 24 record club pages). In addition to record reviews, blinfoldtest and news, there are interviews with a lot of Danish musicians, with Thomas Stanko and Richard Galliano, an excerpt from Marcus Cornelius' book on Warne Marsh, a long story on Danish writer/poet Dan Turell(including his poem Blue Monk and his reviews of Coltrane's A Love Supreme, Meditations and Kulu se Mama from 1965/67) a story on Roy Haynes, another on Sonny Boy Williamson (they have one blues artist every issue)a survey through recordings of Jaco Pastorius, a portrait of Tony Bennet and quite a lot more.

Serious, well written and thorough, Jazz Special is a good reason for anybody to start studying Danish.

From time to time they publish an international issue in English.
I'll try to keep you updated.

[Phil Meloy]

Jazz Guide is a UK monthly non-profit making publication that lists festivals, gigs by night & region for Traditional, New Orleans & Dixieland jazz. Also has private adverts for musicians. Free but annual subscription covers postage. A very good publication for all Classic jazz fans & musicians. Info requested by 10th of the month for next month's publication. Contact is Bernie Tyrrell. Address and phone number have been listed in the AAJ publications directory.

[Phil Meloy]

Does anyone have any information on the following magazines?

Jazz Thing
Verlag Axel Stinshoff
Sülzburgstr 74
50937 Köln
Germany
www.jazzthing.de

Jazztime
Verlag & Versand
Täfernstrasse 37
CH-5405 Baden-Dättwil
Switzerland
tel (+41) 056 483 37 37
fax (+41) 056 483 37 39
www.jazzcd.ch

[bubber]

Re Danish Jazz Special, I mentioned they released an international issue (in English) a year back. This one still can be ordered from www.jazzspecial.dk
Well worth your money.

Today I bought their Dec/Jan issue, looked great, I'll come back with more info.

[Tenorman]

Ray's Jazz in London were dishing them out free to regular customers. Very glossy high production value magazine.

[bubber]

Danish Jazz Special December/January is more than 100 pages.
Ray Pitts writes about "When Bird came to Town", recalling the early days of bebop, jam sessions, the Boston scene etc as background for Charlie Parker: The complete Verve Master Tapes.
Paul Tingen (author of Miles Beyond, the electric explorations of Miles Davis) does ten pages on electric Miles, interviewing musicians involved in Miles' groups at that time,
analyzing and telling the story of the studio sessions. Many great photoes of Miles in boxing outfit.

Etiopian singer Gigi, working with Bill Laswell, is introduced over three pages, there are four pages on the Basie band leading up to a presentation of the four CD "The Columbia Years", interview with Maria Schneider and Curtis Steigers (when will US writers discover what a great singer they have in Steiger, asks Danish critic Boris Rabinowitsch) plus Danish musicians, record reviews, blind fold test, news, comments, and a long story on and interview with David Amram (who, which I did'nt know, is still active) and an introduction to his book: Offbeat: Collaborating with Kerouac. Very interesting stuff.
JS is a very good reason for taking up Danish.

[Tenorman]

Jazz Journal Jan 04

The editorial gives some information on the Universal Jazz Exhibition in Genoa. 2000 square metres of exhibition space will feature hardware exhibitors as well as instruments, sheet music and record labels. There weill also be 5 concerts, including the Mingus Big Band, the Genoese Bansigu Jazz Orchestra and the Italian National Jazz Orchestra debut concert. These will be taking place around the second or third week in March. Details have still to be finalised

The Jazz letters page has the usual wide ranging topics – bit like here really. One letter looks like provoking the Mouldy Fygge v Dity Boppers battle again, but unfortunately uses the wrong term for the wrong group. Some appreciation for the Jazz in Sweden articles from October and November. A comment on Alan Eager; that he won the GT class at Sebring in 1961 with an un-named lady co-driver. A long letter from a Peter Cresswell describing an exchange of correspondence with Radio Merseyside, who have recently axed Steve Voce’s Jazz Panorama after 35 years

A 4 page article on Hank Mobley in Europe 1968-70

A 3 page article on Harry Parry

A 1 page article, which is virtually an appeal for donations for the Vortex in North London

Obituaries included Maxine Daniels, John Wadham, Don Lanphere, and Jed Williams

The Jazz Diary section seems to prove that Jazz appreciation societies are alive and well and flourishing outside London

[peter rh]

Although there is nothing incorrect in Tenorman's review of the
January edition of Jazz Journal, it does omit reference to (for me)
it's main feature.
January's edition has 44 pages(normal size) - 23 pages of cd
reviews covering more than 75 cds.
Articles,features,book reviews,Obituaries,letters and news are
all important but reviews(to me) are the main attraction.

[peter rh]

how's this as a parting shot at cd notes/liners - in a highly praised
review of Lynne Arriale Trio - Arise (Jazz Journal - Brian Robinson)
"Lastly I have to note an oddity,amongst the numerous thanks
and acknowledgements to all and sundry in the liner notes there
is reference to Ms Arriale's shoes provider but in the refined full
lenght photos of the pianist she is barefoot. Just a footnote.Ouch!"
:)

[Tenorman]

January Jazz Review - I haven't managed to pick up a copy yet, due to other commitments. - can someone doe a review, in case I don't manage to get a copy

Reviews - My big gripe about JJI's reviews is the length of time they take to get in to print. Some of them are 3 months plus after issue. It makes for a good, if ultimately un-satisfying, game, finding out what the "professionals" think of your recent purchases.
Don't the record companies issue pre-production albums to reviewers any more, so that they can get reviews in place in time for release?

[peter rh]

I don't have a problem on dates of reviews, but I'd find it fairly
boring to read a review for every cd I intended buying.
An ever present backlog of unopened/unplayed means that I have
no need to order or buy a new release the moment it becomes
available.Some issues I buy anyway,some I buy due to a review
and others are recommendations from various sources.Written
reviews are handy to have but not purely for opinions.

[bubber]

Tenorman asks for a review of January Jazz Review, so I'll give it a try before February is in the mail - even if I'm not British.

There are six pages of Best records 2003 from JR critics, topped by Scottish Colin Steele (Caber) with Shorter's Alegria second, then Lovano, Frisell,Elling, EST, Tord Gustavsen' ECM debut and another Scotchman, Tommy Smith. Colin Steele is
interviewed, as is trombone wizard Nils Wogram, there are live reviews London Jazz Festival concerts and of jazz books (Joe Harriot, Mulligan, Armstrong, Jazz Modernism , Jazz on Record),
and almost twenty pages record reviews. A long blindfoldtest with Bob Mintzer reveals that he has serious problems recognizing Coleman Hawkins, while Bob Berg, Cortney Pine a.o. are piece of cake. Hm.

Posted notes have a discussion on George Russell's Lydian Concept theory, and one posts that Russell is looking into his navel,another: Russell can't teach, can't play piano and as a composer he has'nt a clue with regard to form, structure, harmony or counterpoint......
Feel free to join the discussion.

[Tenorman]

I should really subscribe to these mags since I have now missed the January edition of JR. The posted Notes are in answer to an article from December. The Lydian Concept did not come out too well from that article either. Sounds like music's very own Atkin's Diet:D

[Bev Stapleton]

I finally subscribed to Jazz Review this month - must have timed it just right because a day later a CD dropped through the letter box. I must have been one of their first subscribers of January! There was a note saying sorry about not having any Herman CDs left, we've sent you Tommy Smith's Evolution instead. Suits me fine!

Suggestion: If you intend to subscribe do so at the end of the month, before the new issue comes out. This will put you in the first of the new subscribers for the next month - you won't have a clue what CD you'll get but surprises are always fun!

[bubber]

Originally posted by Tenorman
The posted Notes are in answer to an article from December. The Lydian Concept did not come out too well from that article either. Sounds like music's very own Atkin's Diet:D

Yeah, I read that one too. Strange - I know Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal both talks warmly about Russell and claim he was important for their musical developement in the sixties. I'm not sufficietly schooled neither in Russell's LCOTO nor general musical theory to offer an opinion, but I would say it seems to me that some of Russell's music definitely contradicts the negative comments in JR.

[Tenorman]

News in Brief
The Musicians Union and Government join for a 2 year consultation on Live music chaired by Fergal Sharkey. This is after the MU and the Gov fell out over venue licensing
Jazz FM is changing the name of its North-West station to “Smooth”. As a sop to Jazz fans Mike Chadwick’s Cutting Edge programme is being expanded, but you are going to have to be up at midnight to hear the start of it

Some lucky so-and-so got to go on a Jazz Cruise so that he could do a one page article

An article on Jazz at BBC Radio

Jazz on Film – Herbie Hancock’s Music for the film Death Wish

Half page article on Centipede led by Tom Arthurs and featuring Ingrid Laubrock

Half page article – “New US Horn player Jeremy Pelt may well be the next Freddie Hubbard” – Hey wait a minute where have I heard that name somewhere before?

5 page article and cover story on Ravi Coltrane

5 page interview with Lee Konitz and Steve Coleman

3 page article on John McLaughlin with mention of his 17 CD boxed set of Montreux recordings

Interview with Iain Ballamy

Article on Tomasz Stanko

Plus all the usual DVD and CD reviews

(As far as I can see all the above articles and interviews are linked to an album release)

[bubber]

No British entry on Feb Jazz Review? Will it have to come from Scandinavia once again?

And why is this thread turning into kind of a North European or rather a British/Scandinavian column? Nobody reading Coda, Cadence, Jazziz, DB, JT, Jazz Hot?

[Bev Stapleton]

Jazz Review, Feb:

Jason Moran - The Test

Jonathan Gee

Cook on new MJQ box

Bobby Previte

Tomasz Stanko

Usual features.

[bubber]

Stanko in both JR and JW? Well, he probably deserves it.

[Bev Stapleton]

He's on tour in the UK this month. That's why!!!

[snoutinator]

and for what it's worth, stanko has a new record coming out in may ("suspended night," ECM). you can expect him to see a lot of press around that one.

[bubber]

Last week I bought Jazz Times for the first time since early last year because an interview with Keith Jarrett looked interesting.

A couple of examples:
On the transcription of his Køln Concert: "How does one use a clunky old European notation system to portray emotional states?"

On KJ trio: "Today for me, the trio is a little island in a vast, barren place, and on this island, there is still vegetation. On any night, just before we're about to play a concert, I still feel the pressures of the world. But when we go out to play, it's almost a guarantee that the island is still there. That's our job - the job of taking care of the vegetation on that island".

I think that's beautifully put.

[bubber]

There's a new Jazz Special out. This Danish bimonthly is one of my favourites, and I've written about a couple of earlier issues here before. I've noticed, however, that we now have a new member from Denmark, who also is a valuable contributor to the magazine in question, so I rest my case and leave it to Erling to
comment on Jazz Special. (and we sure need some new contributors to this thread - earlier I have commented that stateside members don't seem to read jazz magazines at all, no mention neither of the glossies nor the more obscure ones - except my quote from the JT Jarrett interview, and I'm not exactly stateside.)

[erling]

What can I say that you didn't already say, Bubber?
True, I write regularly, mainly reviews, for Jazz Special - and the occasional article (latest one an article about my late friend and inspiration, Jimmy Knepper of Mingus fame (I put an English version on my homepage for those interested).
I'm glad you enjoy JS (and maybe with you other Norwegians and Swedes) but its gonna be hard on our more 'international' compadres to enjoy since learning Danish as a pre-requisite :confused: :( :eek2: might me a little too much.
What more can I say/tell?
erling~pimp:

[bubber]

You're right about the language problem, of course, and as I have seen very few scandinavians here, it's probably not very interesting to elaborate in detail on the contents of JS.
What might be interesting, though, is referring one or two special
details from the mag (like I did re Keith Jarrett from Jazz Times).

From the latest JS, I think the discussion on David Murray and the second wave freejazzer's is an interesting one, that probably would create some heat here too.;)

[bubber]

Norwegian Jazznytt is a quarterly, and 1/2004 has a nice new lay out over 64 pages. There's a report on the Finnish jazz scene, including an interview with veteran Juhani Aaltonen who produced one of last years best CDs world wide (Mother Tongue- TUM Records), interviews with EST, Miroslav Vitous and new Norwegian singer Christina Bjordal, reports from Tampere Jazz Festival and All Ears Festival (Oslo) plus record reviews, blindfold, news and lots more. Stuart Nicholson contributes a regular column (in English), this issue: "We're only in it for the money"
on record companies and young singers.

[bubber]

British Jazz Review March: interesting issue. There's a long report from the International Association for Jazz Eduaction conference in NY, reporting both music and panel discussions,some of them quite heated.

Richard Cook writes some interesting reflections on new CDs by The Bad Plus and Wynton Marsalis, Philip Clark reports that at a double bill featuring Martial Solal and Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Barbican, Solal delivered the best music, Cook also talks to Abdullah Ibrahim, Philip Clark to Cyrus Chestnut and Martin Longley to Huw Warren. Brian Morton goes in search of the departed legacy of Eric Dolpy, and Bill Bruford takes the blindfold test. 2o pages of record reviews plus regular columns. JR is still worth the money.

[Tenorman]

I have been sadly neglectful of the thread I started - Report card says "Must do better"

Will get back tomorrow to fill in the gaps

[sheila]

I miss reports here from Germany, Sweden and France who all have some interesting magazines, No members from those countries? If not, how about some action to get us some?

[PFunkJazz]

Right now Britain lacks a jazz magazine I can wholeheartedly recommend.

In my opinion......

JAZZ REVIEW (monthly) is right now the best of the bunch. It has a greater number of knowledgeable and authoritative writers than its competitors and a principled and thought-through editorial stance. On the downside it lacks interesting graphic design and can verge on the pedantic at times.

But better pedantry than JAZZWISE's breathless approbation of anything shiny and new and/or carrying a full page colour ad. It lacks gravitas in spades. Last month's interview with Ravi Coltrane was a quite atrocious piece of interviewing and the Tomasz Stanko feature was shallow compared with the one in Jazz Review.


JAZZ UK could be the tops if it were better funded. As it is, editor John Fordham (jazz critic of The Guardian newspaper) has assembled a great team of writers and does wonders with about $5 a month. If he could afford more pages and more freelance contributions this would the magazine to read first.

[bubber]

Well, if the main problem with Jazz Review is lack of interesting graphic design, I can live with that.

That said, I agree JR looks a little old fashioned. But I think each issue has some meaningful writing, and it's definitely the magazine I spend most time reading. I haven't counted, but I just wonder if that lack of interesting graphic design enables them to put in more words than most others, and in the end, I believe that's what counts.

[Bev Stapleton]

PFunkJazz: "But better pedantry than JAZZWISE's breathless approbation of anything shiny and new and/or carrying a full page colour ad. It lacks gravitas in spades."

The last think a jazz magazine needs is 'gravitas'.

The last thing jazz needs is gravitas!

From Hull and Hell and Gravitas, good Lord deliver us!

Yes, Jazzwise can be frothy, but I think it makes a nice contrast to the jacket with elbow patches and pipe stains approach of Jazz Review.

Let's have both. They're doing fine.

Agree about Jazz UK. I'd pay for a more substantial issue.

[Phil Meloy]

Sorry guys - bit late with this one. In addition to all the regular news, letters, reviews, scene & heard, airwaves and listings sections the Jan/Feb Jazz UK features include a tribute to its late editor and Artstic Director of the Brecon Jazz Festival, Jed Williams, an interview with British saxophonist Chris Biscoe by John Fordham, a Peter Vacher article on Emmy winning saxophonist and composer John Altman and a piece on Alan Robertson's new book "Fire in his Soul" on Jamaican-born saxophonist Joe Harriott. Woodshedding features a Mingus solo from Mercer Ellington's "Things Ain't What They Used To Be". Room Service focuses on the Peterborough Jazz Club and Introducing has a piece by Mike Butler on northern guitarist Stuart McCallum.

[Phil Meloy]

Issue No. 56 includes a feature on British pianist Gary Husband by John Fordham, an article by Peter Vacher on Brighton alto saxophonist Geoff Simkins while Rob Adams contributes a piece on saxophonist Julian Aguelles who has recently moved from England to Scotland. Woodshedding features a Charlie Parker solo from "Hootie Blues" performed with the Jay McShann Orchestra. This issue also sees the addition of a new regular feature by Chrissie Murray "Step's Ahead" - a column on clubber's jazz and also contains an eight page special on jazz education.

[PFunkJazz]

Hey Bev, On gravitas, I stick to my position: we do need jazz journalism with depth and breadth of knowledge and with some intellectual rigour (and too often we don't get any of it).

How can that possibly be a bad thing?

Too often, JazzWise is the Smash Hits (remember that?) of jazz journalism, which was itself the processed cheese of pop journalism. To mix metaphors further, it was all froth and no substance.

I'm not saying JazzWise is unmitigated froth, but if I want a cappuccino I'll go to a coffee bar.

[Bev Stapleton]

I think you're overreacting to the glossy production values, PFunkJazz. It's not remotely like Smash Hits. I might as well compare Jazz Review with Saga Magazine if we're using that degree of hyperbole.

Jazzwise is aiming for a wider market than Jazz Review or Jazz UK, not necessarily from purely commercial considerations. It wants to present jazz to a wider public, draw in the unsuspecting or curious.

Jazz Review seems content to talk to the existing enthusiasts; its an insider job.

Room for both, I'd say.

Informed jazz writing? - of course it can't be a bad thing. But do we really need the po-face? The po-face is the curse of jazz!

[PFunkJazz]

Bev, Did I say anything about po-faced? Why are you equating po-facitas with gravitas? They do not necessarily have anything in common. It's like people objecting to 'quality' on the grounds that it is 'elitist'. A contemporary dumbing down disease which does no-one any favours, including the duh-umb.

At the risk of shooting myself in the foot, did you know that Richard Cook, when editor of The Wire, was known in the business as The Mortician because of his generally po-faced demeanour?

[Bev Stapleton]

Yes, I've heard some fairly uncomplementary things about his time there.

Re: po-faced. I'm reacting to your over-harsh dismissal of Jazzwise.

In my time of following jazz the story of publications in the UK has been a sorry one. The only consistently available title has been Jazz Journal which has a fairly 'mainstream' focus - nothing wrong with that, but it has always left large areas uncatered for.

I can recall a series of magazines coming and going. The Wire covered the music for a short time in the 80s but then moved to a more experimental-avant approach with a much broader remit, losing most of its jazz coverage.

Straight No-Chaser - from what I've seen of it - has a more jazz-dance/acid jazz focus.

The early 90s saw three jazz mags appear and disappear very quickly.

Keeping a UK jazz mag afloat is not easy. From what I know of Jazzwise it's an operation that keeps itself afloat by the skin of its teeth.

Criticising it for its failure to have scholarly articles - "The significance of the matrix numbers of the McKinney's Cotton Pickers recordings 1928-1929'; "The LP covers of the Second Miles Quartet and the ideology of Stokeley Carmichael"; "Breath control in the Charlie Parker Dials" - well, it might have academic appeal, but its hardly going to shift magazines.

Jazzwise, Jazz Review and Jazz UK have done what I thought unthinkable. They've kept a UK jazz magazine running for over five years!

I'm grateful to them all for providing me with up-to-date news, information about what is touring, what is being released, impressions of those recordings, interviews with the musicians.

If the quality of articles is variable, well, I'll live with that.

I'm not sure the market can sustain a highbrow jazz magazine.

[bubber]

The US Jazz Review (late fifties/early sixities) was a high brow magazine. Lasted a couple of years. Britain for some years had a magazine whose name escapes me at the moment, run by Albert McCarty that also was a little on the intellectual side.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: IMHO the quality of British jazz magazines compare favourably to the US ones.

OK, Jazz Journal is VERY mainstream and used to be much more interesting forty years ago. But overall, Britain got a bunch of magazines with a healthy variation in profile.

That said, I still mean the first few years of the Wire constituted the best jazz magazine in Britain ever.

[Bev Stapleton]

Originally posted by bubber
That said, I still mean the first few years of the Wire constituted the best jazz magazine in Britain ever.

I suppose it's just my way of looking at things but The Wire has always illustrated to me what I mean by po-faced.

I used to buy The Wire and Folk Roots in the mid-80s. I always loved the way the latter went out of its way to embrace music, enjoy it. The writers in The Wire seemed terribly concerned to prove how hard to please they were.

I find that 'grumpy uncles' approach in Jazz Review's CD reviews too. "Hey punk, impress me!"

So much jazz writing reads as if the writers are terribly pleased with their own perceived superior intelligence and discrimination.

One of the things I love about John Fordham's writing is that he is informed, can express himself clearly yet does it by communicating his enthusiasm. I don't get a sense of someone projecting unnecessary complexities onto the music in order to make it (and himself) appear more important.

[Simon Weil]

Originally posted by bubber
I've said it before, but I'll say it again: IMHO the quality of British jazz magazines compare favourably to the US ones.

OK, Jazz Journal is VERY mainstream and used to be much more interesting forty years ago. But overall, Britain got a bunch of magazines with a healthy variation in profile.

That said, I still mean the first few years of the Wire constituted the best jazz magazine in Britain ever.

I agree that the Brit Jazz mags are pretty good. As it happens I think JJI is a very good publication despite its mainstream bias. The contributors just know what they're talking about. I also thoroughly agree about the first editions of The Wire. That was more or less a perfect mag, from my point of view. ?Was it Anthony Wood who started it?

The fact is the Brits have always had pretty good Jazz writers.

Simon Weil

[Simon Weil]

Originally posted by PFunkJazz
Bev, Did I say anything about po-faced? Why are you equating po-facitas with gravitas? They do not necessarily have anything in common. It's like people objecting to 'quality' on the grounds that it is 'elitist'. A contemporary dumbing down disease which does no-one any favours, including the duh-umb.

At the risk of shooting myself in the foot, did you know that Richard Cook, when editor of The Wire, was known in the business as The Mortician because of his generally po-faced demeanour?

Bev doesn't believe in art, depth etc.. He has arguments for it, but I think it's just not his scene. I agree with you about the need for intellectual rigour. Absoutely. Completely. Utterly.

I used to listen to Cook on Radio London and then Jazz FM. He seemed to have the knack of making everything he played sound uninteresting. And, especially on Jazz FM, it all began to sound the same. There is something of a mortician in that.

But I'm not a fan of the Penguin Guide either.

Simon Weil

[bubber]

Yes Simon, Anthony Wood started Wire and I seem to remember he was editor/publisher for a period of time. I still have a complete collection of the mag from the start through early/mid nineties

[PFunkJazz]

Simon

It seems there's precious little demand for intellectual rigour or gravitas, and precious little journalistic ability to provide it.

So I guess we'll just have to blow the froth off the existing titles and dig out any underlying substance.

As for Bev having 'no arguments' I'd be interested in hearing his response to the elitism/quality issue I raised. I'm frequently amused by the sophistry and/or self-delusion of middle class populists debating this one. But Bev seems not to want to entertain us!

[Bev Stapleton]

I'm not too sure what argument I failed to address, Pfunkjazz.

What do I think of quality? I think quality is good. Jazzwise, Jazzwise and Jazz UK all cover quality music (and do not cover oceans of other quality music). They each do so in a quality way (We can argue about the meaning of 'quality' until the cows come home...lets just say that my interpretation is highly relativist).

Is there room for more scholarly jazz articles in those magazines or in a new magazine. Yes, of course. I'd read them. Unless they turned into 'Avant!' (youll find everythink I dislike in back copies of that magazine; I think it's defunct).

Does that require a snooty put-down of the existing jazz magazines as 'lacking rigour'*? No. That's elitism.

In my experience this is rarely much of an issue where musicians are concerned. They tend to be pretty down to earth about their music (and frequently irritated by the attempts of commentators to read things into it), and open to the music of other musicians. It's rare I'll read an interview with a musician that is not primarly positive and wanting to enthuse about other music.

I just don't get on with those writers on jazz - in particular those who are 'serious' writers about jazz - who seem more concerned to point out the flaws and failings, to lament how things ain't what they used to be.

I don't for a minute believe that contemporary culture is dumbed down. Quite the opposite. Yes, there's plenty of undemanding popular culture but then that has always been the case. But more strikingly, access and enthusiasm for what is termed 'the arts' is greater than it's ever been. Social change, educational opportunity and affluence have made that all possible. It may not be in our face on prime time TV but its out there and people are taking advantage of it.

Result? Well here's one. The absolute flowering of glorious music at the present.

How can that flowering be made to continue?

Well I'm sure there's a place for learned articles of great intellectual rigour.

But what really works is articles written by people who are inspired by the spark of wonderful music and who then use their literary skills to communicate their enthusiasm.

In my view all three UK titles frequently achieve that.

[Apologies for the sensitivity with regard to the term 'lacking rigour'. About ten years ago it was a common term used by right-wing educational commentators when having a go at anything in the state education system that did not do things the way they had supposedly been done in private education in the 1950s! Red rag, I'm afraid!]

[3pointdeli]

i just picked up the current jazziz (march 2004...how come some magazines are dated, like, **JULY** 2004 when it's only the second week of march?????). anyway...i've been let down by all the jazz magazines, or at least the big three (downbeat, jazziz, jazz times). this one seemed worth buying because it's a guitar issue, and i love me some guitar. plus it's got some nice illustrations. AND a story about gregg bendian's mahavishnu project.

[snoutinator]

another thing i don't get is why magazines review music that isn't even available. i understand hype, but this sort of thing is out of control. i think some times mags don't understand that they exist to serve readers.

[Phil Meloy]

Originally posted by snoutinator
another thing i don't get is why magazines review music that isn't even available.
For example? :confused:

[bubber]

Just picked up German "Jazz Thing" ( www.jazzthing.de )
I've never seen this mag before. It's in A4, bimontly, 90 pages,
jazz and beyond but mostly jazz. Looks quite nice. My limited German means that I'll have to spend much time getting through the pages. Febr/March 2004 has a couple of pages in English, though, "Notes from New York", written by Bill Milkowski who give us the whole story bout Elvis Costello, Gary Peacock, Lee Konitz at the Iridium. I'm not much of a Costello fan myself, but I hope Mr Peacock's behaviour is not something he picked up in my favourite piano trio.

Main topic this issue is 14 pages discussing and evaluating singers in today's jazz,(Der Vocal Jazz-boom und seine Folgen) there are articles/interviews re James Carter, Roy Ayers, William Parker, Dave Liebman, Einstürzende Neubauten and Uri Caine,
lots of record reviews, news and short presentations, lots af
relevant advertising. Cooking with Jacky Terrason is not about musc, but that other kind of cooking (!). Quite funny, actually, he seems a good chef.

One thing strikes me as a little strange: A substantial number of people writing for the mag has selected last years top ten records, and adding all votes, Erykah Badu's World Wide Underground comes first, followed by Andy Bey, Outkast, Dhaffer Youssef, Robert Wyatt, Josh Roseman Unit, Wayne Shorter, Lizz Wright, Shirley Horn and William Parker. Favourites of mine like Dave Holland 5, Gianluigi Trovesi, Jason Moran ,EST, Bojan Z, Joel Harrison a.o. get votes, but not enough to reach top ten.

Nice layout, prized at ca 5 euro it's value for money. Wish it were in English,though, because it seems to compare favourably to
British/US mags.

[bubber]

British Jazz Review April: JR for me is still the best read on the international jazz mag scene. Less mainstream than Jazz Journal, less hip than Jazzwize, less obscure than Cadence, going deeper than DB and JT.

April has interviews with Bojan Z and Maria Schneider, both very interesting, a long blindfoldtest with Tony Coe filled with good points and issues for further argument, a piece on Ellington's thirties productions, a couple of British interviews, lots and lots of record reviews, live reviews, currents and regular columns, including Posted Notes where Manfred Eicher writes about the
ECM sound.

[Bev Stapleton]

And in the general news bit they call 'The Front' you'll find this:

"More positive chat about JR in the specialist bulletin boards. This time on All About Jazz.com. People still seem to find it surpring that JR should champion the word, and put content first..."

A bit of selective reading there, methinks; part of the ongoing spats between JR and Jazzwise in their columns!

Richard Cook is is classic 'grumpy uncles' mode in his editorial about the up and coming UK festivals.

But overall I agree with bubber. The main articles themselves are a really good read.

[snoutinator]

Originally posted by Phil Meloy
For example? :confused:

cruise your favorite jazz mag and you'll find plenty of things that are reviewed before their release date.

[PFunkJazz]

bubber - there's nothing 'hip' about Jazzwise. Superficial, faddish, all glitter and no substance, yes. But hip, no. Maybe the suburban dorks who put it together should try some substance abuse (they still talk about 'Jamaican cheroots' as though it's some sort of daring new thing) and try to liven up their perspectives on jazz, life and everything.

[bubber]

OK OK, would be-hip, then

[Bev Stapleton]

I get the impression that Jazzwise must have turned down PFunkjazz for a job at some time. The Honourary Professorship in Jazz Gravitas (with Hip) he awarded himself clearly didn't impress on his CV.

Can't think of any other reason for the venemous nature of his jibes against the poor magazine every few days or so.

There's deep hurt there somewhere.

Nice articles on Abercrombie, Phil Robson and the new John Taylor/Charlie Haden disc in the current issue, by the way!

Not sure if they count as 'hip' or not 'hip'. I always thought 'hip' was something that only worried those who were superficial, faddish, glittery and without substance.

Clearly obsesses the aesthetes, too, it would seem.

[bubber]

I always thought hip was very up to date, a little avant garde and coool, originating, I believe, from hipster - or is it the other way around?

[Phil Meloy]

Chambers dictionary defines it as:

hip (colloq) adj knowing, informed or following the latest trends in music, fashion, political ideas etc.

Based on this definition Jazzwise probably isn't all that "hip".

[Bev Stapleton]

It suggests narcissism nowadays. Certainly in the UK the term tends to be used ironically, to mock those who 'think' themselves to be a little more knowing, a little more aware of 'what's happening'.

Except of course by those who believe they are a little more knowing and do know 'what's happening'. In which case they use the term 100% irony free!

Which makes it even funnier!

I don't find Jazzwise to be particularly 'hip', 'pseudo-hip' or whatever. It is very wide ranging, covering things that the more fundamentalist jazz enthusiasts might find marginal or not jazz at all. Partly as a result of an editorial belief in embracing jazz as widely as possible. Partly out of necessity - the jazz mag graveyard in the UK is very, very full!

The good news is that it is not compulsory to read it. The aesthetes can raise their noses, walk on past it with an aristocratic sniff and make a beeline for "Matrix Number Quarterly."

[Simon Weil]

"Suburban dorks" is not going to be so far from the truth.

Reality check from PFunk. There's a bit of the dork in most of us.

Simon Weil

[Bev Stapleton]

Why is suburban used pejoratively?

Is that by comparison with urban? Or rural?

Presumably the problem with people who live in suburbs is that they are neither streetwise nor ride to hounds regularly.

[You might want to take a look at the post he made this morning at 'the other place' before you identify with him too closely, Simon. I don't think he's a very happy fellow.]

[Simon Weil]

I suppose what he's saying is there is a lack of edge in it, probably a bit of complacency. Now I don't deny the value of what Jazzwise does, but I would be lying if I said I didn't long for something more intense and dangerous.

I guess suburban is meant as the antithesis of that.

Simon Weil

[Bev Stapleton]

Well, I find plenty to irritate me in the magazine. Yes, it can jump onto bandwaggons (but it's not always clear if an emerging performer is a flash-in-the-pan or the start of something significant); and Stuart Nicholson's column can be very annoying, especially when he goes off on one of his half-baked political rants.

But I think a great deal of the criticism directed at Jazzwise is based on misunderstanding...sometimes deliberate.

It doesn't set out to be an intellectual magazine. It doesn't set out to cover the deeper history (Jazz Review sets itself that particular brief).

It is very much a magazine covering what is emerging now with an interest in its immediate antecedents - thus the Coltrane and Miles obsessions, the frequent rock related articles. It wants to present the jazz you can listen to today as something fun that its worth pursuing.

It can balance up the mega-popular (Krall), the trendy (Wesseltoft), the stallwarts of the contemporary scene (Taylor, Haden) and introductions to relative newcomers (Robson and a bunch of people I've never heard of)...and that's the April issue.

I can understand this being of absolutely no interest to a jazz enthusiast with different priorities.

I just find the need for some jazz enthusiasts, normally those very self-conscious of being jazz enthusiasts, to bitch about it very odd. Surely they should be reading some other magazine?

Or if it does not exist, putting one together to show how it should be done?

I'm not against criticism of Jazzwise or any other magazine - I just find the venemous nature of some of the criticism here to be out of proportion to the magazine's rather venial sins.

[Bev Stapleton]

Oh, and a wonderful defence of the richness, intensity and danger of suburbia can be found here:

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00000JPEU.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[bubber]

I find your description/analyses of Jazzwize quite correct, and if they sell sufficient magazines being what they are, its OK with me, as long as Jazz Review does the same. Hopefully there's room for both of them.

And I hate lawn movers. If God meant grass to be short, he'd created it so that it did'nt grow high.
(My wife unfortunately does'nt agree).

[Phil Meloy]

Have you thought about getting a cow?

[Bev Stapleton]

Originally posted by bubber
I find your description/analyses of Jazzwize quite correct, and if they sell sufficient magazines being what they are, its OK with me, as long as Jazz Review does the same. Hopefully there's room for both of them.

Which is all I'm saying, bubber. Jazz is a pretty broad church; there's room for different ways of writing about the different parts of it.

Originally posted by bubber
And I hate lawn movers. If God meant grass to be short, he'd created it so that it did'nt grow high.
(My wife unfortunately does'nt agree).

I suspect I'm mentally "suburban" even though the town I live in is too small to have suburbs!

Despite that I too hate mowing.

I've a poorly maintained patch out front that I occasionally mow. The back garden is covered in weed-suppressing sheeting and bark! Nil maintenance, if ugly!

[bubber]

Maybe you should buy a cow from Phil Meloy?

[Phil Meloy]

Take your pick Bev...

http://www.pagelinx.com/pinegrove/Image01.jpg

[Bev Stapleton]

I don't think any of those would make it to the garden. They've got to pass the kitchen first!

[Tenorman]

http://home.supernet.com/~rhymer/photos/cattle.jpg

Or you could try one of these. What's known as a Hielan' Coo or Hielan' Stoat.

The cows are all right but the bulls have a notoriously vile temper, and with those handlebars, they can back it up. So make sure you check the underpinnings before leading it through the kitchen

PS these beasties don't even need a byre

[Bev Stapleton]

Through the kitchen?

It goes in.

It doesn't come out!

[Tenorman]

Aw Bev how could you?

They are really quite cuddly and cute

[Phil Meloy]

Too late T-man!

http://www.rangelmd.com/Big%20Mac.JPG

[bubber]

This promotion of British cattle scares me - I've heard a few things about their health condition in the past, (I'm not sure I'd eat that burger).

Consequently I move this thread from agriculture back to basics: Danish Jazz Special April/May is out. Since almost nobody here read Danish, I won't go into detail on the contents, just mention that Aldo Romano has been awarded the prestigious Jazzpar Prize and JS runs a long interesting interview with him. As there's been some talk about black and white jazz here the last weeks/months, I'll refer a few comments from Mr Romano: (my amateur translation)

"There's a black way of playing (drums). It's got something to do with the drive on the cymbal - it sounds black. If you compare it
to Shelly Manne and for ex Larry Bunker and Stan Levy, you might understand what I mean. They are fantastic drummers, but you can hear they're white.

And listen to big band drummers from that period, like Charlie Persip and Sam Woodyard. When you listen to Mel Lewis, you can hear he's white. Very good, of course, but with another
approach. Their way of playing is different. The cymbal sound is different, the feeling, the beat, their drive is different.

I would'nt sound like Shelly Manne, I wanted to sound black - it's something I've been working towards. I did'nt want to sound like Shelly Manne, and not like Mel Lewis."


Later in the interview, though he says he prefers Palle Danielsson/Jon Christensen over Peacock/de Johnette with Jarrett. And Jon is almost pink. :embarass:

[bubber]

British Jazz Review May. For a magazine I generally find having a good balance between today and yesterday, this issue is a little heavy on the retro side. Main issues are A Study in high achievement: Philip Clark examining the legacy of Fletcher Henderson (7 pages), Five decades of Chris Barber (3 pages) and an interview with Wynton Marsalis (3 pages). Trombonist Mark Nightingale takes the blindfold test, and recognises everybody except Vic Dickenson.
Brian Morton talks to Italian trumpet maestro Enrico Rava.
Usual columns, record reviews etc. No live reviews in this issue -
unfortunately, JR usually publish thorough reports from the club/concert scene

[Phil Meloy]

Originally posted by bubber
(I'm not sure I'd eat that burger).
Despite my growing concerns that my mate bubber might be one of those pinko, lefty, politically correct veggie burger eating types I will aceed to his suggestion that we return this thread to the original purpose that Tenorman had in mind when he started it.

Have just received the May/June 2004 issue of Jazz UK (no. 57). In addition to all the regular news, letters, reviews, scene & heard, airwaves and listings sections, the features include an interview with German pianist Hans Koller (now based in Britain) by Duncan Heining, an interview with guitarist Deirdre Cartwright on 1980's women jazz band the Guest Stars who are reforming for some shows over the next couple of months and releasing a CD of some of their earlier recorded material and a John Fordham article on British saxophonist Tony Kofi. Woodshedding features a Benny Goodman solo from "After You've Gone". Room Service focuses on the Tynside's Corner House Hotel and Introducing has a piece by John Fordham on pianist Sam Beste.

[bubber]

Quiz for Phil:

Is there a song called Eat that Chicken or is it a song called Eat that burger?

[Phil Meloy]

One Hawaiian Chicken Special coming up just for you bubber...

http://www.backyardburgers.com/images_content/hawaiian-ckn-sm_t.gif

[Tenorman]

I have been buying the UK Jazz magazines faithfully every month. I got round to reading JJI January 04 last week-end. I need a holiday.

However, glancing through this month's Jazz review, I scanned through "Collectors corner"

Typos we love
"The list of talented sidemen who came out of the Basie band reads like a who's who of the Jazz hall of fame ....... and some of the finest vocalists in the history of Jazz : Joe Rushing......."
Who could have made such a Boo-Boo. Someone on the AAJ forum that's who. Send out the blood hounds find that post quick and replace it with Jimmy Turner :D

Also on the same page:

How many of you have one or more CDs from that wonderful series The Chronological Classics. I have got a 6 CD set of Count Basie 1936-1941
Or rather no, I haven't. I do have a Count Basie set but it is from the Chronogical Classics. Every single issue has this mis-print on it - or is it some sort of insider joke? :confused2

[Munch]

http://home.supernet.com/~rhymer/photos/cattle.jpg

Or you could try one of these. What's known as a Hielan' Coo or Hielan' Stoat.

The cows are all right but the bulls have a notoriously vile temper, and with those handlebars, they can back it up. So make sure you check the underpinnings before leading it through the kitchen

PS these beasties don't even need a byre


I got chased by one of them beasties!
It was on moorland, open to the public, and the sign on the gate about three miles back had said, 'keep all dogs on leads, cattle might be grazing'.
Didn't say a damn thing about a bluddy bull!
We have this freedom to roam rule now, but the farmers have a twisted sense of humour.
Grazing was square to this hunk of beef, he was looking for some poor sucker to jam with.
Lucky that I was just sixty four years old at the time, if I had been sixty five I would have been retired, a pensioner, and a lot slower, so I still had quite a bit of nifty nimbleness and some fast finishing speed left in the tank.
The moorland had some marshy areas that I knew about and just where to step, so I led him towards them and he got bogged down, and thus give me the advantage when entering the final straight. Smarty Jones had nothing on me. I would have won the Triple Crown!
But, with the winning post in sight I was weakening and he was finishing fast.
At the wire it was a photo finish.
I dodged through some thick bushes and reached the fence bordering the moorland from the forest and didn't even try and jump over it, I just took off and hoped for the best, and the barbed wire tore my jacket almost off my back.
The demented animal kept coming right into the bushes but he had lost sight of where I had gone, and thrashed backwards and forwards letting out some mighty anguished roars, (I recall thinking it sounded sorta like some 'free form' stuff) as he looked for me. The dog was as scared as I had been, and we both lay spreadeagled on the grass gasping in tempo.

Later I met a guy that breeds show bulls and mentioned this to him.
He said, "I know about that bull! He is a very dangerous bull!"

I did see the funny side though. I should have swiped that bull about the head with my JJI, or whacked him on the rump with my copy of Jazz Times, or better still, kicked him hard in the Downbeats.

[Tenorman]

As I was walkin' doon the road
Ah saw a coo, a bull begoad.
Wrongly attributed to William McGonagle (Scotland's ither National poet)

For the benefit of non Scots - "beastie" is anything from a Blue Whale to a Midgey - and if you don't know what a midge is - pound for pound, they inflict more damage on the human population than any other creature alive today.

While on the subject of hairy coos (again)

In my younger days, I was a scout leader, and regularily had a camp on the banks of Loch Lomond (yes those bonnie banks). We shared the field with a harmless Highland Cow that had been hand reared, and would often just visit to get its head scratched.

One morning it stuck its head into a tent, scared the living daylights out of a new scout who thought the ideal thing to do was to hit the poor cratur with a frying pan. Havoc ensued. Half a ton of angry and blind beef on the hoof took off with our tent wrapped round its head.

When the farmhands arrived, we wrestled the thing to the ground and removed what was left of our tent. We then realised, idiots that we were, that we only had 10 feet of hobble rope and the fence was a hundred yards away. My cross country running from school days came in handy as I hurdled a 4 foot fence and cleared the 3 foot ditch on the other side.

Only then did we realise that the cause of all this was missing. While some of the other guys kept the cow busy, we went back down the field to salvage the campsite, and found one very scared little boy sitting in the centre of the groundsheet of the tent, still clutching his frying pan. I would love to know where he is now 30 years on

[Munch]

Great story Tenorman!

It's amazing how high we can lowp when being chased by a bull.

That wee boy with the frying pan maybe did the right thing by staying put.

Back to the Mags. My first was the ever famous Jazz Monthly. I subscribed to this immediately after I left school and up until it went bust in the late sixties.
It was a pretty mean mag, didn't take any prisoners, but it served me well through the formative years. It was an honest Jazz Mag, no doubt about that!

[Tenorman]

I can just hear the other members of this board saying, after translation, "Fit ur they loons prattlin' aboot noo?"

[bubber]

Norwegian Jazznytt July/August is out. Interviews with Haavard Wiik (Atomic etc), Bobby Mc Ferrin, a long interview (in English) with The Bad Plus, written by Stuart Nicholson. Rumenian author Virgil Mihaiu writes about "Jazz in a political Europe", blindfold test, live and CD revies and lots of other interesting stuff. Nicholson in his regular column writes (in English) about
US musicians coming to Europe and finding a substantial part of their yearly income from salaries here, while European musicians meet much more trouble playing the US.
Pianist Tord Gustavsen (ECM, Silje Nergaard Band etc)
reports:

"The amount of hassles you have to go through to legally do concerts (in the US) - I think we spent USD 2000 in fees to get these temporary work permits, it's crazy!"

Nicholson explains that to play in the US, European
musicians need a P-2 work permit visa. To get these, they have to have a letter of invitation from a promoter in the US. Then they must file a petition saying they are unique performers who would add to the cultural landscape of America. The P-2 application is then submitted with a paymentr of USD 130 per musician.
However, processing such an application an take 2 or 3 months so most bands pay an extra USD 1000 in order to obtain "premium processing" (within 15 working days)
in addition to the "base" fees of USD 130 per applicant. Once a background check on the artists and road crew is done, they then must report to their local US consulate for an interview. If the meeting goes well, the Consulate sends the application to the Department of Homeland Security for another background check.

Sounds like Soviet Union decades ago (my comment)

Except for Nicholson's seven pages, text is in Norwegian.
64 pages tabloid size, good lay out, this is one of the better magazines out.

[sheila]

I also heard that when US musicians play Europe, the arrangers have to pay - in addition to fees and travel expenses - also a percentage of the net fee in income tax.

There has been a tendency this year that some European festivals present only European groups. I don't think that's a healthy development, but I also believe this tendency might get stronger if US fees and expenses continue going up parallell to US being more restrictive towards artists from other parts of the world.

I read the column in question by Nicholson, and it also contains some good points about USA not taking properly care of its own music.

[Bev Stapleton]

There has been a tendency this year that some European festivals present only European groups. I don't think that's a healthy development

I agree completely with the last point but I'm not aware of many festivals that have a policy of European groups only.

There are two types of festival that focus on domestic musicians totally:
a) Those on a low budget that cannot afford to bring over or pay US artists.
b) Those that set out to be distinctive, a bit different, cover a specific area of the music. Given that the bigger festivals are still dominated by big US names its nice to have an alternative.

Ideally geography should be irrelevant. I'm keen to hear as wide a range of musicians as possible, wherever they come from.

[bubber]

Nattjazz in Bergen, a ten day festival and an important one
being arranged parallel to and to a certain extent in cooperation with the prestigous classical Bergen International Festival had no American groups this year,
but lots of interesting music from Europe, Africa and Asia.

In spite of that - of course there must be many hundred European festivals relying primarily on groups from the US, and of course US musicians still have a lot to offer musically.

The competetion is getting harder, though, and in Norway
it frequenbtly happens that European groups outsell
American. Molde Jazz Festival starts next week, and
Brazz Bros/Palle Mikkelborg, and Solveig Slettahjell Slow Motion Orchestra have already sold out their concerts, as has Ladysmith Black Mombazo, while there still are ticets for Branford Marsalis and Kurt Rosenwinkel w/Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau.

[Tenorman]

While wandering through September's Jazzwise, I was reading the Bitches Brew column - always good for a few digs at the establishment and I quote

"Among the artists' special riders/requests at the recent Ghent Blue Note Festival, it has come to light that one pianist requested a Brazilian Hooker, while specially prepared Indian food had to be shipped in from another city"

I didn't know that the Brazilians played rugby :banana:

Another little tid-bit from the same column, was that, while they were clearing up after the BBC Jazz Awards they found the following items

1 Long black skirt
1 Baritone Sax
1 pair of black shoes (no mention of whether male or female)
1 Beige Jacket
There is the evidence Inspector Clouseau. What is the story? :eek2: