Jeremy Hardy

Last week I was listening to The News Quiz and wondering why I hadn't heard Jeremy Hardy for a while and wondering if he had been politically corrected out. Yesterday came the news of his passing.

I try to only write obituaries for people who are especially important to me and occupy a fair bit of space on my iPod. Jeremy Hardy qualifies on both counts. I started listening to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue in the early 80s, but it gained a fresh lease of life when a new generation of panelists joined following Willie Rushton's death. Jeremy was the one who established himself as the nearest thing to a regular, the dreadful singing was what he came to be known for, but his contribution was much wider than that and he very rarely brought his politics to the show, making the occasion of his appearance on Just a Minute using the Royal Family for the subject "parasites" clearly a deliberate grenade, as he always respected the format of ISIHAC and didn't use it as a platform. Unlike the News Quiz where his "rants" were often aimed at topics inspired by his views. They were however always funny whether you shared his views or not. The "Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation" series on Radio 4 could be variable in quality but the best are magical. I saw him perform stand up at Edinburgh some years ago and as part of the ISIHAC live show in Bristol more recently.

To focus on his politics is to miss the point of his humour, the dry self deprecating wit which acknowledged his background, and looked to highlight the absurdities of our lives. He was of his generation, only 2 years older than me, and the shared "growing up" space is what speaks to me at least. The fact that his passing has drawn such genuine mourning from his own profession, visit Mark Steel's Twitter for a flavour, says all there is to be said about his qualities as a man. Even the Daily Mail has reported his loss as straight news, which I'm sure would have amused him.

Mark Steel's obituary in The Independent is HERE

His interview with another friend Jack Dee on Radio 4's Chain Reaction is HERE.

What makes you think you would like classical music?

This Sunday morning I was half awake and listening to the radio at something called 6.47am and the presenter of Radio 5 breakfast, Chris Warburton, was talking about his cultural new years resolutions. One of these was to learn more about classical music. He had a chat to some violinists at the BBC symphony orchestra, not sure why violinists, probably because they could play clips on the radio easily. They started off suggesting Ravel, on the grounds that everyone knows the Bolero.

The question that didn't get asked was what had made him think he should investigate classical music? The clues were there in the interview. Another of Chris' resolutions was to listen to Jazz pianist Bill Evans. Now Evans, who many non Jazz listeners will still have heard on Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue", was influenced by some aspects of classical music, principally Bach, as well as by Jazz players like Bud Powell. Having said that this article suggests as do other sources that Evans had a lot in common with impressionist composers like Debussy, and Ravel, and also Chopin from a bit earlier. So it looks like the violinists Chris was talking to got it right for the wrong reasons. I admit to knowing nothing about classical music, but I do understand that the description classical music is a bit like bracketing, Kylie, Napalm Death and Aphex Twin all under 'Pop'. This means that you won't like all of "Classical" any more than you will necessarily like all "Rock" or "Jazz" or "Hip-Hop", so a starting point that relates to what you like already will help your explorations. Chris mentioned recommendations for Brahms and Schubert which even with my limited knowledge seem unlikely  jumping off points for someone who said he likes Jazz, Soul & Funk.

Every form of music has it's snobbery and maybe I detected a hint of this in the suggestion of Ravel to Chris, as it seemed to be based on the assumption that most of us only connect with a violin through ice skating and adverts. I have always thought that I may like modern classical music and my few explorations seem to suggest I would. What I need is a place to start; anyone like to help?





By the way Chris, if you ever read this, Bill Evans, start with the classics, Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Sunday at the Village Vanguard and pretty much anything featuring his trio with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro. I have a very good compilation of his final years, "We Will Meet Again - The Bill Evans Anthology 1977-1980" and after that you're off on your own.

Will the last reader please turn off the lights

The December 2018 issue of Jazz Journal was the last print edition after 70 years. We are constantly hearing about the hardships of print in the face of the online world, but your local WH Smiths has hundreds of magazines on the shelves, presumably selling in quantities good enough to keep going. So why did Jazz Journal fail and what lessons can we draw from it for the wider print world.

To jump off the shelves a magazine needs a certain amount of kerb appeal, something to engage the casual reader and prompt an impulse purchase. Compare Jazz Journal’s gloomy often black & white images and subdued colours to the big bright glossy images of its nearest competitor, Jazzwise, and other niche music titles all shouting their wares and it seems almost designed to sit on the racks. I recognise this was a cost issue as was the cheaper paper stock, and the frankly skimpy page count, but no attempt seemed to be made to make the magazine attractive to anyone other than the committed reader seeking it out. 

It’s worth comparing Jazz Journal to another niche music magazine, albeit one catering to a different audience that has adapted and certainly appears to be thriving, Fireworks - Rock and Metal. This started in 2000, and having bounced between monthly and bi monthly the publishers settled on a quarterly magazine sometime ago. Since then the magazine has grown to 150 pages, and a cd with mp3 and PDF files on it. Plenty enough to read for three months. As many of these types of magazines are part time ventures this takes away the pressure of deadlines or providing a news service, leaving space for articles, interviews and reviews to stretch out. The magazine title has shifted, the original Fireworks is a very obscure album title reference, and the original strap line “The Melodic Rock Magazine” (a niche within a niche) has been replaced with the current on "Rock and Metal" being larger than the title, beating its potential audience over the head with the message. Better covers, better design, better writing as well, make the magazine an attractive proposition both on the rack and leafing through it.  

Jazz Journal stayed rooted in 1966, appealing to a long-term core readership that dwindled with each passing year. Recent attempts to update were too little too late and met with vitriol from the readers. The casual Jazz listener, me, found nothing in it except complaints about change, and nostalgia for the way things were. In the end unwillingness to compromise with the audience killed it. Oddly with the resurgence in Jazz over the last year or so the market for a Mojo style legacy magazine covering Jazz is probably larger than ever, and Jazz Journal could easily have become that, republishing material from its past in much the same way as Uncut exploits the Melody Maker archive. 

The importance of an online presence to back up the print edition can’t be overstated. Fireworks works with the Rocktopia website, adding unique content to the site, which also acts as a news resource for the magazine. That coupled with an active, colourful social media presence, and being active in the online community means the print magazine is always reaching out to its audience. Jazz Journal’s sporadic mostly text only tweets and Facebook posts are another light under bushel moment. 

It sounds like I’m being harsh on a magazine with a long and distinguished run, but it’s the market that decides who survives, and it has delivered a judgement on Jazz Journal. The message is clearly; adapt and survive, stagnate and fail.

And so we face... 2019

2018 has been a bit of a year, and I have found myself listening to familiar music rather than plunging into new, challenging sounds. Jazz reappeared on my radar, but as the posts on Jazz were the least read I have written here you may not be bothered about that. A few of the new releases I did buy however...

Magic Dance: New Eyes The best AOR artist since Work Of Art this and his previous album Vanishings are worth a listen if you ever liked Toto or similar bands. I love it.

Manhattan Transfer: The Junction Their most contemporary album in many years, and first since leader Tim Hauser's passing. 

Kamasi Washington: Heaven & Earth Topped best of year polls all over the place, except the ones in the Jazz press oddly. Accessible, just confrontational enough to sound dangerous, but not as good as his previous disc 'The Epic'. Also rather derivative of 60's Miles Davis and John Coltrane. I doubt his formula will stretch to another album without the holes being obvious.

John Coltrane: Both Directions At Once Speaking of whom, Coltrane in 1963 taken from his work in progress tapes, at the peak of his powers. the interst of this is not the "lost" status of the session, but listening to Coltrane's ideas develop over the different takes of this release and as pointers to Crescent, and later albums. If you are new to this sort of Jazz, try Kamasi first and then move on to the real thing. 





My wish list on Google Music and iTunes contains lots of music from 2018 that I will get to in time. Christine and the Queens, Nolwenn Leroy, and others. I'll get back to you about those.

Musical Lucky Dips

Remember at school fetes they had a bran tub, a lucky dip, see what present comes out, well Missing Records in Glasgow was having a clearout last week. Bags of 10 unboxed CDs (or DVDs) for £1. A quick rummage and £4 later I have 50 cds (bonus bag for spending so much) to try.

When I opened the bags (about 3 seconds after I got home) they divided in to 4 categories. "Great that'll do", "not really for me", "need to listen to this" and "never heard of it". Only one disc was something I already had, Miles Davis 'On the Corner', but you can't complain about a duplication like that.

Great That'll Do...
I'm surprised at the quality of music, but I suppose if there's no sleeve it's unsaleable whatever it is.
I got, Neil Young 'Decade' (both discs). I don't know why I didn't have this already but I don't. Ditto, Queen's 'Day At The Races'  or Lou Reed's 'Transformer'. Other straight on the iPod discs are 2 Otis Redding compilations, Coleman Hawkins and Astrud Gilberto albums. The Doobie Brothers 'One Step Closer' was the follow up to Minute by Minute and had Michael McDonald steering them into the gap between Steely Dan and Supertramp, but it's really quite good and joined Fairport Convention 'Live' and Neil Young's 'Americana' on the pod pile.

Not Really For Me...
Into this pile went Iron Maiden, The Proclaimers, a disc with a picture of bagpipers and Bruce Springsteen's 'Nebraska'. All worthy I'm sure just not likely to get a play, so not worth the megabytes they would occupy on the pod. Sadly Chas & Dave also ended up here but may sneak out for one play of their hits.

Need To Listen To This...
The Doors 'Soft Parade', Frank Sinatra, I still suffer from a prejudice against him handed down from mum who wasn't keen on him. So certainly getting a play as she has proved wrong on other counts. Bad Company and Flaming Lips also went into this pot and as I have never listened to the latter but always suspected I might like them worth a go.

Never Heard Of It...
This is why you have to love a lucky dip. The chance of finding something new and great you ahve never come across before.
Fyfe Dangerfield - 'Fly Yellow Moon'. If he could make up his mind if he wanted to be Passenger or Coldplay Fyfe might turn out ok. As it's a 2010 album his moment may have passed. Best song "She Needs Me" which is ELO over the backbeat of ZZ top's Sharp Dressed Man. Worst one a karaoke cover of Always a Woman that was in a John Lewis ad apparently. Also he sounds like a character in spy film.
Fang Island - 'Major'. Very odd, sounds like Green Day playing the theme from Friends
Mike Heron - Where The Mystics Swim - yes the Incredible String Band man, and there is bits of ISB about this, but also hints of Americana, Tom Petty and Van Morrison. Mexican Girl and A Song For Robert Johnson are favourites after a couple of listens. Great album and I'm looking forwrd to getting to know it better.
Other star albums from this pile. The Horsies 'Trouble Down South' Country with chiming African guitars and Fred James '100 years of the Blues'. It will take a while to work though the pile, but following my last post about wanting to hear new rather than the same tired old stuff, this was a great way of proving my point.

Postcript:
Just played The Doors, what a load of old tosh.

Reversing Into The Future

I talk about Bill Nelson a fair bit here, that's because he is really rather good. He is our most undervalued guitarist, along with Robin Trower, and continues to expand his musical horizons with every album. Where many of his generation are seated comfortably on their past glories Bill is fighting back against the past.

Look here for my general appreciation of his work. You will find that I'm not bothered by Be Bop Deluxe, they were certainly a great band in their time, but Bill regards their work as of it's time and gone. There is a new cd box set of Sunburst Finish out now from Cherry Red, and Bill has joined in the promotional round for it, albeit somewhat reluctantly. He recently played a show in Leeds to celebrate his 70th birthday, including a live stream for those unable to get tickets. Bill felt the need to warn that there would be no Be Bop Deluxe numbers in the set as the Facebook groups that follow him are dominated by posts about that 6 or 7 year part of his career, at the expense of the subsequent 40 years. Spending your entire life talking about work you did in your early twenties must be as frustrating for others as it is for Bill, and I for one have pretty much stopped buying the likes of Mojo, Classic Rock and so on because I just want to hear about something other than the Beatles, Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. And that from an obsessive magazine buyer.


Now I'm all for reliving my youth, as the posts on this blog will testify, but as the fans view of what constitutes the "classic" parts of a band's legacy tends to be only a small part of the whole, usually centered somewhere from 1971 to 1974. Steely Dan actually did a "rarities" show back in 2011, as a relief from the run of identikit set lists. Yes are another offender in the same-dozen-songs-all-the-time stakes, as are many other 70s bands. Does this mean I'm alone in being bored stupid with live albums that repeat the same old stuff time and again. As live work and the CDs & DVDs that result from it are the staple of most artist's income now then how many versions of, for instance, 'Roundabout' do you need? You can pick from 2 studio and 15 different live versions. Please play something else! In career of 40 or even 50 years they must have written something else worth an airing.

So, hooray for Bill Nelson who won't revisit the past, continues to plough forward and is thanked for it by his current fans. Robin Trower too, although he hasn't departed as far from his roots as Bill, but still regularly produces new work that is the equal of much of his 70s output. Yes he still plays the fan favourites, but includes new songs and rings the changes on his back catalogue as the set list on the right shows. Try his recent album Time And Emotion for a feel of where Robin is now.

We all like a bit of familiarity, but repetition to the point of boredom must make for stale performances, jaded listeners and diminishing box office returns. Lets be adventurous and allow our artists to mature and grow, and especially to play something we haven't heard in a while, or indeed ever. The prospect of another favourite feeling they have to apologise for not playing the old stuff is not one I'm looking forward to. It's embarrassing for them and for us.

Grateful for Brent.

Every November for some years now the Grateful Dead have given away a free mp3 each day. there is a sort of competition attached to it for those who can identify every note the Dead ever played. Me I'll just collect the freebies thank you.

Writing this in November 2018 I have come to a realisation. I don't actually like the Grateful Dead much. What I do like are two Grateful Dead albums "Without A Net" a live album picked from shows in 1989 & 1990, and "In The Dark" their best selling 1987 album. Other than that I'm not bothered. Without a Net showcases the Dead's peerless ability to improvise, pushing Branford Marsalis hard on Eyes Of The World, and on the best moments of Franklin's Tower they manage to create a wall of sound that Spector would have envied, firing on all cylinders each in their own improvising bubble, while perfectly meshed together. The songs are shortish and sharp with the interminable Drums and Space segments cut out. There are enough of their best songs to make it pretty much a best of. The only songs I miss are Shakedown Street and Sugar Magnolias and maybe a couple of the songs from In The Dark. Speaking of which, it is really about four songs on that album, Touch of Grey, Hell In A Bucket, West LA Fadeaway and Throwing Stones. The rest are fairly disposable for me.

What makes the difference on these albums compared to the thousands of hours of recorded Dead that clogs up the internet? Brent Mydland. The Grateful Dead went through keyboard players the way Spinal Tap used up drummers. Brent replaced Keith Godchaux, strictly a piano player and sent the band off in new directions, ultimately bringing in digital synths, and samplers adding dense layers behind the guitars and textures that shifted the improvisations away from mundane soloing to a more collective sound.

When he passed away in July 1990 something went out. Bruce Hornsby and Vince Welnick who followed him were very much bolt on players rather than integrated into the fabric of the music as Brent was.

So The Grateful Dead; pointless noodling? Certainly. Self important? Definitely. some gold buried in the mountains of music? Seems like it.