Tag Archives: jazz
LOCKDOWN LISTENING: A RANDOM-ISH PLAYLIST
Last Sunday I posted photos of my day’s listening on social media. It was an odd experience; noticing how my choices were influenced by an awareness of that sharing. The variety of delivery methods was pure theatre (and fun). Here are the pictures. * Terje Rypdal & The Chasers — Blue [ECM 1987] Excellent album […]
AN IMPULSE!
This Saturday morning, bright and still after a dull, drab, and flipping awful week, I’ve come over all spontaneous. This, friends, is my ‘Hello Weekend!’ soundtrack and I’m enjoying it so much I decided to share. Everyone even remotely interested in the history of popular music and its antecedent, jazz, knows the name Duke Ellington. […]
HOLLYWOOD BLUESEVARD
The 60s bands of UK born John Mayall are legendary for being the workshop where some of the eras most revered guitarists honed their chops. Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac), Eric Clapton (Cream) and Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones) all served under the benign yet exacting blues baton of Mr Mayall. Yet by the end of the […]
JAZZ DAY
Although quite a lot of jazz is played at Vinyl Connection headquarters, I rarely write about it. There are a couple of reasons. Firstly, I am less confident writing about America’s contribution to world music; it somehow seems harder to capture in words than rock. Perhaps the language of jazz is less comfortable, less familiar. […]
REARVIEW MIRROR #5 (A FINAL GLANCE)
Being the merciful conclusion of a multi-part wander through the Vinyl Connection year in music Let’s cut to the chase. Here are the 2017 albums of newly recorded (or, in a couple of cases, newly released) music that found their way into the Vinyl Connection cave during the year. All had merit and brought aural […]
I LOVE MILES
(BUT NOT ALL HIS BOOTS) I love Miles Davis. Whether as a contributing midwife to the Birth of the Cool, the ultra-hip trumpeter of the late 50s, the restless innovator of the 60s, or inspiring bandleader and outta-space musician of the 70s, his is an endlessly varied—and indeed endless—catalogue. If you are browsing a shop […]
TIMELESS
I remember where but not which. The shop was in Princes Gate Arcade, down the end in a kind of cul-de-sac where only record hunters and lost commuters ended up. I remember a big window, counter, racks—sparsely distributed around a loungeroom-sized space—and bean bags where you could audition an LP of your choice under headphones […]
BIRDS OF PARADISE
Browsing the ‘Cover Pairs’ posts for the compilation/deletion project, I came across SEABIRD [COVER POST #37]. Having written on Chick Corea’s Return to Forever—my first ECM album and a record that still brings great enjoyment—it’s time to tell you about a favourite feel-good album, Paradise Volume One by Australian composer/musician John Sangster. Now Mr Sangster […]
RETURN TO MIDDLE EARTH
Perhaps it was the screening of the Hobbit films on TV this week, but for some reason I found myself wanting to revisit Middle Earth to wrap up of the Lord Of The Rings series from a few months ago. It returns us to where we began, with John Sangster and Hobbits. Sangster has written a […]
SHORTS
Three brief reviews of albums newly acquired or recently revisited * GARY WRIGHT—THE DREAM WEAVER [Warner Brothers 1975] The truth is, I bought this as part of an Op Shop haul simply because it was in good nick and I have a soft spot for the cheesy 1975 radio hit, ‘Dream Weaver’. But it’s actually […]
