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BOLDER. BRIGHTER. BETTER

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MUSIC. That's all folks...

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BACK. BIGGER. BETTER. BOLDER

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A Mellow Monday with the wonderful Fenne Lily 

From her new album Big Picture here’s Pick

Photo: Michael Tyone Delaney 

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EVERY THURSDAY: Pedalos and Palm Trees come to Peckham. 

The Montpelier Pub, London SE15 4PE

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Jazz on a Summer’s Day

JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY

They say that 1959 was the year that changed jazz. It was the period when the music broke away from its traditional modes to create new forms, specifically allowing soloists to break free and express themselves. It was year that America: the found its groove with jazz leading the charge. The list of albums that were released that year is just incredible - check them out.  

However when scholars and aficionados talk about music in that year four jazz albums are cited, each a high point for the artists concerned and a real soundtrack of the times and all four stand up to this day and somewhat. They are:

Miles Davis, Kind of Blue 

Dave Brubeck, Time Out 

Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um

Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come

All four may be different but they are equally sublime. They are timeless and to have heard them contemporaneously must have been something else. The albums, jazz and that period of time has established itself as an integral part of American history and it quickly found itself an audience and voice in the jazz clubs, nightclubs and parties on this side of the Atlantic as well. Jazz - especially Trad Jazz - was huge in the UK at the end of the 1950s and the aficionados, beatniks and modernists quickly lapped up this modern jazz creating friction - that led to numerous verbals and fist fights between the Trads and Moderns. For this was modern and new. Frightening, exciting, exhilarating and refreshing. 

Like the music the shift was rapid and the records soon found their way into the stores the length and breadth of the country. The kids snapped them up, played them, danced to them and nodded their heads to them. And whilst ding this they studied the album covers of all these new imported sounds on the Verve, Blue Note and Capitol labels. See, it was more than the music. It was also about the style, the clothes, the colours, the modernist art, architecture and furniture, and the graphic design. It was Hollywood PLUS! Britain was looking west. Cigarettes, glamour, bourbon, Ivy League clothing and jazz. As the legendary retailer and original modernist John Simons says on his company's website: "I came to art really through record covers, I was extremely interested in the Bebop revolution in America in the post-war years. I would always find myself in record stores looking at the covers. They were very often done by interesting modern artists, which reflected the music. As a fourteen and fifteen-year-old that drew me to it. To me the Bebop revolution made the Punk revolution look like right wing conservatives! So far out man… I can’t even tell you."

Then in August 1959 a small independent film was released that gave the UK modernists a visual interpretation of their new-found music. Entitled Jazz On A Summer's Day the film is a dazzling documentary of the Newport Jazz Festival held a year earlier on Rhode Island, USA. The festival was founded in 1954 and soon became the hippest event in the country. It wasn't long before Bert Stern, a young New Yorker specialising in "still" advertising photography, had the bright idea of filming the Newport Jazz Festival, in which 50 top-flight American jazz musicians and vocalists took part and to which jazzanistas in their legions flocked from all over. Stern has a wonderful gift for capturing the colour, style and panache of the venue, artistes and audience. He then intersperses this with film of the city of Newport from the harbour with its racing yachts skimming gracefully over the sparkling and shimmering water to shots of kids paying on the beach and onto the cool cats arriving at the event.And “cool” is the word. 

The music featuring the Jimmy Giuffre 3, Thelonious Monk Trio, Dinah Washington, Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson to name just a few is scintillating. The multi-racial crowd has never been hipper and as day turns to night Stern and co-director Aram Avakian capture a vibe that is like nothing anybody had seen, heard or felt before in America or at one of the few cinemas that showed it in the UK. The reviews were superb, those that saw it had now bought into this whole new scene and Britain edged that little bit closer to the 1960s...

 FOOTNOTES

In 2020 the film was given a new 4K restoration by IndieCollect, and premiered at the 57th New York Film Festival - the trailer looks fantastic . It was meant to have a cinema and Netflix release but due to Covid this doesn't seem to have happened. You can however watch the pre-restored version on Vimeo and Youtube.   

Meanwhile the photos that accompany this piece are from the incredible book Jazz Festival by Jim Marshall and released by Reel Art Press. The book includes photos from the 1958 festival - amongst other years - and Marshall can actually be seen on the film. If you haven't done so already then check out the book! 

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Ian Hunter as defiant and brilliant as ever

Ian Hunter will be 84 years old in a few weeks time yet here he is rocking like a 24-year-old.

And how he rocks. Defiance Part 1 is a proper belter of an album as Hunter, The Rant Band and his famous mate shake the place to the rafters. As ever the songwriting is first-class, the couple of ballads Guernica and Angel hit a gorgeous groove while the Hunter voice is as unique as ever. 

So take a bow Todd Rundgren, Slash, Johnny Depp, Taylor Hawkins, Joe Elliott, Jeff Beck and many more and there in the middle of the stage is Ian Hunter. Still a bona-fida rock and roll star!

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Wintergrace

Folk artist Kate MacLeod's longterm project of study, performance, and recordings of Jean Ritchie are coming into focus with The Jean Ritchie Experience. There are four new renditions of songs to be released as singles, and plans for more. Most  will include special guest musicians on the recordings.

The first recorded song of the project, Wintergrace, was released on December 30th, 2022, with Appalachian musicians John Bryant and Morgan Morrison lending their talents.

Here's what Kate has to say about the project and this first release:

"Wintergrace is a song written by the American Folk musician, Kentucky-born Jean Ritchie. Jean is one of the few artists lauded by both the popular music world (Rolling Stone Magazine's 1977 Critic's Choice Award) and the traditional folk music world (Folk Alliance International's 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award). She has been one of the primary inspirations for my own love of American Folk Music. Through her original songs, her modifications of traditional songs, her instrumental playing, and her collaborations with other musicians, she's represented the spirit of American folk music with both authenticity and innovation. In a life that spanned 1922-2015, Jean bridged the world of families who sang on their porches in mountain hollers, to those who took that music to the rest of the world. During her lifetime, she became a well respected performer, songwriter, and folklorist. She was a Fulbright Scholar, a co-director of the very first Newport Folk Festival in 1959, and was instrumental in introducing the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer to a wide listenership. I hope to share her legacy with those who already know of her work, but more importantly, to introduce her beautiful music to some who might not be familiar with her. I have sung this song for many years. This studio version of the song was recorded in 2022. I invited Appalachian musicians John Bryant (acoustic bass) and Morgan Morrison (harmony vocals) to add their talents to the recording process."

For more info on Kate's project

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VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

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Five songs that you may not hear this Christmas

The classics are the classics for a reason but here are five lesser known Christmas songs.

First up is Chip Taylor being Chip. And Chip being absolutely magnificent...

Phoebe Bridgers can do little wrong at the moment and her rendition of Merle Haggard's song is just beautiful.

Bridgers - along with Fiona Apple and Matt Berninger - also recently covered 7 O'Clock News / Silent Night but here's the original by Simon & Garfunkel.

More seasonal than Christmas here are Smith & Burrows with their own emotional winter's tale.

Finally let's go skating with Vince and the Charlie Brown gang.

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BLOODY OBVIOUS BUT… THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS RECORD EVER

It is that time of the year when the radio airwaves and shopping malls resonate to the sounds of Christmas. From Cliff and his mistletoe to Noddy and his tinsel top hat they will be the soundtrack to our lives for the next few weeks yet one record stands out above all others. That – of course – is The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York and my guess here is that ninety-seven per cent of readers are nodding along in agreement with that statement. It is without doubt our generation’s White Christmas and like White Christmas it is beautiful. That however is the only similarity because from the moment that Shane MacGowan sings: “It was Christmas Eve, babe in the drunk tank” you know this is no ordinary piece of Christmas revelry.” It is Shane at his broad majestic best where “Sinatra is swinging and all the drunks are singing” and the listeners are there with him. New York on Christmas Eve with the cars as big as bars and him and his girl and those bittersweet words:

“You’re a bum You’re a punk You’re an old slut on junk Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed You scumbag you maggot You cheap lousy faggot Happy Christmas your arse I pray God it’s our last”

Frankly what’s not to like? If it was a mere poem it would stand up and be counted but it is much more than that because as well as the wonderful words it is a beautiful tune. It is clever; the strings, the chord changes and the call and response lyrics with Kirsty MacColl never sounding better especially when it all comes together with the exquisite refrain:

“The boys of the NYPD choir still singing “Galway Bay” And the bells were ringing out for Christmas Day”   It is then when you are hooked… You can add in Kirsty’s (then) husband’s wonderful production and the tremendous engineering of the record and appreciate that it really is a wonderful technical piece of work but it’s a song that tugs at the heartstrings. The words, the music, the drama and the melancholy means that every time you hear it (it) lifts your spirits, makes you smile and makes you want to sing along. For me it is up there with A Rainy Night in Soho – where the wind whistles all its charms and Shane’s friends fall into heaven and hell – in The Pogues scheme of things and there aren’t many better songs than that anywhere… in December or any other month in the calendar. Meanwhile it will be sung with gusto by people on their Christmas dos and whilst queuing up for their turkeys, by punks, drunks and sluts, couples kissing on the corner and all those people that could have been someone.  Quite simply it is beautiful and by far and away the greatest Christmas record ever… Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Shane

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Joe Strummer. Twenty years...

Still an inspiration - today and everyday.

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Rest easy Terry

Thanks for the music and the memories.

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Dear Reader, just Taylor being Taylor...

Lovely. 

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THURSDAYS. THE MONTPELIER. PECKHAM. SE15 4AR

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JOYFUL JAZZ

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They call her Ms Tibbs!

Here is the official description KIM TIBBS proudly presents the highly anticipated album THE SCiENCE OF COMPLETiON VOLUME 1. Recorded at the legendary Royal Studios in Memphis, TN, USA and co-produced by Lawrence Boo Mitchell, son of the late great Willie Mitchell. Twenty five musicians played their part on this project and have created the most authentic 70s soul you will ever hear in 21st century music, attention to detail even went as far as retrieving Al Green’s microphone from the original Hi sessions to enhance that vintage sound! The lead 7” single WHERE WOULD I BE WITHOUT YOU? released in the Spring of 2022 sold out on pre-order and created a buzz of what is to follow. As well as receiving extensive radio plays, WHERE WOULD I BE WITHOUT YOU? appeared on many DJ playlists at soul events around the U.K. and beyond. The eleven original songs penned by Kim herself are a soundtrack to her life, covering a range of themes such as love, hope and faith. A word of warning though, there’s a goodly number of long compositions on this album – their depth, beauty and intricacies simply cannot be edited – hence a double vinyl LP!

Here is the HOBO description

SOUL ALBUM OF THE YEAR STUNNING BUY IT KEEP THE FAITH!