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onmouseover="MM_swapImage('BUTinamellot','','NAVimages/NAV_inamellot_ON.gif',1)"><img name="BUTinamellot" src="NAVimages/NAV_inamellot_TXT.gif" width="60" height="18" border="0" alt="In a Mellotone newsletter text button" id="BUTinamellot" /></a> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <!-- #EndLibraryItem --> <center> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width="705"> <tr> <td> <div class="headerTextBoldBlue"> <span class="BIGheaderTextBoldBlue">Music</span> </div> <p> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#spring2004playlist">Spring 2005 Playlist</a> | <a href="#may2004playlist">May 2004 Playlist</a> | <a href="#sep2003playlist">September 2003 Playlist</a> | <a href="#feb2003playlist">February 2003 Playlist</a> | <a href="#sept2002playlist">September 2002 Playlist</a> | <a href="#april2002playlist">April 2002 Playlist</a> <br /> <a href="#something">Something Personal</a> | <a href="#binds">The music that binds us</a> | <a href="#resnick">Resnick playlist</a> | <a href="#jazzwriting">Jazz and Writing</a></span> </p> <br /> <p class="headerTextBold"> <a name="spring2005playlist" id="spring2005playlist"></a>Playlist, Spring 2005 </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%"> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">1.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Cannonball Adderley Quintet: Them Dirty Blues</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Capital Jazz 95447</span> <br /> According to Georgie Fame, this was one of the recordings that turned him onto jazz, when he was holed up in a friend&#8217;s Soho flat after being sacked as Billy Fury&#8217;s pianist. It&#8217;s marvellous, straight-ahead stuff, very direct, very swinging. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Stan Tracey Trio: Seventy Something</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Trio TR 563</span> <br /> Tracey was in Nottingham recently, playing solo and in duet with pianist Steve Melling. Still very inventive, even at seventy something, all those jabbing chords broken up by great flourishes down the keyboard with the right hand. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">3.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Pee Wee Russell Quartet: Ask Me Now!</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Impulse A 96</span> </p> <p> I remember one particularly foggy night, driving back and forth through the Peak District in the 60s (on what is officially one of the most dangerous roads in Britain) to see Russell at the Manchester Sports Guild with the Alex Welsh Band. Here, less dangerously, he&#8217;s in &#8216;modern&#8217; mode, complete with Monk tunes and a valve trombonist. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">4.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">The New Don Rendell Quintet: Roarin&#8217;</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">BGP CDBGPM 166</span> <br /> Not new at all, of course, though it was in 1961 when these hard bop tracks were recorded. Don Rendell, still a fine tenor player, is spurred on by Graham Bond, here on alto and later, more famously, organist with his R&#38;B group, the Graham Bond Organisation, which often played allnighters at The Flamingo opposite whom? Georgie Fame. </p> </td> </tr> </table> <p class="headerTextBold"> <a name="may2004playlist" id="may2004playlist"></a>Playlist, May 2004 </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%"> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">1.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Chet Baker Quintet: BLUES FOR A REASON</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Criss Cross Jazz 1010</span> <br /> Listening to a mini disc the other day, pieces I&#8217;d thrown together without much thought, the sound of the trumpet stopped me in my tracks. Slightly burnished, warm yet stately. Gorgeous. And the tune, Tad Dameron&#8217;s &#8216;If You Could See Me Now&#8217;, is a beauty. As is the rest of the session, recorded with the underrated Warne Marsh on tenor in September, 1984, by which time, if you go along with the tragic failure line, Baker is supposed to be well and truly on the skids. T&#8217;ain&#8217;t so. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Lee Konitz: PALO ALTO</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Proper Intro CD 2025</span> <br /> One of a new series of seriously cheap but nicely produced CDs from the Proper camp, this has Konitz live in 1953 with the above-mentioned Chet Baker and in the studio in 1949 with his frequent sparring partner, Warne Marsh. You also get some Miles and a little Kenton and through it all Konitz manages to sound edgily sharp without losing that veneer of West Coast cool. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">3.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Tom Russell: MODERN ART</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Hightone HCD8154</span> <br /> Not art. Not modern. Just fine. American roots/folk/whatever near at its best. Good songs, Nanci Griffith sharing lead vocals, even some Charles Bukowski lyrics. Oh, and a great cover. What more to you want? </p> </td> </tr> </table> <p> <span class="headerTextBold"><a name="sep2003playlist" id="sep2003playlist"></a> <br /> Playlist, September 2003 <br /> <br /> </span> </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%" > <span class="headerTextBold">1.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Bud Shank and Trombones: COOL FOOL</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Fresh Sound FSR-CD 507</span> <p> Way back I had a 10' LP, <em>Bud Shank and Three Trombones</em> which I loved and played literally to death. Imagine my delight when I saw news of this reissue, which combines that 1955 album with the fruits of another session involving Shank with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer and a string quartet. In the main, it's joyous bubbling music bearing scarce a trace of anger or anguish and none the worse for that. </p> <p> Is it a sign of age that I'm harking back to the West Coast cool school more and more? There was a Lennie Niehaus octet track on last evening's <em>Jazz Record Requests</em> recorded in '54 long before his association with Clint Eastwood which had me turning up the volume and then thumbing through <em>The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD</em>. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">GETTIN' THE MESSAGE : BOPIN' BRITAIN (Vol. 2)</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Jasmine &nbsp; JASCD 638</span> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> All right, I bought this when I was writing the story Drummer Unknown, and as much for Brian Davis's knowledgeable notes as anything else. But the music, recorded between 1952 and 54, stands up surprisingly well, especially the four tracks featuring the Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott. Harriott isn't into his later free-form stage here, simply playing fine straight-ahead Parker-inspired alto. Interesting, too, to hear the Scottish musician Joe Temperley, currently one of my favourite baritone players, on tenor sax. <br /> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> 3.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">THE BEST OF HUMPHREY LYTTELTON</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">EMI Gold 7243 5 83280 2 8</span><span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> The title, of course, begs a lot of questions, and the seemingly random track ordering and lack of detailed notes might drive some listeners crazy, but three CDs for ten quid! Bad Penny Blues is here, naturally, replete with the Joe Meek echo-enhancement which helped make it a top ten hit, otherwise there's a bit of a hodge-podge of material dating from 1949 to 1957. <br /> What makes the set pretty essential is that it includes fourteen tracks which originally appeared on two 10' LPs (both, in my case, long gone the way of most vinyl) <em>Humph Swings Out</em> and <em>Here's Humph</em> and haven't been reissued since. These sessions marked Humph's shift away from traditional jazz (though his idea of traditional had always been far less rigid than most) towards a more mainstream approach, the arrangements of such pieces as Jersey Lightning and Swing Out leading to some really exhilarating &nbsp; ensemble playing and marvellous solos, especially by Johnny Picard on trombone and Tony Coe on alto.<span class="bodytext"> <br /> </span> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> 4.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">ELLINGTON BY ROWLES :Jimmy Rowles</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Cymbol CYMCD 1</span><span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> I think I've listed this before, but what the hell it's playing now and it's been playing on the workroom stereo virtually non-stop since I moved in. Great tunes, lovely touch, even a perfectly atmospheric cover photo of Rowles himself, peak of his CAT Diesel Power cap pulled down, hands raised towards his face to light a cigarette. Working man's hands. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">5.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">THE SOUND OF THE CITY: LOS ANGELES</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">EMI 7243 539532 2 5</span> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span>One of a series of excellent city-based compilations put together by Charlie Gillett to accompany his book of the same name. It's the range that's dazzling: Ella Mae Morse and Nat King Cole, Gerry Mulligan &amp; Chet Baker, Eddie Cochran, Ornette Coleman, Ry Cooder, Gram Parsons and Cannonball Adderley. To name but a few. Get 'em all. </p> </td> </tr> </table> <br /> <p> <span class="headerTextBold"><a name="feb2003playlist" id="feb2003playlist"></a> <br /> Playlist, February 2003 <br /> </span> </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%" > <span class="headerTextBold">1.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Back to Back &amp; Side by Side: Duke Ellington &amp; Johnny Hodges</span><span class="bodytextGreen"> <br /> BACK TO BACK Verve Master Edition 31452 14042 <br /> SIDE BY SIDE Verve Master Edition 31452 14052 <br /> </span> <p> Oh God, it pains me to recall it, but I remember snapping these up when they first came out on vinyl, not long out of school and dithering about going into some kind of higher education. Finchley I would have been living, either there or Camden, and Johnny Hodges was the pinnacle of alto playing as far as I was concerned. The first set, recorded in 1959, features Harry Edison's trumpet alongside Hodges and Duke in a programme of blues, while the second has three tracks from the same session together with six from a year earlier and a somewhat larger band - Hodges with Roy Eldridge, trumpet, Ben Webster, tenor sax, and the marvellous Lawrence Brown, trombone, in the front line and Billy Strayhorn at the piano, no Duke at all despite the claim on the cover. No matter, if you were to choose just one of these discs, the second is, I think, the one to go for, mainly for the richness of the bigger sound and Hodges, with Ellington, giving one of the best performances of an old favourite of his, 'Stompy Jones', that I've heard. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Impressed: Gilles Peterson</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Universal 064 749 2</span> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> For those of you who might not know, Peterson is a DJ famous for getting clubbers out on the floor to a variety of sounds including jazz. And that's real jazz, not the fake stuff that turns up at so many jazz festivals nowadays and whose relationship to jazz is tangential at best. <br /> <br /> Anyway here Peterson moves away from the more usual Blue Note kind of fare favoured by the clubbing fraternity and chooses some fine pieces of British jazz from the 60s and 70s. There's a lot of Michael Garrick, at the piano with his own trio and on two tracks with the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet, Tubby Hayes recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and - my favourite here - Ronnie Ross on baritone (the same RR who plays the delightful coda to Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side") display quick fingers and cloudy tone on an original, "Cleopatra's Needle". <br /> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> 3.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Monk's Dream: Thelonious Monk Quartet</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Columbia CK 63536</span><span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> The reissuing of Monk's work continues apace and this, a remastered version of his first session for Columbia towards the end of 1962, sports four different takes of tunes on the original release plus the usual improved sound. The programme is a mixture of Monk originals and familiar (to him as well as us) standards - "Body &amp; Soul", "Just a Gigolo" and "Sweet &amp; Lovely". This is Monk at this best at the start of stage two of his career. Excellent! <br /> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> 4.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">A Far Cry From The Dead: Townes Van Zandt</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Arista 078221 88882 0</span><span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> This is a strange set, comprising songs recorded solo, just voice and guitar, over a period of six or seven years, to which other instrumentation and voices were added soon after Townes' death. The first time I heard it, I feared that the 'backing' had been overdone, the sound too rhythmic and spruced up, but I've grown to like most of these pieces a great deal. During the three months I recently spent in New Zealand, this was one of the CDs in the house where we were staying and it got played a great deal. One of the songs fixed itself so firmly in my mind that I ended up using it in the Jack Kiley story I wrote while I was down there, a story called "Chance" which is due to appear in MEN FROM BOYS, the collection I'm editing for William Heinemann and which should be published in November, 2003. </p> </td> </tr> </table> <br /> <p> <span class="headerTextBold"><a name="sept2002playlist" id="sept2002playlist"></a> <br /> Playlist, September 2002 <br /> <br /> </span> </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%" > <span class="headerTextBold">1.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Quartet: Russ Freeman and Chet Baker</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Pacific Jazz CDP 55453</span> <p> One minute, it seemed, Bill Moodys novel, Looking for Chet Baker, with its introduction by pianist Russ Freeman, arrived in the mail from the States, the next I was reading Freemans obituary. Baker had himself died, in dubious circumstances, some time before - circumstances that Moody explores in his excellent book. </p> <p> This quartet session, recorded in 1956 with Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Shelly Manne at the drums, has strong interplay between piano and horn and shows Baker at close to his not inconsiderable best.&nbsp; </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Blues for a Reason: Chet Baker Quintet featuring Warne Marsh</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Criss Cross Jazz 1010</span> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> This is later Chet, close to thirty years after the above, but he is in good form, his lip doesnt appear to be giving him trouble, and the selection of tunes - which includes a quite complex Marsh original and Tad Dameron's lovely "If You Could See Me Now" -avoids most of the regular standbys he over-relied on towards the end. <br /> Warne Marsh, with his lean squirrely sound, is still, I think, an under-rated player and is in good form here, pushing Baker more than most. <br /> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> 3.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Infinite Riches in a Little Room. Huw Warren.</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Babel BDV 2132</span> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> Warren is a British pianist of considerable resource and skill. Here he plays a programme that moves from the bop standard "Moose the Mooche", composed by Charlie Parker, via Burke &amp; Van Heusen's standard "Like Someone in Love" to a set of variations on pieces by the Elizabethan composer, John Dowland. Theres some ducking and diving in and around the Steinway, a little electronics, and mostly some fine, interesting playing. His version of "Tear's" from Dowland's "Lachrymae Antiqua" is quite simply beautiful. <br /> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> 4.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Mingus Ah Um. Charles Mingus.</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Columbia /Legacy CK 65512</span> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> Familiar stuff, of course - at least, so one hopes. These are the May '59 sessions with Horace Parlan on piano and Danny Richmond at the drums, John Handy, Booker Ervin &amp; Shafi Hadi on saxes and either Jimmy Knepper or Willie Dennis on trombone. This latest CD version adds three tracks to the brilliant and revered pieces from the original release, such as "Boogie Stop Shuffle", "Fables of Faubus", "Better Git it in Your Soul" and the tribute to Lester Young, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". Classic. <br /> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> 5.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Monk Live at the Jazz Workshop Complete.</span> <span class="bodytextGreen">Columbia/Legacy C2K 65189</span> <span class="headerTextBold"> <br /> </span> Here he is, the man I never tire of, Thelonious Monk with Charlie Rouse on tenor, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley at the drums, recorded over two nights at a club in San Francisco in the November of 1964. Two CDs, so plenty of unissued tracks and tracks that are now released in their original longer form for the first time. <br /> You get a few standards - "Just You, Just Me", "Memories of You" - and a whole bunch of Monk's familiar themes - "Straight, No Chaser", "Well You Needn't" and so on - around two and a half hours in all. More Monk than you need, more than you can listen to without going slightly nutty. Never! This is the real stuff and as the man says., if its the real stuff you cant get enough. <br /> Which man? Hah! </p> </td> </tr> </table> <p> <span class="headerTextBold"><a name="april2002playlist" id="april2002playlist"></a> <br /> Playlist, 1st April 2002</span> <br /> <br /> </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%" > <span class="headerTextBold">1.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Thelonious Monk</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;The Columbia Years 62-68&nbsp; Columbia/Legacy COL 503046 2</span> <p> Beautifully packaged, with a superbly designed and thoughtful accompanying booklet, this is just a magnificent collection of Monk during this period. Quartet, solo and big band tracks, mostly studio recordings, but including numbers from live performances at the It Club in LA, the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, and with Pee Wee Russell at the Newport Jazz Festival.</p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Pee Wee Russell w. Alex Welsh &amp; His Band</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Lake LACD157 <br /> </span> Pee Wee's matchless clarinet in more familiar Dixieland surroundings. Recorded live at the Manchester Sports Guild in 1964, with the Welsh Band in stirring form. I remember driving with my then wife, at night and in quite thick fog, along the Buxton road from Nottingham to Manchester - recently decreed the second most dangerous road in the UK - to see this combination at the Sports Guild and what a glorious evening's music it was.&nbsp; </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">3.</span><span class="headerTextBoldRed">&nbsp;The Humphrey Lyttelton Big Band with Jimmy Rushing</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Upbeat Jazz URCD174</span> <br /> When I wasn't listening to Alex Welsh in the late 50s and early to mid 60s, it was Sandy Brown or Humphrey Lyttelton. Humph's eight piece band in full cry was one of the glories of the time, especially when playing with guest musicians such as Buck Clayton, Buddy Tate and Jimmy Rushing. What we have here is a BBC broadcast in which Humph's band was augmented by members of the Ted Heath Orchestra, and with Rushing's inimitable voice soaring high over everything.&nbsp; Did I say joyous? Joyous.&nbsp; </p> <p class="headerTextBold"> 4.&nbsp;<span class="headerTextBoldRed">The Ornette Coleman Trio</span>&nbsp;<span class="bodytextGreen">At the Golden Circle, Stockholm Volumes 1 &amp; 2 Blue Note BST 84234/5</span> </p> <p> These have always been my favourite Coleman recordings, from the cool cover shot of these three guys standing out in the snow to the music itself - searching and adventurous, sometimes beautiful, but secure in its roots. </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">5.&nbsp;</span><span class="headerTextBoldRed">Carmen McRae</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Carmen Sings Monk&nbsp; Bluebird 09026 63841 2&nbsp;</span> <br /> Recorded in the late 80s with either Charlie Rouse or Clifford Jordan on tenor, and, in many cases, with lyrics by Jon Hendricks, this is fine jazz singing, superb musicianship, and it does both Monk and McCrae proud.&nbsp; </p> </td> </tr> </table> <hr width="100%" /> <a name="something" id="something"></a> <br /> <span class="headerTextBold">Something Personal</span> <br /> This was my choice for&nbsp; <span class="headerTextBoldPurple">JazzFM's</span> version of "Desert Island Discs" <br /> &nbsp; <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%"> <span class="headerTextBold">1.&nbsp;</span><span class="headerTextBoldRed">Doggin' Around</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;The Alex Welsh Band&nbsp;</span> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Mean to Me</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Billie Holiday with Lester Young&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">3.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Rockin' in Rhythm&nbsp;</span><span class="bodytextGreen">Duke Ellington</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">4.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Thelonious Monk</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">5.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Bag's Groove&nbsp;</span><span class="bodytextGreen">Miles Davis with Milt Jackson &amp; Thelonius Monk&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">6.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Parker's Mood</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Charlie Parker</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">7.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">My Ideal</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Art Tatum/Ben Webster</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">8.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Shipbuilding</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Elvis Costello with Chet Baker</span> </p> </td> </tr> </table> <hr width="100%" /> <p> <a name="binds" id="binds"></a><span class="headerTextBold">The Music That Binds Us</span><span class="headerTextBoldPurple">&nbsp;BBC Radio 4</span> <br /> A programme in which my son Tom and I chose and talked about the music we've shared. <br /> &nbsp; </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%"> <span class="headerTextBold">1.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Pirates of Stone County Road</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;John Stewart&nbsp;</span> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Hand in Glove</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;The Smiths</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">3.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Harlem Blues&nbsp;</span><span class="bodytextGreen">Mo' Better Blues Soundtrack</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">4.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Tears from Heaven</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Joshua Redman&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">5.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldRed">Breakfast at Denny's</span><span class="bodytextGreen">&nbsp;Buckshot LeFonque&nbsp;</span> </p> </td> </tr> </table> <hr width="100%" /> <br /> <a name="resnick" id="resnick"></a><span class="headerTextBold">Resnick Playlist</span> <br /> A Partial Soundtrack to the Novels &amp; Stories <br /> <br /> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top" width="6%"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td width="94%"> <span class="headerTextBold">1.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Miles Davis</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">Bag's Groove <br /> Prestige/Original Jazz Classics&nbsp;</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">Kind of Blue CBS</span> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">2.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Duke Ellington</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">The Blanton Webster Years RCA Bluebird&nbsp; <br /> The Great Ellington Units RCA Bluebird&nbsp; <br /> The Private Collection, Volumes 1 - 10 Kaz&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">3.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Stan Getz</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">East of the Sun <br /> The West Coast Sessions Verve&nbsp; <br /> Getz/Gilberto Verve&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">4.&nbsp;</span><span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Billie Holiday</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">Lady Day &amp; Prez 1937-1941 Giants of Jazz&nbsp; <br /> The Qintessential Billie Holiday 1933-1942, Volumes 1 - 9 CBS&nbsp; <br /> The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959 Verve&nbsp; <br /> Lady in Satin CBS&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">5.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Milt Jackson</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">Milt Jackson with Horace Silver Prestige&nbsp; <br /> Bags &amp; Trane Rhino/Atlantic&nbsp; <br /> Django: The Modern Jazz Quartet Prestige/Original Jazz Classics&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">6.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Thelonius Monk</span><span class="bodytextBlue"> <br /> Genius of Modern Music, Volumes 1 &amp; 2 Blue Note&nbsp; <br /> Thelonius Monk Trio/Blue Monk Volume 2 Prestige&nbsp; <br /> Thelonius Monk Plays Duke Ellington Riverside/Original Jazz Classics&nbsp; <br /> Straight No Chaser: Film Soundtrack CBS&nbsp; <br /> Monk Alone: The Complete Colulumbia Solo Studio Recordings, 1962-1968 CBS&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">7.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Charlie Parker</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">In a Soulful Mood: The Dial Sessions Music Club&nbsp; <br /> The Charlie Parker Story: The Savoy Sessions Savoy</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">8.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Spike Robinson</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">The Geshwin Collection Hep&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">9.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Joe Temperley</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">Nightingale Hep&nbsp; <br /> With Every Breath Hep&nbsp;</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">10.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Ben Webster</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Volume 8 Pablo&nbsp; <br /> The Ultimate Verve</span> </p> <p> <span class="headerTextBold">11.</span> <span class="headerTextBoldGreen">Lester Young</span> <br /> <span class="bodytextBlue">A Lester Young Story Jazz Archives&nbsp; <br /> Lester Young 1943-1947 Giants of Jazz&nbsp; <br /> The Complete Aladdin Recordings Blue Note&nbsp; <br /> Pres &amp; Teddy Verve&nbsp; <br /> The President Plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio Verve</span> </p> </td> </tr> </table> <hr width="100%" /> <p> <span class="BIGheaderTextBoldBlue"><a name="jazzwriting" id="jazzwriting"></a></span><span class="headerTextBold">JAZZ &amp; WRITING</span> </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <img src="NAVimages/NAV2_spacer_IMG.gif" height="10" width="40" alt='ornament' /> <br /> <span class="tinyText"><a href="#TOP">top</a></span> </td> <td> <p> "If you're a jazz fan, there's no way you're going to breeze past this blast of critical say-so "If John Harvey's novels were songs, Charlie Parker would play them". Hyperbole doesn't get any dreamier or more high falutin' than this pronouncement, taken from the New York Times book review and quoted next to a gleaming saxophone on the paperback cover of of the novel <a href="resnick.html">WASTED YEARS</a>, but a look inside the 1993 book, one in a series of mysteries by the English novelist, reveals Harvey's and his fictional Polish detective Charlie Resnick's involvement in jazz to be far deeper than it is in most fiction...</p> <p> As liberated as Detective Resnick is in his sensitive, post-divorce, 90s outlook - <a href="resnick.html">COLD LIGHT</a> - actually ends with him sobbing - he is old fashioned when it comes to his listening habits. He names his cats after bebop immortals, but takes forever to give in and buy a CD player - even after he receives a gift of a CD collection by one of his idols, Billie Holiday. He responds to the revolutionary music of the 40s and 50s but not the 60s. "He likes the kind of improvisation where you never quite lose sight of the tune" Harvey said. "It's important for him to hear the song in a recognizable sequence. Seeing things that way is a key to him being a police officer." So that his readers could actually hear the music while reading his novels, Harvey has dedicated himself to accurately describing it....&nbsp; </p> <p> In the end, the main note he strikes is one of compassion. Said Harvey, "One of the things Resnick draws from the music is the ability to sense deeper possibilities in people, criminals as well as victims of crime. Just as he is aware of Lester Young's hard life producing this beautiful music, he sees people leading difficult lives being able to produce something of worth too. Maybe even something beautiful." </p> <h2 class="headerText"><span class="bodytextBoldBlue">From interview with</span> <span class="bodytextBoldPurple">Lloyd Sachs</span><span class="bodytextBoldBlue">, Chicago Sun Times</span></h2> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </center> <br /> &nbsp;&nbsp; <center> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width="705"> <tr> <td align="center" valign="middle" class="tinyText"> <a href="./index.html">home</a> | <a href="news.html">news</a> | <a href="resnick.html">resnick</a> | <a href="fiction.html">other fiction</a> | <a href="scripts.html">scripts</a> | <a href="poetry.html">poetry</a> | <a href="bibliography.html">bibliography</a> | <a href="sales.html">for sale</a> | <a href="biography.html">biography</a> | <a href="sdbacklist.html">Slow Dancer Press</a> | <a href="music.html">music</a> | <a href="mellotone.html">in a mellotone</a> | <a href="links.html">links</a> | <a href="privacy.html">privacy and terms &amp; conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.pathmedia.co.uk/">Site by Path</a> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>