Weather Report - Heavy Weather

I first heard Birdland, the opening track from this album, on the 1981 Akai TV ad (it's on YouTube).

Playing it today, I'm fixated by Jaco Pastorius' bass playing. He never plays a predictable note. It's remarkable how his bass makes the usually assertive Zawinul and Shorter sound like side-men.

I know everyone would have been happy to never heard a fretless bass again by the time No Parlez came out, but blimey this is good.

Bobby Womack - The Poet

For a relatively brief period back in the '80s, Beverly Glen records was responsible for releasing some of the absolute finest soul music: Johnnie Taylor, Anita Baker, Chapter 8, and Bobby Womack, whose career had been in a bit af a dip prior, all passed through the label.

This album led to him being picked up by Motown and marked the beginning of his renaissance.

The only criticism I can offer is that Bobby could have used a Remington Fuzzaway on his sky-blue jacket before the sleeve photo was taken.

War - The Music Band Jazz

I've got more War LPs than most people, I reckon. A band who had their own distinctive sound, and were able to churn out dozens of albums and side projects, never straying far from the original concept.

The first side of this album is straight-up, latin-tinged jazz, and the second is more familiar War-sounding stuff, albeit with a bit more of a jazzy flavour at times.

I remember reading somewhere that this album is popular in Brazil. No idea if I've remembered that correctly, or, indeed, if it's true.

For some reason though, it kept making the dogs bark.

Roy Ayers - Virgo Vibes

This 1967 LP shows Ayers as a straight jazz player, before he was infected by the disco mind virus.

At its most raucous - and this is when it's at its best, in my opinion - this album gives me real Dingwalls vibes.

I picked this up at Semaphore Record Fair a few years ago for $15. Bargain!

Wynton Marsalis, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Raymond Leppard, Dir. - Haydn/Hummel/L. Mozart: Trumpet Concertos

Picked this up for a dollar in an op shop in Kimba.

I'm not the world's leading expert in classical music, (but I know what I like, etc), but I have occasional toe-dips into it, usually on the less Classic FM end of things. I'm familiar with most of the tunes on this album.

I'd picked this up because it was Wynton, and you can't leave it there for a dollar, can you? There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Am I rushing out to buy more? No.

Jim Ghedi - In The Furrows of Common Place

Bought this off the back of the stunning Ah Cud Hew, which was included on Fire Draw Near podcast.

A shining example of modern-traditional English folk.

The Stranglers - Rattus Norvegicus

12 year-old me played (my sister's copy of) this LP to death. I know every second of music and every inch of the sleeve intimately.

Yep, I know many of the lyrics are just embarrassing.

Yep, I know it's essentially a prog-rock album, with added sneers.

Yep, I know it sounds like The fucking Doors at times.

Yep, I know the opening track sounds like a punked-up Moondance.

But Hugh Cornwell's guitar sound is *chef's kiss*.

And Jean-Jacques Burnel's bass sound, changed bass sounds forever.

And it takes me back to being 12 again.

Miles Davis - Dark Magus

Recorded live in 1974, at a time when Miles had stopped rehearsing and the band would just go out and play. (For two of the musicians, this was their audition.)

Al Foster's drumming is fucking insane.

It's the kind of album which makes jazz-haters wince and say, "See, this is why I hate jazz."

I like to think that there would have been someone in the audience who had gone along on the strength of kind of liking Kind of Blue.

I recommend the episodes of the Questlove Supreme podcast where James Mtume talks about his time in the band around this time. Fascinating stuff.

Note to self: must re-read Miles Davis's autobiography.

20 December 2017

Charlotte beat me at air hockey or the first time ever.

11 December 2017

11 December 2017 - Soho

That winter light is something else.

9 December 2017 - Whitechapel, E1

I can neither confirm nor deny that this was my place of employment from 1988-90, because I had to sign the Official Secrets Act.

9 December 2017 - Blackmans Shoes, Cheshire Street

Apparently Blackmans closed in 2023, after 87 years of selling boots to skinheads.

I reckon this will prove to be the last pair of DMs I buy - the quality is just awful nowadays (that's what being taken over by a hedge fund does for your product).