Dave Holland on tonight’s Jazz Library

BBC Radio 3 has dropped Jazz Legends, its must-listen Friday afternoon series, but - let’s face it - the well was running dry. When a reasonably well-versed jazz fan could no longer recognize half the “Legends”’ names, the series was clearly running out of ideas.

But Radio 3’s jazz missionary activity continues, with an equally strong new series at a more sensible time. Jazz Library, at 2230 on Fridays, is a one-hour series of beginners’ guides. It’s already covered the artistry of: Louis Armstrong, Jan Garbarek, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans and Wayne Shorter.

It continues tonight with the great bassist Dave Holland, and continues in April with:

6 Sarah Vaughan
13 Bessie Smith
20 Miles Davis
21 Bud Powell.

Jazz Library is highly recommended for grown-ups seeking to sample the top names in jazz. I’m recording the lot – it’s that good.

www.bbc.co.uk/radio3


Gerry Smith

Dylan in Europe: a taste of things to come?

In anticipation of 6 weeks of Dylan-mania in Europe, starting tomorrow night in Stockholm, here’s a taster of what a few of the gigs could turn out like – my review of the great London gigs of November 2003, originally published on www.musicforgrownups.co.uk:



London dates underline Dylan's iconic status

The London dates which closed Bob Dylan's 2003 tour reminded English concert-goers that the musician's status is now well above that of mere "legend".

Towering above the competition - in any musical genre - Dylan is now an icon. Like all icons, he's worshipped. At the final London concert, his every statement, every nuance of phrasing, was received with something akin to rapture. In a lifetime of concertgoing, in smoky jazz club and grand opera house, rock stadium and pop arena, you'd be lucky to see a more tumultuous reception than that accorded Dylan on Tuesday night.

The four London shows started with an arena gig (Wembley), continued (after a detour to the Rust Belt) with a small theatre show (Shepherd's Bush Empire) and finished with concerts in two mid-sized theatres (Hammersmith Apollo and Brixton Academy). Each show garnered high praise; the only disagreements among aficionados concerned shades of excellence.

Taken together, the four set lists showcased Dylan's peerless songbook. Two thirds of the 68 songs performed were played only once. Recherche classics (Romance in Durango, Yeah, Heavy..., Jokerman, Blind Willie McTell) were interleaved with 1960s anthems (Like a Rolling Stone, Mr Tambourine Man), and the cream of the ballads, from tender love songs (Boots of Spanish Leather, Girl of the North Country) to hard-edged political tracts (Desolation Row and Hard Rain).

Even the four different versions of Like A Rolling Stone, the classic that the Dylanistas affect to deride, were among the best ever heard - the very pinnacle of rock music, sung with such deliberate gusto by its creator, its smart-ass put-downs never so meanly delivered... a B Minor Mass for the Baby Boomers lucky to be contemporaries of its creator.

The re-workings of songs from “Love And Theft” were revelatory. High Water (For Charley Patton) became an epic, the Hammersmith audience waiting for delivery of each line as if for tablets from on high. Floater, with Freddy Koella on violin and Tony Garnier on acoustic bass - a high risk arrangement - lent a rare jazz tinge to a Dylan gig.

The performances were outstanding. Dylan reinterpreted his canon with striking new emphases. The voice has rarely sounded more convincing - strong, melodious, impassioned. Many, hearing The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, maybe for the hundredth time, will have experienced an involuntary dropping of the jaw as Dylan delivered the key line. Such powerful writing, so skilfully delivered, made the derisory sentence handed out to William Zanzinger sound as outrageous as it did the first time you heard it.

Dylan has always written for his own voice. His talking blues delivery is entirely appropriate for his material, so performing the catalogue doesn't need a technically refined instrument like Pavarotti's, or even a soul voice to match Van Morrison's. OK, you wouldn't cast Dylan as a principal at the Met. But then, Placido Domingo's Desolation Row wouldn't really be worth hearing, either.

Dylan played piano, standing, throughout, while directing the band. He's no McCoy Tyner, but his honky tonk chords added immeasurably to the mix. The piano liberated the singer.

Even the handful of slighter songs which crept into the London shows were beefed up by some soaring, competitive blues-rock riffing by the two virtuoso guitarists, Larry Campbell and Freddy Koella. The magnificent rhythm section, George Recile and Tony Garnier, anchored the shows, as well as contributing many telling passages.

The London shows underlined Dylan's claim to be regarded as one of the great creative forces of the age. It's no longer sufficient to discuss Dylan in the context of other popular musicians. Comparisons with poprock contemporaries - the Beatles, say, or the Stones, or the army of superannuated hoofers still peddling heritage entertainment to eager nostalgics - do Dylan a disservice.

Dylan should be judged, instead, by reference to the musical giants from all genres - Mozart, Bach, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Callas... . And against the great writers, in all media, from all eras - Shakespeare, Joyce, Goethe, Cervantes... .

Bob Dylan's writing and performance art bridge the gap between popular entertainment and high culture. His is quintessential music for grown-ups.



Gerry Smith

New Dylan, Young, Morrison, Mitchell, Cohen product – 1970s re-run for Boomer rock fans

A fevered new release programme is making early 2007 seem like a re-run of the 1970s, with all the big beasts in the rock jungle stirring again:

* Dylan – Don’t Look Back de luxe DVD

* Neil Young – Live At Massey Hall; Archive series due to start

* Van Morrison – At The Movies compilation CD

* Joni Mitchell – new album, Shine, already being touted; remastered de luxe versions of the cream of her mid-‘70s albums set for release

* Leonard Cohen – de luxe versions of early albums imminent.

Music for Grown-Ups doesn’t go in for nostalgia, but even nostalgia has its moments.


Gerry Smith

Three must-try young musicians for grown-ups

Whenever I mention the name Music for Grown-Ups, most people immediately get the intended ambiguity. A few miss it completely, and assume I’m referring to Music for Olde Fartes – ‘60s rock or, even worse, the kind of hoary old pop singles endlessly recycled on Gold radio stations.

No, I patiently explain, Music for Grown-Ups can come from any place, and any time – from 15thC Germany to Omaha yesterday. If it withstands critical scrutiny, it’s in.

There’s a constant stream of young musicians refreshing the grown-up core repertoire. At the moment, I’m listening a lot to three very different twentysomething magicians:

* Amy Winehouse – smokey, soulful torch ballads and funky r’n’b

* Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) – dazzling American singer-songwriter. Just listen to his cover of Dylan’s Girl Of The North Country. My, my, my…

* Jim Moray – nu-folk pioneer, revolutionising the trad English songbook with electronica, and somehow burnishing its core beauty. Moray can’t decide whether he wants to be a folkie or a rock star. Result? Some great art.

All three fulfil all the criteria, especially the major one – they make excellent, original music.


Gerry Smith

Extra Stockholm date - in tiny venue - starts Dylan’s Euro tour a day early

Bob Dylan will play an extra date in Stockholm to start the European tour next week – Tuesday 27 March - at Debaser Medis.

The good news? It’s a tiny venue. The bad news? Booking started Wednesday morning.

www.ema.se/artister/ema/bobdylan/bobdylan.htm

(This item was translated - by me, a non-Swedish speaker - from Swedish. Readers should double check before making any plans based on this Dylan Daily story).


Gerry Smith



Related earlier article:

European Tour 2007: exclusive reviews on The Dylan Daily

Only a week now to the start of Dylan's eagerly anticipated Euro 2007 spring tour.

Several readers have already kindly offered to supply The Dylan Daily with a review. If you're going to a show, and would also like to review it for fellow readers, please get in touch: info@dylandaily.com

Here's a reminder of the itinerary:

March: 28 Stockholm; 30 Oslo.

April: 1 Gothenburg; 2 Copenhagen; 4 Hamburg; 5 Münster; 6 Brussels; 8 and 9 Amsterdam; 11 Glasgow; 12 Newcastle; 14 Sheffield; 15 and 16 London (16 is an extra date); 17 Birmingham; 19 Düsseldorf; 20 Stuttgart; 21 Frankfurt; 23 Paris; 25 Geneva; 26 Turin; 27 Milan; 29 Zürich; 30 Mannheim.

May: 2 Leipzig; 3 Berlin; 5 Herning.

Terry Reid’s two extraordinary albums

Thanks to Paul Blake:


When the UK magazine Q recently selected its top 100 vocalists Robert Plant was in the number eight slot while the man who was Jimmy Page’s first choice for Led Zeppelin’s lead singer was not even listed. Terry Reid turned down the job (as he also did a while later when Deep Purple were looking for a replacement for Rod Evans), put Jimmy in touch with Robert, then headed off to California to follow his own particular muse. He emerged with two extraordinary albums – 1973’s River and 1976’s Seed of Memory – both of which slipped under the critical radar of the time, yet now sound as powerful, as individual and as compelling as Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks or John Martyn’s Solid Air.

River is a good starting point. It is an album of two parts, both driven by Reid’s sublime vocals. Side one is electric, full of striking lyricism and David Lindley’s signature slide guitar, so familiar from Jackson Browne’s early records. It is wild, restless music conceived in the English countryside by a band made up of Lindley, Conrad Isadore (drums), and Lee Miles (bass), road tested over three years and recorded in California where the band finally decamped. The first two songs – Dean and Avenue – sound improvised, off-the-cuff yet defined by Terry Reid’s remarkable vocals, while the third track – Things to Try - starts conventionally enough but then also drifts into another fluid improvisation. The side finishes with Live Life featuring another haunting Reid vocal, full of risks and unexpected twists.

If the first side of River sounds like it was conceived to hold the attention of wayward audiences, to grab them by the scruff of the neck with its invention, side two is a different beast together. Here the band unplug (David Lindley is completely absent) and give Reid to room to breathe and bring in the tropicalismo influences he picked up from his friend, Gilberto Gil. It kicks off with River – a song with some beautiful acoustic guitar and the most tender of vocals. Dreams is another Latin influenced song with a questioning, yearning quality that Reid pulls from the singer/songwriter scene around him and is topped by that amazing soul voice. The original album ends with the ethereal and breathtaking Milestones, which starts with a whistle and ends with the most intimate of vocals. Search for the expanded reissue and you get two additional acoustic tracks – Anyway and Funny – which are just as wonderful as the rest of River.

River was recorded for Atlantic Records, however, the company seemed perplexed at how to market such an indefinable record and released Reid from his contract after the album’s release. Reid continued to tour and write, then urged on by another famous friend, Graham Nash - who promised both to produce and find him a record deal – went back into the studio in 1976 to record Seed of Memory.

Seed of Memory is perhaps a more realised album than River. It is a warm, welcoming record, full of generosity and grace. David Lindley is back on board, as is Lee Miles, while the drums are handled by Soko Richardson and James Gadson. Neil Young associate Ben Keith shares the pedal steel with Al Perkins and the other instrumentalists – playing cello, flute, saxophone, horns and balalaika give a sense of how much wider a palette Seed of Memory occupies compared with River. If River is album of someone on a journey, probing their limits, not quite sure of what they can or can’t pull off, Seed of Memory is the work of someone who has arrived. It is fully formed, and gloriously complete.

The key is Graham Nash’s empathic production. Reid is recorded up close, surrounded by warm harmonies that support his vocal flights without smothering them. Seed of Memory starts with the upbeat Faith To Arise – it has the Latin inflections first explored on River but combines them with pedal steel and a chorus that is pure soul. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Next up is the plaintive Seed of Memory, where Reid’s singing is counter scored by a flute, David Lindley’s slide and some honeyed CSN & Y styled harmonies. Brave Awakening follows, a gorgeous redemptive song with a subtle, almost elastic Reid vocal that is a particular favourite of mine. The mood is continued with To Be Treated Rite, another song where Nash’s production allows Reid the space he needs to nail his expansive vocal lines.

Up to that point Seed of Memory could be extension of side two of River but then the album shifts into another realm. Ooh baby is the most joyful of soul songs with a great horn section, while The Way You Walk is a dirty blues with more powerful Lindley slide and Reid as his R&B best – hollering, imploring, pleading. The Frame is another fabulous soul track, slower than Ooh baby but with just as effective horns and another fantastic Reid vocal performance. Seed of Memory ends for one of Reid’s finest recorded vocals. Fooling You is simple but beautiful soul track that is transformed by Reid into a song of extraordinary yearning. It is a marvellous way to end a marvellous record.

ABC Records, who released Seed of Memory, folded two weeks after its release and the album never had the exposure it deserved. By 1976 the world was moving on. Television, Talking Heads and the Ramones were taking New York by storm, while in Reid’s homeland the punk revolution with the Sex Pistols, the Clash and any number of DIY bands had begun. The shaggy haired Reid smiling beatifically from the cover of Seed of Memory must have seemed out of place and time. Perhaps Seed of Memory simply came too late.

Terry Reid is touring the UK during June-July – details from

www.terryreid.net



Paul Blake is writing a book on remarkable forgotten, mislaid or overlooked albums.

Joni Mitchell radio profile starts tonight

Joni Mitchell continues her English media campaign with the first of a two-part documentary on BBC Radio 2 at 2030 tonight. She’s promoting her forthcoming album, Shine.

Mitchell’s music, especially the later work she thinks is undervalued, is inspirational. More than can be said for dispiriting recent interviews in The Sunday Times, The Guardian and The Word mag, after Elvis Costello’s extensive Mitchell interview in Vanity Fair three years ago.

Roberta Joan: your magnificent music – especially the post-Hejira albums - speaks for itself. Let it.


Gerry Smith

Dylanesque – BBC radio interview, music mag profile and London gig review

You’d have to be pretty careless to have missed the UK release of Dylanesque, Bryan Ferry’s new album of Bob covers. It’s been everywhere - if I’d been doing the PR, I’d be delighted with the album’s exposure.

Latest sightings include:

* Mark Radcliffe (Ferry fan and the brightest button on BBC Radio) interviews the enigmatic Byron about Dylanesque in tomorrow night’s show, Tuesday 2230 GMT, BBC Radio 2. You can listen on the web as it’s broadcast (and for seven days thereafter).

www.bbc.co.uk/radio2



* Observer Music Monthly profile: Thanks to Martin Cowan: “More from Bryan Ferry in yesterday's Observer Music Monthly:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,2033516,00.html



* And Ferry’s well-received promo tour reached London with a sell-out at London’s Albert Hall. Review from The Independent here:

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article2369594.ece


Gerry Smith

John Martyn’s Grace and Danger reissue: “essential”

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“I just wanted to bring to your attention the rather fine reissue of John Martyn's superb ‘Grace and Danger’ album from 1980.

“The reissue has been given the Deluxe two-disc treatment by Island Records and adds live tracks, out-takes and alternate versions to the heart-rending original nine songs.

“Essential listening.”

Wilco’s new album, Blue Sky Blue – leaked tracks

Thanks to James Ketchell:

“Wilco’s seventh album Blue Sky Blue is just around the corner with a May 23rd release date. It is the first album that singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy has written since his stint in rehab just after their previous album A Ghost is Born was recorded. In many respects this has influenced these new songs with a more ‘mellow’ mood. In fact many commentators have described the album as a rock-soul record or even (gasp!) A.O.R.

“The album has surfaced online in poor quality thanks to the band streaming a preview of the album on their website last week. I’ve only heard three songs: ‘Either Way’, ‘You Are My Face’ and ‘Walken’ and first impressions are that these three tracks sound very different to anything the band have done in the past.

“‘Either Way’, the first song on Blue Sky Blue is a simple love song which starts with the most optimistic statement from Tweedy ever, “Maybe the sun will shine today”. The song becomes a lament to a lover who may or may not still be in love with him, but either way, it is fine.

“‘You Are My Face’ is perhaps one of the most lyrically ambiguous songs that Tweedy has ever written. But whatever the real meaning, it is pure poetic bliss. I cannot find another word to describe it. The song starts off in a similar vein to ‘Either Way’ – mellow, soft, tender – until the guitars kick in a very Wilco-esque manner, building the song thanks to guitarist Nels Cline’s ability to force through angular guitar riffs. Despite the song’s lyrical beauty, it still feels as if it is a sketch, or a work in progress. I can’t wait to hear this one live and see how Wilco elaborate on it.

“‘Walken’ sounds like a Wilco interpretation of a Randy Newman song. It is the loudest of the three songs and is probably best described as a mid-tempo rocker. The song then descends into a chorus of repetitive guitar riffs and loud drums. Brilliant stuff.

“Although it is difficult to fully assess an album on three, poor quality recordings of songs, it appears as if Wilco have done it again and produced a startling record unlike any of their previous.

“If there is a more inventive, interesting and musically challenging modern band than Wilco then I’d like to hear them. With my ticket for their London gig already booked and the release of Blue Sky Blue, May cannot come quickly enough as far as I am concerned.”

Neil Young Archives - finally slated for 2007 launch

Many fans, like me, will have feared that the Fillmore East and Massey Hall albums, fine though they are, might be substitutes for the full Neil Young Archives project –promised for years, but repeatedly postponed.

But now it looks as if Shakey and Warner are finally about to hit the streets with the first proper volume of the Archives - a bumper package of 8 CDs, 2DVDs, and a book - later this year.

Hallelujah! Greendale, Living With War – begone.

Exult in this great news for grown-up music fans here:

http://www.repriserecords.com/neilarchives/



Gerry Smith

MUSIC for GROWN-UPs Newsletter, March 2007

MUSIC for GROWN-UPs - celebrating the great musicians - from Sinatra to the Stones, Miles to Mozart, Dylan to David Bowie, Beck to Bjork, and Coltrane to Cole Porter.

Exclusive news and views, emailed to registered subscribers.
Editor: Gerry Smith (email: editorial@musicforgrownups.co.uk)

Please log on to the web site http://www.musicforgrownups.co.uk to read the full text of all the articles listed in this newsletter.

*** Please forward this issue to anyone who might be interested ***


NEW ARTICLES ON MUSIC for GROWN-UPs - http://www.musicforgrownups.co.uk

* Joss Stone slammed
* Amy Winehouse live - music for grown-ups, boozing for losers
* Gillian Welch to support Bright Eyes: a magical pairing
* Joni Mitchell cover graces new issue of The Word
* Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Joe Zawinul, Rickie Lee Jones et al

* New(ish) Dylan, Young, Morrison DVDs - all at bargain prices
* Jan Garbarek, Charlie Parker - jazz for beginners
* Barbican - world-class music for grown-ups
* Re-releases of Leonard Cohen's great first three albums set to disappoint
* Louis Armstrong for beginners

* Another (different) TV gig of Bryan Ferry promoting Dylanesque
* Bryan Ferry excels in Dylan covers gig: review/setlist/video link
* Neil Young new product prices - encore
* The Bible and Bob Dylan
* Amy Winehouse: music for grown-ups

* At The Movies - notable omission from fine new Van Morrison release
* New Neil Young product - and why HMV is getting less of my music spend
* Bryan Ferry, premier contemporary crooner, to play TV gig
* Grown-up gig bookings for 2007
* HMV and Fopp: all change in music retailing

* New Joni "not yet ready for gardening" Mitchell album
* Il Trovatore in London last night: lame
* A feast of John Coltrane
* At last - three vital Ella Fitzgerald Songbook compilations
* New issue of UNCUT - encore

* The Smiths grace new (March) issue of Uncut
* Exciting new releases by favoured musicians for grown-ups
* Ernesto Caruso: how the introduction of the LP reduced sound quality
* Nashville, Solomon Burke's country album: outstanding
* Miles Davis on Warner - an intro, at last

* New Neil Young releases - pricey
* Dylan's Theme Time radio - a weekly delight
* Gig of a lifetime in London on Saturday
* Van Morrison At The Movies - Soundtrack Hits
* Only rock 'n' roll, but...

* New Joni Mitchell releases - the three original albums revisited
* New Joni Mitchell releases - burnishing the legacy
* Hotel California - music for grown-ups, and the rest
* Joni Mitchell In Concert, from 1971
* Best of 2006 (5): Gerry Smith's gigs

* New Bryan Ferry album of Dylan songs
* Best of 2006 (4)
* London's new Carmen: mediocre
* The Old Grey Whistle Test: encore
* The Old Grey Whistle Test: no thanks



PREVIOUSLY ON MUSIC for GROWN-UPs - http://www.musicforgrownups.co.uk

* English rockpop renaissance
* Tickets for Dylan Brit shows still on sale
* Blues, jazz and country - according to Robert Crumb
* ABBA: giants among pygmies
* Best of 2006 (3)

* Best of 2006 (2)
* Sampling new music: Chris Ward and Simon Stewart
* Best of 2006 (1)
* The Doors - a fitting tribute
* Major release from the vaults of John Lee Hooker, blues master

* Satanic Stones - maybe, but rather less than majestic
* Jackie Leven - take 2
* Two cheers for theJazz, new digital radio station
* Dylan, Stones, Jackie Leven and The Pirates
* Best ever value for grown-up music buyers

* Magnificent new Ella Fitzgerald sampler
* Dylan/Stones' Like A Rolling Stone: rock's highest peak
* Live Licks from the Rolling Stones
* Oasis v Beatles
* Bjork - 10 recommended downloads

* Joan Sutherland celebrations
* Themes/playlists for the Dylan-as-DJ series on BBC radio


ADMIN

Why not bookmark http://www.musicforgrownups.co.uk, to make it easy to re-visit the site? New reviews and commentaries are added to the Daily Update page on the web site before the start of the European working day. And Gigs for Grown-Ups and Recommended Recent Releases bring you actionable, up-to-date news of live music and new products.

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(c) Music for Grown-Ups Ltd 2007

Joss Stone slammed

Let’s be honest. I can’t stand Joss Stone’s music. Or any of her supermarket popster contemporaries – Norah Jones, Katie Melua, Jamie Cullum. Or those earnest young men who drone on from the same hymn sheet.

Why? Because what they offer has been done before, many times over. And it has been done far, far better.

So I was intrigued to see Joss Stone’s new album/gigs slammed in the press. “Big voice, little to say” was the message. Which had been exactly my own reaction when she was being praised to the skies at launch a few years ago.

But to single out Stone for such criticism is very unfair. Hell, all the big soul singers are guilty of the same sin – over-excitable, inappropriate vocals, limited content, poorly expressed. Haven’t the critics currently slamming Stone ever listened carefully to Aretha Franklin or Tina Turner?



Gerry Smith

Amy Winehouse live – music for grown-ups, boozing for losers

Amy Winehouse, the exciting young Brit chanteuse, is currently managing the almost impossible - attracting demanding jazz fans, while getting the mass bonehead market to shake its collective ass and persuading 30-something supermarket impulse buyers to throw the new album into the trolley alongside the baked beans and the cat food.

It can’t last forever – at some point, hard artistic choices will have to be made. But, for the moment, Amy Winehouse is setting the popular music agenda in these parts. And producing some great art.

Friday’s screening by BBC 1 of a recent London hotel gig underlined just why she’s making waves – great voice, charismatic on-stage persona, strong material, and a wonderful band.

It also reminded you how it could all end up in tears. Much as a I value non-conformity, the sight of Winehouse clearly under the influence of booze, seeking refuge in a glass throughout the gig, exchanging “f*ck off!s” with a heckler, was dispiriting.

Somebody may be persuading her that playing a foul-mouthed lush is a good career move. Music fans will be praying that wiser counsels prevail. Amy Winehouse is an outstanding young musician; here’s hoping she doesn’t p*ss it all away in show biz excess. Boozing brazenly in public is for losers.




Gerry Smith

Gillian Welch to support Bright Eyes: a magical pairing

Gillian Welch, poignant interpreter/curator of the best of Americana and Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) are two of the most brilliant stars in the grown-up musical firmament.

Outstanding, wholly original abums, staggeringly strong gigs... you get the picture.

Now they plan to do a series of double-header concerts in the US in April/May, culminating in a seven night run in New York’s fabled Town Hall on 25 May-1 June.

Oh to be in Manhattan in early summer!


Gerry Smith

Joni Mitchell cover graces new issue of The Word

The new (“April”) issue of The Word, the London-based Uncle-rockpop monthly, has a cover feature announcing the return of Joni Mitchell. (As did The Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago.)

Remember Joni Mitchell? The Canadian pop soprano? She retired, in high dudgeon, in 2002, after promoting her masterpiece, Travelogue!

Presumably Ms M’s promoting the new album, with the working title Shine, or maybe the re-mastered, expanded 2CD reissues of Court And Spark, Hissing Of Summer Lawns, and Hejira - rumoured a couple of months ago, though there’s no sign of them yet where I shop.

Any of the four releases will be warmly welcomed by Music for Grown-Ups: Ms Mitchell is revered in these parts – particularly in her grown-up, post-Hejira mode.

And kudos to The Word magazine – this is their second Mitchell cover in two years. I can’t remember competitors MOJO and Uncut using a single cover featuring Saskatoon’s finest chanteuse. Ever.

The Word is the youngest/smallest circulation of the three London Dadrockpop monthlies – MOJO, the first, has the biggest circulation; Uncut sits in the middle.



Gerry Smith

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Joe Zawinul, Rickie Lee Jones et al

Though it long veered away from jazz as we know it, London’s Jazz Café is a must-check grown-up music venue. The tiny stand-up (or dine on the small balcony) venue in Camden is the perfect place to see favoured musicians strutting their stuff.

The new programme, received today, has a richly eclectic list of acts, new and old, notably:

· Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
· Joe Zawinul
· Rickie Lee Jones
· Acoustic Alchemy
· The Zombies
· Bo Diddley
· Easy Star All Stars
· Roy Ayers…

Deeply impressive. If you’re planning to visit London, it’s always worth checking out who’s on at this fine venue:

www.jazzcafe.co.uk



Gerry Smith

New(ish) Dylan, Young, Morrison DVDs - all at bargain prices

Prices for music product continue to tumble. I’ve just picked up three must-have double DVDs by major league rock artists at knock-down prices:

* Bob Dylan - No Direction Home: £6 at my local Borders

* Live At Montreux – Van Morrison: £8.50 via amazon.co.uk

* Heart Of Gold – Neil Young: £5 (sic), ditto.

Buying these at high street music chains would have cost about £55! Mamma mia! If only over-inflated, rapidly escalating gig prices would head in the same direction, I might get out of the house more.


Gerry Smith