New version Don’t Look Back DVD released today

The new version of Don’t Look Back on DVD is finally released today in England. It looks like the product of the year.

While the new standard edition single disc hardly excites – Pennebaker’s masterpiece has been available on DVD for several years - the double disc box (details below) is a must-buy.

But you’d be silly to pay full price (£23). I’ve ordered my copy from 101cd.com, at £15.95 delivered, the best deal I could find - amazon.co.uk were selling at £12.99 but you had to make the order up to £15 to get free del and they were quoting 7 weeks wait when I looked last week.


Earlier article on sister site, The Dylan Daily:

Don’t Look Back on DVD - biggest Dylan event of 2007 to date

The DVD re-release of Don’t Look Back, the classic fly-on-the-wall documentary, looks like being the biggest Dylan event of 2007 to date. Pre-orders on amazon.com have already put it inside the online retailer’s top 10,000 DVD titles.

The film tracks Dylan at his iconic, sneering, imperious peak (as well as his court of jesters) on the 1965 English tour. It has long been a must-have for aficionados.

There’ll be two new DVD versions of Don’t Look Back – a single disc release of the original film, remastered, plus a new 2DVD package:

Disc 1:
* Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back
* Commentary by director D.A. Pennebaker and tour road manager Bob Neuwirth
* Five additional uncut audio tracks
* Alternate version of the Subterranean Homesick Blues cue-card sequence
* Original theatrical trailer
* Pennebaker filmography
* Bob Dylan discography
* Cast and crew biographies

Disc 2:
* Bob Dylan 65 Revisited – new documentary compiled by Pennebaker from over 20 hours of unseen footage
* Commentary by Pennebaker and road manager Bob Neuwirth
* book (168pp) including a complete transcript, over 200 photos, and a new foreword by Pennebaker
* Collectible Subterranean Homesick Blues flipbook

Don’t Look Back on DVD is due for release in N America on 27 February, so presumably in the UK on Mon 26 February or Mon 5 March.

It’s a must-buy, even for those like me who’ve had the VHS and original DVD versions for years – a well-conceived new product, with loads of added value in the new two disc package.


Gerry Smith

Top 10 classical recordings

Thanks to Cecilia Mort who sent the Classic FM Top 10 recordings - voted for by listeners and broadcast in the station’s annual Easter weekend countdown of the top 500.

Grown-up music ratio? On this evidence, about 50%.

1 (3 last year) The Lark Ascending Vaughan Williams
2 (7) Cello Concerto Elgar
3 (2) Piano Concerto No 2 Rachmaninov
4 (1) Clarinet Concerto Mozart
5 (4) Piano Concerto No 5 Beethoven (“Emperor”)
6 (9) Enigma Variations Elgar
7 (5) Violin Concerto No 1 Bruch
8 (6) Symphony No 6 Beethoven (“Pastoral”)
9 (8) Symphony No 9 Beethoven (“Choral”)
10 (11) Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Vaughan Williams


Gerry Smith

The Smiths: a light that will never go out

Let’s be honest, I’d seen the listing in the TV/radio guide and decided naaaah – not even worth recording… it’ll be yet another tedious, glum Manc love-in, blighted by the usual show biz bonehead yap-yap production values of BBC Radio 2.

But, three days later, curiosity led me to “Listen Again” via the web to Radio 2’s Salford Lad, the first in a two-part documentary on Morrissey/The Smiths. I am rather partial to The Smiths’ music, after all…

Confounding my prejudices, it was a lovely programme. Most of the motley crew of interviewees, presenter Stuart Maconie included, had something worthwhile to say. Some of them even said it well.

Mixing the voices of key players, especially Morrissey and Marr, with some spectacular music reminded you just how good The Smiths really were.

I won’t be missing the second part, aired on Saturday 28 April at 2000. It covers Morrissey’s solo career, a yawning gap in my musical knowledge.

You can hear the first programme via the web until Saturday, then the second for the following seven days:

www.bbc.co.uk/radio2


Radio 2 billing (with corrections!):

“Saturday 21/28 April 2000-2100
“It is almost twenty years since Morrissey, England’s most thoughtful and enduring lyricist and singer, launched his solo career. Ever since his emergence as front man with the Smiths in the 1980s his songs have been pored over, analysed and quoted.

“In this two part series for BBC Radio 2 Stuart Maconie tells the story of the Manchester lad who became a British icon. We hear from friends, fans, colleagues and fellow musicians including: Richard Boon, Mike Hinc, Jo Slee, Andrew Paresi, Willy Russell, Badly Drawn Boy, Zoe Williams, John Hegley, Preston, Stephen Street, Tony Visconti, Andy Rourke and Suggs.”



Gerry Smith

Forever Ella – fitting tribute to the First Lady of Song

Forever Ella, released in the UK on Monday and readily available as a supermarket sub-£10 impulse buy, is a fitting tribute to mark today’s 90th birthdate of the magnificent First Lady of Song.

The 20 track CD (not to be confused with an equally excellent but very different 1995 compilation of the same name – they share only three tracks) covers Ella’s main bases, with six tracks from the Cole Porter songbook and most of the other tracks from the other songbook projects, plus a couple of Louis Armstrong duets.

If you bought Gold, the wonderful last (2CD) Fitzgerald compilation, you already have half the songs on Forever Ella. On the other hand, collectors are catered for by new orchestral backing by the London Symphony Orchestra on Cry Me A River, and new remixes of the last two tracks.

Verve has developed the attractive cartoon Ella cover artwork which made Gold and the latest Ella/Louis Armstrong compilation stand out on the shelves, though they’ve changed the colour palette from blue to yellow. Gorgeous.

If you don’t possess any Ella Fitzgerald recordings, make Forever Ella your first. It’s a beauty.

Best price I’ve seen: amazon.co.uk (£8.99). If you can wait a few months, you’ll probably be able to pick it up for about £6 with the cat food and cornflakes.


Tracklist
1. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
2. Cry Me A River
3. Manhattan
4. Best Is Yet To Come
5. I Get A Kick Out Of You
6. Cheek To Cheek
7. Don't Fence Me In
8. Get Happy
9. Night And Day
10. Let's Face The Music And Dance
11. Summertime
12. Someone To Watch Over Me
13. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)
14. They Can't Take That Away From Me
15. Let's Fall In Love
16. You Do Something To Me
17. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
18. Fine Romance
19. Wait Till You See Him
20. Angel Eyes



Gerry Smith

The best of early Miles Davis, 1949-61

Jazz Library, the excellent new Friday night series on BBC Radio 3, managed to last about two months without featuring Miles, but eventually succumbed last week with a lovely programme analysing the recordings of Davis, 1949-61.

Presenter Alyn Shipton drew on the innumerable insights of fellow trumpeter Guy Barker for the discussion of the Gil Evans collaborations, and broadcaster Brian Morton for the later material. I’m already looking forward to the inevitable Jazz Library sequels covering later Miles recordings.

The Jazz Library series is a revelation - a fine intro for beginners exploring the best of the back catalogue.

You can hear this fine programme via the web until this Friday:

www.bbc.co.uk/radio3


Running order:
* All Blues
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane

* Boplicity
Album Birth of the Cool

* Blues for Pablo
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Studio Discussion
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Evans
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Springsville (overdub take 1)
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Davis
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Bess You Is My Woman Now
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Evans
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Solea
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Evans
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and Gil Evans

* Diner Au Motel
Album L'Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud

* Straight No Chaser
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane

* Oleo
Artist Miles Davis
Album In Person: Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk Complete

* So What
Artist Miles Davis / Gil Evans Orchestra
Album Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall

* Some Day My Prince Will Come
Album Complete Columbia Studio Recordings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane



Gerry Smith

ON AIR this week

Thanks to Mike Ollier for his selection:

RADIO:
This Week's Radio For Grown-Ups, W/E 28/04/07

Tuesday BBCR2 11.30 ~ 12.30
* Courtney Pine's Jazz Crusade

Weds BBCR6 9.30 ~ 10.30
* Earplugs & Eyeliner ~ The Iggy Pop Story
Chrissie Hynde takes time off from worrying McDonald's to recount the tale of the erstwhile Mr James Osterbeg

Friday BBCR6 9.00 ~ 10.00
* Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan: Food
The living legend introduces tracks from Slim Gaillard, The Melodians and Wendy Rene, Cab Calloway, The Rolling Stones and Dizzy Gillespie, amongst others.

Friday BBCR3 10.30 ~ 11.30
* Jazz Library ~ Bud Powell
The legacy of the legendary pianist



TV:
This Week's TV For Grown-Ups, W/E 28/04/07

Friday BBC4 8.30 ~ 9.00
* Joni Mitchell In Concert
A live set from 1970

Friday BBC4 9.00 ~ 10.00
* Originals: Robyn Hitchcock
Former Soft Boy and Egyptian's mainman rehearsing his latest album with John Paul Jones, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Peter Buck and Nick Lowe. Also features footage of an American tour (repeated @ 12.20 and on Saturday @ 1.05).

Friday BBC4 10.00 ~ 11.00
* In Session: Gillian Welch
A stunning set from one of the world's top songwriters and her partner, the guitar genius David Rawlings (repeated @ 1.20).

New tenor - Saimir Pirgu - stars in delightful Gianni Schicchi

Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu, making his Covent Garden debut, announced himself as a young tenor to watch in Puccini’s delightful one act opera, Gianni Schicchi on Saturday.

He was in good company. Bryn Terfel illuminated the title role, as Royal Opera House audiences have come to expect. Dina Kuznetsova impressed: her big moment, O mio babbino caro – one of the best-known arias in the repertoire – stood out, despite an abrupt intro. The support cast sang and acted well. Direction, costume - 1950s Italy – and the one room set were strong, convincing.

Inevitably, with Terfel in the title role, the classic-lite mob was out in force. “Can you understand the Spanish?” I overheard one greying bonehead enquire, in the interval after the equally delightful first piece, Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnol. “I think it’s in French, dear,” came the razor sharp reply.

Royal Opera House: preserve of the London/Home Counties intelligentsia? Doncha believe it.


Gerry Smith

ON AIR: Uncle Bob, Miles, Dinah Washington, Ella

Must-record broadcasts for grown-ups:

Today:
2100 BBC 6Music: Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour
2230 BBC Radio 3: Jazz Library, Miles Davis – first two decades
0010 BBC Four (TV): Dinah Washington profile

Saturday:
1600 BBC Radio 3: Ella Fitzgerald appreciation


Gerry Smith

Elliott Landy exhibition opens next week

Thanks to (rock photographer) Lawrence Kirsch for sending a link to an NME news story of an exhibition of the photography of Elliott Landy, due to open in London next week.

Landy is best known for his Woodstock-period Dylan shoots. His work also adorns the cover of Van Morrison’s Tupelo Honey album, and he photographed many other 1960s/70s rock musicians.


http://www.nme.com/news/27617


I’ll be going!



Gerry Smith

The Doors – stunning new photo exhibition

Thanks to Guy White, Gallery Director, for details of a stunning new exhibition of Joel Brodsky’s iconic photos of The Doors.

Snap Galleries aim to get you to say “WOW!” when you enter their Birmingham exhibition space. I found myself “WOW!”-ing, involuntarily, even as I opened the link below.

The recently deceased Brodsky’s collection is one of the most striking portfolios of photography in music history: Snap’s wonderful exhibition is a fitting showcase.

Details from Guy White, Snap Gallery:
“… your subscribers might be interested in the exhibition of ultra large Jim Morrison / Doors photographs that we are launching at our gallery from this Saturday, 21 April 2007.

“Here's the link to all the info:

http://www.snapgalleries.com/scalinglizardking.html

Snap Galleries Limited
Unit 7 - Ground Floor
Fort Dunlop
Fort Parkway
Birmingham
B24 9FD
Tel 0121 748 3408
info@snapgalleries.com

Well worth a visit if you’re anywhere near.



Gerry Smith

The Best Of Van Morrison, Volume 3 - due in June

The Best Of Van Morrison, Volume 3 will be released in the USA on 19 June. The 2CD album has 31 tracks, dating from the early 1990s to mid-Noughties, including previously unreleased collaborations, as well as duets with greats like John Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Ray Charles.

Disc 1
1. Cry For Home (with Tom Jones) (previously unreleased)
2. Too Long In Exile
3. Gloria (with John Lee Hooker)
4. Help Me with Junior Wells (live)
5. Lonely Avenue / 4 O' Clock In The Morning (with Jimmy Witherspoon, Candy Dulfer & Jim Hunter) (live)
6. Days Like This
7. Ancient Highway
8. Raincheck
9. Moondance
10. Centerpiece (with Georgie Fame & Annie Ross)
11. That's Life (live)
12. Benediction (remix) (with Georgie Fame & Ben Sidran)
13. The Healing Game (re-mix)
14. I Don't Want To Go On Without You (with Jim Hunter)


Disc 2
1. Shenandoah (with The Chieftains)
2. Precious Time
3. Back On Top (remix)
4. When The Leaves Come Falling Down
5. Lost John (with Lonnie Donegan) (live)
6. Tupelo Honey (with Bobby Bland) (previously unreleased)
7. Meet Me In The Indian Summer (orchestral version) (remix)
8. Georgia On My Mind
9. Hey Mr. DJ
10. Steal My Heart Away
11. Crazy Love (with Ray Charles)
12. Once In A Blue Moon
13. Little Village
14. Blue and Green
15. Sitting On Top Of The World (with Carl Perkins)
16. Early In The Morning (with B.B. King)
17. Stranded


Yippee! UK date, and discussion of the release, to follow.




Gerry Smith

Miles Davis tops poll by new jazz station

Surprise, surprise - So What, from Kind Of Blue, has just topped a poll for best jazz recording. And Miles has two other tunes in the top 10 - All Blues and Blue In Green.

The survey was carried out for new digital radio station theJazz.

Top 10
1 Miles Davis - So What
2 Dave Brubeck - Take Five
3 Louis Armstrong - West End Blues
4 John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
5 Miles Davis - All Blues
6 John Coltrane - My Favourite Things
7 Weather Report - Birdland
8 Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething
9 Duke Ellington - Take The 'A' Train
10 Miles Davis - Blue In Green



Gerry Smith

Neil Young, Live At Massey Hall - a must-buy

Neil Young’s new release, Live At Massey Hall, the famed 1971 acoustic gig in Toronto, doesn’t ring my bell quite as much as the earlier Live At The Fillmore East, backed by a powerful, mighty Crazy Horse.

Young’s Massey Hall performances – vocals, acoustic picking and piano - of his prime early ‘70s balladry are exceptional. They remind you forcefully why Young was such massive box office in those far-off days. And the close-miked sound quality is staggeringly good.

The DVD in the Special Edition’s a beaut, too. And the packaging design, like all the recent Shakey product, is delightful.

Live At Massey Hall: a must-buy.

The sheer quality of the music means that three minor whines pale into insignificance. But let’s have them, anyway:

· Young’s sub-hippy shy boy between-song mumblings. Yeeuuugh!
· The pathetically salivating Canuck crowd, far too high in the mix, roaring over-enthusiastically at the merest mention of “Canada”, “Ontario” and the rest. Provincials!
· Dysfunctional packaging. Both CD and DVD easily fall out of the gatefold sleeve – I had to add a couple of paper disc sleeves to prevent the precious artefacts getting wrecked.



Gerry Smith

Springsteen - Seeger Sessions v The Rising

When Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions aired on TV last year, I could hardly believe my ears. Having taped, watched once and hastily filed, I thought I’d better give it a second chance. Just in case I’d been unfair.

But no change, I’m afraid: music I find tedious, with performances to match – a wholly alienating experience.

So I had to reassure myself about Springsteen generally and chose to re-listen to The Rising. Thank the Lord: it sounds just as powerfully revelatory as it did when it drove me to write the review below for Music for Grown-Ups.

Whither Bruce? Let’s hope he’s over his Seeger/heritage phase.



The Rising: A Modern Masterpiece

OK. This article is a full eighteen months late. There's a reason. When The Rising was released, in 2002, I collected the (mostly positive) reviews, filed them away, and added the album to my "must-buy" list. But I also decided to delay buying it until all the fuss had died down.

At his best, notably on Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska, Springsteen is one of rock's handful of great creative artists - he's a doggedly original writer who draws convincing, spare vignettes of the urban struggles of oddballs and ordinary people. He's also a fine musician and an exceptional performer (even if his bombastic arena shows are too near to mainstream show biz for my tastes).

But there's another side to Springsteen, which has always tempered my admiration. It's the sing-along-a-Brooce anthemic sloganeering designed for very large crowds - Music for Middle American Males (eagerly adopted by their peers in the rest of the world). Much of this stuff sounds like (and is widely taken as) parochial bluster, regardless of its creator's avowed intentions. Mid-'80s Springsteen is absolutely NOT music for grown-ups.

It was partly a fear that The Rising would be a suffocating Good-ole-USA love-in that decided me to delay buying The Rising. Don't get me wrong, I'm not yet another knee-jerk anti-American. My respect for the US is boundless. It's just that indulgent patriotism - by the nationals of any country - makes me cringe, whether it's the God Bless America variety, or Flower of Scotland, Waltzing Matilda and, especially, the deeply objectionable God Save Our Gracious Queen.

So I was reluctant to pay to torture myself with what I feared might be indulgent parochialism, draped in maudlin Fourth of July/Independence Day/Thanksgiving/High School graduation references - cultural references as alien to me as the totems of Islam, the bhurka or the call to prayer.

And there was a strong suspicion that the enormous tragedy of 9/11 (as I have learned to call it) was far too sensitive an issue for mere entertainers to handle: schmaltzy crocodile tears, bogus sentimentality, inarticulate hearts worn on flashy sleeves are inherently unattractive. As is facile political analysis by people whose views are simply not worth hearing. Neil Young had done a fine job on 9/11 in Are You Passionate? But I wasn't sure Bruce was up to the task.

I shouldn't have worried. The Rising, which I finally listened to - very carefully - over the holidays, is nothing less than a modern masterpiece, a fitting evocation of the wrought emotions of 9/11 and its aftermath. A permanent memorial to the outrage. But it's also so much more.

Springsteen's achievement - 73 minutes of intense emotion, scarcely drawing breath, without even approaching a false note - is appropriately massive. The Rising is a near-perfect suite of 15 linked songs of a quality infrequently encountered; and, a rarity among rock albums - it doesn't have a single weak track.

The standout song, musically and lyrically, is You're Missing. Keening strings and organ showcase poignant lyrics which recite a litany of evidence that the partner won't be returning. Ever. The pathos in the voice is almost palpable.

Popular music has seen few, if any, evocations of pained loss which are even remotely as convincing as this: its direct line to that part of the brain which controls the tear ducts places the song alongside the greatest operatic arias, the ones occurring in the final scenes of the finest operas, when the heroine finally expires.

Into the Fire, with its gospel incantation: "... may your... give us..., may your..." is not far behind. The Rising is equally powerful. Nothing Man sees the tragedy from the point of view of the Ordinary Joe, and is appropriately written and performed. Mary's Place, the only concession to Springsteen's key constituency - 40 year old/middle American/male/trainers-and-blue-jean-wearers - while disguised as an obvious singalongaBrooooce air-punching anthem, complete with mandatory (unnecessary) rock sax, turns out to be a beautifully-crafted study in turn-the-other cheek stoicism.

The two songs which see 9/11 from a different perspective - Worlds Apart, which addresses the problems of star-crossed lovers in Afghanistan, and Paradise, spoken by a suicide bomber just before the final act - save the album from being too USA-centric, adding enormously to its worldview, and its complex evocation of humanist values.

The album's superior lyrics are enriched by the eclectic range of musical styles it employs, which will surprise listeners who associate Bruce only with arena anthems. To hear such powerful lyrics set in such a range of genres is an unexpected bonus. Gospel, blues (often in the same song), anthemic rock, tender balladry, Mid-Eastern devotional inserts, telling pop hooks, and even the effective use of strings, will ensure that this album will still sound fresh and inviting in fifty years.

What elevates The Rising way above contemporary reportage of the unspeakable, diabolic attack on the Twin Towers is the universality of its concerns. Like most great art, it can be read as a general, as well as a particular, statement. The sentiments so authentically explored in The Rising are applicable to any human crisis which evokes suffering, grief, loss, stoicism, anger, bewilderment, courage, resignation, heroism, comfort, and sadness.

Darkness on the Edge of Town revealed Springsteen as a uniquely gifted chronicler of the struggles of proletarian youth in urban America. Thirty years on, The Rising tracks him painting, equally successfully, a much larger canvas - the struggles of Everyman, everywhere.

Because of the scale of its ambition, and the seeming ease with which it realises it, The Rising is great art. It's a triumphant (but absolutely not, note, triumphal) response to a national tragedy, with universal resonance. Not only is it among the artist's finest work, it's one of the highlights of all rock music.

The Rising confirms Springsteen's stature as one of the giants of popular music - as if it was ever in doubt.



Gerry Smith

Bob Dylan’s Top Ten Dylan albums

Bob Dylan’s Top Ten Dylan albums, judging by the set lists of the first ten shows of the Europe 2007 tour, are:

1. Modern Times (2006)
2. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
3. Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
4. "Love and Theft" (2001)
5. Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
6. Blonde on Blonde (1966)
7. John Wesley Harding (1968)
8. Nashville Skyline (1969)
9. Blood on the Tracks (1974)
10. Basement Tapes (1975)


Few surprises there, but ranking the playing of the back catalogue in more detail presents a few:

* Album rank – by different songs played

1. Modern Times (2006) 6
2. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) 4
3. Highway 61 Revisited (1965) 4
4. "Love and Theft" (2001) 4
5. Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964) 3
6. Blonde on Blonde (1966) 3
7. John Wesley Harding (1968) 2
8. Nashville Skyline (1969) 2
9. Blood on the Tracks (1974) 2
10. Basement Tapes (1975) 2
11. Under the Red Sky (1990) 2
12. Time out of Mind (1997) 2
13. The Times They Are A’Changin’ (1964) 1
14. Bringing it all Back Home (1965) 1
15. Oh Mercy (1989) 1
16. Greatest Hits v2 (1971) 1
17. Best Of v2 (2000) 1


* Album rank – by number of performances

1. Modern Times (2006) 47
2. Highway 61 Revisited (1965) 22
3. "Love and Theft" (2001) 16
4. John Wesley Harding (1968) 12
5. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) 11
6. Bringing it all Back Home (1965) 10
7. Blonde on Blonde (1966) 8
8. Under the Red Sky (1990) 8
9. Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964) 6
10. Blood on the Tracks (1974) 5
11. Nashville Skyline (1969) 3
12. Basement Tapes (1975) 2
13. Time out of Mind (1997) 2
14. The Times They Are A’Changin’ (1964) 1
15. Oh Mercy (1989) 1
16. Greatest Hits v2 (1971) 1
17. Best Of v2 (2000) 1


* Albums contributing no selections in first 10 shows

Bob Dylan (1962)
Self Portrait (1970)
New Morning (1970)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Dylan (1973)
Planet Waves (1974)
Desire (1975)
Street-Legal (1978)
Slow Train Coming (1979)
Saved (1980)
Shot of Love (1981)
Infidels (1983)
Empire Burlesque (1985)
Knocked out Loaded (1986)
Down in the Groove (1988)
Good as I Been to You (1992)
World gone Wrong (1993)


Gerry Smith

New jazz radio station – theJazz – launching later this morning

New jazz radio station theJazz starts the second phase of its launch today at 0900 BST, when Helen Mayhew launches a countdown of theJazz 500, compiled from votes cast over the past three month on www.thejazz.com

From 0600 on Tuesday 10 April, the normal programme schedule kicks in. Presenters include Mike Chadwick, David Jensen, Jamie Cullum, Ramsey Lewis, Jacqui Dankworth, Digby Fairweather, Courtney Pine and Campbell Burnap. Hmmm…

Here’s hoping the new station – available online, on DAB Digital and via satellite TV and cable – finds an audience without having to resort to 24 hour jazzpap.

The main worry is that it’s run by the people who bring you Classic FM. Now I love classical music, but wouldn’t listen to Classic-Lite FM’s brand of soothing snippets to save my life. It just ain’t music for grown-ups.


www.thejazz.com



Gerry Smith

Ali Farka Toure: twin testaments to a great African musician

Little did we know when witnessing Ali Farka Toure’s great London concert in 2005 (review below) that he would soon be dead (obit below).

I’ve just caught up with his last two releases, In The Heart Of The Moon (with Touamani Diabete, as in the Barbican gig), and Savane. As expected, they’re both magnificent testaments to a very fine musician. Highly recommended.



Ali Farka Toure, leading African musician, RIP

Ali Farka Toure, who died of cancer today, will be long remembered as a great ambassador for African music. His death comes at a time of growing international recognition: a couple of weeks ago he won a Grammy for last year’s duet with Toumani Diabate, In The Heart Of The Moon. An earlier Grammy winner, 1994’s Talking Timbuktu, recorded with Ry Cooder, is the guitarist’s best-known album.

Toure made a rare London appearance last summer. Here’s how Music for Grown-Ups reviewed it:



Ali Farka Toure: still a major player

In his first London gig for over six years, Ali Farka Toure reminded a sold-out Barbican Hall last night that, despite his virtual retirement to rural Mali, he’s still a major player in roots music.

The rapturously received gig – the standing ovation seemed like the only appropriate response – was split into two halves. The opening set, with the support of a virtuoso five piece band, explored the popular end of the Toure spectrum. The two deep blues tunes from his strongest album, Talking Timbuktu, contrasted with earlier, less familiar, less accessible, but equally compelling work.

Throughout, Toure’s keening vocals and exquisite guitar vamps were complemented by some engaging duets with the ngoni player (Malian guitar-type, stringed instrument), and anchored in delicate beats from the magnificently polyrhythmic calabash and congos.

For most of the second half, Toure played the back-up role, setting the groove for some complex improv runs by “La prophete de la kora”, Toumani Diabate, before the band returned. The encore saw Toure switching to a tiny bowed instrument. He excelled on that, too.

World-class musicians at the top of their game. And the mesmerising show underlined some of the central tenets of the Music for Grown-Ups manifesto:

* music is music, wherever and whenever it comes from – Diabate’s kora could easily have been mistaken for a harpsichord playing Bach or Mozart; and Toure’s guitar picking could be used as a master class by any aspiring blue-eyed blues-rock axeman

* music, alone of the arts, has the power to explore the subtle richness of the human experience; capable of going well beyond mere entertainment, it can evoke the whole range of human emotions.

The evening’s sole jarring note was the main man’s insistence on addressing the crowd - many times, and at some length - in French. A small scattering of French speakers – presumably expats or Toure hardcore fans who’d trained in on Eurostar from Paris and Brussels - giggled and clapped on cue, but 95% of the audience listened blankly, slightly embarrassed. Someone needs to have a quiet word – contrary to appearances in West Africa, Whitey/M Leblanc doesn’t normally understand French, especially the accented non-Metropolitan variety. Addressing a London audience in Malian French is a waste of time; it threatened to spoil the flow of a masterful gig.

The divine duets performed by Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate are available on a highly praised new album, just released this week – In The Heart Of The Moon. Very highly recommended.



Ali Farka Toure, great musician, RIP.




Gerry Smith

Dylan in Europe – Copenhagen last night

Thanks to: Mary, Tomas, Christian, Suzanne, Jon, Gustav, Per, Brian, Karl, Sven.

Last night in Copenhagen Dylan broke the run of samey setlists, introducing five new songs to the tour, and raising the number of different songs on the tour to 31, after only five shows - as you’d expect from the man with the most prodigious high quality songbook in the history of music. Highlight: Visions Of Johanna. Lo-light: Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum.


* Setlist - latest show – Copenhagen, Monday 2 April:

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Man In The Long Black Coat
Watching The River Flow
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
When The Deal Goes Down
Highway 61 Revisited
Visions Of Johanna
Rollin' And Tumblin'
Desolation Row
Spirit On The Water
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Nettie Moore
Summer Days
Like A Rolling Stone
Thunder On The Mountain
All Along The Watchtower


* Tour debuts in latest show:

Desolation Row
Man In The Long Black Coat
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Visions Of Johanna


* All songs played on the tour so far:

All Along The Watchtower (5)
It's Alright, Ma (5)
Like A Rolling Stone (5)
Rollin' And Tumblin' (5)
Summer Days (5)
Thunder On The Mountain (5)

Highway 61 Revisited (4)
Nettie Moore (4)
Tangled Up In Blue (4)
Watching The River Flow (4)
When The Deal Goes Down (4)

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (3)
Cat's In The Well (3)
Spirit On The Water (3)

Country Pie (2)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (2)
Girl Of The North Country (2)
Honest With Me (2)

Desolation Row
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
It Ain't Me, Babe
Lay Lady Lay
Man In The Long Black Coat
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
Not Dark Yet
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Tears Of Rage
To Ramona
Things Have Changed
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Visions Of Johanna


* Different songs (5 shows): 31


* Itinerary:

April:
4 Hamburg
5 Münster
6 Brussels
8 Amsterdam
9 Amsterdam
11 Glasgow
12 Newcastle
14 Sheffield
15 London
16 London
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


* Gigs already played
March
27 Stockholm;
28 Stockholm;
30 Oslo
April:
1 Gothenburg
2 Copenhagen



Gerry Smith

The Doors – rock release of 2007

A very strong contender for rock release of 2007 has to be the 40th Anniversary compilation, The Very Best Of The Doors.

There are three versions: a single CD, in the supermarkets now; a better buy is the 2CD version; easily the best buy is the Limited Edition 2CD/DVD/book.

Both of the 2CD versions have virtually everything you need by the Doors:

Disc: 1
1. Break On Through
2. Strange Days
3. Alabama Song
4. Love Me Two Times
5. Light My Fire
6. Spanish Caravan
7. Crystal Ship
8. The Unknown Soldier
9. The End (full version)
10. People Are Strange
11. Back Door Man
12. Moonlight Drive
13. End Of The Night
14. Five To One
15. When The Music's Over


Disc: 2
1. Bird Of Prey
2. Love Her Madly
3. Riders On The Storm
4. Orange County Suite
5. Runnin' Blue
6. Hello I Love You
7. The W.A.S.P. (Texas Radio & The Big Beat)
8. Stoned Immaculate
9. Soul Kitchen
10. Peace Frog
11. L.A. Woman
12. Waiting For The Sun
13. Touch Me
14. The Changeling
15. Wishful, Sinful
16. Love Street
17. The Ghost Song
18. Whiskey, Mystics And Men
19. Roadhouse Blues

The packaging of The Very Best Of The Doors, with a naked torso shot of Mr Mojo Rising pointing at the camera, is stunning. If, like me, you already own all the audio tracks, the Limited Edition is worth buying for the booklet, DVD and the packaging alone. It’s available online for about £16, delivered. Bargain!



Gerry Smith