2-5-1

in this episode we discuss the winners of the jazz categories of the grammy awards 2026

1. Large ensemble-christian McBride
2. Best Jazz Vocal Album-Portriat Samara Joy
3. Best Jazz instrumental album -Soouthern Nights Sullivan Fortner
4. Best Alternative Jazz Album-LIVE-ACTION-Nate Smith
5. Best Latin Jazz -A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Yainer Horta & Joey Calveiro
6. best Live album Windows – Live – Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade

Simon's Apple Music Playlist Here

In this episode we discuss the writer and dramatist Alan Plater and his connection to jazz.

We are starting a new strand to the ever expanding tapestry of 2-5-1 : Tunes we love and why. The first of these is on the song Softly as in a Morning Sunrise by Sigmund Romberg a 32 bar  AABA format tune, often in C minor, that has become a favourite amongst musicians.

Here is an Apple Music play list which is only the tip of the iceberg [or should that be Romburg?]

Nick leads the discussion on the TV jazz show Jazz Casual. Most episodes are available on YouTube 

Wikipedia describes it thus

"Jazz Casual was an occasional series on jazz music on National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The show was produced by Richard Moore and KQED of San Francisco, California. Episodes ran for 30 minutes. It ran from 1961 to 1968 and was hosted by jazz critic Ralph Gleason. The series had a pilot program in 1960. That episode, however, has been destroyed. 31 episodes were broadcast; 28 episodes survive. Most episodes included short interviews with the group leaders"

What is Mainstream Jazz? Is the term still relevant? Who coined the phrase?

find out in this episode

In this episode we delve into the dark world of jazz and the detective. 

Jazz has become associated with the gumshoe detective e.g. Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe and the whole world of film noir including seedy nightclubs and femme fatales.  We decided to investigate further "so I drew my Smith and Wesson 9mm and Nick was soon singing like a canary"

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Often Nick and Simon run out of time so occasionally we will record a special episode. We felt that the previous episode was far too brief and so in true jazz musician tradition we improvised an extended episode.  Because of that here is the full correct quote from Raymond Chandlers essay " the simple art of Murder"

“down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world"

This is a " two blokes talking about"  format so if there are some errors please forgive us. Please let us know if this sort of extended episode is something you like and would like more of via our website 

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In this episode we delve into the dark world of jazz and the detective. 

jazz has become associated with the gumshoe the likes of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe and the film Noir femme fatale.  " so I drew my smith and Wesson 9mm and Nick was soon sining like a canary"

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This is our Instagram
This is our Facebook group

We have done Christmas specials before which are about Christmas jazz albums or specific Christmas jazz songs. This year we are offering suggestions for gifts for jazz lovers including among other things "the smell of jazz"

Amazon UK List Here

Previous Christmas episodes

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