2-5-1

Sven Klang’s Kvintet

2-5-1- field trip notes

We went to the Barbican during the London Jazz Festival  in November 2023 and watched a screening of this film. There was an introductory talk and the Black and white movie was projected on a good sized screen.  In brief the plot is a function band lead by Sven Klang is joined by a really good Sax Player and his addition causes big changes in the band. It is about the human interactions within the group and both of us were very impressed with the way the live playing is captured 

" Sven Klang's Combo (Swedish: Sven Klangs kvintett) is a 1976 Swedish musical drama film directed by Stellan Olsson. The film was based on a 1974 play by Musikteatergruppen Oktober, and was shot in Ängelholm and Höganäs. At the 13th Guldbagge Awards it won the Special Achievement award. In 2012 it was voted one of the 25 best Swedish films of all time"

from wikipedia

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Didn't you used to be Tom Scott?

In this episode we talk about  the relationship of fame/commercial success and Jazz. During May 2024 several Jazz musicians have died

 David Sanborn, Bill Holman and Palle Danielsson.  We start from the newsworthyness of these deaths. We chose the title “ Didn’t you used to be Tom Scott” based on a shared reminiscence of a comedian saying someone came up to them and Said “ Didn’t you used to be…” illustrating the point that “ if a tree falls in the forest…”  or if you have been in the public eye and are no longer in the public eye do you exist. How do Jazz musicians fit into this? Is it jazz if it’s popular.  

To be clear Ton Scott is [ at time of writing] very much alive.  he was very well known  in the 70’s and arguably less so today and seemed like the type of musician some might not know if he is still about. He actually has a brilliant podcast himself 

So Tom we hope we haven’t offended you 

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Bird [ the Movie] Clint Eastwood 
 
 Bird is a 1988 American biographical musical drama film about jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker, directed and produced by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Joel Oliansky. The film stars Forest Whitaker as Parker, and Diane Venora as Chan Parker. It is constructed as a montage of scenes from Parker's life, from his childhood in Kansas City, through to his early death at the age of 34.

The film moves back and forth through Parker's history, blending moments to find some truth to his life. Much of the film revolves around his only grounding relationships with wife Chan Parker (Venora), Bebop pioneer trumpet player and band leader Dizzy Gillespie (Wright), and his influence (both musically and into the world of heroin addiction) on trumpet player Red Rodney (Zelniker).

From Wikipedia

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Here is a bit more about Ray Smith of Rays Jazz Shop fame

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Rays Jazz Shop

Rays Jazz shop was originally Collets Jazz and Folk Records 

" The shop moved to Shaftesbury Ave in 1974 and the following year Ray came to an agreement with Chris Barber to store and sell a vast number of mint condition 78s which Chris had picked up from a warehouse in New Jersey. They were on the Savoy, DeeGee and Bop labels, still boxed in original packaging from the late 40s, by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Wardell Gray & others. The publicity raised the profile of the shop, television and radio publicity followed, and Peter Clayton interviewed Ray, with Matthew Wright, for a broadcast on the BBC World Service,

In 1983, Collets wanted to move the record shop but the jazz staff – Ray, Matthew and Bob Glass - had no interest in going. Ray decided that as it had been his life for nearly thirty years, he had most to lose and was more committed to it, so he bought the lease from Collets. 

They closed for a few days, pulled down a wall, repositioned the counter and reopened it as Ray's Jazz Shop, ready for trading. Ray's wife, Wendy, a professional illustrator, designed the cat logo for the shop. It quickly established itself and live music sessions were held there. It was a meeting place for musicians and legendary hipster Slim Gaillard became a regular. 

In 2002, spiralling costs and ill health forced him to give up the lease, but thanks to the endeavours of Paul Pace, the name lives on at Foyle’s in the Charing Cross Road and in the words of Georgie Fame’s song “Vinyl”.

In his final years he only occasionally moved out of his home area of Camden, but could be seen from time to time at gigs, usually accompanied by close friend and musician Paul Shearsmith. "

From Cargo Collective

Look out for the bonus episode coming soon

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But is it Jazz

We discuss another philosophical question and throw up a few questions for each other as to what we consider jazz This episode could have gone on for much longer! If you have any questions or thoughts about this topic please get in touch via our website.

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Can an AI Learn Jazz?

In this episode we discuss the above question. Neither of us are developers, but we both teach and so, in many ways the episode is more about what is required to learn jazz and whether Artificial Intelligence  could achieve this 

What do you think?

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What is comping? Who does it? What is it meant to achieve? We discuss this and more in this episode. Find a playlist on Apple Music that consists of multiple versions of the same tune with different comping styles here.

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ECM records have a place in jazz rivaled only by the classic American labels like Blue Note and Prestige.  There are clear comparisons with Blue Note,

1. A unique look
2. A particular sound
3. A roster of important musicians

You can see a Pinterest collection of ECM covers here. In this episode we discuss these and other points.

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A picture that is well known to those in jazz and beyond was taken on August 12th 1958 for Esquire magazine by Art Kane.We discuss it in this episode. The documentary is available here

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