JAZZ RECORD
RETAILERS
JAMES ASMAN'S
CORNER/
MOLE JAZZ
311 Grays Inn Road, London WC2X 8PX
Tel: 0171 278 8623
Fax: 0171 833 1029
The 'Summer Sale' is now a distant memory and the LP racks are
gradually returning to their former glory - i.e. filling up very
rapidly! Autumn looms and for anyone needing a good book to while away
the darker evenings - John Chilton's latest offering, Ride Red Ride -
the life of Henry 'Red' Allen, will surely fit the bill.
A veritable feast for the collectors of vintage jazz comes from David
French's FROG label. Ranging from essential items such as two volumes
each of McKinney's Cotton Pickers and King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators, a
Johnny Dodds which includes the Erskine Tate tracks and finally a
compilation of Chicago Hot Bands, including Elgar's Creole Orchestra and
Walter Barnes.
For the more 'Traditional' minded, there is a new recording by the
Keith Smith Band with Acker Bilk as special guest, a Terry Lightfoot and
a Mike Daniels - all from the ever reliable Lake label. So keep
swinging!
MAUREEN VERNON
MOLE JAZZ
311 Grays Inn Road, London WC2X 8PX
Tel: 0171 278 8623 Fax: 0171 833 1029
It seems that the Ronnie's organisation gets more like the Royal
Family all the time. Who else gets more than one birthday a year? Hot on
the heels of the JARS 20th anniversary, more congratulations are due on
the club's 40th birthday. Well done all, and here's to 40 more! Although
too young for Gerrard Street, I have spent many fantastic nights in the
current premises - and look forward to many more.
Kings Cross awaits the autumn in its usual quiet understated way.
Some of our summer visitors have already begun their journey back to
warmer climes, and some of the more brightly coloured local varieties
have begun to acquire their winter plumage. Still, the habitual cries of
'10 quid for a cup of tea' or 'Want business mister?', are always enough
to set the mind thinking ahead to the next cricket season.
Don't miss our boxed set extravaganza, and if you haven't done so
already, make sure you get your auction bids in on time!
Love you madly.
PETE FINCHAM
RAY'S JAZZ SHOP &
RAY`S BLUES & ROOTS
180 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8JS.
Tel: 0171 240 3969
Fax: 0171 240 7375
A customer, known to buy the occasional country record,
approached the counter with a CD of regional banjo styles. He listened
to it and decided to purchase it. At which point he whipped out a
magazine and pointing to the picture of a planet on the front, asserted,
'Banjos, banjos and astronomy. Those are my interests.'
Most conversations in the shop are more prosaic, often along the
lines of 'Why has nothing been reissued by 'x?', 'x' being any obscure
musician whose records never sold in the first place. However, in the
case of Davy Graham, the great guitarist, they have a point. Had a
point. Within a month, seven CDs have been issued, allowing the general
public to sample the eccentric genius of a sorely underrated and unknown
musician.
Davy's prodigious technique enabled him to essay any style;
classical, jazz, blues, his own. Tunes like Monk's Blue Monk, Bobby
Timmons' Moanin' and Mingus' Better Get It In Your Soul, sit alongside
blues standards Cocaine, Rock Me Baby and traditional songs. Davy was
also a traveller and picked up musical influences from North Africa,
Greece and the East, attested in songs like Maajun and The Fakir which
were in the vanguard of the movement towards eastern influences.
Davy's most famous song was Angi, written for the waitress in a
psychedelic Monmouth Street coffee shop. His interest was shared by a
young drummer living opposite who would later own a jazz shop a few
doors up the street, but that's a different story…
Another London institution is celebrating its 40th Anniversary. That
young drummer, Ray Smith, along with Mike, Bob and Glyn would like to
offer their congratulations to all at Ronnie's. Keep it up, chaps.
MIKE GAVIN
TOWER RECORDS
1, Piccadilly, London W1R
8TR.
Tel: 0171 439 2500 Fax: 0171 937 5024
For a gentleman whose legendary mournful demeanour forbids him
from enjoying holidays, birthdays, Christmas, Easter and other
celebratory occasions, these must be difficult times for JARS' weary
editor, Jim Goldbog. To hear him on the phone extolling the joys and
wonders of the club's landmark anniversary, rather than the usual
lamentations over late copy and the recalcritance of modern technology,
was indeed a rare, though somewhat unsettling experience.
A bit like hearing Anne Widdecombe profess a sudden fondness for
Albert Ayler's Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe, while
offering to buy you a pint of crème de menthe. What else then but to
declare October as Ronnie Scott's 40th Anniversary Month at Tower? - A
bumper jazz promotion bringing together recordings by many of the
artists appearing throughout the festivities, the special anniversary
tribute album, Some Of My Best Friends... (Verve 5450362), plus numerous
titles recorded live at the club and classic gems from Ronnie himself.
http://www.topmag.co.uk/
JON NEWEY,
Tower Records TOP Magazine
`JARS` john.r@ronniescotts.co.uk
