IN PRAISE OF GEORGE + bits and pieces

Harrison wrote Here Comes The Sun for The Beatles’ famous album Abbey Road. The actual writing for the track happened while Harrison was visiting his friend and fellow musician, Eric Clapton, at his country house. The song turned out to be irresistibly upbeat, and on a broader scale, it offered hope for a new future after the trials of the ’60s counterculture movement.

LET´S ROLE-PLAY + bits and pieces

One should consider that our storytelling powers need to extend beyond the song. Artists, in particular, need to think about the ways they tell their stories onstage. Banter before or after the performance of a song should enhance an audience’s understanding of the art. This banter can hook new fans and make old fans feel like they are getting a heightened experience. This is why I often advise artists to write a loose script to follow throughout their set. Practice this script in the mirror. A bit of preparation will, ironically, make you seem like a great off-the-cuff storyteller off the cuff. 
,

VOICE TO THE BLACKBIRD + bits and pieces

I have mentioned Lennon´s social commentary and xxx reminded us of Lennon´s far more obvious protest call for a Revolution, which I felt at the time was a Dylanesque call for Mankind to rewind to the beginning and to start again. I suppose tht at the time, as nowt but a child, I had vague notions that Paul´s song was a summoning of the spirit, but I interpreted everything on those days as proclamations of love. I took the song as being about a girl who had left her lover, and that lover´s realisation that she had wanted 7 needed her freedom.

FOLK ARE TALKING ! of Manchester Folk Festival and new music charts

The full Manchester Folk Festival line up has already been announced and reproduced on these pages and English Expo Folk are very excited and proud to be delivering the impressive gathering of  folk, roots and acoustic music from the  English folk scene to the EFEx showcase delegates and the good people of the general public of Manchester and beyond, who will be travelling in for the Festival.

a capital A for Art in August 2022 at the Adsubian Gallery and Lanzarote Art Gallery

two of the finest galleries in this part of the world are putting on A-class exhibitions to mark the month of August.

digging it ROUND when its supposed to be SQUARE

he found himself appearing in a succession of small parts., that he called "two lines and a smile," They were, though, more than enough to give him a taste for the bright lights.

IMMORTALITY IN LIMINALITY for Jazz Masters

The NEA Jazz Master fellowship carries with it a $25,000 cash award, as well as a tribute concert that for these artists took place on March 31, 2022 at SFJAZZ in San Francisco.

JAZZ IN AUGUST 2022

A lady who has appeared on both Steve´s Hot Biscuits radio output and on these pages over the last twelve months or so is jazz singer Beverley Bierne (left) .  As we noted in our feature, The Fifty Best Of on Friday 29th July.  Beverley began a residency last week at The Ticket Office in Ilkely and took to Facebook to tell us all of what an exciting night it was
,

THE FIFTY BEST OF JAZZ before the fifty best of jazz

The Dead Sea Scroll of jazz piano. (Literally a scroll; a generation of pianists learned the song from its player-piano roll.) Johnson’s performance of his self-composed rag codified the Harlem “stride” flavor of syncopation, ornamentation, and improvisation. It inspired Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, and Jaki Byard; in the likes of Jason Moran and Christian Sands, its spirit lives on today

JAZZ TURN-OVER 2022

And for us in the audience, those mechanical skills make us more comfortable during their most daring escapades. Because we know that every note choice is intentional and accurate, we can trust that the artistic logic will reveal itself. And when it does—even far beyond the boundary of the familiar and expected—that can be thrilling.