LOOKING BACK AT BURT BACHARACH

Music can also follow sidetracks and detours and can integrate communities in any part of town: in the concert halls, the folk clubs, the country side, along the blues alleyways. Burt Bacharach songs can be heard in all of them, and many of them have enjoyed interpretations by musicians playing in the jazz joints of the UK.

CHEWING THE FAT WITH BUB

this is a book about listening closely to stories and songs, about leaving home in order to find home,
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BEFORE MUSIC

Discover how music is made in this survey of musical instruments from around the world. Organized by material--from wood to gourds to found objects and more--Before Music marries a lyrical core text with tons of informational material for curious readers.
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turning of the jazz MOON TO GOLD

It is far more certain that Moon To Gold is a jazz album. By Karla Harris and the Joe Alterman Trio (left), the album boasts beautiful Nat King Cole or Oscar Peterson sounding trills along the piano by Joe, strolling bass lines by Kevin Smith and exciting but always empathetic drums by Justin Chesarek. However, it also contains songs I consider to be real Americana and Karla delivers a lovely, sad and sultry performance of Blue Moon and her glorious version of Bridge Over Troubled Water, that great sixties folk song, or is it a blues, or a gospel or even a hymnal jazz song in disguise?

TALKING POETRY

Poetry is the echo of love, therefore, it seeks a language of peace, of tolerance. Behind the great poets there is an ethic that helps us to be above violence, war, discrimination or hatred. Poetry is a way of traveling through the territory of querencia, of recreating its hidden values of tolerance and dialogue, poetry, is what we sometimes think and do not dare to say because we can seem very naïve in a world of complex discourses, which shy away from simplicity.

THE LIGHT WE CARRY: overcoming in uncertain times

In these frequently dark times, The Light We Carry feels like a hug from a trusted advisor and a good friend. As Michelle Obama writes, “The practice I’ve had in finding and appreciating the light inside other people has become perhaps my most valuable tool for overcoming uncertainty and . . . keeping my hopefulness intact.”
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WE NEED OUR AUTHORS AND POETS

It is imperative that we support our authors and poets - many of whom are under direct or indirect threat from extremist states, groups, and individuals - a recent example being the assault on Salman Rushdie
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day 5 of our Sidetracks And Detours LS Lowry festival: SALFORD ARTIST DONE GOOD

"If people call me a Sunday painter, I'm a Sunday painter who paints every day of the week." LS Lowry

JOIN US IN JAZZ

musical journeys of unique rhythms and musical sounds

Boom Radio SIXTIES TURN SEVENTY (part two)

here we are again, faced with DJs being asked to truncate Radio 2's varied playlist to focus on more recent decades. Even Pick Of The Pops, a show fronted by my friend and veteran broadcaster Paul Gambaccini which looks back at music charts from bygone decades, last featured a hit from the Sixties back in September.