Bilbo

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1388001434' post='2317830'] That's very interesting Bilbo. Was it when Malcolm Cecil was a member of 'The Jazz Five' that he toured with Miles? [/quote] Yes (p. 229)

I saw him just before he died, Brecon with Jackson and Gadd. It was funny because the hall was full of drummers and Gadd did literally one 12-bar solo break in the whole gig . Lovely night's listening.

Malcolm Cecil made a significant contribution to my book 'Mr. P. C. the life and music of Paul Chambers'. MC toured the UK in the quintet that supported the Miles Davis Quintet (Vic Ash, Brian Dee et al) and spent a lot of time with Chambers over that period, sharing a seat on the bus, soundchecking each other etc. Lovely guy. He gave me the quote I used to close the final chapter.

There are several ear-training apps which can be fun but the best way is playing along with stuff where you don't know the changes and trying to 'find' them by ear. I have done whole gigs that way with appalling results

Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington's version of Mack The Knife. Can't do a link but it is on Youtube.

No brainer for me: The Pat Metheny Group.

Couple of things Firstly, I just downloaded the Complete Blue Note recordings of Michel Petrucianni on Amazon for £5.99 - 55 tracks over 7 cds. Astonishing value and some great, great music.... (featured bass players include Gary Peacock, Eddie Gomez, Anthony Jackson) http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Complete-Blue-Note-Recordings/dp/B001KQMW7M/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&sr=1-1&keywords=michel+petrucciani ..... especially the 1986 live 'Power of Three' trio recording he did with the recently deceased guitarist Jim Hall and the fantastic Wayne Shorter. No bass but a wonderful recording of three master musicians in one of their finest moments (was it really that long ago??)

Can't listen to it here but do they mean A7#5 as opposed to Bb5? In all my years, I have never seen a chord listed as X5 so A#5 looks to me to be an incorrectly labelled A7#5 as opposed to an A# chord with a 5 (as major and minor chords all have a 5, it is ambiguous. Unless it is just a power chord root, five, octave? But even they tend to get labelled major or minor in terms of their implied status.

Lovely.

They all deserve each other.

I am no expert on this but do feel able to refute the suggestion that power and strength are what is needed here. I prefer to use the term 'grace' in that you need to get the muscles in your hands, which are already plenty strong enough to do the job, to work together efficiently to allow you to execute your ideas without tensing up and gripping too hard. One of the issues I have identified is the [i]psychological[/i] impact of playing on your hands. I can play for hours at home on my own without any difficulty but the minute I get to play with a band at higher volumes (without any reall attempt to soundchecks etc), I tense up and play harder, thereby wearing myself out quicker. This is not going to be improved by powerballs and weights but by learning to get the best out of my bass set-up, pick-up configuaration and amp/cab set-up, to learn to control my unconscious impulse to dig in in an effort to compete with the other musicians and to consider other issues such as speaker placement etc. Personally, I feel that the strength that you need to climb rocks is not the same as the muscular dezxterity and finese you need to play our chosen instrument. Good warm ups and a sensible approach to the differing demands of practice, rehearsal and live work work for me. I also advocate for proper rest, fluids, a working knowledge of Alexander techniques and an ergonomic keyboard (to allow you to rest your wrists)!!

[quote name='sam-davies' timestamp='1386678466' post='2302916'] Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio 2 Great jazz pianist collaborating with hip-hop/urban/rock/r'n'b artists. Definitely worth a listen. [/quote] I always find these fusions less then the sum of their parts. Each to their own, though

Deep Purple 'Made In Japan'

You could also think about exploring Juan Tizol/DUke Ellington's 'Caravan' and the work of Ahmad Jamal, a huge influence on Miles.

I don't think people are getting this at all. You can't have 86 greatest heavy rock albums each. You can only have one. My thread, my rules Sort yourselves out now!

Made in Japan was my first experience of Deep Purple and Heavy Rock in general and it was a revelation! Strangely, though, I never bought that LP!!

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1386864147' post='2305628'] I touched Rob's boot. Please psycho-analyse that [/quote] As long as you didn't lick it......

Maiden are NWOBHM - I know because I was there..... http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/No_Quarter/10007

I'd forgotten it. Most of us around at the time now have earry on-set Alz.... what was I saying? I was fond of Judas Priest's 'Unleashed in the East' ('Green Manalishi'!!)

Machine Head!! Another forgotten gem!! And 'Burn' (the title track is jaw-droppingly good)

Rainbow Rising. Just spotified it and had forgotten how good it is. Marvellous stuff!

There are examples on line of pianists playing trumpets etc, bassists playing three basses (Michael Manring). Plenty of party tricks to go 'round.

What you are describing is a very common experience and, arguably, never goes away. I have done a series of gigs over the last six montns with some top drawer players; John Etheridege, Jim Mullen, Julian Siegel, Tony Kofi etc etc. I recorded most of the gigs on my Zoom H1 and have had the opportunity to listen back to most of them and what is interesting is the fact that, whilst recognising a personal style (something that all jazz musicians aspire to), a lot of that comes from repetition of phrases and lines driven by muscle memory rather than the creative process. On the few occasions when it comes together, it is usually because I am mentally in a space when I can be focussed on the music itself rather than the 'occasion' and can both remember everything I have ever learned and forget it all at the same time. It is a zen-like thing. YOu practice to internalise stuff not to 'learn' it and, eventually, if you are lucky, it comes out in your playing. FOr me, it happens at most once or twice a gig and, ig I am lucky, I have one or two gigs a year where I can do no wrong. I was once thrilled to learn that Dizzy Gillespie felt that his 'hit rate' was about the same!! THe subject is covered comprehensively in Barry Green's 'Inner Game of Music' (£6 for kindle or, on Amazon Marketplace, for the hard copy) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inner-Game-Music-Timothy-Gallwey/dp/0330300172/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386839049&sr=1-1&keywords=barry+green+the+inner+game+of+music

Nearly the Flutterby Bitterfly line-up. Monster players, great compositions. What more can anyone ask for?

Have done a lot of travelling by train this week and have consequently done a lot of listening. I sooo love this music, it's untrue. I did a piano trio gig recently which was recorded and it had some of my best playing on it ( hidden amongst the train wrecks ). Nice to know you are still improving at 50! Elitist my hairy a***, some Jazz is just beautiful. A sample of that gig (better tunes are available and may appear later when I have the time to upload more) [url="https://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/caravan"]https://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/caravan[/url]