Leonard Smalls

"Stands the test of time" isn't necessarily an indication of "greatness". Nowadays, with umpteen radio stations playing golden oldies almost anything stands the test of time... There's yer Polka Dot Bikini, yer Grandma, Yer Obladi, Oblada, Shang-a-Lang and many many more! And bear in mind that Bach had been largely forgotten after his death; it took 100 years until 1820-odd for his music to be revived by Mendelsohn. I would personally argue that "great" is rather overused - it's generally applied to almost anything that's relatively popular. I think it should be reserved for music that's ground-breaking and influential as otherwise it's just another way of saying "I like it, and so does he/she". So, frinstance, Derek Bailey's experimental feedback music should be seen as great despite the fact that most people would absolutely hate it and call it noise. But that noise influenced Jimi Hendrix heavily...

Luckily our battery was charged enough that we could cook dinner during the session and still use no power. Whether there's a saving over previous use, and what they compare with, is another matter!

I'm afraid any such judgement is entirely subjective. And I'm the proof! I always hated Hotel California.... 😄

50s and 60s 2" then 1" computer tape was the basis for analogue video recording. Which has massively higher bandwidth than 8 audio tracks! Video bandwidth is around 5.5MHz. And back in the 90s, when I was involved in this sort of thing, computer processing power was not sufficiently fast for uncompressed full 625 lines digital TV, hence any recording had to be done via tape. Firstly using the component D1 system, which used 3 tapes to record (effectively) RG and B, then the composite D2 single cassette system (which we at the Beeb never used), then Panasonic's D3 (which we did - I used it a lot!). When I worked in our transfer suite my most exciting job was to record from a 2" 24 track tape (an Otari) and 35mm film bay onto 19 16mm magnetic tape machines, 6 Nagra T 1/4" machines, 4 D3s, a Sony Digibeta, 6 Fostex DATs and 20 VHSs. I could have recorded it in multiple passes, but this would have taken days (50 mins runtime) so I did it in one, using one of the record Nagras as timecode master (they had the best T/C). It took 3 hours to plug the various machines for audio, video and syncs but it was a joy to see when setting the master Nagra off all those other machines going in unison - each film/mag bay alone was 6 feet high and 18" wide!

I note the use of the pejorative "whiney" (not Whitney! 😁) in order to get a little dig in at our baggy cardigan wearing brethren... But on the first point, there's many factors at play; if something is pushed down your throat and all the media are equally gushing about it some folks are bound to push back a little. This may be out of sheer bloody-mindedness ("don't you tell me what to think!"), or it not being to one's taste, or perhaps seeing that it's all a bit Emperor's New Clothes. But "the idea that ... an artist is outstanding" is just that. It's an expression of taste - there is no absolute. After all, if the ultimate expression of quality was how popular something was we'd all only eat at Maccy-D's, we'd only watch "Strictly" and "I'm a Celebrity", and we'd only read Dan Brown... Bear in mind that many of the world's best musicians (if one counts skill level as best!) are completely dismissed here as unlistenable jazz nonsense!

My mother was a piano teacher, so we had a rather lovely Pfeiffer upright, which from about 3 years old I spent much time at, picking out thirds, and generally noodling. When I was four my mother began to teach me a few minuets and pieces. I could play them faultlessly with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, I was composing little pieces, which I played to my mother who wrote them down and published them as "Nannerl Notebuch" (she's German). When I was 6 I started a three year tour, playing to the crowned heads of Europe, and while on tour at age eight wrote my first symphony. Further tours followed, with numerous concertos, symphonies and operas. Then at the height of my child-prodigy fame I heard music the like of which I'd never heard before; it was sung by a strange limping man and it had this crazy syncopation, which I discovered came from something called "the bass guitar" - the song was called "Hit me with Your Rhythm stick". So I forgot all about all that piano nonsense, and journeyed into bass, discovering the likes of Parliament and Bootsy, Fatback, James Brown et al. By now I was shunned by the classical establishment, somehow my head was shaven on the sides and down the middle was a plume of black hair. I spent my time plucking away on a very battered acoustic guitar with the 2 high strings missing, yearning for the day that I could properly take part in The Joy of Bass. Then one day as I took my evening constitutional on the mean streets of Hyde Park, Leeds I heard music. Music with a strong beat, and there was phat bass! I ventured into the house, and there was a party going on where all manner of people cavorted in various stages of ecstasy. As I wandered deeper, into the basement, there were some youths playing guitar, drums, keyboards and there was a bass. On its own. With no-one playing it. So I plucked up courage and strapped on the bass. Somebody handed me a strange and rather large cigarette, and soon we were a band. A month or so later Dredd and the Badass Weeds did their first gig. Followed by quite a few more - most of them quite chaotic, some of them lasting for many hours. And after 40 years, we've finally (almost) produced our first mini LP.

In a similar vein, Michael Manring 😅 It takes some skill to make it so wrong!

I was always a fan of their early jazz-funk stuff, just not so much their poppier bits'n'bobs. But here's one of his solos 😁

Not sure it is! Or isn't! Either way, I like it because it's intensely visceral. It's unflinching, there's no sugar coating, it has cojones, despite the fact that there's no vocal melody, there's only 5 notes altogether... And the beauty is, no-one has to like it - as has been said one man's great is another's grate. Still, yer tis!

In my book, yes! I find most "great" songs to be either massive cheese-fests, musically uninteresting or just generally lacking. Frinstance, to me, oversung ballads such as "I will always love you" are just that little bit fake - they would never seem as real in emotional terms as, say, Patti Smith's "Horses". And I see that in most popular music - anything real is toned down in order to not offend or, God forbid, challenge! But then I want it heavy and in my face; while Mark Knopfler plays guitar beautifully it's just that little bit too wet and straighforward for my tastes. I'd much rather hear James Blood Ulmer or Sonny Sharrock (RIP!) wringing the necks of their guitars. You wouldn't see Tim Nice-But-Dim miming in front of his mirror with a tennis racquet to that 😁

Both scenes are surprisingly conservative (small c!)... In order to fit in you've got to wear the appropriate uniform. There's a range within that, but at Rebellion, the bloke who gets the most looks is the Belgian geezer who always wears a full business suit and leaps about like a crazy. Full marks to him!

Beautifully played and recorded (as is all ECM jazz!), and a lovely bit of background dinner jazz. But, for me that's all it is. I couldn't lose myself in it because there just aren't enough surprises, or fireworks - it's a sort of a continuum of nice-ness but lacks the killer punch. If I'm going to listen to a piano jazz trio I'd go Jacques Loussier or The Bad Plus every time!

New Fads finally release their live at the Hacienda album... Featuring Dredd and the Badass Weeds singer Andy https://newfastautomaticdaffodils.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-hacienda

Careful now... That's Gateway Free Improv! It's a slippery slope - I started with the soft stuff like that and soon I was listening to Full Bailey, Brotzmann and Steve Lacey. Nowadays ordinary muzak sounds far too square, daddy-o!

Good stuff! I'm always entertained by a bit of free improv... Perfect for Getting Up To Get Down! I used to be in a sort of free improv band, However, we were a bit more groovy - basically the drummer and I (we'd been playing in another band together for years) would set off on some sort of funk groove, while the sax, trumpet, keys and guitar did crazy widdleshit all over it. It sounded like a busy version of Derek Bailey and Jamaaladeen Tacuma's "Mirakle". We weren't at all po-faced mind, unlike another free improv do I went to where the organising woman held up colours as moods for us to convey. I found it difficult not to snigger!

I can't listen to ol' JS Bach any more... Not since that darned Frenchie Jacques Loussier covered all of Johann's stuff in a far groovier way!

70s funkrock...

I got one set of the £12 ones, and two at £16. They arrived at the same time on Saturday in 3 envelopes (2 were from the same suppler bought at the same time!) Once I deciphered the Player's Circle codes (8s and Bs are identical!) all of them registered, so I suspect all were legit.

It's a 79 Wal Pro 1 (or 2?). Either way, you know you wants it... And it will have been touched by Mr Ian himself! Go on go on go on go on etc

You're lucky, you could actually get a good one rather than a thumpy old Fender with an ashtray on it!

I taught myself "bass" by playing along to Bootsy records on the bottom 4 strings of an acoustic guitar. Then about a month later went to a m8's party, there were some instruments and a few of us had a jam, which is how the band formed. We had our first gig after about a month at the Tartan Bar, Leeds Uni then a week later at The Warehouse in Leeds. Basically it was me playing a simple groove on a borrowed Gibson short scale - it belonged to Jez, who played a bit of guitar with us and later became the Utah Saints with our drummer, who with us didn't so much drum as jump about with a drum machine strapped to a guitar body tapping out rhythms. We had Jay Rayner (!) on keys, Chris Haskett on guitar (later went to join Henry Rollins!), Andy from Cassandra Complex on guitar with final guitar being John (later in the Snapdragons). Our singer was another Andy, who went on to be singer for the New Fast Automatic Daffodils. And it was chaos! Somehow we're still playing occasionally - and recording our first album (it's only taken 40 years) though with only the 2 Andys, John and KeithTheDrums. Though We've largely dropped "Dredd", "And" and "Badass" from our name calling ourselves simply, The Weeds.

We had a mosh pit! And despite that, no punch ups... The horror I have is that middle of the road do where they're trying to keep everyone happy meaning that most aren't. Or at least I wouldn't be, but then I hate most music that isn't an unlistenable racket!

Playing your average wedding fills me with horror! However, I remember our punkfunk band in the early 90s being booked to do a wedding - it was for someone very posh who our drummer knew. We'd just finished gigging with Gaye Bykers and were at the height of our rock'n'rollness; 2 of us turned up on our motorbikes, rest came in the van which we were all going to kip in at the venue. As soon as we'd turned up at the stately home somewhere in Surrey we were offered champagne, which we alternated with tequila shots that the guitarist had brought. I remember the look of horror from the older folks there as we launched into our set, which for some reason was at 3pm. We leapt about, swigging from champagne bottles, playing songs no-one would have known unless they knew us (we actually played well!), and as soon as we finished we jumped on the kiddies bouncy castle, spraying young 'uns with more champers. Then we lazed about smoking dope and started on the beer. But strangely, we weren't shunned, or beaten up, or arrested - folks came and joined in with our excesses and we were convinced to play our set again in the evening. After that, there was a rave DJ, which perhaps meant we hadn't just been booked by mistake. All in all it turned out to be a serious party - similar to many of the free festivals of the late 80s, just that someone posh who liked to party was getting married too! I suspect there aren't that many proper rock XS weddings though - it was like Fear and Loathing in Guildford!

Bit of blueseyjazzyfunk with Joe Bonamassa