Pocket Book Cover Art : Elisabeth Sanxay Holding - The Death Wish

Sonny Rollins Interview

France Musique dedicated a 10 part series on Mr. Rollins recently.

Of course, it wouldn't be for France the interview is overdubbed.

Alex Dutilh, the interviewer, put the whole interview whoever in it's original version on Soundcloud here.

Enjoy !

Film Poster : Raoul Walsh - Sea Devils [1953]

Herb Geller R.I.P.

2013 is a tough year for jazzfans.

Now Herb Geller left us on tuesday December 17th.

More info can be read here.

Marc Meyers conducted an interview with Mr. Geller in 2010 and it can still be read here.

Thanks and R.I.P. Mr. Geller!

Horace Silver no longer R.I.P.

Various reports on social media announce that Horace Silver passed away during the weekend.

Some more info can be found here.

But what really matter is of course

Edit :

Jazzwise in the mean time posted the following message on their website :

"Tuesday, 17 December 2013 18:28
Jazzwise apologises for passing on widespread reports on jazz websites, social media and jazz radio and initial checks ourselves made earlier today, that Horace Silver had died. Jazzwise apologises unreservedly to Horace Silver, his family, freinds and fans and for any distess this may have caused. Peace. Mike Flynn"

All the better!!

Film Poster Art : Harmon Jones - Princess of the Nile [1954]

Pocket Book Cover Art : William Irish - Deadly Night Call (Somebody On The Phone)

Jim Hall R.I.P.

Jim Hall passed away this morning at the age of 83.



More than than one webiste, blog reports the sad news of his passing : Ottawa Citizen, LondonJazznews,

R.I.P. Mr. Hall.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk

May Cobb wrote an article on 'The inflated Tear'  which was published and is online available at The Rumpus.

Enjoy the article!

Film Poster Art : Goffredo Alessandrini - Giarabub [1942]

Film Poster Art : Georges Lacombe - La Lumière d'En Face [1955]

Pocket Book Cover Art : Bowie Morton - Water Witch

Chico Hamilton R.I.P.

Chico Hamilton passed away on monday November 24th. He was 92.

The N.Y.T. and the L.A. Times published their obituaries already.

Read also the article on the Ottawa Citizen blog with some links to nice videos.

R.I.P. Mr. Hamilton.

Ricky Wellman R.I.P.

Ricky Wellman, Miles' last drummer, passed away on November 24th.

One can find him on recordings with Chuck Brown (the famous Bustin' Loose), Miles Davis, Santana, Kenny Garrett, Bob Belden, Michel Legrand and others. He was in his mid-50s.

Mr. Wellman was apparently ill following this newspapar article.

An interview by George Cole is available here.

Film Poster : Francesco De Robertis : UOMINI SUL FONDO aka S.O.S. SUBMARINE aka S.O.S. 103 [1941]

Tutu

 

 

Tomorrow tuesday November 26th. France Musique will broadcast a 1,5h during radio program dedicated to Tutu... Starts at 11h00 Paris time...

http://www.francemusique.fr/emission/le-matin-des-musiciens-du-mardi/2013-2014/tutu-de-miles-davis-avec-vincent-cotro-11-26-2013-00-00

A live stream or a podcast is available, i'll record the fm signal as well.

Enjoy!

Thelonious Monk : Paris 1969

A new recording of Thelonious Monk will be issued on cd & DVD shortly. It consists of a quartet recording in 1969 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. A solo recording at the ORTF studio was already issued as a Jazz Icons DVD.

NPR has all relevant info and one can listen to onlinestreaming of all tracks and watch a short video extract as well here.

Enjoy!!

Pocket Book Cover Art : Ed Lacy - Sin In Their Blood

Bill Evans : Composer of the Week

BBC Radio 3 had a week long series on Bill Evans.

The episode titles are as follows.

1. Bill Evans works with Miles Davis
2. Bill Evans records with Cannonball
3. Bill Evans chased by loansharks
4. Bill Evans and Helen Keane
4. Bill Evans leaves the stage

It's still available for online listening here.

Enjoy!

Pocket Book Cover Art : J.J. Marric - 7 Days to Death

Film Poster : Ramon Torrado - Relevo Para un Pistolero [1964]

Pocket Book Cover Art : Robert Standish - The Big One Got Away

Charlie "Bird" Parker

 Stanley Crouch wrote a book about Charlie "Bird" Parker.

A long review is available on the NYRB website here.

Enjoy!!

Art Pepper : Paul Masson Winery, September 6th, 1976

Laurie Pepper released an 8th album from her unreleased live recordings of the late Art Pepper.

It consists of a recording in September 1976 at Paul Massons' Winery.

The album seems to be available only as a download here.

Enjoy!

R.I.P. Lou Reed

News reached us that Lou Reed passed away today. He was 71 years old.

The Rolling Stone website launched the news here.

R.I.P. Lou Reed!!

Film Poster : Peter Collinson - A Man Called Noon [1973]

Pocket Book Cover Art : Roger Taylor - Snatch !

Battle Of The Nations 200th. Anniversary Day 4

To read what happened on Day 4 of the Battle Of The Nations one can go here and here.

This day marked also the heroic death of Marshal Poniatowski while attempting  a rearguard defense.

French attention to this anniversary is quasi nihil.

The French Post didn't issue any stamp at all, nor did it last year for the Russia Campaign.

The Czech post issued a special commemoration minisheet.

They also issued an FDC and souvenir card :

Czech and French Posts issued jointly a stamp in 2005 for the Anniversary of The Battle Of Austerlitz.

Czech Post issued then as well a minisheet :

Battle Of The Nations : 200th. Anniversary Day 3

The media, at least in Germany are paying attention to this anniversary, or at least one channel.

MDR has a special page dedicated to the action and a lot of background as well, audio, video included.

Their pages really deserve to be visited!!

For what happened on Day 3 one can check it out here and here.

Battle Of The Nations : 200 th. Anniversary Day 2

I once recorded a documentary from the RTBF years ago, but I don't find this anymore on my VHS tapes.

If someone might have this documentary he can always leave a message.

Meanwhile I found this documentary which was broadcasted by ARTE :

Enjoy!

In the mean time I discovered this special website dedicated to the Napoleonic era and what concerns day 2 of the Battle of the Nartions can be read here.

One can read some resume of what happened on day 2 of the battle here as well.

Battle Of The Nations : 200 th. Anniversary Day 1

From today TuneUp will commemorate as best as possible the Battle of the Nations which took place exactly 200 years ago.

In France the national press hasn't had lots of attention at this historic event.

This is quite normal since Napoleons legacy, although undeniable omnipresent even today, is covered by the dust of the past. Don't talk about it.

If one wants to read more about the Battle of the Nations, you can start here.

And there's always Wikipedia, although between the french and english version there are some differences as for example concerning the numbers of troops involved.

What happend today 200 years ago?

I invite you to read the very detailed accounts of the two different phases of that day.

First there's one very detailed account concerning the period between 8.00 AM and 13.00 PM available here.

Then there's a second detailed account of what happened between 13.00 PM and 21.00 PM available here.

These pages with the french Order of Battle and the Order of Battle of the coalition are not to be missed either.

More to come tomorrow!!