Well, great in this case is a little bit of a stretch. Let's settle for pretty damn good. Johnny Almond was no Tubby Hayes, but he was no slouch, either. Plus, he could play a bunch of other stuff, keys, flute, vibes, whatever. The first JAMM album, Patent Pending, was bought by many hippies in '69 tempted by jazz but knowing fuck all about it. Like me. It's a brilliantly entertaining album, too pop to be jazz, too jazz to be pop. There's few welcome psych touches, some Mexican samba stuff, a bit of free jazz (for which the listener pays, like always), some groovy funk, and a lot of it sounds like the soundtrack to a Swingin' London movie, which is no bad thing. Think black turtlenecks, dolly birds in miniskirts ... 
The followup in the following year was recorded in the US and A with an entirely different lineup, including Joe Pass. All the pop influences and experimentation are gone, but it's a fine straight jazz album, although does anybody need to hear (or play) Perdido again? I seem to remember Ralph Gleason writing some snootily patronising sleeve notes along the lines of "can't cut it with the big boys, maybe next time", but as he could only play a Remington portable he can shut his yap, right? Again, a nice illustration on the cover, very Pop Art. You'll dig it.
Almond moved on to John Mayall for The Turning Point album, and thence [grammar - Ed.] to Mark-Almond. Interesting guy, shame there aren't more like him.
Brag about some art gallery or museum you saw a life-changing exhibition at. Make something up if you've never been to either.
ReplyDeletePiece of art. Imagine a guy with a welding mask (everybody in the audience wore them, for protection). The guy wears fire proof gloves and holds two bars in his hands, with wires attached. As soon as he let the bars touch each other, a current, produced by ten truck batteries produces the brightest of light, and heat (hence the welding masks, and his gloves) Meanwhile I play on my Roland Juno some music in the basement that cannot be heard down there, but only through the light. Amazing show
ReplyDeletePeace Museum in Guernica. Sadly does not have the original Guernica painting, but still extremely moving (its in the Prado in Madrid). There's a 20 min video where they interviewed survivors of the attack (videos taken about 20 years ago) with footage from the attacks. Mans inhumanity to man cuts deep when it hits you in the face.
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