Wes Montgomery Live in '65 - The End of a Love Affair

[PMB]

It always annoys me how little jazz there is on TV. It would cost so little to have a weekly slot where they just let some guys play for 45 minutes and just film it. Or any other serious music, it could be a classical string quartet, or a blues group, folk music, anything. Instead we get rubbish which must cost a fortune to produce.

The only thing like this over here in recent years was the transatlantic folk sessions from a hotel in Scotland. That was great, with Jerry Douglas on dobro, Emmylou Harris, etc. Why they don't do more like this beats me.

What is sad is how little footage from this period comes from American sources. Nearly everything from the Jazz Icons boxed sets was taken from the archives of European TV stations. Much of what was recorded in the US, e.g. Bobby Troup's series Stars of Jazz from the late fifties with appearances by Howard Roberts and Billy Bean appears to be in large part lost or wiped or survives in pretty degraded quality. The few surviving clips of Wes from American TV are relatively sedate affairs from his last years playing the hits, California Nights and Windy.

[Philco]

It always annoys me how little jazz there is on TV. It would cost so little to have a weekly slot where they just let some guys play for 45 minutes and just film it. Or any other serious music, it could be a classical string quartet, or a blues group, folk music, anything. Instead we get rubbish which must cost a fortune to produce.

The only thing like this over here in recent years was the transatlantic folk sessions from a hotel in Scotland. That was great, with Jerry Douglas on dobro, Emmylou Harris, etc. Why they don't do more like this beats me.

Well I wouldn't complain too much........come and live in Australia where we have.....almost.......no music shows on TV. I say almost to cover myself but I can't actually think of one.
I just spent 5 months in your country and was amazed at how much music was all around me......well ok I was in Brighton which is a music town......but..

Every night I could watch a concert or a documentary or some old Top Of The Pos re run.....I watched Glastenbury......a special on the Kinks....the Beach Boys...Late Night With Jules Holland.....and I could go on.
Ok not much jazz but bloody hell you guys love music and have it as part of your culture.
It was truly an eye opener.

Your country seems to embrace diversity.......I mean it's ok to like pop. You HAVE a pop industry. Different styles can live side by side without the need to destroy each other.

Sorry for the rant. I'm finding it hard to come back to OZ and settle.

[grahambop]

What is sad is how little footage from this period comes from American sources. Nearly everything from the Jazz Icons boxed sets was taken from the archives of European TV stations. Much of what was recorded in the US, e.g. Bobby Troup's series Stars of Jazz from the late fifties with appearances by Howard Roberts and Billy Bean appears to be in large part lost or wiped or survives in pretty degraded quality. The few surviving clips of Wes from American TV are relatively sedate affairs from his last years playing the hits, California Nights and Windy.

I think that is because a lot of the European stations were at least partly state-funded. So there was more of a culture of promoting the arts and so on.

[grahambop]

Well I wouldn't complain too much........come and live in Australia where we have.....almost.......no music shows on TV. I say almost to cover myself but I can't actually think of one.
I just spent 5 months in your country and was amazed at how much music was all around me......well ok I was in Brighton which is a music town......but..

Every night I could watch a concert or a documentary or some old Top Of The Pos re run.....I watched Glastenbury......a special on the Kinks....the Beach Boys...Late Night With Jules Holland.....and I could go on.
Ok not much jazz but bloody hell you guys love music and have it as part of your culture.
It was truly an eye opener.

Your country seems to embrace diversity.......I mean it's ok to like pop. You HAVE a pop industry. Different styles can live side by side without the need to destroy each other.

Sorry for the rant. I'm finding it hard to come back to OZ and settle.

Agreed, but it's nearly all pop. Even classical music hardly gets a showing on the BBC these days. When I was a teenager there was an orchestral concert every week on BBC2. And I remember seeing the Oscar Peterson show every week. They would never do something like that now. Jools Holland is ok, but it's still mainly pop.

[Philco]

Agreed, but it's nearly all pop. Even classical music hardly gets a showing on the BBC these days. When I was a teenager there was an orchestral concert every week on BBC2. And I remember seeing the Oscar Peterson show every week. They would never do something like that now. Jools Holland is ok, but it's still mainly pop.

Yeah I see what you mean. But at least having a vibrant pop industry could fund some other less main stream things.

A little sideways of the OP but seeing as I've gone down this track........the time I spent in Brighton I actually went to a Jazz gig. Great guitar player at the local pub (The Bee's Mouth) and band. At the studio where I was working there was another Jazz head and he would attend jam sessions and open mike nights at least 2 or 3 times a week. In fact it was possible to see a jazz combo every night of the week in that town if you wanted to.

I think that's just brilliant.

[PMB]

Whereabouts in Australia are you, Philco?

[grahambop]

Yeah I see what you mean. But at least having a vibrant pop industry could fund some other less main stream things.

A little sideways of the OP but seeing as I've gone down this track........the time I spent in Brighton I actually went to a Jazz gig. Great guitar player at the local pub (The Bee's Mouth) and band. At the studio where I was working there was another Jazz head and he would attend jam sessions and open mike nights at least 2 or 3 times a week. In fact it was possible to see a jazz combo every night of the week in that town if you wanted to.

I think that's just brilliant.

Yes Brighton's got lots of jazz activity, I've been to a few gigs there.

[Philco]

Whereabouts in Australia are you, Philco?

Melbourne.

[PMB]

I've always thought that Melbourne had a healthier scene than here in Sydney. Maybe it's a case of the grass always being greener...

[destinytot]

Melbourne.

My niece has just moved there.

[Philco]

I've always thought that Melbourne had a healthier scene than here in Sydney. Maybe it's a case of the grass always being greener...

Yeah there's always a bit of that when you visit another town.
But the Jazz scene is only a small part of my reaction to living in another country.
Just made me realise how small and cut off from a lot of the action we are.
I can see why so many pursue music careers OS.
Our population is so small.
Anyway that's a whole other subject.

[Philco]

My niece has just moved there.

Cool! I hope she settles in comfortably, although she is being subjected to one of our coldest winters on record.

On the other hand I just returned from a couple of weeks in your country where it was 35 to 38C every day!

Melbourne is a wonderful city.

[Greentone]

My daughter and son-in-law just moved to Melbourne. Small world.