The End

As a budding writer I am always in two minds about making a final story... I don't mean as in hanging up my pencil and paper (or keyboard if you prefer) but in writing final pieces. To create a final, final story often back fires a little: Conan Doyle wrote The Final Problem to be …

Cul-de-Sac

"Are you sure he went this way?" asked Inspector Parton exasperated. It certainly looked like a dead end to him. "Positive," answered Liz scanning the alleyway. "I distinctly remember those two barrels at the end of the ally." Parton crossed  over to the barrels and gave them an experimental push. Whatever they contained, they were full and couldn't have …

The Sound of Blackmail

in 2929 the great British film Director Alfred Hitchcock began work on a film called Blackmail which was originally commissioned as a silent movie and late in the day the studio decided to add sound to the final reel and as such made it the first British 'Talkie'.  Hitchcock was yet to earn his title …

We’ve got our Shine on

,Three songs spring to mind when I hear the word Shine.   The first is that old favourite "Shine on Harvest Moon" which has been covered many times but I would say this is my favourite version. This is from the Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster album and is a fantastic pairing of two Tenor …

Frankie Says….

A Time Relax and Reflect in Quiet Contemplation Well that is usually the plan for this time of year but as with many of you that seldom seems to go to plan. On the Christmas Front I have done all my Christmas Shopping and posted off those which need to be delivered via the Royal …

Daily Prompt: Fishing

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to catch his own fish and he'll sit in a boat drinking beer all day." No idea, probably Jay Leno or some such. My first thought upon reading this prompt was of childhood memories of fishing trips with my Dad on which I …

Myth Makers

"Woe to Troy! Woe to Troy!" "Shut up Cassandra it is too late to say whoa to the horse, I've just been given orders to have it bought into the city." Ok so I may not have stuck rigidly to the original text in regards to Virgil's Aeneid and the ranksack of Troy by the …

Smoke Free Zone

Smoke This is perhaps one of the most used and iconic photographs in Jazz, it is of Tenor Sax player Dexter Gordon and has been used as the cover for countless compilation albums of the artist and has even been on a T-Shirt (of which I am the proud owner of). What strikes me here …

The Wisdom of Auron

"A man who trusts can never be betrayed only mistaken." -Cally, Blake's 7 These  words are spoken to the second and later first male lead of that series Kerr Avon played by Paul Darrow who delights in some outrageous scenery chewing in later episodes. Trust is clearly an issue for the character who is an …

Daily Prompt: Border

https://youtu.be/d_Emr0INpFE One of the  things which I have noticed about the Jazz world is that musicians, critics and fans like to put up borders on the music. You tend to get people who like a particular style and tend to put a border up between other genres. Good old Humphrey Lyttelton has audiences screaming  "get …