M U S I C  &  C U L T U R E  O F 20th C E N T U R Y

The music of 20th century culture was Jazz and Blues. Rooted in Africa, perhaps especially Cameroon, and transported by slavery to the New World.

My personal faves: Basie, Bessie Smith, Bird, Coltrane, Lester Young & wife Billie Holiday, Miles, Mingus, Monk, Roach, Rollins… BB King, Big Mama Thornton, Nina Simone and the great Buddy Guy. I can listen day and night to Yusef Lateef’s flute.
This musical genius equals Bach, Beethoven, Mozart. Just listen to Bach and Monk which bridges and unites centuries.

Brit Rock of the 50s/60s could not have existed without these giants. Clapton, Beck, Keith Richards . . . listen and learn every mother loving day.

If I were forced to choose one only musician to take to my desert isle I would hesitate between ‘Trane and Duke for their sheer genius.

Finally I would choose Duke who I had the privilege of meeting, when I was 18, at a full rehearsal in Coventry Cathedral, my country’s symbol of « no more war. » But I would smuggle in the entire oeuvre of John Coltrane, ‘cos every time I hear it, it’s like for the first time around.

J A Z Z   L I V E S – L I S T E N  I N. https://youtu.be/PYgow060zOg