Jason Lyon Music

Category: e) Rants & Ramblings

  • Interview with JazzBites radio

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    Interview with Anthea Redmond for the US JazzBites radio show. The thoughts of Chairman Jase… Broadcast in August but my archive link is here.

  • The Gig Went Down Brilliantly

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    For all that the internet is full of crap (here too), sometimes you’re reminded what it’s really for. Soak this up folks. There’s so much that could be said about this and so much to learn from it, but ultimately for me the big takeaway is the urge to entertain – Victor Borge must have…

  • Que Sabroso!

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    Apologies for absence, music pals. Real life has been coming first for quite a while. I recently had some big band arrangements performed in Oakland CA – couldn’t be there but I’m told all went well. It got me to thinking about some posts I’ve been meaning to write for a while about the practical…

  • The Bill for Rehearsal Time

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHcAuOVdxpY&t=756s Thanks to Jazz Video Guy on YT for finding this rare documentary footage of Bill Evans preparing for a TV taping in Denmark. There’s a lot to take away, but I’ll just zero in one aspect – this is a textbook example of how to rehearse. See here for my personal thoughts on this. Of…

  • No Country for Old Atonal Men…

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    Couldn’t resist this one (I’m actually quite partial to a bit of twangy twangy). A nice lesson too for us jazzers – musicians may be complicated, but music doesn’t have to be…

  • Negative Harmony, Gulp

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    or I’m talking to the man in the mirror I suppose it had to happen… Thank you TH (aka “confused of Bristol”) for asking about the en vogue topic of negative harmony. I completely understand your confusion. Ah, I do love these opportunities to give my opinion and get myself digitally shouted at… A disclaimer…

  • The Cat Crept into the Crypt…

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    A charming story related to me recently by Russell Occomore, one of the directors of Jazz at the Crypt. The venue is underneath a splendid mid-19th century Gothic church in Camberwell, South London. They approached the place to propose a use for the crypt some years ago. This is a smaller space dating to the…

  • Auf Wiedersehen Pet

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    A very dear friend, and amazing musician, Roberto Manzin is departing soon for Berlin. Bruder, du muβt jetzt biβchen Deutsch lernen… So we’re giving him a big send-off gig. He’ll be playing with the Jason Lyon Trio on Sunday 9 December 1pm-5pm at Oliver’s Jazz Bar, 9 Nevada Street, Greenwich SE11 9JL. Roberto has a…

  • The Set Menu

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    Here is an episode of a ’60s BBC TV series called Jazz 625 (yeah, our TVs had 625 scan lines at the time and the Beeboid techies came up with that really imaginative name). It’s Bill Evans with his second trio visiting London. Look at 0:16 – the tune is Nardis, and watch bassist Chuck…

  • The Jaws of a Dilemma

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    I was involved in a discussion over on one of the REAPER forums recently with someone who seems to have been hung up on the production intricacies of one song for months. It’s probably my journalist background – the deadline’s the deadline. I was often reminded during my newsroom days (and nights) of the scene…