Wails of the unexpected

Here are the details of last Friday's show. I slipped one in at the last minute - that's the Que Belo Castelo track - and I might have its position in the running order a bit wrong, so I apologise if that is the case. Things in the Voltarol household are finally beginning to slow down a bit so if all goes according to plan there will be a new posting here soon that isn't just a set list...

ADVENTURES IN THE DIN TRADE – programme 8.  Friday 24^th June.

THEME TUNE – Andei

1. GARY BURTON – Ravel Prelude: Le Tombeau De Couperin 3.14

2. CAETANO E GIL – Wait Until Tomorrow 3.25

3. NORMA WATERSON – Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth the Salt of my Tears 2.53

4. PAT METHENY & LYLE MAYS - Estupenda Graça 2.41

5. STEELY DAN – East St Louis Toodle-oo 2.45

6. BANDA MANTIQUEIRA – Airegin 5.56

7. DJAVAN – Sorri 3.19

8. WAYNE SHORTER (Weather Report) – Thanks for the memory 3.34

9. SERGIO MENDES – What is This? 4.44

10. MIKE MARSHALL – ‘Ravel’ 1.49

11. SIVUCA - Rhapsódia Gonzaguiana 9.21

12. COLIN HOGKINSON (Backdoor) – 32-20 Blues 2.26

13. BIX BEIDERBECKE – In a Mist 2.42

14. BOCA LIVRE – The First Circle 4.44

15. JIM MULLEN – Comin’ Through the Rye 5.26

16. NÁ OZZETTI – Carmen 3.30

17. BUDDY EMMONS & LENNY BREAU – On a Bach Bourée 6.29

18. GILBERTO GIL – Rebel Music 5.10

19. ROLAND PERRIN – California Here I Come 5.38

20. PAUO MOURA – Lady Be Good 6.50

21. QUE BEO CASTELO – Roi Diable 3.58

21. GARY BURTON & FRIENDS – Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs 5.16

Guitarists part 3

Here's the playlist for this week's show - my thanks to The Tedster for his phone call: It's a pity I didn't know how to mix the call into the broadcast! Anyway, I do now, so if you feel like calling in during the show with comments, opinions or suggestions, please do so. The number  to call is (01326) 219 020. Incidentally Tedster, the track you really liked was Number 10 - Toninho Horta with Pat Metheny. I'll make sure to include another track by them soon.

ADVENTURES IN THE DIN TRADE – programme 7. Friday 17^th June.

THEME TUNE – Andei

1. JEFF BECK – Nadia 3.41

2. BILL MAYS & ED BICKERT – On the Trail 5.51

3. CHARLIE CHRISTIAN – Air Mail Special 3.20

4. GARY BURTON/B.B.KING – Double Guatemala 6.09

5. GARY BURTON/KEVIN EUBANKS – Lost Numbers 4.26

6. DAVEY GRAHAM – She moved thru’ the fair/Blue Raga 7.47

7. THE JIMMY GIUFFRE 3 – The Train and the River 3.31

8. THE JIM HALL QUARTET – Beija Flor 6.28

9. GUINGA – Di Menor 3.36

10. TONINHO HORTA – Prato Feito 6.34

11. JOYCE & TUTTY MORENO - Feijão Com Arroz 4.52

12. LEO KOTKE – Mona Ray 3.40

13. WEBER LOPES – Alma 6.14

14. WEBER LOPEZ & PAULO BELLINATI - Violão Virado 4.01

15. (1) ROMERO LUBAMBO & MAURO SENISE – O Barquinho 3.58

16. ROMERO LUBAMBO – Route 66 4.25

17. JOHN MCLAUGHLIN TRIO – Pasha’s Love 7.54

18. MAOGANI – Corrupião 4.58

19. MAOGANI – Baiambé 3.20.

THE BEATLES THROUGH OTHER EARS...

Play list for ADVENTURES IN THE DIN TRADE – programme 6. Friday 10^th June.

As  usual - for further information about the tracks that you can't be bothered tp Google, drop me an email or contact me via my page on The Source FM. If you enjoy the show please contact them and let them know.

THEME TUNE – Andei (fade at 1.30)

1. RITA LEE – A Hard Day’s Night. 3.42

2. DAVY GRAHAM – I’m Looking Through You 2.01

3. BELA FLECK AND THE FLECKTONES – Michelle 5.10

4. BOBBY McFERRIN – Blackbird 2.49

5. MILTON NASCIMENTO – Hello Goodbye 4.30

6. RICARDO SILVEIRA & LUIZ AVELLAR – Para Lennon and McCartney 5.46

7. RUBY BRAFF/GEORGE BARNES – Here, There and Everywhere 2.07

8. GILBERTO GIL – Something 3.28

9. RITA LEE – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 4.44

10. PAT METHENY GROUP – American Garage 4.10

11. KNIGHT AND GAYLE – Jericho

12. ECLECTICA – Get Back 3.53

13. ANDRÉ MEHMARI & NÁ OZZETTI – Because 3.16

14. WORD OF MOUTH – Blackbird 2.48

15. DUOFEL – The Fool on the Hill 4.50

16. PAUINHO NOGUEIRA – Beatles Medley 4.39

17. IVAN VILELA – Eleanor Rigby 4.31

18. IVAN VILELA – While my Guitar Gently Weeps – 2.45

19. ORQUESTRA POPULAR DE CAMERA – Blackbird 7.15

20. DUOFEL – Norwegian Wood 5.11

21. JEFF BECK – A day in the life 4.46

22. THE BEATLES – She Said She Said 2.37

23. THE BEATLES – Love You To 3.01

24. THE BEATLES – Tomorrow Never Knows 2.57

PLAYLIST UPDATE

Here's the playlist from last Friday's programme - if a little later than promised. Usual rules apply: If you want anymore information about any of the tracks and can't be bothered to Google them then contact me via the blog. Incidentally, as from Friday 10th June you will, for the time being, also be able to hear the show on the fledgling Redruth Radio. The next show goes out tomorrow as usual at 1 pm on The Source FM. Redruth Radio will continue to stream it until their own roster of presenters is full, so if you live in the Redruth area and are interested in doing a show for them then do make contact with them and put your name in the frame.

ADVENTURES IN THE DIN TRADE – programme 5. Friday 3^rd June.

THEME TUNE – Andei ( performed by Airto Moreira , from the album 'Seeds on the Ground)

1. LENNY BREAU – Days of Wine and Roses 3.50

2. LARRY CARLTON – Strikes Twice 5.27

3. PHILIP CATHERINE – Django 6.23

4. RY COODER – We Shall be Happy 3.13

5. LARRY CORYELL – Vera Cruz 9.00

6. DAN CRARY - Memories of Mozart 4.41

7. OXLEY / D’AGOSTINO – All I want 7.18

8. D‘GARY – Gofo Libre 2.40

9. HÉLIO DELMIRO – Espada de Fogo 4.37

10. DUOFEL – Repente 6.19

11. TAL FARLOW – I Remember You 4.13

12. LULA GALVÃO – Change Partners 6.28

13. HANK GARLAND – All the Things You Are 4.26

14. André Geraissati – Banzo 3.18

15. (1) GILBERTO GIL - Um Abraço no João 1.53

16. (2) JOÃO GILBERTO - Desde que Samba e Samba 3.55

17. (3) EGBERTO GISMONTI - ‘Lundú 4.17

VOLTAROL'S RADIO PROGRAMME PLAYLISTS

Here, as promised on the radio last week, are the playlists for the programmes so far. Unfortunately I haven't got time to annotate them with links but if you are interested then a quick 'google' will give you most information - but you know that already or you wouldn't be reading this! If you want to know more about anything that I play on the show then by all means contact me via the blog. Happy listening!

p.s.Normal service on the blog will be resumed as soon as possible. I'll be back with more of the John McCartney story in the near future

ADVENTURES IN THE DIN TRADE – Programme 1. Friday 29^th April 2011

This programme was repeated on Friday May 6^th.

Intro: AIRTO MOREIRA – Andei (I Walked)

1. NOTENSTOCK – Itapemirim 5.40

2. JORGE BEN – Taj Mahal 3.05

3. SERGIO MENDES AND BRAZIL 77 – Pomba Gira 2.30

4. CANNONALL ADDERLEY – Batida Diferente 3.24

5. DOM UM ROMÃO – Caravan 5.09

6. WEATHER REPORT – Rockin’ in Rhythm 3.02

7. STEPS AHEAD – Pools 11.15
8. ELIANE ELIAS – Manha de Carnaval 6.40
9. JACK DE JOHNETTE’S SPECIAL EDITION – Third World Anthem 10.46
10. PAT METHENY GROUP Goin’ Ahead. As Falls Wichita etc. 16.20
11. QUARTETO NOVO – Misturada 4.16
12. QUARTETO NOVO –Vim de Santana 5.09
13. EDU LÔBO – Casa Forte 3.06
14. AIRTO – Papa Furado 3.29
15. 1HERALDO DO MONTE – Nosso Boi 3.06
16.  THEO DE BARROS – Angola 4.09
17.  HERMETO PASCOAL – Viva Jackson de Pandeiro 2.23

ADVENTURES IN THE DIN TRADE – Programme 2. Friday 13^th May 2011

1. RENATO MARTINS – Boca Suja 1.42
2.  FRIENDSHIP – Bullet Train 5.23
3. JOÃO BOSCO – Expresso 2222 5.13
4.  RICHARD BONA – Balemba Na Bwemba 4.58
5. SERGIO MENDES & BRASIL 77 – After Sunrise 3.27
6. KIRSTY MACCOLL– In These Shoes? 3.27
7. THE JIM ALL TRIO – Down From Antigua 6.38
8. LYNNE ARRIALE TRIO – Calypso 5.13
9.  MARIA RITA – Pagu 3.52 
10. DAVY GRAHAM – Cry Me a River 2.1
11.  MICHEL COLUMBIER – Dreamland 4.17
12.  RICHARD GALLIANO – Mr Clifton 3.48
13.  CESAR CAMARGO MARIANO & ROMERO LUBAMBO – Joy Spring 4.32
14.  SAM BUSH – Sailin Shoes 3.38
15.  MUMADJI – Preto E Branco 9.13
16.  GIL GOLDSTEIN & ROMERO LUBAMBO – The Phonecians 6.52
17.  IAN DURY AND THE BLOCKHEADS – You’ll See Glimpses 3.40
18. CHARLIE HADEN & PAT METHENY – The Precious Jewel 3.45

ADVENTURES IN THE DIN TRADE – programme 3. Friday May 20^th.

1. JOHN ABERCROMBIE – Ethereggae 8.23

2. HOWARD ALDEN / GEORGE VAN EPS – Just You, Just Me 5.18

3. LAURINDO ALMEIDA / BUD SHANK – Atábaque 2.48

4. BADI ASSAD – Rua Harmonia 5.14

5. SERGIO & ODAIR ASSAD – Deciso 4.39

6. BADEN POWELL – O Astonauta 2.32

7. BADEN POWELL – O Pastorinhas 6.11

8. RUSS BARENBERG – Cowboy Calypso 3.52

9. RUSS BARENBERG – Halloween Rehearsal 4.16

10. GEORGE BARNES - Love is Just Around the Corner 2.30

11. GEORGE BARNES – Intricacies of a Threshing Machine 1.37

12. RUBY BRAFF / GEORGE BARNES QUARTET – Liza 4.22

13. PAULO BELLINATI Lamento do Morro 2.26

14. PAULO BELLINATI & MONICA SALMASO - Cordão de Ouro / Berimbau 4.26

15. PAU BRASIL – Pulo do Gato 8.00

16. VICTOR BIGLEONE BRAZILIAN QUARTET – Cai Dentro 5.11

17. VICTOR BIGLEONE – Tommy Medley 4.04

19. LUIZ BONFA – Manha de Carnaval 2.27

ADVENTURES IN THE DIN TRADE – programme 4. Friday May 27^th.

1. STAN GETZ QUINTET – Cool Mix 3.03

2. JAY & KAI TROMBONE OCTET – The Surrey with the Fringe on Top 2.05

3. JACK TEAGARDEN – Rose of Washington Square 2.54

4. PAULO MOURA - ‘Chorinho pra Você’ 7.32

5. ZÉ DA VELHA – Ainda Me Recorda 3.58

6. PAGODE JAZZ SARDINHA’S CLUB – Transmestiço 6.09

7. CARLA BLEY - The Lord is Listening to Ya, Hallelujah! 7.11

8. ANDY SHEPPARD – Sofa Safari 13.16

9. ROLAND PERRIN – The First Word 6.38

10. JAY AND KAI – Alone Together 3.33

11. JUNE CHRISTY – The Kissing Bug 2.41

12. RAUL DE SOUZA St Remy 5.41

13. BOCATO – Samba de Zamba 6.01

14. BOCATO – Nossos Momentos 5.59

15. MICHEL PETRUCCIANI – Brazilian Like 4.47

15. STAN GETZ QUINTET- Erudition 3.08

Friday afternoon and Saturday evening…

No, I know it’s not as catchy as Alan Sillitoe’s book title but sometimes you just have to go with what you’ve got. So – what I’ve got is Voltarol on the radio again on Friday afternoon (see link under 'Voltarol Recommends...) with ‘Adventures in the Din Trade, the radio show’ - the printed word in Spoke (apologies to Spike Milligan for that theft) and Que Belo Castelo at the Four Winds Inn, Falmouth on Saturday evening. And who are Que Belo Castelo, I hear you cry? Well, regular readers of these postings will remember one from November last year called A man of constant Choro. Those rehearsals bear their first fruits on Saturday night with that group now bearing a name which is in fact the Portuguese translation of an impersonation of a goldfish…don’t ask – it’s a long story…

Anyway, we’ve added to the range of the material and gained another musician along the way. The musician is clarinettist Dan Hughes who is a regular member of the Cornwall based world music group 

Dan Hughes

Braga Tanga, and the expanded range of material now includes sambas, bossa novas, Cuban tunes, jazz standards, South African tunes and original material.  If you live in Cornwall in the Falmouth area and you fancy a meal and an evening of eclectic music with a strong Brazilian flavour then here are the details.

Saturday May 14th

The Four Winds Inn

Dracaena Avenue, Falmouth

Que Belo Castelo

Kate Blackmore: Flute, Sam Norman: Double Bass, Pete Turner: Percussion, Pete Kubryk Townsend: 7 String Guitar
with Dan Hughes: Clarinet

Tickets £12 - includes hot and cold buffet

Doors open 7 p.m. Food served from 8 p.m. Music commences 9 p.m.

Phone 01326 311369 for bookings

or email fourwindspub@yahoo.com

You may detect a faint resemblance between Pete Turner and Voltarol – pure coincidence, I assure you…

JOHN NIXON, Maestro of the English Concertina: 1927 - 2011

Earlier last month I learned that my good friend John Nixon had died at the age of 84. He had not been in the best of health for the last couple of years and finally succumbed to chronic anaemia and heart failure on March 4^th. He was a master musician who played alto saxophone and bass to a high standard, although he was best known for his English Concertina playing. John was a man who didn’t differentiate between genres of music: it was either good music, in which case it interested him, or it was bad music and therefore didn’t. As a consequence he saw nothing unusual about playing modern jazz or classical music on the concertina, which is normally seen as a purely ‘folk’ instrument. He was therefore much in demand for sessions and studio work.

Just over ten years ago John wrote a short autobiographical article for use by Rob Howard ( who also posted an obituary of John on Concertina.net in his four Volume work - The A-Z of the Accordion (and related instruments) and I have been given permission by John's widow, Margery, to reproduce it here.

THE ENGLISH CONNECTION

Recollections from John Nixon

My father, the late Jack Nixon, was one of five children who lived with their parents in a village just outside Bolton in Lancashire. The village (Lever Bridge) was surrounded by, on one side the church where I was christened, the Leverhulme Park, a river, Ramsden’s Pub, a very lofty railway viaduct and just beyond that, a monster canal aqueduct which, like the railway viaduct, crossed the valley high in the sky. Further round was a steep grassy bank on top of which was a terrace of cottages. In the centre of this terrace lived a man who was to have a big influence on my father’s life (and subsequently mine).

The man was a musician who played a Wheatstone Treble Aeola (which had glass keys) and other instruments such as Musical Glasses and a Musical Saw. I think his name was Abraham. My father, as a boy, used to climb the grassy bank and sit outside Abraham’s house to listen to his music. Abraham soon encouraged my dad into his home to listen properly and this led to dad being taught by Abraham to play the concertina.

My dad’s family were not interested in hearing a youth practicing scales in the house so dad had to practice in the coal shed outside. Of course, when his ability was recognised locally the family became very interested. Dad saved his money for many years until, at age 19, he bought a new Wheatstone Aeola Treble (the one I still play).

My father married and they set up home around the corner in Radcliffe Road in two rooms above a Butcher’s Shop (which is where I was born in January 1927) just a couple of hundred yards along the road from where Fred Dibnah lives today. The shop is currently a Chip Shop.

We moved to Bridgeman Street, Farnworth, which is where at my age of four dad taught me to play a Wheatstone Treble of the learners type, which had rosewood ends and white bone keys except C naturals, which were coloured red. I have a similar model still which, with reeds removed, has been used by a number of actors in various TV productions that I have played in. When I was almost six years old dad bought me a second-hand Wheatstone Aeola Baritone and that is the one I use mostly nowadays.

Dad took me along to a Bolton English Concertina Band rehearsal when I was six. This was in the basement of Queen Street Mission in Bolton and dad, who was the lead concertina, introduced me to the band’s conductor, Albert Jennings (who also conducted the Black Dyke Mills Brass Band) and it was agreed that I be allowed to join the band. I was handed a Wheatstone Baritone which had been tuned by the local expert (Dick Lord, I think his name was) so as to be playable from Horns in F parts directly using standard English fingering. I played in many concerts with the band and the highlight came on January18th 1935, one week before my eighth birthday. It was a broadcast from the BBC Manchester Studios in Piccadilly. I remember such programme items as a Selection from The Maid of the Mountains, Lustpiel Overture and The Entry of the Gladiators March. I can, for some obscure reason, remember that each player was paid 5 shillings except the Drummer (not part of the normal line-up) who received 7 shillings and 6 pence.

About this time dad formed his Quintet which enjoyed success with many concerts and broadcasts from Manchester. In those days the BBC used to audition folk in their own homes as well as the studios and I can recall a visit to our home in Bridgeman Street by BBC men Mr D.G. Bryson and a Mr McNair, who auditioned dad’s Quintet. Initially, the quintet consisted of dad leading on Treble, Wilf Wallace on Baritone, Bert Dingsdale on Double Bass and Jim Howarth on Cornet. Jim Howarth was later replaced by an excellent pianist called Arthur Prescott. The popular programmes they played included The Grasshopper’s Dance, Cuckoo Waltz, Old Comrades March, Belphegor March and, most popular of all, the Intermezzo from Cavalleira Rusticana.

During the 30’s dad had also played many solo spots around Lancashire and Yorkshire, usually accompanied by a pianist. He eventually arranged the piano parts for me to play on my Baritone and as a duo we were quite busy during the late 30’s, playing in clubs, schools and pubs etc. Each year dad would book our one week holiday in Morecambe at Mr’s Law’s boarding house in Queen’s Square and he also arranged for he and I (sic) to play at the Phoenix Club in Lancaster for three evening spots. This engagement each year paid for our family holiday.

A very significant contribution to improving my sight reading came as a result of borrowing large volumes of complete pianoforte works of all the great composers from Farnworth Public Library. By now I had developed the ability to read the bass clef parts of piano music on my Baritone and each free evening after my father had bathed and eaten (his day job was of (sic) an Iron Moulder) we would play all the music available from the library, playing some of the more difficult parts over again until we were satisfied with our performance.

I was given an opportunity to go to the B.B.C. studios in Manchester to audition for the Children’s Hour Programmes and although I passed the audition I wasn’t allowed to broadcast until I was 12 years old and even then I had to have a licence from the local authority.Eventually in 1940 I did play the first of many solo spots on the Children’s Hour, accompanied by that fine musician, the late Violet Carson. I remember playing Tosselli’s Serenata, Heyke’s Standchen Serenade and The Stars and Stripes Forever March. I was also called upon to perform the musical parts of actors in a number of radio plays for the Children’s Hour. Just prior to this, in the late 30’s dad bought me a trumpet and I eventually played it with his Quintet and also with the local Salvation Army Band and the Farnworth Old Brass Band.

When the 2^nd World War came along members of the Bolton English Concertina Band and dad’s Quintet dispersed for the war effort and never reformed after the war ended. I sold my trumpet and borrowed money to buy an Alto Saxophone with the intention of getting the Concertina into a dance band. In fact the Saxophone (and Clarinet) took over as I was in demand to play Lead Saxophone at the (then) Bolton Palais. During the resident band’s holidays I took my own band into each ballroom for a fortnight.

Even though I had, you could say, made it with the Saxophone and Clarinet, I still wanted to push the Concertina forward to play with other different instruments and one evening, whilst playing for dancing with a quartet,  used the concertina for a waltz and played through the stand microphone so as to be heard above the other instruments. A man came to me and said that he could provide me with a much better sound with a personal amplifier and a small microphone fitted to each end of the Baritone. After he tried various combinations I was kitted out and that really opened up a whole new opportunity to develop my playing in Dance Bands and with Jazz Groups. I shortly afterwards moved to the South West and the amplified Baritone was seen and heard in just about every establishment in the Bath, Bristol and Warminster district, including the Radio and T.V. Studios of T.W.W. and B.B.C. I was very busy playing for dancing in large and small bands and became a regular member of the Tony Mockford Quintet at the Grand Spa Hotel in Bristol for some years. Tony loved the sound of the Baritone and wrote many special arrangements for it within the quintet. The guitarist with this band, Bill Parnham, had previously been a member of the Mantovani Orchestra.

I later moved to the West London district of New Denham and developed a long B.B.C. and I.T.V television connection for session work and also many engagements to play in orchestras for the recording of film scores, notably with the London Symphony and Wren Orchestras. The noted French composer Philippe Sarde first wrote for the English Concertina in his score for the Roman Polanski film ‘Tess’, and he said that he liked the sound of the Concertina because it was different. He scored for the Concertina in a further four films which were recorded in London or Paris.

I had the pleasure of playing alongside the great Jack Emblow during a Jazz session in Marlow in 1972 and that was the first of many enjoyable sessions in and around West London.

I had become conscious of the fact that I had gradually used the English Concertina in an ever enlarging sphere of music and this was something that dad did during the 30’s. This has been done in the company of quite famous musicians such as Michel LeGrand, Paul McCartney and Barbra Streisand and I feel sure that my father and the man who taught him so many years ago would have been pleased and even proud to have witnessed such a wide acceptance of the English Concertina. I hope that others can further this and that the very many players whose main interest lies in the English Folk idiom will take advantage of any tuition available to spread their abilities to take in classical, Jazz and Dance Music, in addition to the folk music of other countries.

My father taught me to play the English Concertina, but even more he taught me to appreciate all forms of music and how to listen to them properly.

John Nixon

21^st September 2000

 I shall be playing some of John's music on my radio show in a few week's time, so watch this space for further details.