Music plus Russian Reads.

After a couple of years of being unable to access my site, I stumbled back in a few hours ago more by accident than design, so here goes.

One of the great joys of a vanity presses is the ability to inflict one’s musical taste on readers in addition to jeering at the preferences of others (and here the list is endless.)

Lots of rain in the last few months, so much time has been spent on YouTube revisiting my musical past.

Surely one of my great past moments was catching jazz pianist Cecil Taylor in a hall with tremendous acoustics.

This is Jitney from his Silent Tongues LP recorded in Montreux in 1974. A very demanding listen due to the discordant, percussive qualities of his playing.

Still worked for me even after some 30 years and his other offerings on YouTube are worth a visit.

To this day, I regret selling a three LP box set of Keith Jarrett’s Bremen/Lausanne 1973 solo concerts. Best $10 ever spent and far better than his later solo offerings such as Live at La Scala

Finally, in this serious vein, some rollicking piano by Randy Weston, a pianist who to my mind has never received his due.

The Dear Reader may recall my past infatuation with Malian music, the Wassoulou African origins of early 20th American acoustic blues.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassoulou brief history and geography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassoulou women’s advice music

You can listen to this precise genre by tuning into internet Radio Wassoulou, even though it comes in the form of a tape loop.

A couple of my faves.
Oumou Sangare

Lets be honest. The dancers are hot.
Mamou Sidibe

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Party time is over children, so we need an appropriate intro for our next item focussing on that smirking shit Vladimir Putin
The KGB Made a Man out of Me by The Barracudas, surely one of the best retro garage bands ever to tread the boards.

The West has many things to thank the New Russia and Prince Vlad for – the strength of the property market/tax havens in London, hi-tech assassinations, Donald Trump, etc.

Not even close. It’s the Western publishing industry which owes him a particular vote of thanks.

The Guardian’s list of ten top books on Putin’s Russia https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/20/top-10-books-on-vladimir-putins-russia. Trust Luke Harding to wade in with his potboiler.

The Washington Post in a similar vein https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-books-that-best-explain-putin-and-his-russia/2017/07/14/8f48d87c-6809-11e7-9928-22d00a47778f_story.html

Particularly enjoyed Putin’s Kleptocracy by Karen Dawisha. The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin by Steven Lee Meyers 2016 is well worth the effort, as is Putin: His Downfall and Russia’s Coming Crash by Richard Lourie which value adds, even if the Crash part is totally unconvincing.

Man Spread Moscow Style

TO BE CONCLUDED