Admitting defeat - my shoulder hurts

It's been 10 weeks since I fractured my shoulder and the car crash was nine weeks before that. A visit to the physio and a telephone conversation with my GP today made me realise that I've caused some serious damage to my body and it's not getting mended any time soon.

I'm doing too much still and trying to live my life normally when I've got about 10% movement in my left shoulder, plus residual rib damage and spine pain. It's not about feeling sorry for myself, but I do need to cut myself some slack. Time to admit that I'm in pain and go back onto the stronger painkillers in the hope that I will mend soon.

Good Friday's gig was a target for me and I was hoping that I'd be feeling fine by now, but I'm really not. Just have to get through it and stay positive.

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Big Wade - 'Piano Man' out now

Big Wade and Black Swan Theory collectively blends funk, soul, jazz and everything that fills the cracks between those genres: his new album - Piano Man - on all major streaming platforms ahead of the Piano Man Tour 2024 , which has dates across the US. Piano Man brings a selection of original and covers, including a stunning version of Autumn Leaves , which reinvents the song as the funky, electronic Autumn . Big Wade's voice takes the song's melody and improvises around and around, with backing vocals and a deliberately sparse arrangement underpinning the song. Similarly, on Children of the Ghetto , the lead and backing vocals blend in with the soulful musicians of Black Swan Theory. Electronics are used with dexterity, often expanding the vocal lines, as in the ethereal and ghostly opening of Don't Let Me Go . However, the tools never dominate - simply adding depth and layers to the funk. Never more than when Big Wade enters a new world in Interludes , including vocals...

Playtime: 'Morse Code Through The Lights'

Every once in a while, an album drops into your inbox and isn't going anywhere. Morse Code Through The Lights is just such an album. Incontrovertibly controversial, this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but this one has absolutely, instantly, made it onto my list of top albums of 2024. Drummer Tom Bancroft and his band Playtime, which began in Edinburgh as Adventures in New Music ten years ago as a weekly session, have produced something delightfully experimental and brilliantly creative. Four of Scotland's most-established jazz musicians - Martin Kershaw (sax), Graeme Stephen (guitar), Mario Caribe (bass) and Tom Bancroft (drums) - tried out new music and new ideas together. Once lockdown struck in 2020, they decided to explore the possibilities of improvising music together online, partly for something to do, and partly because it was something they could do for their audience. Most of us discovered - or thought we had - that improvising online was difficult or impossi...

36 years ago today, my alto sax was stolen

Actually, it wasn't so much stolen as taken in error. But at the time, we thought it had been removed from backstage at Amsterdam's De Meervaart venue, where I was on stage with The Style Council. Luckily, the gig was being broadcast on radio and the support act were listening as they drove away. They soon realised the mistake and returned my sax and all was well. It was the last gig of a great tour - Paul Weller's first European shows since breaking up The Jam. Another benefit of the radio broadcast is the recording that exists of that show. A good friend of mine - Iain Munn, author of the definitive history of The Style Council, Mr Cool's Dream - gave me a copy several years ago. Still a good story, after all these years.

Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

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