Well, that was a year we'll all remember. Who knows where we will be in twelve months' time, but it's probably true to say that most of us wouldn't have predicted what we have been through.
My English tutoring has moved online and presented me with opportunities to help adult learners of English as well as school children.
I wish everybody reading this the very best for 2021.
The new Christmas album you need is here. Gabriel Latchin has come up with a great jazz collection with his trio.
You can read my review on KindOfJazz.
This morning, I decided to go for a longer than usual dog walk. We ended up doing 10km and a n extra hike up Pinnacle Hill afforded me this view. Well worth the effort.
I was the other side of the mike, interviewed this week for Tring Radio. Listen again
It was interesting to choose my favourite tracks. I didn't go classical, but I could easily have done so.
The tracks I eventually went for were:
* Aretha Franklin (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman
* Earth Wind and Fire September
* Stevie Wonder Superstition
* Nina Simone I Put A Spell On You
* John Coltrane My Favourite Things
* Nubya Garcia Source
* Bill Withers Ain't No Sunshine
* The Style Council My Ever Changing Moods
It was a delight to interview jazz pianist, accordionist and band leader Ben Rosenblum for the latest episode of my podcast, Harmonious World.
Listen, subscribe and review if you feel so inclined.
When I was booking composer Michael Shapiro for an interview on my Harmonious World podcast, I spent time listening to his overture to 'Frankenstein, which is part of a larger score to accompany the Boris Karloff movie.
Now, all I want to do is book a flight to wherever the operatic version of the score is first performed.
Take a listen to my chat with Michael - he has a fascinating background and has met and worked with some real giants of music.
It was a delight to interview composer William Susman for my podcast Harmonious World. It was only when I was editing that I heard the joyous sounds of birdsong behind his voice (and my dog occasionally behind my own).
Take a listen and subscribe to catch more episodes as they're released - I have some great guests booked.
I have always been a sucker for a piano and when I interviewed Chad Lawson for Harmonious World, he was sat at a beautiful grand.
It was such an honour to chat with him. Give it a listen if you can.
I interviewed my old friend Toby Jepson for episode 14 of Harmonious World.
It was such a joy to chat with him, about music, lockdown, the music business and life in general.
The latest release from Roy Ayers proves that Jazz is not dead, despite it being released on the Jazz is Dead label.
You can read my review on Kind of Jazz here.
I don't usually write political blogs, but the ineptitude of the UK government through the unprecedented times of the Covid-19 pandemic is becoming more bizarre.
Out of interest, I looked at UK media to see when the UK began talking about Coronavirus and it turns out that on 24 January 2020, the UK government first created a web page to publish the case statistics for the disease. On 29 January, the first two cases were recorded in York, after two Chinese nationals fell ill, and the first flight returned British nationals from Wuhan. The following day, the World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency.
Conspiracy theorists might question the media attention around the announcement of the famously-private Boris Johnson's engagement on 31 January. Meanwhile, who knows what is happening with Brexit? What never seemed a great idea for many of us now seems simply wrong, when we should all be pulling together in our attempts to protect each other from Covid-19.
As summer seems like little more than a memory, who knows what September, a new school year and the impending autumn will bring.
I have interviewed some amazing people for the first 13 episodes of my podcast, Harmonious World.
Have you listened to any of them? Check them out and tell me what you think in a comment or a review.
I reviewed Rob Luft's 'Life is the Dancer' on Kind of Jazz. It's a beautiful album.
Listen to the album, then read my review and see if you agree.
One of my favourite albums for 2020 is Maria Schneider's 'Data Lords'. It was an honour to chat with her for Harmonious World.
Schneider has won grammy awards for both jazz and classical recordings and there's an orchestral quality to her writing where she interweaves lines and timbres. Check out the album here.
Episode 12 of Harmonious World features a conversation with drummer Kenrick Rowe.
You'll have heard him with The Specials, PJ Harvey and LOADS of other jazz, rock and reggae bands.
My travel-obsessed parents have been longing to get away from their flat and last week I drove them around France, Belgium and Germany.
All in all, it was a pleasant experience, although exhausting.
The constant taking on and off of sun glasses and face masks was annoying, but both were necessary.
 |
| Mum and Dad at the Menin Gate, Ypres |
 |
| Trier |
 |
| The view was the best thing about the hotel in Koblenz |
 |
| Koblenz's Deutsches Eck memorial to a unified Germany |
Guitarist Sharon Isbin cannot be put in a classification box - she's a little jazz, classical and Spanish, often all at the same time.
Our conversation for Harmonious World was cut short by the pressures on Sharon's schedule, but we could have gone on for hours!
