@benfinlay74.bsky.social
MA Cultural History, BA (hons) History. Former history and politics lecturer at University of Chichester. Historian, writer, reader, musician, talker, blues and jazz obsessive. https://bsky.app/profile/lionunicorn.bsky.social
"On BBC One there is perma-misery-fest Eastenders, followed by The Great Sewing Bee Celebrity Special, and a repeat of last year’s Gavin & Stacey. ‘Barely enough to keep the mind alive,’ as Peter Cook once said"
@benfinlay74.bsky.social on Christmas 2025 v 1972
thelionandunicorn.com/2026/03/11/a...
"Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art."
Charlie Parker checked out on this day in 1955.
#jazzsky #musicsky #bird
The great Joe Morello passed OTD in 2011...
#drums #jazzsky #musicsky
#nowplaying Count Basie & His Orchestra, 'April in Paris' (1957)
What a wonderful, swinging record (with a beautiful cover photo) Love it.
#jazzsky #musicsky #swing #classicalbum
“On soft Spring nights I'll stand in the yard under the stars - Something good will come out of all things yet - And it will be golden and eternal just like that -" 'Big Sur' (1962)
Jack Kerouac was born OTD 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts
#kerouac #literature #beats #writer #otd #ontheroad
Blimey, I currently have all top-five trending posts on the
@lionunicorn.bsky.social ,and an article at number 7.
Thank you for reading my stuff and a hearty cheers to Sam Harrison and Alwyn Turner.
Link to all articles and the fine Lion & Unicorn site:
thelionandunicorn.com
Indeed. Thank you.
'Television is a bit crap these days, isn’t it?'
In part one of a two part article, I look back to better days and the golden age of factual TV:
#television #article #history #culture #BBC #ITV
Great to read this commemorative post…! With reference to the lack of live recordings, i had a cassette of their gig at Ewell Tech in 1974 which i made, the tinny sounding but much listened to thing now sadly long lost. I still do prefer the first LP, but my love for their music has never wained.
"To put it bluntly, television is a bit crap these days, isn’t it?"
My new article on the glory years of factual TV.
Click on the link to read:
They don’t seem to have had the attention the Soft Machine have had with live releases, there must be some BBC stuff out there. Afters is worth tracking down for the live and unreleased material.
5) Author Jonathan Coe is clearly a fan, the album’s title inspiration for his 2001 novel of the same name, which was later adapted for radio and then a three-part BBC television series. Brilliant."
#musicsky @jonathancoe.bsky.social @lionunicorn.bsky.social
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/07/t...
4) and is eclectic as can be. Furthermore, the whole record is completely British sounding and couldn’t have been produced anywhere else.
3) which provided a highly original sound.
Their debut album is a brilliant rich amalgamation of the individual artists’ talents, but it is The Rotters’ Club where they fully developed their style, the apex of the ‘Canterbury Sound’ and a masterpiece to boot. Side two’s ‘Mumps’..
2) The band was formed in 1972 by Richard Sinclair (ex-Caravan), Phil Miller (ex-Matching Mole and Delivery), Pip Pyle (ex-Gong and Delivery) and Egg’s keyboard wizard Dave Stewart. They were later joined by the vocal harmonies of Amanda Parsons, Barbara Gaskin & Ann Rosenthal...
1)'The Rotters' Club' by Hatfield & the North was released 51 years ago this week. This is what I wrote about it in my top ten albums of 1975:
"The Rotters’ Club is the second of just two albums by Hatfield and the North, and to my ears, their best work...
#musicsky @jonathancoe.bsky.social
Fifty years old today!
"To put it bluntly, television is a bit crap these days, isn’t it?"
My new article on the glory years of factual TV.
Click on the link to read:
Released #OTD in 1976, 'Black Market', the second Weather Report album I owned, & my favourite of their albums.
I love this (shifting) line-up with Chester Thompson on drums and Alphonso Johnson on bass. Jaco makes his first WP appearance here on 'Cannonball' & 'Barbary Coast.'
#musicsky #jazzsky
Afternoon mood:
#nowplaying the sublime 'Idle Moments'
#grantgreen #jazzsky #musicsky
#nowplaying Some great fusion-era Kenny Burrell, 'Up the Street, 'Round the Corner, Down the Block' (1974 Fantasy) Recorded Jan-Feb 74 at Village Recorders, Los Angeles,& Fantasy Studios, Berkeley
Really tasty album with some great performances and a lovely mid 70s sound.
#jazzsky #musicsky
Great Kenny Burrell 3 song set, (2 from '71s 'God Bless the Child') live at Newport Jazz Festival, Apollo Theatre, NYC July 3rd, 1973.
#jazzsky #musicsky
Do What You Gotta Do
God Bless The Child
Work Song
Kenny Burrell: Guitar
Richard Wyands: Piano
Larry Ridley: Bass
Oliver Jackson: Drums
Happy birthday to one of my favourite guitarists, the great Ronnie Earl, born OTD 1953 in Queens, New York City.
#blues #bluessky #musicsky #jazzsky #ronnieearl
#nowplaying #OTD 1959, Wynton Kelly recorded the second of two sessions that became 'Kelly Blue', with:
Nat Adderley – cornet - tracks 1 and 5
Bobby Jaspar – flute - tracks 1 and 5
Benny Golson – tenor saxophone - tracks 1 and 5
Paul Chambers – bass
Jimmy Cobb – drums
#jazzsky #musicsky
Remembering the great Louis Moholo, drummer, bandleader, member of The Blue Notes & the Brotherhood of Breath, born OTD 1940 in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1965 he moved to London, forming a South African exile community that made an important contribution to British jazz.
#jazzsky #musicsky
#OTD 1959, Ornette Coleman (on his 29th birthday) was at Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles, recording the first of four sessions for 'Tomorrow Is the Question!, The New Music of Ornette Coleman!'
#jazzsky #musicsky
One for the great British revivalist jazz man, Ken Colyer, who died this day in 1988.
'Far Away Blues' by Ken Colyer's Jazz Men · Chris Barber · Monty Sunshine · Lonnie Donegan · Acker Bilk, from 'New Orleans to London' (1955)
#jazzsky #musicsky #britishjazz #neworleans #london
Recorded #OTD 1958 at Van Gelder Studio. the classic 'Somethin' Else' by Cannonball Adderley.
#jazzsky #musicsky #classicalbums
Fortunate to have found a good copy of this at the weekend at an affordable price -
John Lee Hooker 'Plays and sings the Blues' (Chess 1961)
#bluessky #blues #musicsky #vinylcommunity
#nowplaying Lonnie Johnson 'Steppin' on the Blues' (1990 CBS compilation)
'No More Women Blues' and 'Deep Blue Sea Blues' recorded OTD 1928 in San Antonio, Texas.
#jazzsky #bluessky #blues #musicsky