Babel - part of a worldwide conspiracy

There's a great underlying rumour spreading around the BBC Jazz messageboard - that's there an unholy alliance between Babel, F-ire Collective and Jazz on 3. We all meet weekly at a tapas bar in Islington....
What makes it all the more amusing is the reasoning given, such as about Babel. While, ultimately, they got the ownership right - i.e. me - they argue that there must be a secret backer, as Babel does something that jazz labels don't do, which is market its product and artists!
I hope that this thread runs and runs and gets more and more ridiculous, because it's great fun. I am flattered. (Next point to bear in mind. Jazzwise is clearly also part of the conspiracy, as there will be a Babel compilation on the cover next month. While the Vortex shouldn't be left out either. And Chris Parker, who writes the reviews in the Vortex, is clearly at the centre of the web of intrigue. The first man, not even the fourth.)
It's excellent how the internet can shoot off about things, and get stories moving. However (and there often is a "however") rumour can disinformation can become fact. The people doing this messageboard, such as King Kennytone, are clearly passionate, but make 2+2 equal any number between 3 and 5.
When this happens, who knows? It was probably much slower in the world of print, word of mouth and so on. Now, the internet speeds the story round the world in hours or minutes.
Blogs are becoming an important means of communication, but of course have little check that a professional journalist is supposed to have.

The Value of Jazz report

I am seeing too many comments on the Value of Jazz report from Jazz Services where people are obsessed by whether they are mentioned or not. Generally looking for the gaps. That's important but people then get too much up their arses and ignore important trends. Indeed it's true that there are probably even more courses than mentioned (Chris Yates pointed out the omission of Newcastle in the list of courses in Jazz Rag.) and some venues have been missed. But these deflect from the importance of the report in giving an indication of where things are and certainly give a foundation for action. I understand that Jazz Services now wants to concentrate on updating it. That'll be like painting the Forth Rail Bridge - by the time that they've done it it'll be due for another review. Worthy as long as that's not all that goes on. Still, it keeps the bureaucrats able to further an illusion that things are getting done. In the mean time, the real world of jazz moves on and we have to find our own guidance.
The difficulty for those trying to measure the value of jazz is that the sector is similar to social capital - as much to do with the informal, unregulated and based on custom and trust as with the codified and organised systems which organisations such as the Arts Council try to work through. It's what creates much of the excitement for people and the sense of surprise. For example, I am always pleased when people come from places such as Islington to the Vortex. Very few would think that there is a jazz venue North of Ball's Pond Road: they would tend to look to Camden or the West End rather than the "mean streets of Hackney".

Led Bib and Fraud!

I reckon that these two bands come under the heading "incendiary jazz". Building on Partisans, Polar Bear and Acoustic Ladyland's legacy with confidence and energy. Both are fearless. Seeing (and hearing) Fraud and Gwilym Simcock's trio within two days of each other really shows how strongly jazz is moving on with the new generation. Both with the same intensity and willingness to take the audience into new ground in an uncompromising manner though with (superficially) very different approaches - Fraud is in your face, Gwilym is subtler and acoustic
Both Gwilym and James Allsopp (one of Fraud's leaders) were direct contemporaries at the Royal Academy of Music. Indeed, I think that they even shared a house for a year.
Led Bib is playing at Bar Rumba on 8 March. It's FREE and starts at 6 p.m. (Also, drinks are two for one at that time, an added reason to be there.)

New Babel compilation on the way on Jazzwise

Look out for a new Babel compilation with next month's Jazzwise magazine. "Characters of Jazz" with tracks by Billy Jenkins, Led Bib, Fraud, Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear, Christine Tobin, Peter Herbert, Huw Warren, Duw A Wyr and others.
All hail, Jon and Stephen at Jazzwise.
1 Finn Peters – Gato (from Su-Ling) BDV 2664
2 Christine Tobin – House of Women (from House of Women) BDV 9820
3 Led Bib – The Keeper (from Sizewell Tea) BDV 2665
4 Ingrid Laubrock/Liam Noble – Subconscious Lee (from Let’s Call This…) BDV 2661
5 Billy Jenkins – If I Were a Lollipop Man (from When the Crowds Have Gone) BDV 2450
6 Fraud – Voodoo Teeth (from Fraud
7 Acoustic Ladyland – Nico (from Last Chance Disco) BDV 2555
8 Huw Warren/ Peter Herbert – Interlude/Whistling Rufus (from Everything we Love and More) BDV 2561
9 Steve Argüelles – ‘Lady Be Good’ with ‘Johnny B. Goode’ (from Blue Moon in a Function Room) BDV 9402
10 Billy Jenkins - Old Men in Flares (from Still Sounds Like Bromley) BDV 9717
11 Lleuwen Steffan/Huw Warren/Mark Lockheart - Ebeneser (from God Only Knows/Duw a Wyr) BDV 2558
12 Dudley Phillips - General Custer (from Life without Trousers) BDV 2453
13 Polar Bear – King of Aberdeen (from Held on the Tips of Fingers) BDV 2552
14 Julie Sassoon – Safe Passage (from New Life) BDV 2662
15Disorder on the Border – Monsieur Concorde (from Vol 1) BDV 2338
16 Madalena - Enid Querida (from Murmur) BDV 2027
17 Tom Arthurs & Richard Fairhurst – Mesmer (from Mesmer)
18 Phil Robson – Jealous Guy (from Screenwash) BDV 2445

Well done Finn

Just read that Finn Peters' album Su-Ling has been nominated for the All Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group Awards. Great to have the chance to win the award with the longest name in history.
The album also came in top 5 in Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards and was number 6 in the Jazzwise year end album of the year list.