2-5-1

Whiplash is a 2014 American independent psychological drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle , and starring Miles Teller , J. K. Simmons , and Paul Reiser . It focuses on an ambitious music student and aspiring jazz drummer (Teller), who is pushed to his limit by his abusive instructor (Simmons) Chazelle completed the script in 2013, drawing upon his experiences in a "very competitive"...

A long time ago we did an episode on humour in jazz.  you can hear it here  This is a longer investigation into it.

in another one of our tunes we love Nick and Simon discus But Beautiful  But Beautiful " is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen , the lyrics by Johnny Burke . The song was published in 1947. One of five songs written by Burke and Van Heusen featured in the Paramount Pictures movie Road to Rio (1947)

one of our under the radar pianists episodes John Williams there Jazz pianist . Yes the Star Wars guy!

Following on from our last episode this is a special longer examination of what makes a jazz singer 

We ask is Laufey a jazz singer. what do you think?

One of our jazz book reviews podcasts about the  Novel The Horn by John Clellon Holmes-born 12th March 1926 Studied at various places Columbia 1943 and post-draft at the New School 1949 where he met Jack Kerouac and remained a life long friend First novel published as Go a fictional book based on real characters and considered the first beat novel The Horn was his second novel and again conta...

we discuss the issue of notating jazz in traditional western music notation in this episode

We discusss  " Stella by Starlight "  a popular jazz standard with music by Victor Young that was drawn from thematic material composed for the main title and soundtrack of the 1944 Paramount Pictures film The Uninvited . Appearing in the film's underscore as well as in source music as an instrumental theme song without lyrics, it was turned over to Ned Washington , who wrote the lyrics...

in this episode we discus the pianist and vibraphonist Eddie Costa

in this episode we discuss the winners of the jazz categories of the grammy awards 2026 Large ensemble-christian McBride Best Jazz Vocal Album-Portriat Samara Joy Best Jazz instrumental album -Soouthern Nights Sullivan Fortner Best Alternative Jazz Album-LIVE-ACTION-Nate Smith Best Latin Jazz -A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Yainer Horta & Joey Calveiro best Live...

In this episode we discuss the writer and dramatist Alan Plater and his connection to jazz.

We are starting a new strand to the ever expanding tapestry of 2-5-1 : Tunes we love and why. The first of these is on the song Softly as in a Morning Sunrise by Sigmund Romberg a 32 bar  AABA format tune, often in C minor, that has become a favourite amongst musicians. Here is an Apple Music play list which is only the tip of the iceberg [or should that be Romburg?]

Nick leads the discussion on the TV jazz show Jazz Casual. Most episodes are available on YouTube  Wikipedia describes it thus " Jazz Casual was an occasional series on jazz music on National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The show was produced by Richard Moore and KQED of San Francisco, California . Episodes ran for 30 minutes. It ran...

What is Mainstream Jazz? Is the term still relevant? Who coined the phrase? find out in this episode

In this episode we delve into the dark world of jazz and the detective.  Jazz has become associated with the gumshoe detective e.g. Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe and the whole world of film noir including seedy nightclubs and femme fatales.  We decided to investigate further "so I drew my Smith and Wesson 9mm and Nick was soon singing like a canary"

We have done Christmas specials before which are about Christmas jazz albums or specific Christmas jazz songs. This year we are offering suggestions for gifts for jazz lovers including among other things "the smell of jazz"   Amazon UK List Here   Previous Christmas episodes 2020 2021 2022  2024 This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text In this episode we discuss Philip Larkin [the English Poet] and his love of some jazz and his hatred of other jazz  This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text We talk about the some of the big figures in jazz education Dizzy Gillespie, Hal Crook, Jerry Coker, John Meghan, Jamey Aebersold, Mark Levine and Barry Harris.  There are others we couldn't fit into the 5 minutes This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text Jazz on screen is an annual tie-in with the London Jazz festival. recent years have seen  2023 The three films were: Imagine the Sound + Introduction by Stewart Lee ; Sven Klang’s Combo + Introduction by Ehsan Khoshbakht and The Stormy Man . 2024 Symphonies in Black : Duke Ellington Shorts We Insist-Black Sun So Watt: Jazz and Improvisation on British TV Our episode on Sven Kla...

Send us a text Another of our book reviews, this one is of a biography of Sonny Clark. This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text This is not about the inner voice that tells pianists to " kill the bass player" this is about moving the middle of the chord around to create interest and tension then release.  There is a bonus recording at the end of some of a transcription Simon did of the Introduction to Stella from Standards Live Keith Jarrett Trio. Here is a link to the Apple Music version of September i...

Send us a text Jazz is a multi-hour multi-episode documentary about the genesis and progression of jazz in America by Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the National Endowment for the Humanities and distributed b...

Send us a text One of our practical episodes, Simon and Nick discuss the Montuno. a rhythmic ostinato common in Mambo and Salsa. Check our website as we sometimes make blog Posts about the subjects we cover in episodes This is our website This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group