2-5-1

Send us a text Pedro Jústiz was born in Banes, Holguín, on January 31, 1913 into a family of local musicians. Taught by his mother since 1923, he soon learned to play the piano and joined the family band La Rechiva del Son, directed by his uncles. In 1928 he moved to Antilla to study piano and saxophone under the supervision of his grandfather, Emilio Rodríguez. In Havana, Peruchín worked occasion...

Send us a text The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Oscar Hijuelos, published in 1989. It tells the story of two Cuban brothers, Cesar and Nestor Castillo, who immigrate to New York City in the 1950s and become successful musicians known as the Mambo Kings. The novel explores themes of family, love, loss, and the immigrant experience in America, focusing on...

Send us a text To round off this series we talk about Outros and Endings - the way jazz players stop a tune.  Thanks for listening and look out for series 3!  Perhaps you will hear the ending and intro of our podcast in a new light. This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text In this episode Simon and Nick talk about common misconceptions around how jazz happens.  We actually made this episode up off-the-cuff....How very meta! This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text This is one of our more technical episodes, where we try to demystify the way jazz musicians make the music. By the end of this episode you may even know what Cm7b5 means in musical terms.  This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text Jazz has always taken popular tunes as a starting point.  Some of the most famous jazz originals like Ornithology are new tunes on old chords sometimes called contrafacts. In this episode Nick and Simon discuss the subject of modern songs done in a jazz way. Jazz versions of Beatles tunes playlist here   Rock Swings here Herbie Hancock The New Standard here When Love Breaks down Dom...

Send us a text Watch Terry Pollard with Terry Gibbs here Terry Pollard (August 15, 1931 – December 16, 2009) was an American jazz pianist and vibraphonist active in the Detroit jazz scene of the 1940s and 1950s. She has been described as a "major player who was inexplicably overlooked."  listen to Terry Pollard on Apple Music here   or Spotify here Listen to a Detroit Legend on Apple Mus...

Send us a text You can't steal a gift a book review You Can't Steal a Gift. Frederick Eugene John Lees (February 8, 1928 – April 22, 2010) was a Canadian music critic, biographer, lyricist, and journalist. Lees worked as a newspaper journalist in his native Canada before moving to the United States, where he was a music critic and lyricist. His lyrics for Antonio Carlos Jobim 's &qu...

Send us a text Christian Jacob  Jacob was born in Metz , Lorraine on 8 May 1958. A pianist by age four, he was immersed in studying the French classics. Something of a child prodigy, Jacob had perfect pitch and natural talent. He did not discover jazz until age 10, but when he did, its improvised nature appealed to him immediately. Early influences were Dave Brubeck and Oscar Peterson . As a teen,...

Send us a text One of our book reviews - this time it's the novel (or is it?) Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje Buy it here  in print or listen to the audio book here The work deals with the life of Buddy Bolden the legend of early jazz who never recorded and wasn't documented much during his life. This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text This is a follow-on to episode 44. We go a bit further into the Beat poets reading their poetry with live jazz backing.  We talk about City Lights and Steve Allen and more. A couple of corrections Howl was first performed  by Ginsberg who read a draft of "Howl" at the Six Gallery reading in San Francisco in 1955.  Fellow poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books...

Send us a text We intended for this to be just one episode but felt that we had a lot more to say and ended up with enough for 2 five minute episodes the next will follow on March 1st 2025. This is the introduction to a blog on the Beats on our website links below The Beat movement was a literary movement which emerged in the United States in the post war-era. ‘Beat’ was slang for ‘down and out or...

Send us a text We are Back after our mid season break so we thought we would start with intros. We discuss what makes a good intro and what is the function of such intros. With some audio examples This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Send us a text In this episode we chat about the 'Christmas with the George Shearing Quintet' album. It was recorded by George Shearing's 'new' quintet Vibraphone – Don Thompson Guitar – Reg Schwager Piano – George Shearing Bass – Neil Swainson Drums – Dennis Mackrel A mixture of classic jazz tunes, (many of which we looked at in detail in our 2020 Christmas special), and traditional carols....

Send us a text Nick and Simon are taking a break. The next 2-5-1- 5 minute podcast will go out on Feb 1st 2025. We are about to record a Christmas special in a slightly longer format so that will appear in your feed if you subscribe, or find it on our website This is our website   This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Episode 40 of Series 2 to the 50 plus episodes from series 1 and our long form series on Sonny Clark and Kenny Drew.  Busking a tune what does that mean? Sometimes when you hear a jazz band some of the players are playing a tune for the first time by ear with a few pointers from the person calling the tune. Simon and Nick discuss the concept This is our website   This is our Instagram Th...

What do we understand to be a big band? Nick and Simon discuss the ingredients that might go into to making a big band in terms of instruments style and techniques.  Then put the template to the test by considering a few examples This is our website This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

In this episode Nick and Simon talk about Mole Jazz a shop that closed 20 years ago now but is fondly remembered by Jazz aficionados of a certain age.  They also had a small catalogue of releases on the Mole Jazz label. This is our website This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

The connection between jazz and cooking is investigated through this book review  of Jazz Cooks: Portraits and Recipes of the Greats by Rob Young and Al Stances with photographs by Deborah Feingold. This is our website This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

In this Episode Mink Coal Tin and This is Wine mode discuss the mercurial art of creating a Pseudonym to get around a contractual issue with ones record company,  so to find out who Kunst Bauer is and if he ever recorded with Sir Osbert Haberdasher listen to this episode of 2-5-1 This is our website This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

One of our under the radar pianist episodes, we look at the piano stylings of Sir Charles Thompson. This is our website This is our Instagram This is our Facebook group

Nick and Simon present one of their jazz book reviews. Kind of Blue : The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece by Ashley Kahn (Granta 200)1 is an in-depth look at the legendary album, its creation and its legacy.  Ashley Kahn has written other books about jazz including n A Love Supreme and Impulse Records : The House that Trane Built. [Simon got that title slightly wrong in the podcast]&nbs...

Sven Klang’s Kvintet   2-5-1- field trip notes   We went to the Barbican during the London Jazz Festival  in November 2023 and watched a screening of this film. There was an introductory talk and the Black and white movie was projected on a good sized screen.  In brief the plot is a function band lead by Sven Klang is joined by a really good Sax Player and his addition causes b...

Send us a text Didn't you used to be Tom Scott? In this episode we talk about  the relationship of fame/commercial success and Jazz. During May 2024 several Jazz musicians have died  David Sanborn, Bill Holman and Palle Danielsson.  We start from the newsworthyness of these deaths. We chose the title “ Didn’t you used to be Tom Scott” based on a shared reminiscence of a comedian saying someon...

Bird [ the Movie] Clint Eastwood     Bird is a 1988 American biographical musical drama film about jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker , directed and produced by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Joel Oliansky . The film stars Forest Whitaker as Parker, and Diane Venora as Chan Parker. It is constructed as a montage of scenes from Parker's life, from his childhood in Kansas Cit...