2-5-1

The rent party was a phenomenon that occurred from 1920-1950's particularly in areas like Harlem, to raise the money needed to meet the cost of accommodation,  which was often higher for black tenants.  They were covertly advertised on simple cards  as "Social Parties" or "Whist Parties"  Rent parties in Harlem often had music provided by stride piano stars like Fats Waller or...

What is quartal harmony? Who brought it into jazz and when? Nick and Simon discuss these questions.

Send us a text Here are 2 examples of quartile harmony to support the previous podcast

Send us a text When is a dominant chord not a dominant chord? When it's a tritone substitution! We try to demystify this term and speak about its use in jazz harmony.

Send us a text The Flamingo Club The  Flamingo Club (not to be confused with Club Flamingo of Police Squad!) was a London nightclub active from 1952-1969. It was initially, primarily a jazz club and later became a haunt for the swinging 60s crowd featuring bands like The Who. Simon would like to make a correction 1959 is, in fact, not the book he was thinking of it was London Blues. However 1959 i...

Send us a text Book Review Ted Gioia has written 11 books on music, many of them on jazz. Simon wrongly said that the first book of Ted's he read was West Coast Jazz forgetting that it was actually  " Jazz : An Imperfect Art" from 1989 - one of the four books of  Gioia's which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. How to listen to how to listen to jazz - click here Subscribe to his...

Archer Street We discuss the role of a single Soho street in the lives of musicians looking for work in London from the 1920s until the 1960s Watch the Documentary mentioned here Musicians Union Article here

This is our third interview with people who promote, facilitate and help proliferate jazz. Sebastian Scotney is the driving force behind London Jazz News a hub for the promotion of new jazz releases, upcoming gigs and all things 'jazz' in London and beyond.  

Tete Montoliu was a Spanish pianist who had a long and successful career. As part of our "under-the-radar" pianists strand we discuss him and his playing style. This goes with our other episodes on pianists Mel Powell, Joe Albany, Hod O'Brien and Horace Parlan, all well worth checking out if you haven't heard those episodes.

Riverside Records only ran from 1953 to 1964 but in that time captured some of the greats of the period. Orin Keepnews was the producer of a majority of the jazz albums, and even had a tune named after him composed by Bill Evans at his anagramatical best! 

In this Episode Nick and Simon discuss Stars of Jazz   which was an American television program that ran between 1956 and 1958 and featured performances and interviews with many leading jazz performers of the time. The innovative program started on KABC-TV in Los Angeles in June 1956. It was produced by Jimmie Baker , and presented by pianist and songwriter Bobby Troup . Musicians who appeared on...

Another in our series of music theory podcasts, this time we focus on the whole tone scale. In music , a whole-tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone . In twelve-tone equal temperament , there are only two complementary whole-tone scales, both six-note or hexatonic scales. A single whole tone scale can also be thought of as a "...

Nick and Simon talk about Birdland the  jazz club which  started in New York City on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 Broadway , just north of West 52nd Street in Manhattan , was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979 for the 30 year anniversary. A revival began in 1986 with the opening of the second nightclub by the same na...

Horace Parlan is another of our 'under-the-radar' piainists,  known for working in the hard bop and post-bop styles of jazz . In addition to his work as a bandleader Parlan was known for his contributions to the Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots .   

What is a fakebook, where can I get one and is a real book different? These questions are answered as Nick and Simon discuss the jazz player's tune bible.

In this episode Nick and Simon discuss classic holiday albums from the past, and also look at a couple of new Christmas releases. This year we also deal with the issue of wassailing!  Here is an apple music playlist of some of the albums we discuss https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/2-5-1-christmas-special-2021/pl.u-2aRjqtKaoYZ MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Norman Granz set up Jazz at the Philharmonic with little more than chutzpah and a handful of cash. JATP would go on to create careers and fortunes for many musicians.  Find out more as Nick and Simon discuss a series of concerts that changed jazz.

Simon and Nick discuss an instrument less often heard in jazz - the harp.

Send us a text Who was the Jazz Heavy weight?  Nick and Simon discuss the biography of a jazz great who had a varied career.

What is an altered scale, where can you use it, what are its other names, and what scale is it related to? Nick and Simon shed light on the altered scale and its harmonic usage.

Send us a text Simon & Nick talk about a book they both enjoyed reading. But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer

Who was Hod O'Brien? In this episode Nick introduces Simon to a pianist he feels deserves wider recognition.

In this episode Nick and Simon discuss the Cabaret Card and it's impact on the New York jazz scene of the 1940's and 50's.

Nick And Simon visited Paul Pace at Ronnie Scotts and asked him these 5 questions 1. Could you tell us about the history of the Spice of Life jazz club. How did it come about, what were the early days like etc 2. What is your involvement with the club now and what are some of the challenges involved in running a jazz club at this time.   3. How did you become involved with Ronnie Scott's jazz...

Can You Hear Me at the Back? Nick and Simon lay out the development of amplification, and how it has been used in jazz.