The Art of Leaving

Anna Stothard
Alma Books
ISBN: 84688-237-1

After her hi-definition trawl of Los Angeles in'The Pink Hotel', Anna Stothard does a similar, fascinating, job on a recognisable corner of her home city, London. The story is also an in-depth study of someone, Eva, who doesn't take easily to closeness and is always looking for an escape route. As a way of life this only works as long as she is in control; and you, the reader, are free to roam at will through her mind as she copes with being left instead of leaving - while juggling the two men and the one, mystery, woman in her life. If you want more: although she doesn't happen to be a writer, Eva has the kind of feverish imagination many authors would kill themselves for .

Alvin Lee

Alvin Lee, in so many ways the embodiment of the 'Sixties, hasn't quite made it into his own seventies. He established the gold standard for speed as a guitarist - in fact, before Alvin Lee, speed just wasn't an issue except among small groups of competing musos. The term 'rock hero looks' wasn't coined until one or two guys including Alvin made pop music appeal to the big girls again. He combined his talents with the attitude of a Real Hippie: effortlessly generous and modest on-stage and off.  I base my sketch on  passing acquaintance: Ten Years After's performance of 'Crosscut Saw' at the Railway Hotel West Hampstead August 1968, featuring Roger Chapman on vocals and Cliff Hanley on harmonica.

The harp had its own story - it had spent a few years stuck in a saddle round my neck before I went electric, and saw some busking and partying in Germany and Istanbul, before allowing its owner a rare and memorable plug-in to a bit of the best of the Love Decade. TYA obviously had their night in the pub as a regular open mic thing - after us, John Mayall joined them for a tune. And the moothie?  It ended being given with some change to a very pleased beggar in Oxford Circus tube station around 1985.

Bristol International Jazz Blues Festival

This, the first Bristol international jazzfest, certainly lived up to its name with Colston Hall making room for gigs major and minor, plus the odd jam session - and international enough with the mighty Ginger Baker and Jazz Confusion, leaning heavily on the African roots of jazz.  And as James Brown alumnus Peewee Ellis, long settled in the West Country, took the stage, he got a special cheer for being himself and local too. He reappeared with one of the many bands gigging out front in the entrance hall, and headlined too, on Sunday.  Read the full review here:

John Schofield (here with his new Organic Trio) is a real all-rounder, easily moving from the kind of big-build-up and firey solo that a younger man would be proud of, to the prettiest of ballads with Tennessee Waltz. A real feast.

Arturo Sandoval

This was also a welcome opportunity to see Chris Barber, who was already a well-established Name when his end of the Trad spectrum was the breeding-ground for the Rolling Stones. When you consider what followed on from the Stones, you have to accept that some of Barber's musical DNA is swirling around in punk. His inbetween intros and band stories got extended into a virtual stand-up comedy routine. The weekend also gave welcome exposure to Clare Teal, local heroes Get The Blessing, serial collaborator Andy Sheppard  and 'New Orleans official musical ambassador' Lillian Boutté. 
The final big bang came from Cuban maestro Arturo Sandoval, whose sextet blew a swinging, roaring set, including his spot combining scat with beatbox and segueing into a vocal impersonation of all the instruments onstage. Generosity!