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Today I had a difficult moment. After owning and driving unleaded petrol cars all my life, Flo’, our new car, is diesel. This morning, around 6.15 am, muscle memory took over. And I put unleaded in Flo’s diesel tank.

The car conked out in Peterborough. Only three or four deliveries in to a morning Amazon delivery route. I’m with the RAC now (always AA, formerly), because they let me pay monthly DD. Rather annoyingly, I was left sat in the car till gone midday!

And not only that, if I’d have called these guys directly, it’d have cost ‘just’ £160. Doing it via the RAC I was charged £240! I’m totally broke, as ever. So this fleecing is not appreciated!

And not only did I spend £240 having the tank flushed. I’d also wasted £30 filling up with unleaded earlier. So that’s £270 flushed away.

Fortunately Flo’ seems to have come through this fine. The Fuel Doc’ guy says that’s the case 90% of the time nowadays. He also told me that, allegedly, on average this – mis-fuelling – happens about once every three minutes, in the UK.

I’ve now done two of those classic ‘I’ll never be dumb enough to do that’ things: locking my keys in the boot (MX5, a year or two back), and now this, filling up with the wrong fuel!

You live and learn thank goodness Flo’ came through it ok.

I had two Amazon delivery shifts: the first was mostly aborted, inevitably (all undelivered stuff returned to depot). The second I managed to complete, with no problems.

Phew… an expensive and quite stressful day. And the day before my ‘day in court’. Not the kind of prep you want for a potentially stressful occasion.

I watched the ninth and final episode of Masters of The Air today. Very good!

I also watched The Bloody 100th, an hour long documentary on the subject of the series. Also very, very good.

At the very end, one of the original airmen says: ‘The freedoms we enjoy were bought and paid for… the generation of WWII deserves to be remembered.’ I heartily concur!

Not only ought we remember the massive blood sacrifices made. We must sedulously guard what little social gains that profligate expenditure of blood bought, such as the NHS.

But, getting back to the series and the supporting documentary…

This final episode draws all the threads together, ranging from guys still flying to those who, one way or another, had to bale out, and make it home (or not) via German captivity, or other various routes.

When ‘Rosie’ and crew are too badly shot to to get home, he makes sure they get to airspace where they can bale out over Russian – or ‘friendly’ – territory. But it’s still an adventure fraught with risk.

Buck, Bucky, and many others, meanwhile, are in Kraut captivity. The drama of their bids for freedom is also highly exciting.

And then there’s the eventual ending. Which we all know must eventually come. And I think they handle this very, very well. It makes for one of the most poignant moments in the whole series.

I think it’s shame they didn’t make the series as big as BoB, or Pacific. But this was still excellent. And whilst it’s divided critics, I’m very glad it was made. And I enjoyed watching it.

The above was on the floor by the door when I got home. Along with this:

I’ve not had a chance to glisten to this last instalment of UWB goodness as yet. And I have other rather pressing things looming at present.

But as soon as time allows, I’ll be sure to let those good ol’ South’n Ca’lina boys medicine me with their musical magic.

The Last Willie n’ Testicles I’ll attend to in dew coarse… i.e. later.

SEVERAL DAYS LATER…

Ok, so ‘other things’ have blown over now. ‘So Long, Baby’ sing Uncle Walt’s Band. And that’s one of the several tracks on this compilation that aren’t on their other discs (even the expanded ones).

My God, these guys are great!!!

David Ball has several tracks on here that are the scaling the heights to become personal favourites, such as ‘Stay With The One’ and ‘Holding On’. Beautiful chordally and rhythmically and harmonically, with as much Jazz and Folk in them as Country. And gorgeous arrangements. Simple but effective.

One of their local contemporaries – I forget who now – said something along the lines of, ‘There are three great singers in Austin, and they’re all in the same band.’ Listening to this wonderful music it’s easy to think he wasn’t wrong.

I need to check with Omnivore, and co, but it seems there are drums on some tracks* (poss Walt’s sister?), and even the tracks that are duplicated between releases might be different versions… need to check if that’s the case, or not?

In the car I’m groovin’ with these hep cats, as they play ‘Gimme Some Skin’, whilst outside a cold but sunny day has turned to skate grey skies and heavy rain. And now I’m treated to another Anthology exclusive, ‘Whatever Reason’.

I think I like their rendition of One Meatball better than Ry Cooder’s. Ryland’s is ace, of course. But the vocals on the UWB version? Fabulous!

Then we return to the solid and familiar Walt gem ‘Shine On’, a great ode to keepin’ on keepin’ on, before hitting their latter day hit, ‘Getaway’. I think some director of a film or TV show used this number. And what a corker. The chorus is almost a calypso. It’s utterly lovely. It’s also a live performance, as well! Wonder if there’s a studio version?

This disc would be worth the asking price for this gem alone. But of course you get so much more. It’s a veritable treasure chest of rootsy booty.

Can’t recommend these guys highly enough. And the fact Lyle Lovett loves them so much makes me want to check him out more.

* There’s definitely a snare played with brushes on ‘Sitting On Top Of The World’.

I remember seeing the above record cover reproduced in another of my jazz album cover books. I love the mood it suggests, or creates.

Now, it may not be the hippest way to build a collection, but these ‘eight classic album’ type compilations at least put acquiring some of this great music within viable reach. Blue Hour is one of the eight on this set.

I think I’d like to create a couple of collections: one of as much of the music itself as I can get hold of; the other of framed prints of my favourite Blue Note album covers. The latter to be liberally put up around our home, and in the music room/office (and art studio?).

I didn’t do a ‘before’ shot, of just the Laurel, pre-prune. But you can see it in right back of the above pic’.

I’m finding it’s getting in the way of finishing the ponds, and maintenance on the green room frame. So it’s getting a drastic haircut. Laurels grow back really fast.

It’s also good, as it provides a change of view for the Spring. Teresa wasn’t happy about it tho’! But the. She almost never is when I do anything I consider improvements! But esp’ so re pruning.

What Teresa did want me to cut back, was the dead Box hedge. Box Blight has done for my little hedge. So sad! It was just about getting to be big enough to be shaped/trimmed.

I still need to dig out the roots, and get rid of them. But after that, what are we going to put in, in place of the dearly departed buxus? I want something with small leaves. So laurel is out. Privet, perhaps?

So, next thing is, I guess, tidy up what’s left (e.g. a bit more laurel pruning), and get the waste to the dump. That’ll have to wait for tomorrow.

I found doing this today utterly exhausting. Worryingly so. Hey ho… let’s hope some time soon this constant exhaustion will pass/cease?

Oh yes! This just arrived, ‘pon our return home, from a pleasant walk along the river Nene.

Well packaged, thank goodness…

The books a big 400 page affair. Lavishly illustrated. It’s a stunner!

This also arrived today. I got it as much if not if not more for Charles Kynard’s contribution. That said, I do love Stitt, who’s a very fiery player.

This was originally released on Pacific Jazz. Who would soon thereafter also put out Kynard’s debut recording as a leader.

I’m looking forward to getting more by Chuck! I should have a section of Jap’ reissues from his Mainstream period arriving fairly soon. Including Your Mama Don’t Dance, which is the album that introduced me to him.

This is the second Groove Hut release I’ve recently acquired. The other being a two-fer of Jack McDuff recordings, featuring Grant Green. Another instance of me buying as much for the ‘also starring’ role as the headline name.

I may have to investigate more of their catalogue? But let’s get back to Uncompromising Expression…

There are loads of beautiful spreads in this book. Which has clearly been put together as a labour of love by folk who dig the original Blue Note vibes.

From simple black and white images with colour tints, to images such as those above and below, which celebrate the richness of these iconic designs in their multiplicity, variety, and aesthetic homogeneity.

Breathtaking. These montages could easily be a dictionary definition of the expression an embarrassment of riches.

I can see that this meaty tome covers the whole story, from way back when, up to the present. It’s fab seeing the story told visually. And I hope that it’ll be as much fun reading the texts?

And if like me you love to nerd out on the whole thing – not just the music itself, but the history, the guys behind the scenes – this looks like a good place to go.

It’s fantastic to see so many pictures that weren’t used in finished product. They just add to whole magic and mystique.

It’s quite astonishing that any creative enterprise could be both so fecund, and yet so focussed. There seems to have been an animating spirit at work, that gives everything a wonderful cohesion.

Spreads such as those above and below almost let you feel part of the process. You can imagine the scenarios, and the desire to set up and capture imagery that will make a good visual analogue or counterpoint to the music.

To me the whole Blue Note thang has a kind of alchemical magic, which somehow touches every aspect of every part of the process. And I’m doing so it does what great art is somehow all about, transforming the everyday and mundane, via whatever language it might be – music, photography, typography, design – into something sublime.

And so it is that, in the end, the fabulous music at the heart of it all kind of sanctifies everything that facilitates it, or radiates out from it.

I have a number of books, some almost purely visual, some more textual, about both Blue Note specifically, and jazz records more generally. But this one looks to me, on first perusal, to be particularly fine.

So, it’s clearly time to rack up the records (or CDs in my case), and listen to loads of Blue Note recordings, whilst reading or just gaping in wide eyed admiration at this gorgeous book.

I’ve been saying for some time that when I/we tidy up, we’re really just shuffling stuff around. Once again the chest o’ drawers was piled high with crap. Once again I’ve (more or less) cleared it. Once again it’s mostly just moving stuff from one pile of clutter to another.

We are planning to let out the Blue Room, to Antonio, our Spanish brother-in-law. That’s partly what’s causing the latest tidal wave of stuff. Plus I set my drums up in the drum room/office. So all the stuff stored in there and the Blue Room has flooded the rest of our tiny domicile.

Me just now. Tired. In fact shattered. As normal.

We went to mum’s earlier today. Part belated Mother’s Day visit, and also checking in on her post hip op’.

I tried a pano’ pic, to get everyone but me in. Teresa moved, so I’ve edited her out, as the double exposure looks freaky! But I got everyone else in.

We had tea n’ cake. Inc. a lovely lemon cake Amy made. very nice!

On the drive over the skies were quite dramatic, with lots of cloud, occasional squalls of rain, and quite a lot of sunshine. Didn’t spot any rainbows. But there were some amazing rays of light breaking through the broken clouds.

Is it just me? Or is it kind of nigh on impossible to really see one’s own face? We take others in at a glance. When of course they are way too complex for us to really sum up in a second. Yet we do.

But ones’ own face? We can’t separate it from the teeming universe of thoughts, feelings, and whatnot, that fizzes away inside almost constantly. At least that’s my experience.

At Teresa’s insistence I went oot in’t garden. To see the budding buds. Very lovely!

Cherry #3, out front, flowered a while back. Now #2, affectionately known as ‘The Stump’, because it arrived here as a log (with a little sprouting bit!), is coming into flower.

The ‘Green Room’, in back of this shot, needs some attention; rotting wood cutting out and replacing, and general filling, painting and weather-proofing.

The plum tree is in a sheltered corner. And is growing very slowly. Perhaps due to limited light?

All in all, rather pretty and lovely.