Fripp On The Box
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., May 25, 2013
Robert Fripp is one of the contributors to David Bowie - Five Years screening at 9.20 p.m. on BBC2 tonight.

Marquee Memories
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., May 25, 2013
BBC 4 screened a vintage episode of Jazz 625 - a TV show which Bill Bruford recalls being an avid viewer of in his youth. The episode features Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band and was recorded in the Marquee Club.

Bilk, who had a monumental hit with the lugubrious ballad Stranger On The Shore on both sides of the Atlantic in 1961, has a couple of connections to the world of Crimson.

A young Robert Fripp was swept up in the trad jazz phenomena that was all the rage in Britain during the late 50s and early 60s,  queuing up to see bands led by Monty Sunshine, Chris Barber and Acker Bilk. The trad jazz craze was covered in an hour-long documentary also on BBC 4 last night and includes more footage of Bilk in action.

The trad jazz scene also led Ian Wallace to an epiphany. He’d been happy enough picking out tunes while listening to the radio on a guitar his mother had bought for him. However, it was not until he went to a performance of Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band at Bury’s Royal Cinema that his true musical interests were revealed.  As he stood queuing for an ice cream near the front of the stage, Wallace looked up and saw the stage lights reflecting of the coloured shells of the drums. Looking at the kit, he underwent an almost religious experience. "The heavens opened up with a choir of angels and something said ’That’s what you’re supposed to do.’"

For those folks who’ve only ever seen photographs of the legendary club (such as this one)...

P2 Power Trio
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sat., May 25, 2013
Here's an interview with all three members of ProjeKct Two in 1998 conducted by Wheat Williams and originally published in Guitar Player that year. 

Chrysta Bell & Mastelotto In The UK
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Thu., May 23, 2013
Pat Mastelotto is on tour in the UK this week with Chrysta Bell. Check out the dates in Manchester, Leicester, Bath and Ireland here. 

Keeling's Condensed KC
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Thu., May 23, 2013
Andrew Keeling has a new book of musical analysis due out for June 1st. The Concise Musical Guide to King Crimson and Robert Fripp (1969 - 1984) is available from Burning Shed and direct from the publisher Spaceward where you can also nab it as an ebook.

Crimson ProjeKct Live In Tokyo
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Wed., May 22, 2013
Following on from their official bootleg release, you can grab a new album taken from the Crimson ProjeKct's Japanese jaunt in March right here. 

The TransKcription Of Light
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Tue., May 21, 2013
Ever wanted to see what the track The ConstruKction Of Light transcribed with all the parts written out and then put into a midi file? Gabriel Lucas Gitin Riccio did and set about spending time doing just that.

Trey Gunn linked to the video on his Facebook page commenting "King Crimson's "The ConstruKction of Light" fully transcribed (ALL parts) and re-realized via midi. Unfortunate choices for the drum sounds, and I haven't checked all the notes, but my immediate impression is: "Holy crap! This person really put in the work on this one."

He even has all the double-stops in my right hand part. That is not easy to hear from the recording. And, even I had to put in a ton of work to get my hands back into it for each subsequent tour."

You can see the whole thing here.

And The Winner Is...
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Tue., May 21, 2013
Congratulations to Syd Blair of Belfast. He was able to tell me that Tim Bowness's regular musical partner in No-Man is Steven Wilson. For that display of in-depth musical knowledge he wins himself a copy of the latest Henry Fool album, Men Singing. Stay tuned for another splendid giveaway later this week. 

Lost In The Middle
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Tue., May 21, 2013
My thanks to emmapeelfanclub for this article on labels and why they sometimes won't release an artist's music. 

Dyble Discussion
:: Posted by Sid Smith on Sun., May 19, 2013
Judy Dyble, ex Fairport Convention and one-time member of GG&F, has been discussing her collaboration with Alistair Murphy and their work on a new album. Read it here.