bbc jjr and shafi hadi

Did anyone listen to Saturday’s (14 April 2018) Jazz Record Requests on BBC Radio 3?

A listener asked for a track by Hank Mobley and Shafi Hadi, apparently partly out of an interest in discovering what happened to the latter. Could this be a trending enquiry… whatever happened to Shafi Hadi (Curtis Porter)? I’d be interested to hear whether the great British jazz-listening public is able to provide a few nuggets of enlightenment. Hopefully there’ll be a follow up in due course.

The track played was a lovely and archetypical example of Hadi’s alto playing, written by him and titled “Mighty Moe and Joe.” Recorded on 23 June 1957, the track featured Bill Hardman (t) Shafi Hadi (as) Hank Mobley (ts) Sonny Clark (p) Paul Chambers (b) Art Taylor (d). From the Mosaic label album “Complete Blue Note Hank Mobley Fifties Sessions” the track was 6 minutes 57 seconds of pure honeyed-single-malt-and-asparagus delight.

That edition of Jazz Record Requests is available on BBC iPlayer and will be for the next few weeks. Thanks to Alyn Shipton for choosing that listener’s request. And if you know more about Shafi Hadi, please do email to let me know.

at the forthcoming local elections

What baffles me about modern-day democratic politics is how anyone with lesser wealth than that possessed by a billionaire could possibly vote a billionaire into a position as premier of a nation, be it a president, prime minister or ‘statesperson.’

Have you ever heard of a rich politician becoming poorer as a result of serving the nation? In modern days, almost invariably anyone entering politics ends up much wealthier than when they started. With few exceptions, repeatedly our leaders have proven they are very proficient at one aspect of public life – making money for themselves, even when they already own obscene amounts.

Bear in mind that wealth cannot be created or destroyed – it can only be converted or transferred, so when one person makes a mint, another loses a mint. And guess who loses? Not the rich politician. So the richer our leaders become, the deeper into poverty the rest of us must sink. Yet we vote for them, time and time again! Isn’t that astounding?

On the other hand, look at the majority of jazz musicians. How many of them are able to boast of vast wealth? I bet lots of them are hardly making a living other than by taking a job during the day and playing during their ‘leisure’ time. Maybe a few can command hefty appearance fees, or plump royalties, but I reckon they’re few and far between. Unarguably, jazz musicians bring far more pleasure to our lives than any of our self-serving, self-aggrandizing politicians, many of whom I’m sad to say are liars, cheats and fakes.

So – in future elections, vote for the impecunious, and to make sure your interests are served, vote for a jazz musician. They are more creative, honest and civic minded than any of the corrupt and smug self-satisfied rich we have in charge at the moment.