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When I have seen the Necks play they have always made me reconsider what music is and what it is for (both as a listener and a player) in a way that I have always found really cool, and I had that same experience this time but also with the symphony orchestra within that territory that is being redefined - it is redefining roles and expectations and demands on people (including audiences) and certainly orchestral musicians. It is fascinating to watch their body language and so many levels of meaning. And the bottom line was there were many moments where the orchestral element sounded really cool and to me it was a real sonic success. I saw Butch Morris doing his conducted improvisation with jazz musicians and really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed this too. That there will likely be very mixed opinions on it absolutely comes with the turf but for what it is worth that was mine!

Nice video from the Edinburgh Jazz Festival Last year. 

See longer full length video here.

A metaphor for a jazz life on many levels. 

I sat on the roundabout pedalled and nothing happened and I thought - "this roundabout is broken and that is a metaphor for life so I should make a video". Halfway through the video I tried pedalling backwards and found it works fine. So in fact instead of being broken I had sat on it the wrong way and blamed the roundabout and not questioned myself. Then I realised that was in a way a better metaphor for life... at least my life! And then my cameraman (who shall remain nameless but you know who you are) obscured the action with his thumb.