Beyond clothes?
Jazz - I want to love it. But I just never found that ‘hook’ that pulled me in, like I did with soul.
I love the idea of the imagery around it - if that makes sense? If I’m in the mood I’ll put on say Dexter Gordon, but to be honest it bores and irritates me after five minutes. I really like jump jive, Louie Jordan etc, Acid Jazz. I’ve always loved that early Style Council jazz sounding stuff and remember going through a Tubby Hayes phase twenty odd years ago but never returning to it. But I am well aware that none of that stuff is what you guys are referring to on the jazz threads.

Design - I am a philistine. We recently visited The Design Museum. Their focus was road signs. All I could see was that they had stuck road signs on the walls. Sorry.

Modernism - I was a mod. Started when I was twelve. Loved Quadrophenia, parkas. Moved through to a love of all things sixties, tailor made suits, soul and scooters. Stayed with soul, scooters and casual mod clothes but made a decision to stop at forty. I think my love of Ivy is mostly linked to this.
Now my reference for modernism is moving on. Keep looking forward. Accept the new for what it is, for better or worse and to feel free to reject it and have the confidence to row my own boat. If I pin ‘modernism’ to a time, place or style I’ve lost it.

As far as I know there’s no Jewish in my family. I suspect I’d know about it if there was. I can’t pick up on any references, as I can’t with ‘You know Jamaican mums…….’ Humour. But I love that such a thing exists.

I’ve developed a love of dressing Ivy League style because I can largely be left alone to get on with it. Nobody’s going to tap me on the shoulder and point out what I’ve got wrong.

'I really like jump jive, Louie Jordan etc, Acid Jazz. I’ve always loved that early Style Council jazz sounding stuff and remember going through a Tubby Hayes phase twenty odd years ago but never returning to it. But I am well aware that none of that stuff is what you guys are referring to on the jazz threads.'

Jump jive, Louis Jordan etc certainly is jazz. As is Tubby Hayes of course. The Style Council and Acid Jazz (the record label) are, as you already implied, jazz-influenced to a greater or lesser extent, but definitely not actually jazz.

If you're into soul music maybe the 60s and 70s stuff would be best for you. Jimmy Smith, Ramsey Lewis etc. Although if you're into jump blues then maybe more bluesy stuff would be better: 40s and 50s Witherspoon, etc. Personally I used to listen a vast range of jazz and still can, but nowadays I only bother with the blues stuff and copious amounts of Latin (Afro-Cuban).

Last edited by Yuca (2022-01-15 02:17:18)

Jazz: begin near the beginning - George Lewis for instance - then jump in the direction of Ellington.  Pure, joyous sound.  I drifted away from Blues after many years (although I never really got on with the likes of B.B.King, only the rawer rural sound) and got more deeply into jazz.  Ellington is simply marvellous.  Best - for anyone curious - to steer clear of anything that followed on from bebop, be it Coleman, Ayler, Shepp etc.  As Philip Larkin famously said, too much of it sounds like bagpipes and concrete mixers.  But, once you've cottoned onto Armstrong, Basie, Lester Young, the Duke, the jazz world should be your oyster.

^ Agreed.

It’s just clothes.

You could go down the Muffy Aldrich/Saltwater New England route. Have something called ‘The Community’

What does The Community think of this item, car, place etc.?

It could be very entertaining.

Maybe get a Muffy equivalent to model/plug Shetlands, Shirts, belts etc.

“Wonderful??  Anonymous.

A reader question:
I have a question for the community, sort of an omicron edition.  What is the best way of making coffee at home?  Where do you buy your coffee and how do you prepare it?  Are there any French Press advocates? Is it worth grinding your own beans?  Thank you everyone for your knowing thoughts.

Last edited by Kingston1an (2022-01-15 08:50:49)

Sounds like ‘the other man’s grass is always greener’. The British pub is a fantastic, though threatened, institution which countries around the world have tried unsuccessfully to replicate.

Pub-going is a British version of what the flaneur or boulevardier gets up to, but with better drinks and without the fancy French label.

Heavens above, TRS, even our beloved Italians drink beer with pizza.  Woody Allen likes a bottle of Heineken with his double helping of shrimp dumplings.  Doesn't the 'Barley Mow' see the occasional Ivyist darkening its door from time to time?  In fact, the last time I had a drink with another man in a pub that other man happened to be Mr. Simons.  We had a half pint apiece. 
Yet I know what you're driving at.  I come from a background, a neighbourhood, where 'supping' was the key to being a man - or some such bollocks.  Highly depressing.  But much of working class life is depressing: cramped, pinched and mean: suspicious of everyone and everything. 
The pub is not my natural habitat.  I loathe drunks.  I also have no patience with 'all chaps together'.  Except on 'Talk Ivy'.

Pub going is great. I would recommend it to everyone. It's too easy to mix with like minded people and avoid challenges to your way of thinking but the pub is a great leveller where you can express an opinion and be immediately confronted by a completely different viewpoint.
I always enjoy the photographs of politicians or royalty struggling to look happy as they sup a half pint when mixing with 'the people' in a pub.
Where should cool Ivy people meet?

I try to avoid pubs. They do serve a purpose at times but if you're not a fan of drinking then they're simply not an enjoyable environment.

‘It isn't just clothes.  It's a statement of intent.’

So a uniform worn by like-minded souls from the Ivy Regiment?

No, KingstonIan, nothing regimental about it.  Quite the opposite.  Yuca, for instance, does not wear Ralph Lauren clothing.  I do, on occasion.  So does Alvey.  So does TRS.  Some wear sack suits.  I don't.  I like raincoats.  TRS thinks they make him look dowdy.  Patrick prefers chinos to jeans.  Most of us like loafers, though, don't we?