The Robin Kelley biography of Monk will keep anyone interested in jazz slightly before 'the bebop revolution' mesmerised for hours with its pages detailing jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse, the constant scuffling for work, how guys like Monk were ripped off by not only ofay motherfuckers but his own people, the fifteen people jammed into a small apartment where he needed to practise, the heroin, the hunger, the fist fights after sessions that failed to go according to plan.

I remember reading, years ago, that he lived in a kind of broom cupboard in Stevenage (of all places), living on something like packet soup (or was it Pot Noodles?).  No, it was boil-in-the-bag curry.  I wonder if, like John Le Mesurier, he tried popping it into an electric kettle.  I once lived on peanut butter.  Just ate it from the jar with a spoon.  No washing up. 
I shall certainly buy it, if only to make up for half-inching his LP from HMV.

Just picked up a copy of Roy Carr's 'Century Of Jazz' in the local Oxfam bookshop. 
A very nasty study of Miles Davis looking like a cross between James Brown, Hendrix and any rock star of circa 1970 you'd care to mention hits you full on - whap! - kapow! - About a third of the way in, however, we get to a young Dexter Gordon, looking cool as fuck in some kind of lightweight Dixie bucket hat, a white t-shirt and possibly a linen jacket.  Mr. Chet soon crops up and looks about average, but Mulligan and some of the other West Coast types look the business.  Plenty of sunshine on the occasions they were snapped for those LP covers, one assumes. 
A good many images that I remember from my late father's collection.

I'll be visiting another Oxfam bookshop on Friday, plus at least one other (if still operating) that raises money for something slightly obscure.  The one in Matlock recently had an enormous number of overpriced jazz CDs, plus a nice selection of books.  I bought the biography of Clifford Brown. 
Just bought Robert Gordon's book on the West Coast sound from a charity operating online.

Gordon's book - which I'm reading at the moment - seems very thorough and somehow familiar.  I think my father must have had it on his shelves and I picked it up and dipped into it at some point - although I was probably more interested in Blue Note and in bebop at that time.

Here is a strange one to check out. You'll find it on YouTube

Stock Aitkin and Warterman - Yes, that SAW who produced numerous hits for Rick Astley, Banarama and Kylie  – also did a version of the Eddie Jefferson song New York Afternoon.

What makes this version well worth hunting for is the vocal is provided by non other than Georgie Fame. He's on top form too.

The track is under the name Mondo Kane and is genuinely worth a listen.

Sadly, according to the record books, it only charted at 70 and that was the end of their foray into quality music. Although as a youngster I did have a crush on Banarama. But that as they say is another story.....

The track is under the name Mondo Kane and is genuinely worth a listen.

Great track, sitting in the garden with a cold one on a summers afternoon/early evening, it's on my summer playlist with tracks like Matt Bianco's Half a Minute, Ronnie Jordan's After Hours & a bit of Michael Franks.

I’ve always been a sucker for Georgie Fame. I kind of grew up with his music as my dad used to see him at The Flamingo way back. But I was never aware of that Mondo Kane track. Really worth a listen. Thanks.

Matt Bianco were always better than Yeh Yeh. I particularly like the Joey Negro Sunburnt mix of Half a Minute which I discovered on a Soul Togetherness compilation. They’ve gone off and on the boil over the years but the Gravity album is well worth a listen.

So not a bunch of wankers then.

I expect this has been covered before, more than once, but Roy Carr talks of jazz players on the West Coast - specifically on the West Coast - switching to Ivy League clothing in the early 50s: thus eschewing the zoot style of New York and elsewhere in the East.  Does this theory hold water?

Ah the salt beef sandwich. I'm buying. There used to be a shop in Notting Hill Gate 1975 that sold a great sandwich. We used to go there from our office building to get our lunch. New Green is that gerkin? I don't eat meat anymore so I will have a cream cheese, salmon Beigel. That place in Brick lane does a good one. Recently my Finnish mother in law did a batch of 80 bagels in her brick oven when we took her back to her old farm building. Hers are the best as she has been making them for over 70 years. I have been known to eat 10 in a sitting.
I was too young to know the 50/60s Soho. I think it was maybe past its best by the 1970s.

The 24 Hour Bagel place in Brick Lane. Now famous for a family murder.

Their salt beef sandwiches seem quite expensive. I used to occasionally get bagels from them before playing bridge in East End pubs. To be honest, bagels are a bit too sweet for me. I prefer a more savoury taste.

I used to take immense pleasure in ordering Bacon & Cheese bagels from one of the places on Brick Lane, my Jewish friend used to twitch his nose and confess how good it smelt as he reluctantly tucked into Salt Beef.

Jazz-wise, I'm still a masochist and only ever buy stuff on vinyl. Most recent purchases were a re-release of Don Cherry's "Cherry Jam" EP - 25 minutes of pure hard-driving bliss.
The other purchase that stands out to me was (again, re-issue on a rather natty coloured bit of plastic)  Dorothy Ashby's "Hip Harp" - The sleeve notes describe her as "the most accomplished modern jazz harpist" - no idea how many of them there were, so who knows what kind of praise is being given there.
It's mostly in the vein of "A Song for Cathy" from Schifrin/Bullit, with a flute leading the way, I personally really dig it!