From our 'sad but true' department: London's only jazz-based radio station has closed, becoming Smooth FM, a station devoted to the broadcast of contemporary elevator music.
In truth, Jazz FM had been 'jazz' in name only for a long time, with the station management chasing ratings in the direction of the least challenging fare, and losing more vibe with every shake-up. From the ashes, jazzfm.com is born. (At least the capitalist pigs know a profitable domain name when they see one). At first glance it looks good: two 24-hour audio streams with no invasive ads and a library of jazz-related programs. Let's hope it lasts.
In other jazz news, a new jazz restaurant in Covent Garden, Octave, turned out to be even worse than its online reviews suggested. Hollow commercial opportunism for Daily Mail readers. If you want good jazz in London, stick to Ronnie Scott's. It's expensive, but can you put a price on epiphany?
At Peripathetic, Pete recommends an improvisational jazz album that "sounds old and new at once". Which rather defines good jazz, if you ask me. Someone should have told the management at Jazz FM.
