04/11/07

We went to a restaurant that played live jazz last night - for a birthday do - and I've got to say I really enjoyed it. It was in London, so it did involve travelling back at 11.30 with a bunch of incredibly drunk football fans. But none of them tried to communicate, so it wasn't too bad ('Urr youallright there, darrrlin'? Giv my mate a kiss, eh? Gowaaaan! Hahh hah hah bllllurgg ... ').

I have to say, I'm not a great connoisseur of jazz. On the whole I like it, but I've listened to some of the more hardcore stuff and I tend to lose my way pretty quickly. I'm okay for the first minute, when they're playing the tune straight – but then they start running off with it and improvising, and I get confused. I'm reliably informed that the tune is still in there somewhere, but I never seem able to find it. I think if I were more of a musician, I would get on a little better – but other than singing, I don't have much experience. I end up feeling like I've stopped to ask someone for directions in a foreign country, and they've decided to answer every question with an acrostic.

This was fairly light stuff though. Not to insult the performers or anything; they were very good. But there was more playing of classic songs, and less wandering off with all the notes and rearranging them when I wasn't looking.