My NTS
Live now
1
Manchester
16:00 - 17:00

Konny Kon juggling an hour of reggae records from his collection.

2
Tokyo
15:00 - 17:00

'Somewhere along the line Coltrane’s soprano sax runs out of steam. Now it’s McCoy Tyner’s piano solo I hear, the left hand carving out a repetitious rhythm and the right layering on thick, forbidding chords. Like some mythic scene, the music portrays somebody’s - a nameless, faceless somebody’s - dim past, all the details laid out as clearly as entrails being dragged out of the darkness. Or at least that’s how it sounds to me. The patient, repeating music ever so slowly breaks apart the real, rearranging the pieces. It has a hypnotic, menacing smell, just like the forest' - Kafka On The Shore Music, and specifically jazz, has always featured heavily in the literary imagination of Haruki Murakami. In this radio special, NTS lays down two hours of jazz records as featured throughout Murakami's corpus.

Elysian Spring

Elysian Spring

Elysian Spring has been played over 30 times on NTS, first on 1 August 2014. Elysian Spring's music has been featured on 33 episodes.

Plenty has been said about the development and evolution of various jazz musicians as individuals, and even about specific groups, but what about the special factors of background, geography and individual diversity? To what extent, if any, do these elements shape a group? Are sociological and other factors essential to the achievement of its particular Zeigeist? What, for example, may be the importance of the fact that the Elysian Spring has experienced much of its becoming not in the frenetic atmosphere of the city and big time music biz, but in the relative tranquility of the hills of Western Massachusetts. Is it significant that the members of the group come from both coasts of the United States and that their range of pursuits run from music to microbiology? From Jazz and "classical" to rock?

The fact remains that the group has a definite identity, a palpable "sound" of its own, and this despite the fact that at the present, only one member of the original trio remains. From the original Elysian Jazz Trio to the Elysian Time Machine, a quartet; to the present quintet, the Elysian Spring; a certain consistent essence has been visible; an identifiably unique ingredient. Jazz, unlike most other forms of human endeavor, has no fixed destination; no ultimate conclusion of achievement.

In the best and the most meaningful kinds of jazz the struggle and the search goes on and on, involving countless hours of practice, rehearsal and thought; and often many wrong turns and dead ends. Nonetheless, the rewards can be many, as all jazz lovers know and the journey of the Elysian Spring represents the real tradition of jazz in the best sense of the word.

Elysian Spring is: Jim Bridges - Bass Lenny Ezbicki - Drums Bruce Krasin - Sax, Flute Rainer Bertrams - Piano Gerry Mirliani - Bass, Trumpet

read more

Elysian Spring

Elysian Spring has been played over 30 times on NTS, first on 1 August 2014. Elysian Spring's music has been featured on 33 episodes.

Plenty has been said about the development and evolution of various jazz musicians as individuals, and even about specific groups, but what about the special factors of background, geography and individual diversity? To what extent, if any, do these elements shape a group? Are sociological and other factors essential to the achievement of its particular Zeigeist? What, for example, may be the importance of the fact that the Elysian Spring has experienced much of its becoming not in the frenetic atmosphere of the city and big time music biz, but in the relative tranquility of the hills of Western Massachusetts. Is it significant that the members of the group come from both coasts of the United States and that their range of pursuits run from music to microbiology? From Jazz and "classical" to rock?

The fact remains that the group has a definite identity, a palpable "sound" of its own, and this despite the fact that at the present, only one member of the original trio remains. From the original Elysian Jazz Trio to the Elysian Time Machine, a quartet; to the present quintet, the Elysian Spring; a certain consistent essence has been visible; an identifiably unique ingredient. Jazz, unlike most other forms of human endeavor, has no fixed destination; no ultimate conclusion of achievement.

In the best and the most meaningful kinds of jazz the struggle and the search goes on and on, involving countless hours of practice, rehearsal and thought; and often many wrong turns and dead ends. Nonetheless, the rewards can be many, as all jazz lovers know and the journey of the Elysian Spring represents the real tradition of jazz in the best sense of the word.

Elysian Spring is: Jim Bridges - Bass Lenny Ezbicki - Drums Bruce Krasin - Sax, Flute Rainer Bertrams - Piano Gerry Mirliani - Bass, Trumpet

Original source: Last.fm

Tracks featured on

Most played tracks

Blue Sands
Elysian Spring
Despa1969
Lotus
Elysian Spring
Despa1969
7th Sea
Elysian Spring
Despa1969
Glass Flowers
Elysian Spring
Despa1969
Two + Two
Elysian Spring
Despa1969